Before Cognition

BEFORE COGNITION: THE ACTIVE CONTRIBUTION OF THE HEART/ANS TO INTUITIVE DECISION MAKING AS MEASURED ON REPEAT ENTREPRENEURS IN THE CAMBRIDGE TECHNOPOL Murray Gillin & Frank LaPira, Australian Graduate School of Entrepreneurship; Rollin McCraty, Ray Bradley & Mike Atkinson, HeartMath Institute, California; David Simpson, Brain Sciences Institute, Swinburne University of Technology; Pamela Scicluna, Faculty of Information & Communication Technologies, Swinburne University of Technology Australia. ~ Contact: Murray Gillin. Australian Graduate School of Entrepreneurship, Swinburne University of Technology, PO Box 218 Hawthorn, Victoria 3122 Australia. (T)(613) 9817 3013, Email: [email protected]

ABSTRACT Successful entrepreneurs are passionate innovative risk-takers whose actions are informed by accurate intuitions about future business opportunities. Often such intuitive foreknowledge involves perception of implicit information about non-local objects and/or events by the body’s psychophysiological systems. Recent experiments have shown that intuitive perception of a future event is related to the degree of emotional significance of that event, and that both the brain and the heart are involved in processing a prestimulus emotional response to the future event. This paper reports the preliminary results of a study of the psychophysiological basis of entrepreneurial intuition—that part of entrepreneurial decision and action that is not based on reason or logic, or on memories or extrapolations from the past, but is based, instead, on accurate foreknowledge of the future. A multi-methods empirical approach was used to evaluate the evidence for non-local intuition in a sample of 10 serial entrepreneurs from the Cambridge Technopol. On the basis of these findings it will be hypothesized that the more the entrepreneur can maintain coherent attentional interest directed to the object of interest, the more his body’s psycho-physiological systems will have access to this implicit field of quantum holographic information, and, hence, the greater the intuitive foreknowledge about the object of interest. Discussion will also include an assessment of the findings with a quantum holographic theory of intuition. (Bradley, 2006) INTRODUCTION Uncertainty has surrounded the question – “do successful Entrepreneurs respond to and assimilate information differently, and does this contribute to how they make decisions”? Shane and Venkataraman (2000) proffer that two factors influence the probability that particular people and not others are able to discover and exploit opportunities: the possession of the information necessary to identify an opportunity and the cognitive style necessary to exploit it . We propose that a third option must be considered, that of nonlocal intuition (see next section) in seeking to understand particular styles of knowing which are more appropriate than others for the conduct of entrepreneurial activities . Some entrepreneurs just seem to be at the right place at the right time with the correct decisions and unlike scientists, entrepreneurs do not enjoy the luxury of making decisions on the basis of orderly time consuming rational analysis . In rational decision making, goals and alternatives are made explicit, the consequences of pursuing different alternatives are calculated and these consequences are evaluated in terms of how close they are to the goals . To succeed in today’s business world the repeat entrepreneur must respond to the need for a rapid decision, usually too rapid to allow for an orderly sequential analysis of the situation. The amount of information available also provides a significant hindrance to a thorough analysis that in itself is very time consuming. Whilst there has been a significant focus of attention on entrepreneurial behavior, understanding how entrepreneurs make decisions has been less researched and therefore understood. Most scholars agree that

