ASCID Trance, Hypnotic Trance, Just Trance

The Psychobiology of Consciousness

“…Along the same lines, Greenfield (1977) reported a significant correlation between hypnotizability and intensity of meditation experience. These data concur with the theoretical formulation that ASCs are a family of trance states that occur under conditions in which attention is shifted away from the external to an internal frame of reference, regardless of what specific technique is involved (Aaronson, 1973).…”

“…As previously mentioned, a study by Hunt and Chefurka (1976) recently demonstrated that mild sensory deprivation coupled with instructions that sensitize subjects to their subjective state produce ASC phenomena. This sort of sensitization is clearly present in the biofeedback situation and relates back to the formulation presented above that altered states occur under conditions that involve a shift from the external to the internal frame of reference (Aaronson, 1973).…”

“…Indeed, several contributors to the scientific literature on these topics have taken the position that meditation and trance are in some respects similar or even identical phenomena (Das, 1963;Aaronson, 1973).…”

Patterns of Occurrence of Four States of Consciousness as a Function of Trait Absorption

“…The trait of Absorption has been clearly linked to these states of consciousness in particular (e.g., Glicksohn, 2004 ; Glicksohn & Barrett, 2003 ; Hunt, 1989 , 2007 ; Rosen et al, 2017 ; Terhune, 2009 ), and to states of consciousness in general (e.g., Aaronson, 1973 ; Crawford, Brown, & Moon, 1993 ; Lemercier & Terhune, 2018 , p. 736; Millière et al, 2018 ; Mohr, 2018 ; Studerus, Gamma, Kometer, & Vollenweider, 2012 ). Hence, one can further posit that trait Absorption is a predisposing factor here for such experience.…”