Electrocortical activity associated with subjective communication with the deceased

Abstract

During advanced meditative practices, unusual perceptions can arise including the sense of receiving information about unknown people who are deceased. As with meditation, this mental state of communication with the deceased involves calming mental chatter and becoming receptive to subtle feelings and sensations. Psychometric and brain electrophysiology data were collected from six individuals who had previously reported accurate information about deceased individuals under double-blind conditions. Each experimental participant performed two tasks with eyes closed. In the first task, the participant was given only the first name of a deceased person and asked 25 questions. After each question, the participant was asked to silently perceive information relevant to the question for 20 s and then respond verbally. Responses were transcribed and then scored for accuracy by individuals who knew the deceased persons. Of the four mediums whose accuracy could be evaluated, three scored significantly above chance (p < 0.03). The correlation between accuracy and brain activity during the 20 s of silent mediumship communication was significant in frontal theta for one participant (p < 0.01). In the second task, participants were asked to experience four mental states for 1 min each: (1) thinking about a known living person, (2) listening to a biography, (3) thinking about an imaginary person, and (4) interacting mentally with a known deceased person. Each mental state was repeated three times. Statistically significant differences at p < 0.01 after correction for multiple comparisons in electrocortical activity among the four conditions were obtained in all six participants, primarily in the gamma band (which might be due to muscular activity). These differences suggest that the impression of communicating with the deceased may be a distinct mental state distinct from ordinary thinking or imagination.

Frontal electroencephalographic (EEG) activity and mediumship: a comparative study between spiritist mediums and controls

“…However, contrary to the cases reported by Oohashi et al 19 and Delorme et al 18 , we found no between-group difference in alpha power during the mediumistic communication.…”

“…These findings corroborate with previous studies that have suggested an association of mediumistic and spirit possession experiences with greater theta and beta power 18,19 , as well as an association of dissociation with greater theta power 9,10 . However, contrary to the cases reported by Oohashi et al 19 and Delorme et al 18 , we found no between-group difference in alpha power during the mediumistic communication.…”

“…Replicating the few available prior EEG studies on this research field 18,19 , we observed that mediums had greater theta and beta power during the anomalous sensorial experience compared to non-medium controls. The lack of reduction in frontal interhemispheric and frontal-posterior coherence in mediums group during the alleged mediumistic communication clearly differs from the coherence pattern reported in pathological dissociation 13 and during the hypnotic state 17 .…”

“…As these areas are widely accepted as being involved with spiritual experiences (reviewed in Peres and Newberg, 2013) 30 , in the present study only spectral power from frontal electrodes (Fp1, Fp2, F3, F4, F7 and F8) were used for the final analysis. Before the statistical analysis, spectral power values were converted to the unit Log [μV2] /Hz, given that this is the most frequently unit used in recent studies on mediumship 18 . The other EEG variables that were assessed were background activity, percent time in which each frequency band (% delta, % theta, % alpha and % beta) was observed and coherence.…”

“…Delorme et al 18 investigated the EEG from six North-American "professional mental mediums" and observed significant correlations for two mediums: in one medium theta power was negatively correlated with accuracy of the mediumistic information, and in the other participant alpha power was positively correlated with accuracy. In the same article, they reported the finding that gamma and beta waves were the frequency bands that could differentiate mediumistic communication and mental tasks of perception.…”