Modulating glutamatergic neurotransmission induces alterations in conscious experience that mimic the symptoms of early psychotic illness. We review studies that use intravenous administration of ketamine, focusing on interindividual variability in the profundity of the ketamine experience. We will consider this individual variability within a hypothetical model of brain and cognitive function...
Terror management theory posits that people tend to respond defensively to reminders of death, including worldview defense, self-esteem striving, and suppression of death thoughts. Seven experiments examined whether trait mindfulness-a disposition characterized by receptive attention to present experience-reduced defensive responses to mortality salience (MS). Under MS, less mindful individuals...
Recent advances in understanding hippocampal information processing offer new vistas on the mind-body and binding problems. Information encoded by the autoassociation network of cornu ammonis 3 (CA3) situates landmarks and objects within an allocentric framework of space and time. Guiding locomotion across the spatial environment, and generally organizing behaviour that transcends space and...
In the first of two recent papers, Pekala, Kumar, Maurer, Elliot-Carter, Moon and Mullen (2010a) review what they consider to be the relationships between trance or altered state effects, suggestibility, and expectancy, and how they relate to the concepts of hypnosis and hypnotism. They also suggest that these concepts can be assessed with an instrument they term the PCI-HAP (Phenomenology of...
An important principle of human ethics is that individuals are not responsible for actions performed when unconscious. Recent research found that the generation of an action and the building of a conscious experience of that action (agency) are distinct processes and crucial mechanisms for self-consciousness. Yet, previous agency studies have focussed on actions of a finger or hand. Here, we...
This study sought to determine if self-reported hypnotic depth (srHD) could be predicted from the variables of the Phenomenology of Consciousness Inventory - Hypnotic Assessment Procedure (PCI-HAP) (Pekala, 1995a, 1995b; Pekala & Kumar, 2007; Pekala et al., 2010), assessing several of the processes theorized by researchers to be associated with hypnotism: trance (altered state effects),...
ABSTRACTThis article examines the neurobiological basis of the healing power attributed to shamanic practices in the Andes and Brazil in light of the pharmacology of neurotransmitters and the new technological explorations of brain functioning. The psychotropic plants used in shamanic psychiatric cures interfere selectively with the intrinsic neuromediators of the brain. Mainly they may alter:...
The concept of the shaman has cross-cultural validity, reflecting common patterns of behavior associated with spiritual healing practices found in foraging societies worldwide. These empirical characteristics associated with these practices are examined from evolutionary perspectives and in terms of an evolutionary psychology that identifies their underlying biological bases. The physiological...
Although there have been studies of some factors related to the features of out-of-body experiences (OBEs), the effect of physical body posture and activity has not been systematically explored. Over the years research has suggested that OBEs are more frequent in states of low physical activity and when the body is supine, in agreement with other findings related to alterations in...