scholarly journals Neural Correlates of a Trance Process and Alternative States of Consciousness in a Traditional Healer

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 497
Author(s):  
Rebecca G. Rogerson ◽  
Rebecca E. Barnstaple ◽  
Joseph FX DeSouza
Keyword(s):  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Blood Oxygen Level Dependent ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Altered States Of Consciousness ◽  
Auditory Stimuli ◽  
Altered States ◽  
Bold Signal ◽  
Blood Oxygen Level ◽  
States Of Consciousness ◽  
The Right

Trance processes are a form of altered states of consciousness (ASC) widely reported across cultures. Entering these states is often linked to auditory stimuli such as singing, chanting, or rhythmic drumming. While scientific research into this phenomenon is relatively nascent, there is emerging interest in investigating the neural correlates of altered states of consciousness such as trance. This report aims to add to this field of ASC through exploring how the perception of an experienced Sangoma (traditional South African healer) entering a trance process correlates to blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) signal modulation with auditory stimuli. Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) data were analyzed using a General Linear Model comparing music versus no music condition multiplied by the percept of experiencing trance (High or Low). Positive BOLD activation was shown in the auditory cortex in both hemispheres during a trance process. Other brain regions tightly correlated to trance perception were the right parietal, right frontal, and area prostriata (p < 0.05, Bonferroni corrected). The orbitofrontal cortex (part of the Default Mode Network) was negatively activated and most correlated with music when trance was high, showing the largest differential between high and low trance perception. This is the first study to directly correlate BOLD signal variations in an expert subject’s percept of trance onset and intensity, providing insight into the neural signature and dynamics of this unique form of ASC. Future studies should examine in greater detail the perception of trance processes in expert subjects, adding other neuroimaging modalities to further investigate how these brain regions are modulated by trance expertise.

scholarly journals Neural Correlates of a Trance Process and Alternative States of Consciousness in a Traditional Healer

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca G. Rogerson ◽  
Rebecca Barnstaple ◽  
Joseph F.X. DeSouza
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Altered States Of Consciousness ◽  
Auditory Stimuli ◽  
Altered States ◽  
Bold Signal ◽  
States Of Consciousness ◽  
Neural Signature ◽  
Insight Into

AbstractTrance processes are a form of altered states of consciousness (ASC) widely reported across cultures. Entering these states is often linked to auditory stimuli such as singing, chanting, or rhythmic drumming. While scientific research into this phenomenon is relatively nascent, there is emerging interest in investigating the neural correlates of altered states of consciousness such as trance. This report aims to add to this field of ASC through exploring how the perception of an experienced Sangoma--traditional South African healer--entering a trance process correlates to BOLD signal modulation with auditory stimuli. Functional MRI data were analyzed using a General Linear model comparing music versus no music condition multiplied by the percept of experiencing trance (High or Low). Positive BOLD activation was shown in auditory cortex in both hemispheres during a trance process. Other brain regions tightly correlated to trance perception were right parietal, right frontal, and area prostriata (P<0.05, Bonferroni corrected). Orbitofrontal cortex (part of the Default Mode Network) was negatively activated and most correlated with music when trance was high, showing the largest differential between high and low trance perception. This is the first study to directly correlate BOLD signal variations in an expert subject’s percept of trance onset and intensity, providing insight into the neural signature and dynamics of this unique form of ASC. Future studies should examine in greater detail perception of trance processes in expert subjects, adding other neuroimaging modalities to further investigate how these brain regions are modulated by trance expertise.

scholarly journals Brain reactivity using fMRI to insomnia stimuli in insomnia patients with discrepancy between subjective and objective sleep

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Young-Bo Kim ◽  
Nambeom Kim ◽  
Jae Jun Lee ◽  
Seo-Eun Cho ◽  
Kyoung-Sae Na ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Brain Activity ◽  
Blood Oxygen Level Dependent ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Cognitive Distortion ◽  
Sleep Diary ◽  
Bold Signal ◽  
Blood Oxygen Level ◽  
General Anxiety ◽  
Sleep Deficit ◽  
Perception Of Sleep

