Frontiers in Psychology
June 10, 2022
Adriana Alcaraz-Sánchez, Ema Demšar, Teresa Campillo-Ferrer et al.
25 citations
A state called witnessing-sleep or luminosity sleep, described in classic Indian philosophical traditions, involves awareness without an ordinary object—just awareness itself. In a two-stage research project, 18 participants underwent phenomenological interviews using the micro-phenomenological interview method. Across 12 reported experiences, a common phase labeled "nothingness phase" emerged, characterized by a minimal sense of self (a bodiless self felt to be "somewhere"), non-modal sensations, relatively pleasant emotions, absence of visual experience, wide and unfocused attention, and awareness of the state as it unfolded. This suggests that objectless awareness during sleep can be empirically investigated and may inform consciousness research.
Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences
August 3, 2021
Adriana Alcaraz-Sánchez
21 citations
A pilot study using micro-phenomenological interviews with five participants who reported conscious experiences during sleep that lacked any object of awareness—no scenery, no dream. This state, described in Indian contemplative traditions as consciousness-as-such, was preceded by the dissolution of a lucid dream or other conscious mentation. Analysis identified four experiential dimensions during this void: perception of absence, self-perception, perception of emotions, and perception of awareness. The results are exploratory but align with existing literature on objectless sleep and suggest avenues for future research.
Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews
August 1, 2024
Teresa Campillo-Ferrer, Adriana Alcaraz-Sánchez, Ema Demšar et al.
14 citations
Out-of-body experiences (OBEs), where a person feels located outside their physical body, often occur spontaneously near or during sleep. This review examines sleep-related OBEs and proposes that maintaining consciousness during the transition from wakefulness to REM sleep (sleep-onset REM periods) may enable them. A new conceptual model is introduced to distinguish sleep-related OBEs from similar states like lucid dreaming and sleep paralysis, and to suggest possible brain activity patterns (polysomnographic features) underlying them. The predictive coding framework is applied to connect sleep-related OBEs with those occurring during wakefulness.
Philosophy and the Mind Sciences
December 10, 2024
Adriana Alcaraz-Sánchez
5 citations
A new multidimensional framework introduces five phenomenological dimensions—Richness of the Content, Bodily-Awareness, Passage of Time, Attentional Focus, and Self-Revelation—to systematically study altered states of consciousness that appear contentless or objectless. Drawing on empirical research, the framework provides precise scientific terminology for operationalizing and adapting these experiences for future work. A case study applies the framework to clear light sleep, a state of pure awareness reported in Indo-Tibetan Buddhist traditions that has drawn attention in analytic philosophy of mind. The framework situates clear light sleep and other associated states as regions within a multidimensional state space, clarifying their relationships and characterizations.