Insights from Ecstatic Epilepsy: From Uncertainty to Metacognitive Feelings.
Nina M Sooter, Federico Seragnoli, Fabienne Picard
Current Topics in Behavioral Neurosciences 2025 DOI: 10.1007/7854_2024_528 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Mystical experience |
| Keywords | Ecstatic epilepsy Insula Metacognitive feeling Self-awareness Uncertainty |
| Key points | Proposes that ecstatic epilepsy offers a natural model to inform understanding of the insula's role in the sentient self, uncertainty and surprise monitoring, and metacognitive feelings. |
Abstract
Ecstatic epilepsy is a rare form of focal epilepsy linked to the anterior insula in which patients experience a blissful state with a unique set of symptoms, including a feeling of physical well-being, mental clarity, a sense of oneness with the universe, and time dilation. In this chapter, we reflect on how these symptoms coincide with our current knowledge of the insula's functions and explore how this stunning natural model can further inform our understanding of the insula's role in the sentient self, uncertainty and surprise monitoring, and metacognitive feelings.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on mystical experience, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Religious and Mystical Experiences as Artifacts of Temporal Lobe Function: A General Hypothesis | 1983 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| The Psychedelic Mystical Experience in the Human Encounter with Death | 1969 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Vectorial Cerebral Hemisphericity as Differential Sources for the Sensed Presence, Mystical Experiences and Religious Conversions | 1993 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| The epistemic innocence of psychedelic states. | 2016 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Mystical Experience and Religious Doctrine | 1982 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
Citations in the library
Cites 17
- Active interoceptive inference and the emotional brain Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences October 11, 2016
- From many to (n)one: Meditation and the plasticity of the predictive mind. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews September 1, 2021
- A neurophenomenological approach to non-ordinary states of consciousness: hypnosis, meditation, and psychedelics Trends in Cognitive Sciences December 22, 2022
- Near-Death Experience as a Probe to Explore (Disconnected) Consciousness Trends in Cognitive Sciences January 22, 2020
- Altered Insula Connectivity under MDMA. Neuropsychopharmacology February 14, 2017
and 12 more in the library