AbstractSubjective–objective discrepancy of sleep (SODS) might be related to the distorted perception of sleep deficit and hypersensitivity to insomnia-related stimuli. We investigated differences in brain activation to insomnia-related stimuli among insomnia patients with SODS (SODS group), insomnia patients without SODS (NOSODS group), and healthy controls (HC). Participants were evaluated for subjective and objective sleep using sleep diary and polysomnography. Functional magnetic resonance imaging was conducted during the presentation of insomnia-related (Ins), general anxiety-inducing (Gen), and neutral (Neu) stimuli. Brain reactivity to the contrast of Ins vs. Neu and Gen vs. Neu was compared among the SODS (n = 13), NOSODS (n = 15), and HC (n = 16) groups. In the SODS group compared to other groups, brain areas including the left fusiform, bilateral precuneus, right superior frontal gyrus, genu of corpus callosum, and bilateral anterior corona radiata showed significantly increased blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) signal in the contrast of Ins vs. Neu. There was no brain region with significantly increased BOLD signal in the Gen vs. Neu contrast in the group comparisons. Increased brain activity to insomnia-related stimuli in several brain regions of the SODS group is likely due to these individuals being more sensitive to sleep-related threat and negative cognitive distortion toward insomnia.

scholarly journals Neural correlates of the shamanic state of consciousness

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emma R Huels ◽  
Hyoungkyu Kim ◽  
UnCheol Lee ◽  
Tarik Bel-Bahar ◽  
Angelo Colmenero ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Classical Music ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Altered States Of Consciousness ◽  
Music Listening ◽  
Altered States ◽  
Beta Band ◽  
Drug Induced ◽  
States Of Consciousness ◽  
Signal Diversity

Despite the use of shamanism as a healing practice for several millennia, few empirical studies of the shamanic state of consciousness exist. We investigated the neural correlates of shamanic trance using high-density electroencephalography (EEG) in 24 shamanic practitioners and 24 healthy controls during rest, shamanic drumming, and classical music listening, followed by a validated assessment of altered states of consciousness. EEG data were used to assess changes in absolute power, connectivity, signal diversity, and criticality, which were correlated with assessment measures. We also compared assessment scores to those of individuals in a previous study under the influence of psychedelics. Shamanic practitioners were significantly different from controls in several domains of altered states of consciousness, with scores comparable to or exceeding that of healthy volunteers under the influence of psychedelics. Practitioners also displayed increased gamma power during drumming that positively correlated with elementary visual alterations. Furthermore, shamanic practitioners had decreased low alpha and increased low beta connectivity during drumming and classical music, and decreased neural signal diversity in the gamma band during drumming that inversely correlated with insightfulness. Finally, criticality in practitioners was increased during drumming in the low and high beta and gamma bands, with increases in the low beta band correlating with complex imagery and elementary visual alterations. These findings suggest that psychedelic drug-induced and non-pharmacologic alterations in consciousness have overlapping phenomenal traits but are distinct states of consciousness, as reflected by the unique brain-related changes during shamanic trance compared to previous literature investigating the psychedelic state.

scholarly journals Neural Correlates of the Shamanic State of Consciousness

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emma R. Huels ◽  
Hyoungkyu Kim ◽  
UnCheol Lee ◽  
Tarik Bel-Bahar ◽  
Angelo V. Colmenero ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Classical Music ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Altered States Of Consciousness ◽  
Music Listening ◽  
Altered States ◽  
Beta Band ◽  
Drug Induced ◽  
States Of Consciousness ◽  
Signal Diversity

