People who report having transcendent experiences daily show larger late contingent negative variation (CNV) amplitudes in simple reaction-time tasks and smaller distraction effects when a memory task is added, compared with people who have such experiences only a few times per year. Those with intermediate frequency (10–20 per year) fall in the middle. The pattern suggests that repeated transcendent experiences may cumulatively heighten cortical preparatory responses and improve executive control.
A new questionnaire measures adults' recall of childhood and adolescent transpersonal experiences—mystical, out-of-body, lucid dreams, archetypal dreams, and ESP—alongside nightmares and night terrors. In two exploratory studies, adults with high estimated early transpersonal experiences and practicing meditators were compared with undergraduate controls. A cognitive skills/precocity model and a vulnerability of self model were tested using questionnaire categories, imaginative absorption, neuroticism, and visual-spatial skills. Results suggest support for both models, depending on the type of experience, the age of recall, and whether the adult meditates.