Neuroscience of Consciousness
January 1, 2024
Charlotte Martial, Robin Carhart-Harris, Christopher Timmermann
9 citations
People who have had both a near-death experience (NDE) and a psychedelic experience (PE) report overlapping mystical-like effects, such as feelings of unity and transcendence, and similar attributions of reality, psychological insights, and lasting changes. However, low-level sensory phenomena differ: NDEs involve stronger disembodiment, while psychedelics produce more visual imagery. The study used an online survey of 31 adults who had experienced both an NDE (scoring ≥27 on the NDE-C scale) and a PE with classic psychedelics. Bayesian and frequentist analyses confirmed these overlaps and differences, suggesting psychedelics can model the mystical aspects of NDEs but not their sensory features.
Clinical neurophysiology : official journal of the International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology
May 1, 2025
Paolo Cardone, Pablo Núñez, Naji L N Alnagger et al.
7 citations
A patient in a minimally conscious state plus received psilocybin, a classic psychedelic, for the first time. No increase in overt behavioral repertoire was observed on validated scales, but new spontaneous behavior not previously seen emerged, and brain complexity, measured by the Lempel-Ziv complexity index, increased with changes in underlying periodic rhythms. This case report contributes to future investigations of psychedelics for disorders of consciousness and the link between brain complexity and consciousness.
Neuroscience of consciousness
January 1, 2024
Audrey Vanhaudenhuyse, Marie-Carmen Castillo, Charlotte Martial et al.
7 citations
Auto-induced cognitive trance (AICT) produces richer and more distinct subjective experiences than ordinary rest, auditory stimulation, or imagination. In 27 trained participants, free recalls of experiences were longer during AICT than in other conditions. Text mining identified four distinct classes of discourse, with AICT forming its own class clearly separate from ordinary conscious states. Nine content categories emerged, including nature, animals, body modifications, and difficulty describing thoughts. AICT was specifically characterized by reports of nature, animals, body modifications, and difficulty describing thoughts. These findings indicate that AICT generates a unique and richer phenomenology compared to other conscious states.
Open Repository and Bibliography (University of Liège)
October 13, 2020
Olivia Gosseries, Charlotte Martial
5 citations
An interview with Olivia Gosseries explores the potential of psychedelic drugs, particularly psilocybin, as a treatment for disorders of consciousness such as the persistent vegetative state. While psilocybin is undergoing clinical investigations in healthy volunteers and clinical populations, experts propose extending this research to patients with disorders of consciousness. Gosseries, drawing on her empirical and theoretical work, supports implementing rigorous clinical trials to test efficacy. The interview also touches on ethical and legal challenges and discusses other non-pathological modified states of consciousness.
Int J Clin Health Psychol
January 1, 2025
Victor Oswald, Karim Jerbi, Corine Sombrun et al.
4 citations
People vary widely in their experiences during non-ordinary states of consciousness, and this variation is linked to measurable differences in the autonomic nervous system. The study shows that subjective experiences—such as changes in perception, emotion, or sense of self—correspond with distinct patterns of physiological responses, like heart rate or skin conductance. These findings suggest that the body's nervous system plays a key role in shaping how individuals experience altered states, highlighting a direct connection between inner, subjective phenomena and physiological processes.
bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
August 19, 2024
Naji Alnagger, Paolo Cardone, Charlotte Martial et al.
3 citations
preprint
Disorders of consciousness, such as unresponsive wakefulness syndrome (UWS) and minimally conscious state (MCS), have few treatments. Using whole-brain computational models built from individual patients' fMRI and diffusion-weighted imaging data, this virtual clinical trial simulated the effects of LSD and psilocybin. The psychedelics shifted the brains of patients with disorders of consciousness closer to a critical dynamical state, with a larger effect in MCS patients. In UWS patients, the treatment response depended on structural connectivity, whereas in MCS patients it aligned with baseline functional connectivity. These results provide a computational foundation for considering psychedelics in treating disorders of consciousness and highlight the role of computational modeling in drug discovery and personalized medicine.