Psychedelics have been recognized as model interventions for studying altered states of consciousness. However, few empirical studies of the shamanic state of consciousness, which is anecdotally similar to the psychedelic state, exist. We investigated the neural correlates of shamanic trance using high-density electroencephalography (EEG) in 24 shamanic practitioners and 24 healthy controls during rest, shamanic drumming, and classical music listening, followed by an assessment of altered states of consciousness. EEG data were used to assess changes in absolute power, connectivity, signal diversity, and criticality, which were correlated with assessment measures. We also compared assessment scores to those of individuals in a previous study under the influence of psychedelics. Shamanic practitioners were significantly different from controls in several domains of altered states of consciousness, with scores comparable to or exceeding that of healthy volunteers under the influence of psychedelics. Practitioners also displayed increased gamma power during drumming that positively correlated with elementary visual alterations. Furthermore, shamanic practitioners had decreased low alpha and increased low beta connectivity during drumming and classical music and decreased neural signal diversity in the gamma band during drumming that inversely correlated with insightfulness. Finally, criticality in practitioners was increased during drumming in the low and high beta and gamma bands, with increases in the low beta band correlating with complex imagery and elementary visual alterations. These findings suggest that psychedelic drug-induced and non-pharmacologic alterations in consciousness have overlapping phenomenal traits but are distinct states of consciousness, as reflected by the unique brain-related changes during shamanic trance compared to previous literature investigating the psychedelic state.

scholarly journals Electrocortical (EEG) correlates of music and states of consciousness

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lazar Skaric ◽  
Milorad Tomasevic ◽  
Dejan Rakovic ◽  
Emil Jovanov ◽  
Vlada Radivojevic ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Response ◽  
Hemispheric Specialization ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Altered States Of Consciousness ◽  
Altered States ◽  
Multidisciplinary Research ◽  
Frequency Bands ◽  
Alpha Frequency ◽  
States Of Consciousness ◽  
The Difference

The study of the perception of music is a paramount example of multidisciplinary research. In spite of a lot of theoretical and experimental efforts to understand musical processing, attempts to localize musical abilities in particular brain regions were largely unsuccessful, save for the difference between musicians and non musicians, especially in hemispheric specialization and in EEG correlational dimensions. Having in mind that human emotional response to music and to art in general is limbic dependent, this motivated us to address our question to a similar possible neurobiological origin of musicogenic altered states of consciousness and its possible EEG correlates, “resonantly” induced by deep spiritual music. For example, as in sound-induced altered states of consciousness cultivated in some Eastern yogic practices. The musicogenic states of consciousness are evaluated within a group of 6 adults, upon the influence of 4 types of spiritual music. The most prominent changes in theta or alpha frequency bands were induced in two subjects, upon the influence of Indian spiritual music, Bhajan.

P.0833 Neural correlates of pharmacologically and non-pharmacologically induced altered states of consciousness

2021 ◽  
Vol 53 ◽  
pp. S608-S609
Author(s):  
F. Moujaes ◽  
N. Rieser ◽  
N. Prates de Matos ◽  
M. Brügger ◽  
P. Stämpfli ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Altered States Of Consciousness ◽  
Altered States ◽  
States Of Consciousness

Consciousness: A Very Short Introduction

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Blackmore
Keyword(s):  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Altered States Of Consciousness ◽  
Altered States ◽  
Short Introduction ◽  
New Developments ◽  
Brain Science ◽  
States Of Consciousness ◽  
The World ◽  
Construction Of Self ◽  
The Brain

Consciousness is ‘the last great mystery for science’. How can a physical brain create our experience of the world? What creates our identity? Do we really have free will? Could consciousness itself be an illusion? Exciting new developments in brain science are continuing these debates, and the field has now expanded to include biologists, neuroscientists, psychologists, and philosophers. Consciousness: A Very Short Introduction clarifies the potentially confusing arguments, and the major theories, whilst also outlining the amazing pace of neuroscience discoveries. Covering areas such as construction of self in the brain, mechanisms of attention, neural correlates of consciousness, and physiology of altered states of consciousness, it highlights the latest findings.

