Mirror- and Eye-Gazing: An Integrative Review of Induced Altered and Anomalous Experiences

Abstract

We critically reviewed the protocols, results, and potential implications from empirical studies ( n = 44) on mirror-gazing (including the “psychomanteum”) and eye-to-eye gazing, both in healthy individuals and clinical patients, including studies of hypnotic mirrored self-misidentification, mirror-gazing in body dysmorphic disorder and schizophrenia. We found these methods to be effective for eliciting altered states or anomalous experiences under controlled conditions and in non-clinical samples. Mirror-gazing and eye-to-eye-gazing produced anomalous experiences almost exclusively in the visual, bodily, and self-identity modalities, whereas psychomanteum experiences tended also to involve voices, smells, and bodily touches. The complexity, diversity, and specificity in contents across these anomalous experiences suggest mechanisms beyond perceptual distortions or illusions. We argue that mirror- and eye-gazing anomalous perceptions implicate different mechanisms that induce (i) Derealization (anomalous perceptions of external reality); (ii) Depersonalization (anomalous perceptions of the body), and (iii) Dissociated identity (anomalous perceptions of another identity in place of the self in mirror-gazing or in place of the other in eye-to-eye gazing). These interpretations suggest directions for future researches.

Strange face illusions: A systematic review and quality analysis

“…A psychodynamic explanation has been advanced in which different types of SFI are thought to represent different aspects of the self [1,4,6,14,32,33]. For example, Caputo [4] asserts that "apparitions of another person in the mirror (e.g., parents with deformed traits), and of strange beings (e.g., witch, ghost, skeleton) could be manifestations of an individual's Shadow", whereas "apparitions in a mirror of archetypal people (e.g., old woman, child) of ancestors and of animal faces (e.g., cat, pig, lion) could be manifestations of an individual's…”

“…or "personalities" [6,32] that are psycho-dynamically projected into consciousness in the form of illusory "strange faces" [14-17, 20, 30, 31] This psychodynamic explanation has been further developed, whereby new strange faces are conceptualised as anomalous subjective experiences (ASEs) akin to those experienced in schizophrenia [12,13,32]. Elaborating this argument Caputo [6,17,32] used the subscales of the CADSS to re-classify illusions into 3 prototypes, each of which is believed to be associated with a different sub-type of dissociation. Face deformations are proposed to be associated with "derealisation", body detachment illusions with "depersonalisation" and different self-identities (i.e., strange faces) are proposed to relate to "dissociative identity".…”

“…Face deformations are proposed to be associated with "derealisation", body detachment illusions with "depersonalisation" and different self-identities (i.e., strange faces) are proposed to relate to "dissociative identity". This recent conceptualisation reframes all illusions in this paradigm as dissociative experiences [6] and posits that the main types of illusion emerge from different facets of dissociation [10,11,17,32].…”

Artistic Portraits of Strange-Face Illusions Produced through Eye-to-Eye Gazing in Dyads or Mirror-Gazing

“…For example, Leonardo da Vinci was fascinated by mirrors, as declared in his Trattato della Pittura [19] and by Vasari in Le vite de' più eccellenti pittori, scultori, e architettori [20]. It is said that Leonardo da Vinci had a black room containing a mirror, which he presumably used for meditation [21]. His painting Saint John the Baptist, in author Caputo's opinion, is a portrayal of his experiences with unsettling spiritual images of strange-face illusions, which surface from the lucid obscurity of a reflective mirror.…”

“…Other ways to produce dissociative states of consciousness are psychophysical trauma and psychoactive substance intake-and these tools should also be considered in the biography of artists of strange-face paintings. Francis Bacon's portraits-single-figure, two-figure and "in a mirror" paintings-investigate and represent the entire hierarchy of dissociative states (for review of dissociative states, tools for dissociation in the laboratory, roles of personality differences and possible neurophysiological explanations see Caputo, Lynn and Houran [21]): (i) derealization (e.g. huge deformations and animal faces); (ii) depersonalization (e.g.…”