what differentiates an entrepreneur from the rest is their behavior. Nevertheless, attempting to differentiate the behavior of an entrepreneur from others has thus far proved difficult . Even though their has been a failure to uncover some homogenous traits, practitioners, scholars, venture capitalists and financiers consider the entrepreneur to be critical to the success of the firm . Whilst there has been little substance to the entrepreneurial personality, it seems counterintuitive to ignore individual differences . For this reason an alternative approach of how entrepreneurs make decisions was chosen so as to determine whether this avenue of investigation can provide some clarity in differentiating the behavior of serial entrepreneurs. Allinson et al (2000) argue that the nature of entrepreneurship and the style of the successful entrepreneur will, by necessity be more intuitive. They argue that entrepreneurs tend to bypass rigorous analysis because they are decisive and appreciate the time value of money and the competitive nature of most markets and industries. Concept of Intuition: So what is intuition and why is it important? One argument is that intuition is the ability of an individual to access their subconscious mind. Whilst the subconscious mind is able to synthesize up to 50 million bits of information per second the conscious mind is only able to process about 50 bits of information over the same time (Nørretranders 1999). Intuition has been strongly associated with various models of pattern recognition, mostly devised by cognitive psychologists. For rationalists, opportunity recognition exists in the external world as complex patterns of observable stimuli . We recognize objects or patterns through a number of interrelated processes. One such process is the feature-analysis model (Larsen and Budsen 1996 in Baron). This model suggests that patterns are identified by their distinctive features. In opportunity recognition this may be economic value and newness of a product or service. The drawback with this model is that it is primarily applicable to simple patterns. In contrast prototype models apply to more complex patterns. Through experience we construct prototype models that is, what a particular model should look like. Prototypes are the most commonly experienced object or patterns of a prototype. For opportunity recognition an entrepreneur may seek central characteristics such as the likelihood of competition, economic value, desirability and other characteristics critical to their prototype. The likelihood of a match would enable an entrepreneur to conclude whether the opportunity is worth pursuing (Craig & Lindsay 2001 in Baron). The final model of pattern recognition emphasizes the importance of specific knowledge. It is known as an exemplar model (Hahn & Chater 1997 in Baron). Hahn & Chater (1997) would argue that an individual would compare existing opportunities with exemplar models of excellent and poor business opportunities. This fits well with the argument that entrepreneurs’ “just know a good opportunity when they see one”. Simon’s (1987) intuition is merely the application of one’s professional judgment to the situation. It could use any of the aforementioned pattern recognition models. Simon’s makes his point on a Grand Chess Master’s ability to make strong moves quickly. He argues that his skill is in his knowledge, acquired by long experience of the kinds of patterns and clusters of pieces that occur on chessboards. For a Chess Master a chess board is not an arrangement of 25 pieces but an arrangement of a half a dozen familiar patterns that previous experience recognises. The skills of the manager depend on the same kind of intuitive skills of chess masters . Interestingly Barnard (1938) does not regard the non-logical processes of decision making as magical in any sense, he argues that they are grounded in knowledge and experience. Taking an information processing perspective, we view intuition as a process by which information normally outside the range of cognitive processes is sensed and perceived in the body and mind as certainty of knowledge or feeling (positive or negative) about the totality of a thing distant or yet to happen (McCraty, Atkinson, & Bradley, 2004a; 2004b) and their experience will raise the physiological signal levels to possible measurement levels.(Tiller 2001). This “thing” can be a material object or event, or a mental construct such as a thought or idea. Often the feeling of certainty is absolute—the intuition is experienced as beyond question or doubt—and the feeling can encompass positive emotions, such as optimism and excitement, or negative emotions like dread, fear, or terror. This experience of an immediate, total sense of the thing as a whole is quite unlike the informational processing experience of normal awareness. In normal awareness, the contents of the mind are updated incrementally, as the

moment-by-moment sequences of sensory experience unfold. Also, the experience of intuition is not confined to cognitive perception, but involves the entire psychophysiological system, often manifesting through a wide range of emotional feelings and physiological changes experienced throughout the body. The involvement of the entire psychophysiological system in processing intuitive perception is the basis of its detection and measurement using electrophysiological instrumentation, as shown below (Bradley 2006, LaPira & Gillin 2006) Previous Research: In earlier empirical research on repeat entrepreneurs in the Cambridge Technopole (UK) to asses the propensity of non-local intuition in decision making characteristics, the concept of “Triangulation” (Figure 1) was used to seek insights into non-local intuition. The two assessments previously evaluated were Cognitive Style Index and In-depth Interviews (LaPira and Gillin 2006). The third leg of the triangle, namely experimental evidence from electro-physiological measure of intuition is the subject of this paper. Fig. 1 Relation of previous research to electro-physiological measures of intuition