International journal of clinical and health psychology : IJCHP
January 1, 2024
Charlotte Martial, Pauline Fritz, Héléna Cassol et al.
3 citations
One year after a prolonged intensive care unit (ICU) stay, survivors who reported a near-death experience (NDE) retained vivid, stable memories with many phenomenological details such as visual features and emotions. Among 126 adult ICU survivors, 19 (15%) reported an NDE as identified by the Greyson scale. The most common NDE features were altered time perception, heightened senses, and life review; Greyson scores did not change over the year. One year later, 18% of the NDE group and 24% of the non-NDE group were less afraid of death. The findings suggest that clinicians should interview all ICU patients about their memories.
Advanced Science
November 20, 2025
Paolo Cardone, Charlotte Martial, Yonatan Sanz Perl et al.
2 citations
Simulated administration of LSD and psilocybin in computational models of patients with disorders of consciousness (DoC), including unresponsive wakefulness syndrome (UWS) and minimally conscious state (MCS), shifted brain activity closer to criticality—the phase transition between order and chaos. The effect was greater in MCS patients. In UWS patients, the treatment response correlated with structural connectivity, while in MCS patients it aligned with baseline functional connectivity. These results provide a computational foundation for using psychedelics in DoC treatment and highlight the potential role of computational modeling in drug discovery and personalized medicine.
Brain and Behavior
October 1, 2025
Pauline Fritz, Anaïs Pichelin, Aurore Ancion et al.
2 citations
A case of a near-death experience (NDE) occurring in a medical and pharmacological context is examined, highlighting the lasting transformations it can trigger. The account underscores the importance for clinicians to recognize NDEs because of their potential long-term effects on patients and their relevance to medical practice.
Frontiers in Psychology
July 22, 2025
Pascal Michael, Pauline Fritz, Olivia Gosseries et al.
1 citation
Near-death experiences (NDEs), which involve mystical-type content during life-threatening situations, are not well studied in acute medical care. This article argues for more comprehensive NDE research in emergency and critical care settings, citing reasons such as experiencers' awareness of surroundings and the need for patient support due to NDEs' profound psychological impacts. The authors suggest incorporating identification of NDEs into management plans and propose that exploring NDE incidence and their subsequent impact in acute settings may lead to favorable clinical outcomes.
The International journal of clinical and experimental hypnosis
January 1, 2025
Aminata Bicego, Naji Alnagger, Etzel Cardeña et al.
1 citation
Auto-induced cognitive trance (AICT) can produce mystical-type experiences in healthy individuals, with 29% of participants reporting such experiences during AICT compared to none during a rest condition. The study examined twenty-seven people who could self-induce AICT, measuring their religious and spiritual practices and paranormal beliefs beforehand. Participants completed five conditions including rest, imagination, and AICT with or without auditory stimulation. The intensity of the AICT experience and features resembling near-death experiences were linked to mystical-type experiences only during AICT. This is the first demonstration that AICT, a technique distinct from hypnosis or meditation, can induce mystical-type experiences outside life-threatening situations.
Brain Communications
January 4, 2022
Daniel Kondziella, Charlotte Martial
1 citation
This peer-reviewed work explores the intersections of subjectivity, transparency, ontology, epistemology, philosophy, political science, law, paranormal experiences and beliefs, Jungian analytical psychology, and religious studies and spiritual practices. It examines how these diverse fields inform understandings of human experience and belief systems, arguing for a nuanced approach to studying phenomena that challenge conventional empirical frameworks. The text discusses theoretical and philosophical perspectives, integrating insights from multiple disciplines to address questions about the nature of reality, knowledge, and spiritual or paranormal claims. It suggests that interdisciplinary dialogue enriches scholarly inquiry into these complex topics.
Frontiers in Neuroscience
January 1, 2018
Héléna Cassol, Arnaud D’Argembeau, Vanessa Charland‐verville et al.
1 citation
No Summary
arXiv (Cornell University)
September 23, 2025
Victor Oswald, Karim Jerbi, Corine Sombrun et al.
