Chanting is practiced in many religious and secular traditions and involves rhythmic vocalization or mental repetition of a sound or phrase. This study examined how chanting relates to cognitive function, altered states, and quality of life across a wide range of traditions. A global survey was used to assess experiences during chanting including flow states, mystical experiences, mindfulness,...
Abstract Psychedelic drugs, including lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and other agonists of the serotonin 2A receptor (5HT2A-R), induce drastic changes in subjective experience, and provide a unique opportunity to study the neurobiological basis of consciousness. One of the most notable neurophysiological signatures of psychedelics, increased entropy in spontaneous neural activity, is thought...
ABSTRACT The San trance dance has attracted considerable attention in terms of ethnography and rock art, as well as the human capacity for altered states of consciousness. However, its implications for shamanic ritual and associated states of consciousness remain undeveloped without understanding the brain mechanisms involved. Here I integrate previous models of trance with findings from...
Abstract Among life’s biggest questions—up there with the origins of the universe—is: Why and how are people aware at all? The sense of awareness, or what is commonly called “phenomenal consciousness,” or just consciousness, is not currently understood by scientists. Scientists do, of course, understand many of the contents of consciousness, such as mental processes like perceptions, thoughts,...
Abstract The knowledge that brain functional connectomes are both unique and reliable has enabled behaviourally relevant inferences at a subject level. However, it is unknown whether such “fingerprints” persist under altered states of consciousness. Ayahuasca is a potent serotonergic psychedelic which elicits a widespread dysregulation of functional connectivity. Used communally in religious...
Synaesthesia is a condition defined by additional perceptual experiences, which are automatically and consistently triggered by specific inducing stimuli. The associative nature of synaesthesia has motivated attempts to induce synaesthesia by means of associative learning. Two recent studies of this kind highlighted the potential for perceptual plasticity even in adulthood, by demonstrating...
The utility of classical drugs used to treat psychiatric disorders (e.g., antidepressants, anxiolytics) is often limited by issues of lack of efficacy, delayed onset of action or side effects. Psychoactive substances have a long history of being used as tools to alter consciousness and as a gateway to approach the unknown and the divinities. These substances were initially obtained from plants...
Psychoactive substances have been used by humankind for recreational purposes since time immemorial. The psychoactive properties of these substances are known to alter the consciousness, mood, and perception of people taking them. While the use of alcohol, opioids, and cannabinoids for recreational purposes has been researched thoroughly, cases of using psychoactive fauna or animal body parts...
Psychedelic substances have played important roles in diverse cultures, and ingesting various plant preparations to evoke altered states of consciousness has been described throughout recorded history. Accounts of the subjective effects of psychedelics typically focus on spiritual and mystical-type experiences, including feelings of unity, sacredness, and transcendence. Over the past 2 decades,...
Psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy holds great promise in the treatment of mental health disorders. Research into 5-hydroxytryptamine 2A receptor (5-HT2AR) agonist psychedelic compounds has increased dramatically over the past two decades. In humans, these compounds produce drastic effects on consciousness, and their therapeutic potential relates to changes in the processing of emotional,...