scholarly journals Comparison of Cortical Autonomic Network-Linked Sympathetic Excitation by Mueller Maneuvers and Breath-Holds in Subjects With and Without Obstructive Sleep Apnea

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keri S. Taylor ◽  
Daniel A. Keir ◽  
Nobuhiko Haruki ◽  
Derek S. Kimmerly ◽  
Philip J. Millar ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Obstructive Sleep Apnea ◽  
Sleep Apnea ◽  
Central Sleep Apnea ◽  
Blood Oxygen Level Dependent ◽  
Apnea Hypopnea Index ◽  
Bold Signal ◽  
Blood Oxygen Level ◽  
Efferent Nerve ◽  
Obstructive Sleep ◽  
The Right

In healthy young volunteers, acquisition of blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) magnetic resonance (MR) and muscle sympathetic nerve (MSNA) signals during simulation of obstructive or central sleep apnea identified cortical cardiovascular autonomic regions in which the BOLD signal changed synchronously with acute noradrenergic excitation. In the present work, we tested the hypothesis that such Mueller maneuvers (MM) and breath-holds (BH) would elicit greater concomitant changes in mean efferent nerve firing and BOLD signal intensity in patients with moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) relative to age- and sex-matched individuals with no or only mild OSA (Apnea Hypopnea Index, AHI, &lt;15 events/h). Forty-six participants, 24 with OSA [59 ± 8 years; AHI 31 ± 18 events/h (mean ± SD); seven women] and 22 without (58 ± 11 years; AHI 7 ± 4; nine women), performed a series of three MM and three BH, in randomly assigned order, twice: during continuous recording of MSNA from the right fibular nerve and, on a separate day, during T2∗-weighted echo planar functional MR imaging. MSNA at rest was greater in those with OSA (65 ± 19 vs. 48 ± 17 bursts per 100 heart beats; p &lt; 0.01). MM and BH elicited similar heart rate, blood pressure, and MSNA responses in the two cohorts; group mean BOLD data were concordant, detecting no between-group differences in cortical autonomic region signal activities. The present findings do not support the concept that recurring episodes of cyclical apnea during sleep alter cortical or peripheral neural responsiveness to their simulation during wakefulness by volitional Mueller maneuvers or breath-holds.

scholarly journals Neural effects of oxytocin and mimicry in frontotemporal dementia

Neurology ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 95 (19) ◽  
pp. e2635-e2647 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lindsay D. Oliver ◽  
Chloe Stewart ◽  
Kristy Coleman ◽  
James H. Kryklywy ◽  
Robert Bartha ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Frontotemporal Dementia ◽  
Facial Expressions ◽  
Neural Activity ◽  
Blood Oxygen Level Dependent ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Bold Signal ◽  
Class Iii ◽  
Emotional Facial Expressions ◽  
Blood Oxygen Level

ObjectiveTo determine whether intranasal oxytocin, alone or in combination with instructed mimicry of facial expressions, would augment neural activity in patients with frontotemporal dementia (FTD) in brain regions associated with empathy, emotion processing, and the simulation network, as indexed by blood oxygen–level dependent (BOLD) signal during fMRI.MethodsIn a placebo-controlled, randomized crossover design, 28 patients with FTD received 72 IU intranasal oxytocin or placebo and then completed an fMRI facial expression mimicry task.ResultsOxytocin alone and in combination with instructed mimicry increased activity in regions of the simulation network and in limbic regions associated with emotional expression processing.ConclusionsThe findings demonstrate latent capacity to augment neural activity in affected limbic and other frontal and temporal regions during social cognition in patients with FTD, and support the promise and need for further investigation of these interventions as therapeutics in FTD.ClinicalTrials.gov identifierNCT01937013.Classification of evidenceThis study provides Class III evidence that a single dose of 72 IU intranasal oxytocin augments BOLD signal in patients with FTD during viewing of emotional facial expressions.

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