An EEG Study on the Effects of Induced Spiritual Experiences on Somatosensory Processing and Sensory Suppression
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/jcsr.v2i2.24573Keywords:
Spirituality, Body Representation, Sense of Agency, Religious Experiences, Somatosensory evoked potentials, Sensory Suppression, EEGAbstract
In the present EEG study a placebo God Helmet was used to induce spiritual experiences in the lab, by boosting the expectations and suggestibility of participants. At a behavioral level it was found that instructions regarding whether the helmet was turned on or off were not effective, but that individual differences in beliefs in the effectiveness of the helmet, magical ideation, absorption and paranormal beliefs were strongly related to induced spiritual experiences. At a neural level, believers compared to skeptics were characterized by trend for increased theta / alpha power during the helmet session and trend for a reduced auditory suppression of the P2 component. These novel findings indicate that individual personality differences are a strong predictor of induced spiritual experiences and that reduced sensory suppression may reflect a reduced pre-reflective sense of agency, which in turn could underlie proneness to self-induced spiritual experiences.
References
Allison, T., G. McCarthy, C. C. Wood, T. M. Darcey, D. D. Spencer and P. D. Williamson. 1989. “Human cortical potentials evoked by stimulation of the median nerve. I. Cytoarchitectonic areas generating short-latency activity.” Journal of Neurophysiology 62(3): 694–710.
———. McCarthy, C. C. Wood, P. D. Williamson and D. D. Spencer. 1989. “Human cortical potentials evoked by stimulation of the median nerve. II. Cytoarchitectonic areas generating long-latency activity.” Journal of Neurophysiology 62(3): 711–722.
Andersen, M., U. Schjødt, K. L. Nielbo and J. Sørensen. 2014. “Mystical Experience in the Lab.” Method and Theory in the Study of Religion 26: 217–245. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/15700682-12341323
Anziska, B. J. and R. Q. Cracco. 1981. “Short latency SEPs to median nerve stimulation: comparison of recording methods and origin of components.” Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology 52(6): 531–539. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0013-4694(81)91428-0
Aspell, J. E., E. Palluel and O. Blanke. 2012. “Early and late activity in somatosensory cortex reflects changes in bodily self-consciousness: an evoked potential study.” Neuroscience 216: 110–122. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroscience.2012.04.039
Atkinson, R. P. (1994). Relationships of hypnotic susceptibility to paranormal beliefs and claimed experiences: implications for hypnotic absorption. American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis 37(1): 34–40. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00029157.1994.10403107
Bass, P., T. Jacobsen and E. Schroger. 2008. “Suppression of the auditory N1 event-related potential component with unpredictable self-initiated tones: Evidence for internal forward models with dynamic stimulation.” International Journal of Psychophysiology 70(2): 137–143. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2008.06.005
Bentall, R. P., G. S. Claridge and P. D. Slade. 1989. “The Multidimensional Nature of Schizotypal Traits—a Factor Analytic Study with Normal Subjects.” British Journal of Clinical Psychology 28: 363–375. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.2044-8260.1989.tb00840.x
Berkovich-Ohana, A., Y. Dor-Ziderman, J. Glicksohn and A. Goldstein. 2013. “Alterations in the sense of time, space and body in the mindfulness-trained brain: a neurophenomenologically-guided MEG study.” Frontiers in Psychology 4. http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00912
Blakemore, S. J. and C. Frith. 2003. “Self-awareness and action.” Current Opinion in Neurobiology 13(2): 219-–224. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0959-4388(03)00043-6
———., C. D. Frith and D. M. Wolpert. 1999. “Spatio-temporal prediction modulates the perception of self-produced stimuli.” Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 11(5): 551–559. http://dx.doi.org/10.1162/089892999563607