A self-induced, substance-free trance state called Auto-Induced Cognitive Trance (AICT) engages frontal regions, the posterior cingulate cortex, and the left parietal cortex, brain areas linked to rich subjective experiences. Analysis of EEG recordings from 27 trained participants showed that the aperiodic component of the power spectrum, entropy, and complexity measures distinguished AICT from rest, with the aperiodic component being the strongest discriminator. Baseline neural activity in frontal and parietal regions predicted how much brain activity changed when entering the trance. These results suggest that self-induced trance states alter neural functioning in ways that may explain their intense and unique subjective qualities.
Frontiers in psychiatry
January 1, 2023
Yan Li, Yan Chen, Charlotte Martial et al.
A Chinese version of the Near-Death Experience Content (NDE-C) scale was translated and validated on 79 near-death experience testimonies. The translation used Brislin's back-translation model, and the scale showed good internal consistency (Cronbach's α = 0.846). Confirmatory factor analysis supported the scale's structure. This new Chinese NDE-C scale is now available to screen people who have had near-death experiences or near-death-like experiences (e.g., from meditation) and to quantify their subjective experiences, enabling further research on this phenomenon in Eastern cultural contexts.
Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience
January 1, 2023
Charlotte Martial, Olivia Gosseries
Episodes of disconnected consciousness—where a person is outwardly unresponsive but still has mental experiences without awareness of their surroundings—occur in sleep, anesthesia, meditation, hypnosis, trance, and life-threatening situations like coma. When such episodes follow a life-threatening event and include features like out-of-body experiences or bright lights, they are called near-death experiences. Research suggests that the brain's back regions may be necessary for conscious experience, but how external stimuli are blocked during these states remains unknown. This special focus presents studies on ecstatic epilepsy, hypnosis, out-of-body experiences, and ayahuasca, examining their phenomenology and neural mechanisms to better understand consciousness and dissociation.
bioRxiv Preprint Server
September 28, 2022
Yonatan Sanz Perl, Carla Pallavicini, Juan Piccinini et al.
preprint
Brain states are often described on a single scale from full consciousness to unconsciousness, but this ignores the complex, high-dimensional nature of brain activity. By combining whole-brain modeling, data augmentation, and deep learning, researchers mapped states of consciousness into a low-dimensional space where distances reflect similarities between states. They found an orderly trajectory from wakefulness to brain-injured patients, with coordinates related to functional modularity and structure-function coupling, both increasing as consciousness is lost. Model perturbations provided a geometric interpretation of state stability and reversibility. The work suggests conscious awareness depends on functional patterns encoded as a low-dimensional trajectory within the vast space of brain configurations.
bioRxiv Preprint Server
July 2, 2020
Yonatan Sanz Perl, Carla Pallavicini, Ignacio Pérez Ipiña et al.
preprint
The level of consciousness—how conscious someone is—is often measured by how similar their brain activity is to normal wakefulness. However, this approach misses important information about how stable that state is. Using computer models of the whole brain, the authors show that the stability of a conscious state—how easily it can be disrupted—provides additional, complementary information. They propose a new framework that sorts brain states by both their similarity to wakefulness and their stability, which helps distinguish between different types of unconsciousness: natural sleep, anesthesia, and brain injury. This framework offers a more complete way to characterize and differentiate states of consciousness.
arXiv Preprint Archive
May 10, 2016
Enrico Amico, Daniele Marinazzo, Carol DiPerri et al.
A new data-driven method, connICA, extracts independent functional connectivity patterns (FC-traits) from brain scans of patients with disorders of consciousness after severe brain damage. Three main FC-traits emerged. The first relates to sedation, overall pathology, and level of arousal. The second reflects disconnection of visual and sensory-motor networks, time since injury, and ability to communicate. The third involves fronto-parietal and default-mode networks and interhemispheric interaction, associated with self-awareness and awareness of surroundings. Each trait represents a distinct functional process linked to degradation of conscious states, clarifying which neural subcircuits are disrupted in severe brain injury.