Journal of Anomalous Experience and Cognition
August 29, 2023
Etzel Cardeña
Charles Tart was arguably the most important theoretician and researcher of altered states of consciousness (ASC) during the second half of the 20th century. His vast output included books and articles extending the frontiers of study of states of consciousness in general, and of the hypnagogic state, dreaming, meditation, hypnosis, and minor and major psychedelic drugs, among others. Rather...
Somnologie: Schlafforschung und Schlafmedizin
August 15, 2023
Severin Ableidinger, Gerhard Klösch, Brigitte Holzinger
Abstract In dream research there exists a multitude of dream questionnaires and dream content analysis scales. However, many of them are either limited, not standardized or validated, or require a lot of effort. At the same time there are often divergent or even contradictory results in dream research, and comparability between different studies is often limited. Large sample sizes are rare but...
Routledge eBooks
August 11, 2023
Douglas Thomas
BDSM and kink practitioners sometimes describe scenes that induce altered dream-like states with blurred boundaries and vivid transcendent imagery. Firsthand accounts illustrate the intensity and transformational character of such experiences, which can be characterized as ecstatic. The activities of alternative sexualities are a modern iteration of humanity’s archetypal fascination with...
IS4SI Summit 2023
August 11, 2023
G. Dodig-Crnkovic
: This article addresses the background and nature of the recent success of Large Language Models (LLMs), tracing the history of their fundamental concepts from Leibniz and his calculus ratiocinator to Turing’s computational models of learning, and ultimately to the current development of GPTs. As Kahneman’s “System 1”-type processes, GPTs lack mechanisms that would render them conscious, but...
British Journal of Anaesthesia
August 1, 2023
Katja Valli, Linda Radek, Roosa E Kallionpää et al.
Anaesthetic-induced unresponsiveness and non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep share common neural pathways and neurophysiological features. We hypothesised that these states bear resemblance also at the experiential level. We compared, in a within-subject design, the prevalence and content of experiences in reports obtained after anaesthetic-induced unresponsiveness and NREM sleep. Healthy males...
Consciousness and Cognition
August 1, 2023
Burak Erdeniz, Ege Tekgün, Bigna Lenggenhager et al.
2 citations
The peripersonal space, that is, the limited space surrounding the body, involves multisensory coding and representation of the self in space. Previous studies have shown that peripersonal space representation and the visual perspective on the environment can be dramatically altered when neurotypical individuals self-identify with a distant avatar (i.e., in virtual reality) or during clinical...
AN-ICON
July 21, 2023
Federica Cavaletti
From its very origins, cinema has demonstrated a particular interest in the representation of altered states of consciousness: memories, visions, nightmares and dreams are a common feature of narrative films and usually interrupt a flow of events by inserting different temporalities in the present of the story. Following the arguments explored by Gilles Deleuze in his groundbreaking works on...
July 13, 2023
Nevill Drury
The astral projectionist would thus find himself sometimes engaged in a confrontation with ‘spiritual images’ in a fantastic drama, sometimes enacting very powerful cosmic ‘events’ which impressed him deeply at the time as being equally as true and valid as the phenomena of everyday reality. Sylvan Muldoon, who is best known for his book ‘The Projection of the Astral Body’ first published in...
July 13, 2023
Nevill Drury
The crucial stage had now been reached - the borderland area between sleep, and lucid dreaming or astral projection. The act of transfer was all-important. Modern occultists use the term ‘skrying’ for this type of activity. In essence it resembles the shaman-istic journey into the hinterland of the subconscious. Carlos Castaneda’s transformation into a crow now assumes special significance as...
British Journal of Psychotherapy
June 30, 2023
Nadav Liam Modlin, Joanne Stubley, Carolina Maggio et al.
11 citations
The psychedelic state can be thought about as an interdependent intrapsychic, somatic, interpersonal and spiritual happening which encourages, perhaps both to the relief and dismay of those participating in the experience, the shocking and impressive emergence of one's unconscious desires and traumata's; a state which may be experienced as cathartic or healing, and as anxiety‐provoking and...