Blanke, O. 2012. “Multisensory brain mechanisms of bodily self-consciousness.” Nature Reviews Neuroscience 13(8): 556–571. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nrn3292
———., T. Landis, L. Spinelli, and M. Seeck. 2004. “Out-of-body experience and autoscopy of neurological origin.” Brain 127(2): 243–258. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/brain/awh040
———. and T. Metzinger. 2009. “Full-body illusions and minimal phenomenal selfhood.” Trends in Cognitive Sciences 13(1): 7–13. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2008.10.003
———., P. Pozeg, M. Hara, L. Heydrich, A. Serino, A. Yamamoto, et al. 2014. “Neurological and Robot-Controlled Induction of an Apparition.” Current Biology 24(22): 2681–2686. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2014.09.049
Cahn, B. R. and J. Polich. 2006. “Meditation states and traits: EEG, ERP and neuroimaging studies.” Psychological Bulletin 132(2): 180–211. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.132.2.180
Clark, A. 2013. “Whatever next? Predictive brains, situated agents and the future of cognitive science.” Behavioral and Brain Sciences 36(3): 181–204. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X12000477
Cloninger, C. R. 2004. Feeling good: The science of well-being. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Colzato, L. S., W. P. M. van den Wildenberg and B. Hommel. 2008. “Losing the big picture: How religion may control visual attention.” Plos One 3(11). http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0003679
Crescentini, C., S. M. Aglioti, F. Fabbro and C. Urgesi. 2014. “Virtual lesions of the inferior parietal cortex induce fast changes of implicit religiousness/spirituality.” Cortex 54: 1–15. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2014.01.023
de Vignemont, F. and P. Fourneret. 2004. “The sense of agency: A philosophical and empirical review of the “Who” system.” Consciousness and Cognition 13(1): 1–19. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S1053-8100(03)00022-9
Dieguez, S., M. R. Mercier, N. Newby and O. Blanke. 2009. “Feeling numbness for someone else’s finger.” Current Biology 19(24): R1108–1109. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2009.10.055
Dor-Ziderman, Y., A. Berkovich-Ohana, J. Glicksohn and A. Goldstein. 2013. “Mindfulness-induced selflessness: a MEG neurophenomenological study.” Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 7. http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2013.00582
Eckblad, M. and L. J. Chapman. 1983. “Magical Ideation as an Indicator of Schizotypy.” Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 51(2): 215–225. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-006X.51.2.215
Emmons, G. A. 1999. The Psychology of Ultimate Concerns: Motivation and Spirituality in Personality. New York: Guilford.
———. and R. F. Paloutzian. 2003. “The psychology of religion.” Annual Review of Psychology 54: 377–402. http://dx.doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.54.101601.145024
Farrer, C., N. Franck, C. D. Frith, J. Decety, N. Georgieff, T. d’Amato, et al. 2004. “Neural correlates of action attribution in schizophrenia.” Psychiatry Research 131(1): 31–44. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pscychresns.2004.02.004
Ford, J. M., M. Gray, W. O. Faustman, B. Roach and D. H. Mathalon. 2007. “Dissecting corollary discharge dysfunction in schizophrenia.” Psychophysiology 44(4): 522–529. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-8986.2007.00533.x
Fourneret, P. and M. Jeannerod. 1998. “Limited conscious monitoring of motor performance in normal subjects.” Neuropsychologia 36(11): 1133–1140. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0028-3932(98)00006-2
Fox, K. C., P. Zakarauskas, M. Dixon, M. Ellamil, E. Thompson and K. Christoff. 2012. “Meditation experience predicts introspective accuracy.” Plos One 7(9): e45370. http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0045370
French, C. C., U. Haque, R. Bunton-Stasyshyn and R. Davis. 2009. “The ‘Haunt’ project: an attempt to build a ‘haunted’ room by manipulating complex electromagnetic fields and infrasound.” Cortex 45(5): 619–629. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2007.10.011
Freud, S. 1929. Civilization and Its Discontents. New York: Jonathan Cape and Harrison Smith.
