Extended cessation (EC) is a rare, non-ordinary meditative endpoint characterized by a temporary absence of reportable phenomenal experience, followed by an extraordinary perceptual vividness, openness, equanimity and affective balance. EC thus offers a unique, non-pharmacological window into the brain dynamics underlying suspension of conscious experience and the subsequent psychological...
Classic psychedelics typically act at the serotonin 5-HT2A receptor to profoundly alter brain function and consciousness. Research on these compounds has accelerated. Major strides have been made in understanding their unique mechanisms of action and clinical potential. This Review outlines the state of psychedelic science, spanning cellular mechanisms, systems neuroscience and clinical...
In Ken Russell’s film Altered States (1980), the character Dr. Jessup (played by William Hurt) is a psychopathologist who embarks on a journey of intellectual and spiritual self-discovery. After experimenting with isolation tanks, Jessup travels to Mexico to take part in the religious practices of the Indigenous Hinchi, a ceremony that includes ingesting the hallucinogenic mushroom Amanita...
NeuroimageFebruary 4, 2026Gabriel A. Della Bella, Agustina Velez Picatto, Dante Sebastián Galván Rial et al.
Non-ordinary states of consciousness (NOC) offer a way to examine how large-scale brain dynamics reorganize as experience changes. We studied a participant able to reliably enter a self-induced NOC state characterized by vivid imagery, altered bodily perception, and a sense of unity. Across 20 fMRI sessions, we measured functional connectivity in four conditions (Baseline, Transition, NOC, and...
Employing a spectral analysis framework based on Chaos Game Representation (CGR), we investigated the multimer-based dynamics of EEG microstates across broadband and canonical frequency bands during reversible unconsciousness (anesthesia and sleep). Robust periodic components consistently emerged within microstate sequences across theta, alpha, beta, and gamma bands, persisting across distinct...
Awareness during general anesthesia—the postoperative recall of sensory experiences while under anesthesia—remains among medicine’s most haunting yet underexplored phenomena. Affecting 1 to 2 in every 1,000 patients, anesthesia awareness challenges assumptions of total unconsciousness and highlights the gap between scientific understanding and lived experience. Even with proper anesthetic...
Abstract Large language models (LLMs) are increasingly consulted by individuals for support during psychedelic experiences ("trip sitting"), yet no framework exists to evaluate whether these models can accurately simulate or safely respond to altered states of consciousness. We aimed to determine if LLMs can be induced to generate narratives resembling human psychedelic experiences and to...
This perspective article explores the utilization of the neuroscience concept of flow state for therapeutic usage with older adult populations. Operationally defined, flow state is an altered state of consciousness (ASOC) that emerges when a person engages in an activity or endeavor. Once engrossed within this physical or cognitive undertaking, the person performs at their best (optimal) while...
Delusions in psychosis involve complex and dynamic experiential, affective, cognitive, behavioural, and interpersonal alterations. Their pattern of emergence during the early stages of illness remains poorly understood and the origin of their thematic content unclear. Phenomenological accounts have emphasised alterations of selfhood and reality experience in delusion formation but have not...
Frontiers in PsychologyJanuary 30, 2026Nina Zech, Martin H. J. Busch, Veronika K. Jaeger et al.
Introduction: Mind-body interventions are increasingly used in health care, both for physical and for psychological therapy. With directing the focus to the body and inner experiences they include elements of trance induction and hypnosis. The scope of this experimental study was to test the hypothesis that a non-ordinary state of consciousness may occur during a mind-body intervention with...