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The Cognitive Style Index (CSI) is a self-report questionnaire, which consists of 38 questions whose aim is 19 to ascertain whether a respondent’s cognitive style is either analytical or intuitive. The instrument is 17a person who is analytical is most likely to achieve a high score - maximum of 76. A low designed so that score would indicate that the respondent is more intuitive - the lower the score the more intuitive the 15 respondent. From the results of LaPira and Gillin (2006), it is shown (Fig. 2) the majority of repeat 13 entrepreneurs tested scored less than 32, the median CSI score being 28 (dashed line) with a standard 11 deviation of 7.3. The entrepreneurs scored significantly lower when compared with the 1200 Managers that were tested9 in previous studies (Allinson et al 1996). Their mean score was 41 with a standard deviation of 11. 7 5 Figure 2 Cognitive Style Index Results for Repeat Entrepreneurs 3

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Interviews with Repeat Entrepreneurs (Fig. 3) As well as completing the CSI instrument each respondent was interviewed using a semi-structured indepth interviewing process. Using an agreed interview protocol each interviewee identified and recollected their experience in identifying opportunities and building new firms whilst dealing with difficult business decisions. Spiritual and or religious beliefs as well as philanthropic activities were also important aspects of the interview protocol. The interviews were subsequently transcribed and the content was analyzed (LaPira and Gillin 2006) using a qualitative software program known as NVivo™. The content analysis protocol advocated by was used. Figure 3 Contributions to Decision Making – Cambridge Entrepreneurs

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Electro-physiological measures of intuition Although there is now a voluminous body of rigorous experimental research documenting the phenomenon

of intuitive perception (see Radin’s review, 1997a), mainstream science still regards the findings of these studies as anomalous (Walach & Schmidt, 2005). Even among those who study it, intuition is viewed largely as the result of past experience—a function of the unconscious mind accessing existing information within the brain from forgotten experience (Agor, 1984; Eisenhardt & Zbaracki, 1992; Hogarth, 2001; Laughlin, 1997; Lieberman, 2000; Myers, 2002). In presenting a very brief review of the evidence from studies that challenge this view,……… Ray would you please insert an appropriate review………….. I will follow Bernstein (2005) and divide the work on the basis of the kind of intuitive information transmission investigated: person-to-person transmission, often referred to as telepathy; place or object-toperson transmission, also known as extra-sensory perception (ESP) or remote viewing; and future-toperson transmission, involving precognitive perception (thoughts) or presentiment perception (emotions). Hypothesis for Research on Entrepreneurial Intuition The more the entrepreneur maintains coherent attentional interest directed to the object of interest, the greater the psychophysiological systems’ access to an implicit field of quantum holographic information and the greater the intuitive foreknowledge about the object of interest. (Bradley 2006) RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHOD We adopted Radin’s (1997b) basic experimental protocol. In addition to skin conductance level (SCL) the electrocardiogram (ECG) for heart rate variability (beat-to-beat decelerations/accelerations) measurement was included. These measures have all been used to index specific aspects of sensory information processing, and can be interpreted according to well-established operational criteria (see Discussion). The term physiological coherence is used in documenting a physiologic mode frequently associated with sustained positive emotions. This mode encompasses distinct but related physiologic phenomena including entrainment, resonance, and synchronization, which reflect more efficient and harmonious interactions among the body’s subsystems (McCraty and Childre, 2002, 2004; Tiller et al., 1996). Correlates of physiologic coherence include: increased synchronization between the two branches of the autonomic nervous system, a shift in autonomic balance toward increased parasympathetic activity, increased heartbrain synchronization, increased vascular resonance, and entrainment between diverse physiologic oscillatory systems. The coherent mode is reflected by a smooth, sine wave-like pattern in the heart rhythms and a narrow-band, high-amplitude peak in the low frequency range of the heart rate variability power spectrum, at a frequency of about 0.1 Hz (Tiller et al., 1996). McCraty, (2002) and McCraty and Atkinson, (2003) have previously found that increased heart rhythm coherence correlates with significant improvements in performance on tasks requiring attentional focus and subtle discrimination which may be important elements of the intuitive effect studied here. Participants: Repeat entrepreneurs were chosen for this research because they are most likely to have demonstrated that their success is not due to luck alone, they have beaten the odds against success . Uncovering opportunities for a new venture is a pre-occupation for them. Shapero (1975) argues that we all have “antennae” and that repeat entrepreneurs have theirs tuned to certain frequencies – opportunity recognition frequencies. In this research repeat entrepreneurs are classified as those entrepreneurs that have/had two or more successful ventures. For the purpose of maintaining some consistency in the selection of respondents for this research only owners of firms with less than 199 employees were chosen. We used the criteria set down by the Australian Bureau of Statistics definition of a Small to Medium Enterprise, (SME). In the last 20 years the Cambridge (UK) Technopole has become a beacon for regional development incorporating a strong University presence, high technology repeat entrepreneurs, cluster developments

