Frontiers in Psychology
March 3, 2021
Kristian Moltke Martiny, Juan Toro, Simon Høffding
51 citations
A framework for phenomenological mixed methods is proposed, where phenomenology informs both qualitative (first-person, subjective) and quantitative (third-person, objective) data generation, analysis, and interpretation. The authors argue for mutual constraint and enlightenment between these approaches when studying consciousness. Drawing on mixed-methods research and existing examples, they present three cases studying complex social phenomena. A three-fold structure is developed: the phenomenological frame, phenomenologically informed data generation (tier one), and phenomenologically informed analysis and interpretation (tier two). The article maps possibilities, challenges, and common pitfalls for researchers combining phenomenology with qualitative and quantitative methods.
Frontiers in Psychology
May 14, 2020
Marco Colizzi, Mirella Ruggeri, Sagnik Bhattacharyya
50 citations
Evidence suggests a dose-response relationship between cannabis use and psychosis risk, driven by frequent use and high-potency cannabis with high delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ9-THC) concentration. Δ9-THC induces transient psychosis-like symptoms in healthy individuals, while low-potency varieties may be less harmful due to lower Δ9-THC and the presence of cannabidiol (CBD), which may mitigate Δ9-THC's detrimental effects. CBD may have protective and therapeutic properties for psychosis. Similar patterns emerge for cognition: Δ9-THC impairs cognition, while CBD prevents such effects and enhances cognition alone. Molecular evidence shows Δ9-THC acts as a partial agonist and CBD as an inverse agonist/antagonist at cannabinoid receptors, with opposite effects on brain function, explaining intoxicating and therapeutic effects.
Frontiers in Psychology
September 24, 2021
Martha Newson, Ragini Khurana, Freya Cazorla et al.
48 citations
Engaging in the '4Ds'—dance, drums, sleep deprivation, and drugs—at raves and illegal free parties is associated with personal transformation when the experience is awe-inspiring, particularly for people with open personalities. Without awe or a ritual context, the 4Ds are linked to a lack of personal growth or anomie. A structural equation model showed that personal transformation following awe-inspiring raves was associated with bonding to other ravers and prosocial behavior toward that group at a cost to self, but not with bonding to humanity. The findings suggest that the 4Ds in a ritualized environment can help build meaningful social bonds with positive behavioral outcomes.
Frontiers in Psychology
January 1, 2014
Daniel Erlacher, Melanie Schädlich, Tadas Stumbrys et al.
48 citations
Actions in lucid dreams take longer than the same actions in wakefulness, but only for motor tasks. Counting, a non-motor task, showed no time difference. In a sleep-laboratory experiment, lucid dreamers performed counting, walking, and a gymnastics routine while marking time intervals with eye movements. Walking and gymnastics required significantly more time in dreams than in waking, but the relative duration of each task remained proportional—no task was disproportionately longer. A more complex motor task did not increase the time delay. The findings suggest prolonged dream durations may stem from absent muscular feedback or slower neural processing during REM sleep.
Frontiers in Psychology
November 25, 2021
Brandon Weiss, Victoria Amalie Nygart, Lis Marie Pommerencke et al.
47 citations
In an online volunteer sample, naturalistic use of psychedelic compounds was associated with reductions in Neuroticism and increases in Agreeableness and perceived social connectedness over four weeks. These changes covaried, suggesting shared emotion-regulation processes. Preliminary evidence pointed to a specific decrease in critical and quarrelsome interpersonal style, a component of Agreeableness. Baseline levels of Neuroticism, perspective taking, and social connectedness tentatively amplified adaptive changes in those respective traits. Demographic characteristics, social setting, and acute subjective factors showed limited moderating effects. The findings suggest psychedelics might help address interpersonal aspects of personality pathology and loneliness.
Frontiers in Psychology
August 12, 2020
Patrizio Paoletti, Tal Dotan Ben‐soussan
47 citations
Focusing attention on silence can serve as a paradigm similar to sensory deprivation for studying consciousness without content. This hypothesis paper reviews influential models of consciousness and their views on the relationship between consciousness and its contents. After assessing strengths and weaknesses of current models, the authors propose an extension based on the Sphere Model of Consciousness (SMC), introducing new definitions for identification and self-awareness as states of consciousness. They compare Paoletti's theoretical model for self-development with other models, noting similarities and differences. The paper concludes by discussing how attentional focus on silence can be empirically tested.