Friston, K. and S. Kiebel. 2009. “Predictive coding under the free-energy principle.” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 364(1521): 1211–1221. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2008.0300
Gallagher, S. 2000. “Philosophical conceptions of the self: implications for cognitive science.” Trends in Cognitive Sciences 4(1): 14–21. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S1364-6613(99)01417-5
Gilbert, D. T., R. P. Brown, E. C. Pinel and T. D. Wilson. 2000. “The illusion of external agency.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 79(5): 690–700. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.79.5.690
Glicksohn, J. and T. R. Barrett. 2003. “Absorption and hallucinatory experience.” Applied Cognitive Psychology 17(7): 833–849. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/acp.913
Granqvist, P., M. Fredrikson, P. Unge, A. Hagenfeldt, S. Valind, D. Larhammar, et al. 2005. “Sensed presence and mystical experiences are predicted by suggestibility, not by the application of transcranial weak complex magnetic fields.” Neuroscience Letters 379(1):1–6. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neulet.2004.10.057
Griffiths, R. R., W. A. Richards, U. McCann and R. Jesse. 2006. “Psilocybin can occasion mystical-type experiences having substantial and sustained personal meaning and spiritual significance.” Psychopharmacology 187(3): 268–283. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00213-006-0457-5
Harte, T. M. 2000. “Contextual mediation of perceptions during hauntings and poltergeist-like experiences: A replication and extension.” Perceptual and Motor Skills 91(2): 451–459. http://dx.doi.org/10.2466/pms.2000.91.2.451
Hood Jr, R. W. 1975. “The construction and preliminary validation of a measure of reported mystical experience.” Journal for the Scientific study of Religion 14(1): 29–41. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1384454
———. and Z. Chen. 2013. “Mystical, spiritual and religious experiences.” In The Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, edited by R. F. Paloutzian and C. L. Park, 422–440. New York: The Guilford Press.
———. and R. J. Morris. 1981. “Sensory Isolation and the Differential Elicitation of Religious Imagery in Intrinsic and Extrinxic Persons.” Journal for the Scientific study of Religion 20(3): 261–273. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1385548
———. and R. J. Morris. 1981. “Sensory Isolation and the Differential Elicitation of Religious Imagery in Intrinsic and Extrinxic Persons.” Journal for the Scientific study of Religion 20(3): 261–273. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1385548
Horvath, J., B. Maess, P. Baess and A. Toth. 2012. “Action-sound coincidences suppress evoked responses of the human auditory cortex in EEG and MEG.” Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 24(9): 1919–1931. http://dx.doi.org/10.1162/jocn_a_00215
James, W. 1902. The Varieties of Religious Experience. New York: Longmans. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/10004-000
Keltner, D. and J. Haidt. 2003. “Approaching awe, a moral, spiritual and aesthetic emotion.” Cognition and Emotion 17(2): 297–314. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02699930302297
Kirsch, I. and L. J. Weixel. 1988. “Double-blind versus deceptive administration of a placebo.” Behavioral Neuroscience 102(2): 319–323. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0735-7044.102.2.319
Kwapil, T. R., M. B. Miller, M. C. Zinser, J. Chapman and L. J. Chapman. 1997. “Magical ideation and social anhedonia as predictors of psychosis proneness: A partial replication.” Journal of Abnormal Psychology 106(3): 491–495. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0021-843X.106.3.491
Lange, R. and J. Houran. 1997. “Context-induced paranormal experiences: Support for Houran and Lange’s model of haunting phenomena.” Perceptual and Motor Skills 84(3): 1455–1458. http://dx.doi.org/10.2466/pms.1997.84.3c.1455
———. and J. Houran, T. M. Harte and R. A. Havens. 1996. “Contextual mediation of perceptions in hauntings and poltergeist-like experiences.” Perceptual and Motor Skills 82(3): 755–762. http://dx.doi.org/10.2466/pms.1996.82.3.755
Lenggenhager, B., T. Tadi, T. Metzinger and O. Blanke. 2007. “Video ergo sum: Manipulating bodily self-consciousness.” Science 317(5841): 1096–1099. http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1143439
Longo, M. R., E. Azanon and P. Haggard. 2010. “More than skin deep: Body representation beyond primary somatosensory cortex.” Neuropsychologia 48(3): 655–668. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2009.08.022
Luhrmann, T. M., H. Nusbaum and R. Thisted. 2010. “The Absorption Hypothesis: Learning to Hear God in Evangelical Christianity.” American Anthropologist 112(1): 66–78. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1548-1433.2009.01197.x