and associated access to capital. (Segal, Quince and Wicksteed, 1985; Herriot, 2003; Myint, Vyakarnam and New, 2004; Library House, 2004)). According to Walter Herriot (2003) at St John’s Innovation Centre, “twenty years ago Cambridge was a market town with a world class university, a population of 100,000 and a business infrastructure that was immature”. Herriot claims there were only 25 knowledgebased (high tech) businesses in the City employing about 2000 people and no “independent” stock market listed companies. Of particular interest to this reaearch is the role and contribution of entrepreneurial leaders to the continuing growth of the Technopole and what drives their propensity for using spiritual intelligence and intuition in strategic innovation. Herriot (2003) reports the Greater Cambridge Partnership can identify some 3500 high tech. businesses in the Cambridge area, employing 50,000 staff and making a contribution of £7.6 billion to the UK economy. “ The majority of high technology companies that have shaped the success of the Cambridge cluster are connected to a handful of repeat entrepreneurs, business angels and venture capitalists as their involvement in developing new ventures have been repeatedly evidenced on the charts” (Myint, Vyakarnam & New 2004). Based on the Myint et al (2004) data, a set of 10 repeat entrepreneurs was chosen for the pilot experimental testing of intuition and representing a cross section of high-technology businesses. Testing Procedure: A number of Researchers have explored physiologic predictors of future events by investigating whether the human autonomic nervous systems can unconsciously respond to randomly selected future emotional stimuli. Using rigorous experimental protocols it was found that the body responds to a future emotionally arousing stimulus 4 – 7 seconds prior to experiencing the stimulus (Bierman, 2000; Radin, 1997b; 2003 Spottiswoode and May 2003) in . McCraty et al(2004) has also found compelling evidence that the bodies psycho physiologic systems receive and process information about a future event before the event actually happens. Ten participants took part in this pilot experiment. Each participant had demonstrated a capacity for intuition with the self generation of a genuine response to opportunity recognition. In the experimental sessions for the pilot study, each participant was seated in a comfortable chair. A video monitor was located approximately one meter in front of the participant at eye level, and a computer mouse was attached for the participant to click when ready to initiate each trial (Fig. 4) Figure 4 Testing Set-up.

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The following hardware was used in the experimental protocol. The inter-beat Heart Rate & DC skin conductance module (data logger) was designed and constructed by David Simpson B.appSc. Ma. appSc from the Brain Sciences Institute. The Random Number Generator is an Araneus Alea 1, which provides high quality, unbiased and uncorrelated random numbers that pass a number of stringent statistical tests including the Diehard and NIST test

