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
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
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
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
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.
Frontiers in Psychology
August 3, 2018
Joachim Keppler
31 citations
Consciousness arises from the brain's interaction with a universal background field, the zero-point field (ZPF), according to a theoretical framework grounded in stochastic electrodynamics. In the extroverted, stimulus-oriented mode, the brain writes persistent information states into the ZPF during theta cycles to produce streams of consciousness. In the introspective mode, linked to default mode network activity, the brain reads and filters ZPF information states during alpha cycles, enabling the sense of self and memory retrieval. Meditative practices and psychedelics detune this filter, preventing self-referential states and dissolving the ego, while allowing access to a wider spectrum of ZPF modes and expanded consciousness.
Frontiers in Psychology
March 5, 2020
J. Keppler, I. Shani
29 citations
A novel variant of cosmopsychism proposes that the universe contains a ubiquitous field of consciousness (UFC) as a foundational dual-aspect component, with physical and phenomenological manifestations. The neural correlates of consciousness (NCC) indicate the brain's interaction with and modulation of this UFC. Drawing on modern physics, the modulation mechanism is identical to that underlying quantum systems: coherently oscillating neural assemblies acquire phenomenal properties by temporarily liaising with the UFC and extracting specific phenomenal tones from its inherent palette. This hypothesis addresses the origin of subjective experience and the causal generation of specific phenomenal states, and is supported by empirical evidence.
Frontiers in Psychology
November 12, 2018
28 citations
Dreams and psychosis share overlapping features in symptoms and brain activity, offering a testable model for conditions like schizophrenia and delirium. This review examines two key concepts: insight and dissociation. Insight in dreams is central to lucid dreaming, where dreamers become aware they are dreaming and often try to control the narrative, alongside dissociative experiences similar to depersonalization and derealization. These concepts also apply to psychotic illness. While insight may be harmless in lucid dreaming and even beneficial in psychosis, dissociation remains poorly understood. Comparing these phenomena helps clarify their psychological and neurophysiological roles.
Frontiers in Psychology
July 15, 2022
Alexandre Augusto de Deus Pontual, Alexandre Augusto de Deus Pontual, Luís Fernando Tófoli et al.
27 citations
Setting characteristics—social context, comfort, infrastructure, and decoration—moderate the intensity of challenging experiences during ayahuasca ceremonies, explaining 41% of the variance in challenging experience ratings across three traditions (União do Vegetal, Santo Daime, and neo-shamanic groups). Mystical experiences were less strongly associated with setting, with leadership and comfort explaining only 14% of the variance. Social context was rated highest among União do Vegetal members. In neo-shamanic groups, infrastructure, comfort, and decoration correlated more consistently with mystical experiences than in the other traditions. Maximizing setting quality reduces the likelihood of challenging experiences and modestly supports mystical experiences.
Frontiers in Psychology
March 4, 2022
Agnieszka D. Sekula, Luke Downey, Prashanth Puspanathan
27 citations
Psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy (PP) shows promise for treating PTSD, anxiety, addiction, and depression, relying heavily on participant mindset and therapeutic environment. Virtual reality (VR) may enhance PP by aiding relaxation, reducing anxiety, promoting mindfulness, inducing altered states of consciousness, and evoking mystical experiences. However, VR's role remains speculative due to a lack of empirical evidence on combined use. Potential disadvantages include sensory overstimulation, cyber-sickness, and triggering traumatic memories. A balanced, evidence-based approach is needed for design and implementation across treatment phases.
Frontiers in Psychology
May 23, 2022
Tomas Frymann, Sophie Whitney, David B. Yaden et al.
26 citations
Two new psychometric scales, the Integration Engagement Scale (IES) and the Experienced Integration Scale (EIS), were developed to measure different aspects of psychedelic integration—the period after acute drug effects. The IES captures positive behavioral engagement with integration, while the EIS captures internal feelings of being integrated. Scale items were refined with input from experts and clinicians using the Iterative Process Model. Content validity, internal structure, and reliability were assessed through expert surveys, cognitive interviewing, convergent validity analysis, exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. The data indicate the scales are valid and reliable measures of behavioral and experiential forms of psychedelic integration.
Frontiers in Psychology
May 23, 2017
Kinga Wołoszyn, Mateusz Hohol
26 citations
A long-standing view in cognitive science holds that higher thinking uses abstract, amodal mental representations and brain regions separate from sensorimotor areas. Over recent decades, many researchers have instead argued that cognition is fundamentally grounded in sensorimotor activity and bodily constraints, a position called embodied cognition (EC). However, Goldinger et al. (2016) challenged EC's applicability, asserting that some of its assumptions are unacceptable and others offer nothing new, particularly for experimental psychology. This paper agrees with some criticisms—such as that radical embodiment rejecting mental representation is a dead end—but argues that the authors' methodological perspective on EC is inadequate.
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.