Frontiers in Psychology
June 1, 2021
Dongjiao An, Changwei Wei, Jing Wang et al.
46 citations
Repeated doses of intranasal ketamine produce a fast-acting antidepressant effect in people with major depressive disorder, including those with treatment-resistant depression. In a meta-analysis of six randomized controlled trials totaling 858 participants, depression scores on the Montgomery–Asberg Depression Rating Scale dropped by an average of 6 points at 2–4 hours, 10 points at 24 hours, and 4 points at 28 days. The likelihood of achieving remission was about 3.5 times higher at 24 hours and 1.7 times higher at 28 days compared with placebo. Transient dissociative symptoms and other mild side effects occurred, but no persistent psychosis or mood switches were reported.
Frontiers in Psychology
March 22, 2018
Liat Aviram, Nirit Soffer‐dudek
44 citations
Lucid dreaming—awareness of dreaming while asleep—has been linked to both well-being and psychopathology, possibly because previous studies conflated dream control with lucidity. A new questionnaire (FILD) assessed four dimensions of lucid dreaming: frequency, intensity (control, activity, certainty), emotional valence, and use of induction techniques. Among 187 undergraduates, lucid dream frequency alone showed no connection to psychopathology, but higher intensity and positive emotions were linked to fewer symptoms. In contrast, deliberately trying to induce lucid dreams was associated with more psychopathology and sleep problems, and predicted increases in dissociation and schizotypy symptoms over two months. Lucid dreaming is not inherently beneficial; its effects depend on specific characteristics, and deliberate induction may carry risks.
Frontiers in Psychology
November 21, 2016
Fynn-Mathis Trautwein, José R. Naranjo, Stefan Schmidt
44 citations
Long-term practitioners of loving-kindness meditation show a reduced difference in brain responses to their own face versus a close other's face, measured by the P300 event-related potential. In 12 meditators and 12 matched controls, the typical pattern of a larger P300 for self than other was smaller in meditators at parietal brain sites. Among meditators, more meditation practice correlated with smaller self-other differences, and across both groups, smaller differences were linked to higher self-reported compassion. A brief loving-kindness meditation induction did not further alter this brain response. The findings suggest that extensive meditation practice may blur the neural distinction between self and other and is associated with greater compassion.
Frontiers in Psychology
June 14, 2023
Juuso Kähönen
43 citations
Psychedelic experiences can shift people's values toward self-transcendence—greater appreciation of beauty, pro-environmental attitudes, and prosocial behavior. This article presents a philosophical-psychological framework explaining how self-transcendent experiences (STEs) drive these value changes. Drawing on Iris Murdoch's concept of 'unselfing,' the author argues that reducing egocentric concerns widens attention and shifts evaluation away from self-interest. Unselfing diminishes biased salience and attunes individuals to values beyond the self. Psychedelics temporarily enhance access to self-transcendent values, but contextual factors influence whether changes persist. The framework is supported by empirical connections between egocentricity, STEs, and self-transcendent values, plus phenomenological analysis of psychedelic experiences.
Frontiers in Psychology
January 18, 2022
Lin Zhu, Long Li, Xiaozhi Li et al.
43 citations
Mind-body exercises such as yoga and mindfulness significantly reduce PTSD symptoms, depression, and anxiety in people with PTSD. A meta-analysis of 16 randomized controlled trials found a moderate effect on PTSD symptoms (standard mean difference = -0.41), depression (-0.35), and anxiety (-0.31). The most effective regimen for PTSD symptoms in patients under 45 was 60-150 minutes of mindfulness per session for 8-16 weeks. For depression, 150-180 minutes of yoga once weekly was effective. The optimal type, frequency, and duration for anxiety could not be determined due to limited trials. Mind-body exercises are recommended as an adjunct treatment, but more rigorous trials are needed.