Makarec, K. and M. A. Persinger. 1990. “Electroencephalographic Validation of a Temporal-Lobe Signs Inventory in a Normal Population.” Journal of Research in Personality 24(3): 323–337. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0092-6566(90)90024-Z
Newberg, A. and J. Iversen. 2003. “The neural basis of the complex mental task of meditation: neurotransmitter and neurochemical considerations.” Medical Hypotheses 61(2): 282–291. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0306-9877(03)00175-0
Peled, A., A. Pressman, A. B. Geva and I. Modai. 2003. “Somatosensory evoked potentials during a rubber-hand illusion in schizophrenia.” Schizophrenia Research 64(2–3): 157–163. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0920-9964(03)00057-4
Persinger, M. A. 1983. “Religious and Mystical Experiences as Artifacts of Temporal-Lobe Function—a General Hypothesis.” Perceptual and Motor Skills 57(3): 1255–1262. http://dx.doi.org/10.2466/pms.1983.57.3f.1255
———. and F. Healey. 2002. “Experimental facilitation of the sensed presence: Possible intercalation between the hemispheres induced by complex magnetic fields.” Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 190(8): 533–541. http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/00005053-200208000-00006
———., S. G. Tiller and S. A. Koren. 2000. “Experimental simulation of a haunt experience and elicitation of paroxysmal electroencephalographic activity by transcerebral complex magnetic fields: Induction of a synthetic ‘ghost’?” Perceptual and Motor Skills 90(2): 659–674. http://dx.doi.org/10.2466/pms.2000.90.2.659
Piedmont, R. L. 1999. “Does spirituality represent the sixth factor of personality? Spiritual transcendence and the five-factor model.” Journal of Personality 67(6): 985–1013. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1467-6494.00080
———. and M. M. Leach. 2002. Cross-cultural generalizability of the spiritual transcendence scale in India—Spirituality as a universal aspect of human experience. American Behavioral Scientist, 45(12), 1888-1901. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0002764202045012011
Preacher, K. J. and A. F. Hayes. 2004. “SPSS and SAS procedures for estimating indirect effects in simple mediation models.” Behavior Research Methods Instruments and Computers 36(4): 717–731. http://dx.doi.org/10.3758/BF03206553
Riekki, T., M. Lindeman, M. Aleneff, A. Halme and A. Nuortimo. 2013. “Paranormal and religious believers are more prone to illusory face perception than skeptics and non-believers.” Applied Cognitive Psychology 27(2): 150–155. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/acp.2874
Saroglou, V., C. Buxant and J. Tilquin. 2008. “Positive emotions as leading to religion and spirituality.” The Journal of Positive Psychology 3(3): 165–173. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17439760801998737
Shergill, S. S., G. Samson, P. M. Bays, C. D. Frith and D. M. Wolpert. 2005. “Evidence for sensory prediction deficits in schizophrenia.” American Journal of Psychiatry 162(12): 2384–2386. http://dx.doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.162.12.2384
Shiota, M. N., D. Keltner and A. Mossman. 2007. “The nature of awe: Elicitors, appraisals and effects on self-concept.” Cognition and Emotion 21(5): 944–963. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02699930600923668
Shore, D. I., K. Gray, E. Spry and C. Spence. 2005. “Spatial modulation of tactile temporal-order judgments.” Perception 34(10): 1251–1262. http://dx.doi.org/10.1068/p3313
Simmons, J. P., L. D. Nelson and U. Simonsohn. 2011. “False-Positive Psychology: Undisclosed Flexibility in Data Collection and Analysis Allows Presenting Anything as Significant.” Psychological Science 22(11): 1359–1366. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0956797611417632
Spanos, N. P., P. J. Brett, E. P. Menary and W. P. Cross. 1987. “A measure of attitudes toward hypnosis: relationships with absorption and hypnotic susceptibility.” American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis 30(2): 139–150. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00029157.1987.10404174
Swiney, L. and P. Sousa. 2013. “When our thoughts are not our own: Investigating agency misattributions using the Mind-to-Mind paradigm.” Consciousness and Cognition 22(2): 589–602. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2013.03.007
Synofzik, M., G. Vosgerau and A. Newen. 2008. “I move, therefore I am: A new theoretical framework to investigate agency and ownership.” Consciousness and Cognition 17(2): 411–424. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2008.03.008
Tellegen, A. and G. Atkinson. 1974. “Openness to absorbing and self-altering experiences (‘absorption’), a trait related to hypnotic susceptibility.” Journal of Abnormal Psychology 83(3): 268–277. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/h0036681
Tobacyk, J. 2004. “A Revised Paranormal Belief Scale.” The International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 23: 94–98.
