Psychological medicine
June 1, 2023
Ben Alderson-Day, Peter Moseley, Kaja Mitrenga et al.
19 citations
Felt presence—the sense that someone else is nearby when no one is there—occurs across neurology, bereavement, psychosis, hypnagogic states, solo sports, and spiritual experiences, but systematic comparisons are rare. Three online surveys compared felt presence in people with psychosis or voice-hearing (75 participants), spiritualist believers (47 participants), and endurance/solo athletes (84 participants). Hierarchical linear regression showed that a general tendency toward hallucinations predicted felt presence frequency in all groups; paranoia and female gender were additional predictors in the psychosis sample. Qualitative analysis revealed shared features, especially immersive states, across contexts. The findings support a unitary model of felt presence, suggesting common underlying mechanisms.
Schizophrenia bulletin
September 1, 2022
Peter Moseley, Adam Powell, Angela Woods et al.
15 citations
Voice-hearing in people with psychosis and in nonclinical spiritualist communities shows important similarities and differences. Nonclinical voice-hearers report less distress and more control over their voices, consistent with prior findings. They also often integrate multiple sensory modalities into a single entity, experience high levels of associated visual imagery, and perceive voices in locations that differ in relation to perceptual boundaries. Most nonclinical voice-hearers reported hearing voices before encountering spiritualism, indicating that onset was not solely due to deliberate practice. The study suggests that understanding how spiritual voice-hearers cultivate and control voices after onset may inform interventions for distressing voices in psychosis.
Neuroscience of consciousness
January 1, 2020
Tehseen Noorani, Ben Alderson-Day
8 citations
Carhart-Harris and Friston's REBUS model applies predictive processing to explain how psychedelics alter brain function, offering a foundation for psychedelic psychiatry. The present authors commend this work but argue it underemphasizes contextual factors that shape extreme experiences and their outcomes. They also suggest that the comparisons made with certain non-psychedelic altered states miss more informative parallels elsewhere. Addressing these points would help identify the most relevant mechanisms of action in psychedelic experiences.
Schizophrenia bulletin
October 6, 2025
Charles Fernyhough, Janna De Boer, Paige E Davis et al.
3 citations
Hallucinations, which occur in many psychiatric disorders, may be better understood through the lens of developmental psychology. Their clinical significance depends on when they appear in a person's life. Key cognitive-developmental processes—such as engaging with imaginary entities, adverse events, executive functioning, social cognition, and language development—shape how hallucinations arise across different sensory modalities. Atypical developmental trajectories, as seen in certain conditions, also influence hallucination prevalence and phenomenology. Integrating developmental and psychiatric perspectives could yield mutual benefits for future research.