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Subliminal messages was one of a series of training techniques evaluated by the council in a study ″In the Mind’s Eye.″ The study was undertaken at the request of the Army, which asked the council to evaluate the ″new age″ techniques of enhancing human performance. Other studies showed that the tapes had ″no appreciable effect, positive or negative, on any measure of either self-esteem or memory.″

Yet, the committee found that some research shows that many of the tapes actually contain no messages that could influence behavior. ″The premise underlying subliminal suggestion - that a person can effortlessly accomplish in a matter of months or even weeks what others struggle but fail to do in a lifetime - is irresistible.″ ″The subliminal industry is big and, by most accounts, getting bigger,″ the report said.

They are being produced by about 2,000 companies or individuals. In 1987, the report said, Americans spent $50 million on such tapes. Tapes are offered, the committee said, to help people do such things as lose weight, stop smoking, quit drinking, think creatively, make friends, reduce pain, improve vision, cure acne, conquer fears, project astrally, mentally travel through space and become better at bowling. The committee said the theory is that these messages, repeated thousands of times, are picked up by the subconscious and then converted into changes in behavior. Tapes recordings of soothing sounds, such as waves or gentle breezes, are being sold on the basis that embedded behind these sounds, at a level that cannot be consciously detected, are messages that will lead to self improvement. ″We conclude that there is neither theoretical foundation nor experimental evidence to support claims that subliminal self-help audio tapes enhance human performance,″ the committee said in an NRC report released today.

WASHINGTON (AP) _ Americans spend $50 million a year on self-help tapes that supposedly send messages to the subconscious mind, but a committee of experts say there is no scientific evidence such tapes are of any value.Ī committee for the National Research Council, an affiliate of the National Academy of Sciences, said there is no real proof that so-called subliminal messages embedded in self-help tapes actually help a person reach a specific goal.