Tsakiris, M. and P. Haggard. 2005. “The rubber hand illusion revisited: visuotactile integration and self-attribution.” Journal of Experimental Psychology-Human Perception and Performance 31(1): 80–91. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0096-1523.31.1.80
———., M. R. Longo and P. Haggard. 2010. “Having a body versus moving your body: Neural signatures of agency and body-ownership.” Neuropsychologia 48(9): 2740–2749. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2010.05.021
———., S. Schutz-Bosbach and S. Gallagher. 2007. “On agency and body-ownership: Phenomenological and neurocognitive reflections.” Consciousness and Cognition 16(3): 645–660. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2007.05.012
Urgesi, C., S. M. Aglioti, M. Skrap and F. Fabbro. 2010. The spiritual brain: Selective cortical lesions modulate human self-transcendence.” Neuron 65(3): 309–319. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2010.01.026
Van Cappellen, P. and V. Saroglou. 2012. “Awe Activates Religious and Spiritual Feelings and Behavioral Intentions.” Psychology of Religion and Spirituality 4(3): 223–236. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0025986
van Elk, M. 2013. “Paranormal believers are more prone to illusory agency detection than skeptics.” Consciousness and Cognition 22(3): 1041–1046. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2013.07.004
———., B. Lenggenhager, L. Heydrich and O. Blanke. 2014. “Suppression of the auditory N1-component for heartbeat-related sounds reflects interoceptive predictive coding.” Biological Psychology 99: 172–182. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsycho.2014.03.004
———., R. Salomon, O. Kannape and O. Blanke. 2014. “Suppression of the N1 auditory evoked potential for sounds generated by the upper and lower limbs.” Biological Psychology 102: 108–117. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsycho.2014.06.007
Verdoux, H. and J. van Os. 2002. “Psychotic symptoms in non-clinical populations and the continuum of psychosis.” Schizophrenia Research 54(1–2): 59–65. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0920-9964(01)00352-8
Wachholtz, A. B. and K. I. Pargament. 2005. “Is spirituality a critical ingredient of meditation? Comparing the effects of spiritual meditation, secular meditation and relaxation on spiritual, psychological, cardiac and pain outcomes.” Journal of Behavioral Medicine 28(4): 369–384. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10865-005-9008-5
Waszak, F., P. Cardoso-Leite and G. Hughes. 2012. “Action effect anticipation: Neurophysiological basis and functional consequences.” Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews 36(2): 943–959. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2011.11.004
Wiech, K., M. Farias, G. Kahane, N. Shackel, W. Tiede and I. Tracey. 2008. “An fMRI study measuring analgesia enhanced by religion as a belief system.” Pain 139(2): 467–476. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pain.2008.07.030
Yamada, T., R. Kayamori, J. Kimura and D. O. Beck. 1984. “Topography of somatosensory evoked potentials after stimulation of the median nerve.” Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology 59(1): 29–43. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0168-5597(84)90018-2
Published
Issue
Section
License
Equinox Publishing Ltd.