To record SCL., surface silver-silver chloride electrodes ??? were attached to the pads of the participant’s nondominant hand on the index and second fingers. An isotonic skin conductance electrode gel was used to improve electrical contact. The signal was amplified by a …….David Simpson to insert The ECG was measured using a lead-one configuration. A …David to insert.. amplifier was used to detect the signals. A positive electrode were adhered to the upper left arm and upper right arm with a negative electrode attached to the bottom right leg to determine when the blood pressure waves. Participants were told that they were participating in a trial to test their capacity for making reliable investment decisions with minimal data and analysis. The protocol involves a two step process; a roulette test followed, by an investment decision in a potential growth company. Using the principle of a roulette wheel, this test is based on choosing an investment amount (bet) and then making a choice of red or black and comparing the result with that generated by a random generated choice. The participants have the option of choosing from four investment amounts, ranging from 5-10 cents. Once they select the button of their choice the test begins. The sound of a roulette wheel is triggered after six seconds. The result of each run is tallied on the bottom LHS of the screen so that the participant knows whether he/she is winning or losing and by how much. After a cool down period a message appears to repress the button. This experiment was replayed 25 times before the participant moves to the next stage, the company investment experiment The second half of the test (Fig. 5) involves the participants making a choice on an investment decision in a potential growth company. Sixty actual firms were chosen for this part of the experiment and entered and saved on the computer as a database. Twenty-six of the firms failed and thirty-four of the firms were successful at the time of selecting the cases. Firms were chosen from a range of industries, countries and levels of failures and successes. Where at all possible mixtures of both successful and failed firms for the same industry were included so that the participant could not presume that a firm in a particular industry is more likely than not to fail or succeed. The participant is presented with limited information, enough to interest the serial entrepreneur but not enough information to identify the company cognitively. Under conditions of uncertainly such as limited information Allison et. Al. (2000) found intuitive decisions were more likely to occur. The limited information presented was: Type of industry Private or public ownership Management team ie: professional management team or entrepreneur Current Funding The participant has an investment bank of $100,000, they may choose either to invest or not-invest a proportion of the total bank. After the participant has made his/her choice according to the investment options available, the randomly selected company appears after a 6-sec delay whereby the computer confirms the company as a success or failure and tallies the results of the investment. The protocol Figure 5 seeks an investment decision from the entrepreneur following the presentation of a randomly generated potential high growth company (Gillin, Lapira & Scicluna 2006, Gillin and Atkinson 2006). Figure 5 Format of Test Protocol

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Data and Statistical Analysis: Skin conductance measures. David to rework this section To reduce the data generated by sampling at 256 samples per second, the low-frequency skin conductance channel was resampled at 8 samples per second. Because measurement focused on how the physiology changed from the moment a given trial was initiated, each sample in each trial was transformed into a percentage difference score relative to the baseline SCL value at the moment the participant pressed the button to initiate the given trial (“button press”). To compute the percentage difference score (D), the first data point in each trial was subtracted from each of the 152 points (19 seconds X 8 samples per seconds) in the series. Then each point in the series was divided by the original value of the first data point of the series to yield the percentage difference series, in which the first point is always zero. Heart rate variability: David to rework this para. ECG data used for heart rate variability (HRV) analysis were all normal sinus intervals. All aberrant beats and artifacts were removed from the records: a computer algorithm eliminated intervals that varied by more than 30% of the mean of the previous four intervals, and any remaining artifacts were removed during second-stage editing by an experienced technician who visually inspected the records. A regularly spaced time series was derived from the succession of normal RR intervals by linear interpolation of the irregularly spaced series and then resampled at 8 samples per second. Statistics for SCL and HRV. To reduce the possibility of false-positive findings, a deliberate decision was made to use statistically conservative procedures for data analysis. Therefore, randomized permutation analysis (RPA) was used to determine statistical significance of the differences between win and loss curves during the prestimulus period, because it controls for autocorrelations inherent to physiologic signals and their underlying non-normal distributions (Blair and Karniski, 1993). Applied separately to each individual’s SCL and HRV data, RPA generates two standard deviates, or z scores, per person; zpre,

the differential prestimulus value, and zpost, the differential post stimulus value (Good, 1994; Hjorth, 1994; Radin, 1997b). Operationally, RPA involved the following: The stimulus output from each individual’s experimental session of 50 trials was a random sequence of 50 win or loss. For each trial, we computed percentage difference scores (D), as described above. Then for each of the 500 samples we calculated the mean of the D values for the 25 roulette trials and the mean D for the 25 investment trials. RESULTS Univariate analysis The overall performance analysis of the 8 useable cases is shown in Table 1. The win/loss ratio on a bet was a maximum of 60% in the roulette experiment and 68% for the business investment exercise. In the business experiment 2 subjects had a win to loss ratio that approached significance (p<0.1) Table 1 Performance Analysis by Selected Entrepreneur