Frontiers in Psychology
April 4, 2014
Robin Carhart-Harris, David Nutt
42 citations
A commentary argues that dreaming is not a unique state of consciousness but rather a form of imaginative experience that shares core features with waking imagination. The author contends that dreams and waking fantasies are both products of the same cognitive processes, specifically the default mode network and memory consolidation mechanisms. The piece suggests that the vividness and narrative structure of dreams arise from the same neural dynamics that generate daydreams and creative thought, challenging the traditional view of dreaming as a separate or altered state of consciousness.
Frontiers in Psychology
January 1, 2013
Enzo Tagliazucchi, Marion Behrens, Helmut Laufs
42 citations
Deep sleep, marked by reduced sensory activity and loss of conscious awareness, offers a natural setting for testing theories of consciousness. This review examines recent fMRI studies of spontaneous brain activity during sleep, linking findings to the global workspace theory, information integration theory, and the dynamical core hypothesis. The authors highlight a shift from studying evoked responses to resting-state activity and emphasize the need for dynamic analysis of functional interactions over time. They also stress the importance of experimentally verifying reduced or absent conscious content during the deepest sleep stages.
Frontiers in Psychology
April 27, 2022
Lucie Bréchet, Christoph M. Michel
41 citations
Conscious experience feels continuous but actually consists of brief, discrete brain states lasting 60–120 milliseconds, called EEG microstates. These stable scalp electric field patterns, measured with high temporal resolution, may represent the basic building blocks of thought. Altered states of consciousness—including sleep, anesthesia, meditation, and psychiatric conditions—change the dynamics of these microstates. This perspective argues that studying EEG microstates can reveal underlying features of self-consciousness, summarizing recent findings on microstate alterations during mind-wandering, meditation, sleep, and anesthesia.
Frontiers in Psychology
April 8, 2021
Heiner Stuke, Elisabeth Kress, Veith Weilnhammer et al.
41 citations
People with stronger tendencies toward hallucinations and delusions are more likely to perceive faces in visual noise and to detect invisible direct gaze, supporting the theory that psychosis involves overweighing high-level prior expectations over sensory evidence. In 39 healthy individuals varying in psychosis proneness, the tendency to see faces in noise correlated with hallucination proneness (r = 0.50) and delusion proneness (r = 0.46). The tendency to detect invisible direct gaze also correlated with hallucination proneness (r = 0.43) but not conclusively with delusion proneness. These findings suggest that overly strong priors for socially meaningful stimuli may represent an early processing alteration in psychosis.
Frontiers in Psychology
July 31, 2017
Cedric Galetzka
40 citations
The review traces how cognitive science has grappled with the symbol grounding problem—the difficulty of explaining how abstract symbols acquire meaning. Embodied theories propose that meaning arises from sensorimotor experiences, and concrete action-related words indeed show consistent sensorimotor activation. However, abstract concepts remain a challenge for fully embodied accounts, as sensorimotor activation alone does not seem sufficient to explain them. Integration areas like convergence zones or the 'hub and spoke' model appear to be the most promising candidates for bridging the gap between concrete and abstract concepts and for unifying the field. The review identifies key milestones, fundamental challenges, and directions for future research.
Frontiers in Psychology
December 22, 2016
Chun-Yu Kuo, Yei-Yu Yeh
40 citations
Free walking boosts creative divergent thinking in both young and older adults, and the effect depends on bidirectional body-mind links—not just any movement. In two experiments, young participants who walked freely generated more original, fluent, and flexible uses for chopsticks than those who walked a fixed rectangular path or followed someone else's path. Older adults randomly assigned to free walking also outperformed those on a rectangular path, and their originality matched or exceeded that of young adults on the fixed path. The findings indicate that the bidirectional connection between proprioceptive-motor experience and abstract concepts enhances creative thinking across age groups.
Frontiers in Psychology
December 16, 2021
Pascal Michael, David Luke, Oliver Robinson
39 citations
In a naturalistic field study, experienced users of the psychedelic N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) were observed taking the drug at home (40–75 mg inhaled) and then interviewed immediately afterward. Thematic analysis of 36 interviews revealed that nearly all participants (94%) reported encountering other 'beings' with distinct roles, appearances, and forms of communication, while every participant described emerging into other 'worlds' with immersive scenes and contents. These findings systematically detail the hyper-real, otherworldly content of the breakthrough DMT experience and connect it to phenomena such as alien abduction accounts, shamanic journeys, and near-death experiences.
