September 13, 2026
Félix Schoeller, Leonardo Christov-Moore, Ninette Simonian et al.
preprint
Aesthetic chills, psychogenic shivers elicited by emotionally charged stimuli such as music, offer a neurophysiological marker bridging subjective experience and measurable physiology. Although neuroimaging has localized chills to reward and interoceptive circuits and behavioral work has linked them to prosocial outcomes, their electrophysiological signature and its relationship to...
Frontiers in Psychology
2026
Leonardo Christov-Moore, Félix Schoeller, Mathilda Von Guttenberg et al.
Non-pharmacologically induced altered states of consciousness that promote mental health and wellbeing are a growing focus of clinical and basic research. Previous work has revealed the mood-augmenting, belief-altering, and self-transcendent effects of aesthetic-chills-inducing audiovisual stimulation. The current study investigated how a guided loving kindness meditation (LKM) combined with...
Communications Biology
November 6, 2025
Alex Jinich-Diamant, Sierra Simpson, Juan Pablo Zuniga-Hertz et al.
4 citations
Abstract Mind-body interventions offer promising avenues for improving physical and mental health, yet the comprehensive biological effects of increasingly popular mind-body retreat interventions remain poorly understood. The neural and molecular effects of a 7-day retreat intervention combining meditation, reconceptualization, and open-label placebo healing rituals are investigated in an...
Mindfulness
2025
Juan P Zuniga-Hertz, Sierra Simpson, Ramamurthy Chitetti et al.
3 citations
Meditation has long been known to promote health. We utilized a multidisciplinary approach to investigate the impact of mind-body interventions on the body in a twin cohort during a week-long meditation retreat. This study was designed to address individual changes controlling for intersubject trait variation and explore the role of genetic background on multi-omic factors during meditation....
PNAS Nexus
February 29, 2024
Félix Schoeller, Leonardo Christov-Moore, Caitlin Lynch et al.
Abstract Why does the same experience elicit strong emotional responses in some individuals while leaving others largely indifferent? Is the variance influenced by who people are (personality traits), how they feel (emotional state), where they come from (demographics), or a unique combination of these? In this 2,900+ participants study, we disentangle the factors that underlie individual...
PLOS mental health
2024
Leonardo Christov-Moore, Félix Schoeller, Caitlin Lynch et al.
11 citations
Self-transcendence (ST) is a state of consciousness associated with feelings of ego-dissolution, connectedness, and moral elevation, which mediates well-being, meaning-making, and prosociality. Conventional paths to ST, like religious practice, meditation, and psychedelics, pose nontrivial barriers to entry, limiting ST's study and application. Aesthetic chills (henceforth "chills") are a...
November 22, 2023
Félix Schoeller, Abhinandan Jain, Leonardo Christov-Moore et al.
6 citations
preprint
Aesthetic chills involve pleasurable bodily sensations co-occurring with self-transcendent emotions. In this study, 94 participants were exposed to pre-validated musical stimuli with chills-inducing potential. Participants experiencing chills reported significantly greater psychological insight and emotional awareness compared to non-chills controls. Chills intensity positively correlated with...
Cognitive Sciences
March 1, 2023
Leonardo Christov-Moore, Alex Jinich-Diamant, Adam Safron et al.
Our culture and its scientific endeavor direly need a holistic characterization of mind and body. Many phenomena attest to the profound effects of beliefs on bodily function (e.g., open-label placebo's effects on chronic pain) and interoceptive systems' role in mental processes (e.g., the emerging role of gut microbiomes in the mood). We need a mechanistic, integrative framework to account for...
Leonardo Christov-Moore, Félix Schoeller, Mathilda Von Guttenberg et al.
preprint
Understanding and facilitating access to non-ordinary experiences that can promote mental health and wellbeing is a growing focus of clinical and basic research. . Previous work has revealed the mood-augmenting, belief-altering, and self-transcendent effects of aesthetic-chills-inducing audiovisual stimulation, as a putative “technodelic.” The current study investigated how a guided loving...