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Based on a useable pilot sample of 8 subjects, fig. 6 shows the overall percentage change in both HRV and SCL measures from the time the subject is presented with a investment choice in the case of the business case experiment or a bet in the case of the roulette experiment Skin conductance level. The results of the RPA for the 12 second post decision period (zpre) for all subjects participating in the roulette experiment revealed no significant increase in SCL in either of the two experimental results of a win or a loss ( fig. 6). In the poststimulus data, one subject showed a positive up swing in SCL for the roulette experiment while three subjects approached significant upward swings in the business case experiment, two for p<0.05 and one for p<0.1. Such an upward slope for the win or loss scenarios is indicative of sympathetic nervous system activation. Heart rate variability. For the post stimulus regime the HRV data showed general similarity in the shape and direction of the win versus loss results with only one subject tending to significance. In the roulette experiment one subject showed significant difference between a win and a loss p < 0.05. In the business case experiment three subjects tended towards significance in difference at the p < 0.1 level. See figure 7 Figure 7 Random Permutation Analysis for Roulette Experiment 3

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For the pre-stimulus case the HRV curves for the win and loss results clearly diverge, starting around 2 seconds prior to the stimulus. See figure 8 DISCUSSION This study’s purpose was to independently replicate and extend previous experiments demonstrating that the body can respond to an emotional stimulus prior to experiencing the future stimulus. While confirming this finding it also broadens the applicability of such findings to decision making within the business and entrepreneurial community.

Our working premise is that no matter how intuitive information is initially introduced into the psychophysiologic systems, once received it is processed in the same way as information obtained through the familiar sensory systems. Although, to our knowledge, this is the first study to examine beat-to-beat changes in heart rate in the context of ‘intuitive’ information processing amongst entrepreneurs, there is a substantial body of literature discussing the interpretation of cardiac decelerations/accelerations in relation to the processing of sensory information (Jennings and van der Molen, 2002; Lacey and Lacey, 1974; van der Molen et al., 1985, 1987; Van der Veen et al., 2001). During a typical anticipatory (prestimulus) period, a triphasic heart response curve is usually observed—an initial deceleration, followed by a small accelerative component, and then a larger deceleration, followed by a small accelerative component, and then a larger deceleration. However, when the individual is preparing for a known investment stimulus, the accelerative component is wiped out and the response curve is characterized, instead, by a strong decelerative trend throughout the foreperiod (van der Molen et al., 1987). Interestingly, this pattern is consistent with our prestimulus HRV result, as shown in Figure ?. In other words, the body seems to process the unknown stimulus in the same way it does when the future stimulus is known. Figure 8 Pre-stimulus for Subject # 18 S18 Experiment #2

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Interpreting the processing of intuitive information within the classical framework just described, our HRV data indicate that, on average, the informational input to the heart regarding the future emotional stimulus occurred about 2 seconds before the investment choice was actually presented. A system-wide process? We have presented compelling evidence that the heart plays a surprising role in the processing of prestimulus information. McCraty et al (2004) shows that while both the heart and the brain are directly

