Immersion, Absorption, and Spiritual Experience: Some Preliminary Findings.
Joseph Glicksohn, Tal Dotan Ben-Soussan
Frontiers in Psychology 2020 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.02118 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Case study Case report Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 4 |
| Population | Female participants scoring high and low on the Absorption Scale |
| Intervention | whole-body perceptual deprivation (WBPD) tank |
| Topics | Mystical experience |
| Keywords | EEG Absorption Alpha Spiritual experience |
| Citations | 19 |
| Key findings | A spiritual experience reported as meeting God was associated with a marked increase in right-frontal alpha power, while ineffable mystical experiences are hypothesized to involve increased left-frontal alpha power. |
Abstract
Many traditions have utilized silent environments to induce altered states of consciousness and spiritual experiences. Neurocognitive explorations of spiritual experience can aid in understanding the underlying mechanism, but these are surprisingly rare. We present the verbal report and the electroencephalographic (EEG) alpha profile of a female participant scoring a maximal 34 on the Absorption Scale, recorded before and while she was immersed in a whole-body perceptual deprivation (WBPD) tank. We analyze her trancelike experience in terms of the imagery reported: a spaceship, corridors, doors, a man dressed in white, speaking to God, the sun, supernova, concentric images, and an out-of-body experience. Her report is indicative of a spiritual experience, given that she felt that she was "meeting God" in the laboratory. She exhibited both frontal and parietal left > right alpha power asymmetry at baseline, whereas in the WBPD condition, there was a global increase in alpha power and especially a sharp increase in right-frontal alpha power. Her verbal report and EEG alpha profile were compared to those of another female participant, also scoring high on absorption, whose verbal report was also indicative of a trancelike experience. For further comparison, we present the data for two participants scoring low on absorption. Spiritual experience that can be verbalized might be associated with a marked increase in right-frontal alpha power, as reported here. In contrast, a mystical experience characterized by ineffability would be indicated by a marked increase in left-frontal alpha power.
Comparable studies
Other case reports and case series on mystical experience, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| This is your brain on death: a comparative analysis of a near-death experience and subsequent 5-Methoxy-DMT experience. An individual who had a near-death experience during a coma caused by bacterial... | 2023 | Case study | n = 1 |
| The Bad Seed: Mystical Experience and Time Travel in the Treatment of Psychopathy A psychopathic personality | 2023 | Case study | n = 1 |
| An exploration of mystical experiences through life histories Three individuals (one woman, two men) in their fifties with appropriate mystical... | 2009 | Multiple case study within narrative methodology | n = 3 |
| Mystical Experiences as Catalysts in Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy: A Case Study Patient with generalized anxiety disorder and migraines | 2026 | Case study | n = 1 |
| Neural effects and phenomenology of nondual meditation and 5-MeO-DMT in an expert meditation practitioner Advanced meditator and Lama from the Mahāmudrā meditation tradition | 2025 | Case study | n = 1 |
Citations in the library
Cited by 9
- Spontaneous Spiritual Awakenings: Phenomenology, Altered States, Individual Differences, and Well-Being Frontiers in Psychology August 19, 2021
- Flavors of Ecstasy: States of Absorption in Islamic and Jewish Contemplative Traditions Religions October 9, 2022
- Silence between words: Is solitude important for relatedness? Progress in Brain Research 2024
- The cloud of unknowing: Cognitive dedifferentiation in whole-body perceptual deprivation. Progress in Brain Research 2023
- Conscious experience and emotion: an attention-based account. Frontiers in Psychology 2026
and 4 more in the library
Cites 19
- Prediction of Psilocybin Response in Healthy Volunteers PLoS One February 17, 2012
- Mindfulness-induced changes in gamma band activity – Implications for the default mode network, self-reference and attention Clinical Neurophysiology September 21, 2011
- The antipodes Of the mind November 7, 2002
- Sensed presence and mystical experiences are predicted by suggestibility, not by the application of transcranial weak complex magnetic fields Neuroscience Letters December 10, 2004
- Alterations in the sense of time, space and body in the Mindfulness-trained brain: A neurophenomenologically-guided MEG study Frontiers in Psychology May 22, 2014
and 14 more in the library