Frontiers in Psychology
July 13, 2021
Sascha Thal, Stephen Bright, Jason M. Sharbanee et al.
39 citations
This narrative review, the first in a series on appropriate conduct in substance-assisted psychotherapy (SAPT), outlines preconditions and theoretical knowledge valuable for therapeutic practice. It discusses ethical considerations and the spiritual emphasis of SAPT approaches, and summarizes current methods, models, and concepts of psychological mechanisms and therapeutic effects. Similarities between models and potential mediators for therapeutic effects are highlighted. The review argues that the therapeutic effect of SAPT may be mediated by intra- and interpersonal variables within the therapeutic context rather than specific therapeutic models per se. It provides a basis for developing future investigations, therapeutic models, and training programs, while discussing limitations and future directions.
Frontiers in Psychology
March 8, 2016
Natália B. Mota, Adara Resende, Sérgio A. Mota-Rolim et al.
38 citations
People with psychosis report more control over their lucid dreams than non-psychotic individuals, contrary to the hypothesis that lucid dreaming might be therapeutically beneficial for psychotic patients. Among 45 subjects with psychotic symptoms (25 with schizophrenia, 20 with bipolar disorder) and 28 non-psychotic controls, psychotic lucid dreamers reported controlling their dreams more frequently (67% of schizophrenia and 73% of bipolar patients) than non-psychotic lucid dreamers (23% of controls). However, lucid dreamers with psychosis showed no clinical advantage, even on measures of judgment and insight. The findings suggest psychosis may enhance the ability to control internal reality, and that training lucid dreaming in psychotic populations could potentially strengthen delusions and hallucinations rather than provide therapeutic benefit.
Frontiers in Psychology
October 5, 2022
Anna Søndergaard, Brice Ozenne, Sophia Armand et al.
35 citations
People who took psilocybin showed significantly higher trait mindfulness three months later, and the size of this increase was linked to how intense their mystical-type experience was during the drug session. Higher trait mindfulness before taking psilocybin was associated with lower serotonin 2A receptor binding in the right amygdala, a brain region involved in emotional processing. These findings suggest that the acute, mystical quality of the psilocybin experience may help shift awareness in ways that support mindful living, and that pre-existing mindfulness relates to specific brain receptor patterns.
Frontiers in Psychology
January 1, 2010
Anil K. Seth
34 citations
The article argues that the concept of a 'cognitive unconscious' is fundamentally flawed because it conflates two distinct meanings of the term 'unconscious.' One meaning refers to mental processes that are inaccessible to introspection, while the other refers to neural processes that are not mental at all. The authors contend that much of what is called unconscious cognition is better understood as non-conscious neural activity that lacks the representational content required for genuine mental states. They conclude that the cognitive unconscious is a misleading notion that obscures the true relationship between mind and brain.
Frontiers in Psychology
May 10, 2022
Annelies Van’t Westeinde, K. Patel
32 citations
The Heartfulness method of meditation combines the ancient technique of Pranahuti (yogic Transmission) during meditation with a mental practice called Cleaning, both enabled by initiation. These features distinguish it from other meditation systems studied scientifically. This paper introduces the practices and their philosophical basis, reflects on possible mechanisms of effects on body and mind based on research in other meditation systems, and suggests directions for future research.
Frontiers in Psychology
November 15, 2019
Raphael Vallat, Perrine Marie Ruby
32 citations
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Frontiers in Psychology
March 25, 2022
Wendy Pots, Farid Chakhssi
31 citations
Psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy for depression typically follows a structure of preparation, dosing support (navigation), and integration, but often lacks a specific theoretical model. This paper proposes integrating Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT) as the guiding framework, arguing that CFT's compassion practices may enhance psychologically insightful experiences during navigation and integration sessions, potentially augmenting antidepressant effects. The authors describe the rationale for CFT, its compatibility with psilocybin therapy, and outline an integrated protocol and study design, while noting limitations.