involved, there is evidence that the heart may receive the pre-stimulus information before the brain. This suggests that, instead of being localized to the brain alone, the apprehension of information pertaining to future emotional events is a system-wide process involving the heart and the brain, and even the body as a whole. The observed deceleration in heart rate, indicating a shift in informational content, is usually interpreted as the result of an increase in parasympathetic outflow controlled solely by the brain. However, it is also possible that the deceleration originated within the heart itself, and that the resulting change in afferent neural signals to the brain either signalled the brain about the future event, or facilitated its processing of the intuitive information, or both. This possibility is also corroborated by recent work in neurocardiology, which has established that the heart is a sensory organ and an information encoding and processing center with an extensive intrinsic nervous system, enabling it to learn, remember, and make functional decisions independent of the cranial brain. The heart’s intrinsic nervous system not only makes adjustments to the heart’s rhythmic activity on a beatto-beat basis, but can even override inputs from the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems (Armour and Ardell, 1994; Armour, 2003). Moreover, there is substantial evidence that patterns of cardiac afferent neurological input to the brain not only affect cardiovascular regulation, but also influence higher brain centers involved in perception and emotional processing (Frysinger and Harper, 1990; McCraty and children, 2004; Sandman et al., 1982). For instance, extensive experimental data have documented that cardiac afferent input modulates a wide range of processes such as reaction times (Lacey and Lacey, 1974), pain perception (Randich and Gebhart, 1992), hormone production (Drinkhill and Mary, 1989), electrocortical activity, and cognitive functions (Rau et al., 1993; Sandman et al., 1982; van der Molen et al., 1985). In short, in light of the heart’s extensive involvement in so many different psychophysiological functions and systems, it may not be so surprising after all that the heart is also involved in the processing of intuitive information. Correlation with quantum holographic theory Ray would you please insert some comment here CONCLUSIONS Of greatest significance here is our major finding namely, the electrophysiological evidence that the heart is directly involved in the processing of information about a future emotional stimulus seconds before the body actually experiences the stimulus. To our knowledge, this is the first study to measure heart rate decelerations/accelerations in connection with intuitive perception, and this finding thus constitutes a significant addition to previous research on intuition. What is truly surprising about this result is the fact that the heart appears to play a direct role in the perception of future events; at the very least it implies that the brain does not act alone in this regard. If verified by future studies, this is an important finding that may open the door to an enlarged scientific understanding of the heart’s role in human perception, consciousness, and behaviour. Also significant is our related finding that once the prestimulus information is received, it appears to be processed in the same way as conventional sensory input. However quantum holographic theory facilitates our understanding of intuitive perception for the body’s processing of information about future external events. Ray could you pen a few paras to conclude the importance of QHT to the overall understanding of entrepreneur intuitive perception. My attempt, I think does not capture the power of the theory. From theory, it can be shown (see Figure 9a &b), that when two interpenetrating wave fields are generating synchronized oscillations at the same energy frequency, a channel of coherent interaction is created connecting the object source points of the two wave fields (Bradley, McCraty, & Rees, 2004). This channel

is essentially a logon transmission pathway for optimal information communication. This does not hold for interaction between wave fields of different energy frequencies (see Figure 6b); effective communication is blocked by an incoherent pattern of interpenetration between the two wave fields.

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When the dynamics of these interactions are considered, information transmission at hyper-speeds appears as an emergent property of the movement of the two wave fields. Using a simple dynamic model, it can be shown that when two wave fields at the same energy frequency interact from opposing directions, a third emergent wave field is generated with wave fronts moving at a hyper-speed, significantly faster than the rate of movement of the original wave fronts. This third wave field radiates outward in all directions from the point source of the leading wave fronts in each wave field. It is suggested that this third wave field encodes the quantum holograms created by the interaction of the two original wave fields, and, as such, is a likely mechanism for nonlocal information transmission at hyper-speeds—for example, super-luminal, in the case of quantum mechanical wave fields, and super-acoustical, for sound waves. It is further suggested that when wave fields from different scales of organization are in harmonic interaction, an emergent oscillatory resonance is generated for nonlocal information transmission at hyper-speeds. It is postulated that this provides a transmission mechanism for nonlocal information communication across macro and micro-scales of organization at super-luminal speeds—faster than the speed of light. The act of conscious perception requires both an incoming wave field of sensory information about the object and an outgoing wave field of attentional energy. Based on recent research, it is clear that more than the brain is involved in the act of attention. Analyses of the results in Figure 5 confirm the involvement of the entrepreneur’s ANS in decision making. Of direct interest is the deceleration of HRV values prior to physical decision action in the case of a successful investment and a neutral HRV values prior to an unsuccessful investment. The body’s psychophysiological systems generate numerous fields of energy, at various frequencies, that radiate outwards from the body as wave fields in all directions. Of these, the heart generates the most powerful rhythmic electromagnetic field. Not only does a massive deceleration in the heart’s pattern of rhythmic activity occur at the of moment mental attention, which would generate a powerful change recorded in the outgoing wave field, but it is also clear from recent research that nonlocal perception is related to the percipient’s degree of emotional arousal generated by an object. It is the individual’s passion or “rapt attention”—biological energy activated in his emotional connection to the object of his interest—that generates the outgoing attentional wave directed to the object. And since it is well established that the heart’s energetic pattern of activity reflects feelings and emotional experience, it is likely that the heart is instrumental in generating the outgoing wave of attentional energy directed to the object. CONCLUSION By way of conclusion, Bradley (2006) shows how the theory offers an understanding of the psychophysiological basis of entrepreneurial intuition.

