Unusual but Filtered Minds? A Psychophysiology Study of Sensorimotor Gating in People with (Psychotic-Like) Transpersonal Experiences
Veena Kumari, Satyam Chauhan, Emmanuelle Peters
Open MIND 2025 DOI: 10.17605/osf.io/jxmn5 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Study protocol Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Measures | Prepulse inhibition (PPI) of the startle response |
| Key points | Proposes that individuals reporting psychotic-like transpersonal experiences without distress or schizophrenia diagnosis may show sensory aberrations similar to those in schizophrenia, as measured by prepulse inhibition. |
Abstract
There is increased recognition of a need to better understand and explain non-ordinary experiences and spirituality at different levels and consider their potential implications and applications for improving mental health. An important question in this context is: Do individuals who report psychotic-like experiences (e.g., hear voices), but do not find them distressing and do not have a schizophrenia diagnosis, show similar sensory aberrations as found in people with schizophrenia. This study will focus on examining sensory information processing characteristics of people who report psychotic-like transpersonal experiences (TEs) but do not have a diagnosis of schizophrenia and provide non-threatening and supernatural or spiritual explanations for their unusual experiences, using prepulse inhibition (PPI) of the startle response. PPI is an established psychophysiological measure of sensorimotor gating.