Changes in high-order interaction measures of synergy and redundancy during non-ordinary states of consciousness induced by meditation, hypnosis, and auto-induced cognitive trance.

High-order interactions between brain regions, measured as synergistic and redundant information, change differently across three non-ordinary states of consciousness. During Rajyoga meditation, synergy increased across the whole brain in delta and theta brainwave bands, while redundancy decreased in frontal, central, and posterior electrodes in delta and beta bands. During hypnosis, synergy decreased in mid-frontal, temporal, and mid-centro-parietal electrodes in the delta band, and in left frontal and right parietal electrodes in the beta2 band. During auto-induced cognitive trance, synergy decreased in delta and theta bands in left-frontal, right-frontocentral, and posterior electrodes, and at the whole brain level in the alpha band. Redundancy changes during hypnosis and auto-induced cognitive trance were not significant. Subjective reports of absorption, dissociation, and mystical experience did not correlate with the high-order measures.

Study at a glance

Abstract

High-order interactions are required across brain regions to accomplish specific cognitive functions. These functional interdependencies are reflected by synergistic information that can be obtained by combining the information from all the sources considered and redundant information (i.e., common information provided by all the sources). However, electroencephalogram (EEG) functional connectivity is limited to pairwise interactions thereby precluding the estimation of high-order interactions. In this multicentric study, we used measures of synergistic and redundant information to study in parallel the high-order interactions between five EEG electrodes during three non-ordinary states of consciousness (NSCs): Rajyoga meditation (RM), hypnosis, and auto-induced cognitive trance (AICT). We analyzed EEG data from 22 long-term Rajyoga meditators, nine volunteers undergoing hypnosis, and 21 practitioners of AICT. We here report the within-group changes in synergy and redundancy for each NSC in comparison with their respective baseline. During RM, synergy increased at the whole brain level in the delta and theta bands. Redundancy decreased in frontal, right central, and posterior electrodes in delta, and frontal, central, and posterior electrodes in beta1 and beta2 bands. During hypnosis, synergy decreased in mid-frontal, temporal, and mid-centro-parietal electrodes in the delta band. The decrease was also observed in the beta2 band in the left frontal and right parietal electrodes. During AICT, synergy decreased in delta and theta bands in left-frontal, right-frontocentral, and posterior electrodes. The decrease was also observed at the whole brain level in the alpha band. However, redundancy changes during hypnosis and AICT were not significant. The subjective reports of absorption and dissociation during hypnosis and AICT, as well as the mystical experience questionnaires during AICT, showed no correlation with the high-order measures. The proposed study is the first exploratory attempt to utilize the concepts of synergy and redundancy in NSCs. The differences in synergy and redundancy during different NSCs warrant further studies to relate the extracted measures with the phenomenology of the NSCs.