“The entrepreneur’s passionate attention—that is, the biological energy activated in his emotional connection to the object of interest (e.g., the quest for future opportunities in a certain field of business)— attunes him to the object’s unfolding pattern of activity and to the implicit order of its future potential. Both the pattern of activity and the potential future order are spectrally encoded as a quantum hologram in a field of potential energy as implicit information in a domain apart from space and time. At a biological level, the body’s psychophysiological systems generate numerous fields of energy, at various frequencies, that interpenetrate the field of potential energy. Of these, the heart generates the most powerful rhythmic electromagnetic field, which radiates out from the body in all directions. When the entrepreneur calms his mind and feelings, and adopts a heart-focused state of positive emotion directed to the object, a global shift to psychophysiological coherence is induced which optimizes attentional resonance with the incoming quantum level information from the object of interest. Such attunement brings the outgoing wave field of attentional energy from the entrepreneur’s psychophysiological systems into harmonic resonance with the incoming wave field of energy from the object. The harmonic resonance between the two wave fields of energy creates an optimal channel for communication of nonlocal information. We hypothesize, therefore, that the more the entrepreneur can maintain coherent attentional interest directed to the object of interest, the more his body’s psychophysiological systems will have access to this implicit field of quantum holographic information, and, hence, the greater the intuitive foreknowledge about the object of interest.” REFERENCES Allinson, W. C., E. Chell, and Hayes, Jl. (2000). "Intuition and Entrepreneurial Behaviour." European Journal of work and Organizational Psychology 9(1): 31-43. Bradley, R. T., R. McCraty, & R. Rees (2004), Proposal concept for a study of highly effective and transformational teaching, unpublished manuscript, the Institute of HeartMath, Boulder Creek, Bradley, R T., (2006), The Psychophysiology of Entrepreneurial Intuition: a Quantum-Holographic Theory, 3rd AGSE-International Entrepreneurship Research Exchange, Australian Graduate School of Entrepreneurship, Unitec, Auckland, New Zealand Fiet, J. O., C. G. H. Van, et al. (2004). Systematic Search by Repeat Entrepreneurs. Connecticut, Information age publishing. Gillin, L M and Atkinson, M., (2006), Private communication. Krippendorff, K. (1980). Content Analysis: An introduction to its Methodology. London, Sage Publications. La Pira, F., M. Gillin and Scicluna, P, (2006). Non-local Intuition: Developing Electro-physiological Measures for Decision-Making Serial Entrepreneurs, 3rd AGSE-International Entrepreneurship Research Exchange, Australian Graduate School of Entrepreneurship, Unitec, Auckland, New Zealand La Pira, F. and M. Gillin (2006). “Non local intuition and the performance of serial entrepreneurs”. International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, Vol. 3, No. 1 McCraty, R., Atkinson, M., & Bradley, R. T. (2004a). Electrophysiological evidence of intuition: Part 1. The surprising role of the heart. Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 10 (1):133-143. McCraty, R., Atkinson, M., & Bradley, R. T. (2004b). Electrophysiological evidence of intuition: Part 2. A system-wide process? Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 10 (2): 325-336. Shapero, A 1975 ‘The Displaced Uncomfortable Entrepreneur’ Psychology Today Vol. 8 83-88 Tiller , W A, Dibble, W E and Kohane, M J, (2001) “Conscious Acts of Creation”, Pavior, California