Neuroimaging during Trance State: A Contribution to the Study of Dissociation

Abstract

Despite increasing interest in pathological and non-pathological dissociation, few researchers have focused on the spiritual experiences involving dissociative states such as mediumship, in which an individual (the medium) claims to be in communication with, or under the control of, the mind of a deceased person. Our preliminary study investigated psychography – in which allegedly “the spirit writes through the medium's hand” – for potential associations with specific alterations in cerebral activity. We examined ten healthy psychographers – five less expert mediums and five with substantial experience, ranging from 15 to 47 years of automatic writing and 2 to 18 psychographies per month – using single photon emission computed tomography to scan activity as subjects were writing, in both dissociative trance and non-trance states. The complexity of the original written content they produced was analyzed for each individual and for the sample as a whole. The experienced psychographers showed lower levels of activity in the left culmen, left hippocampus, left inferior occipital gyrus, left anterior cingulate, right superior temporal gyrus and right precentral gyrus during psychography compared to their normal (non-trance) writing. The average complexity scores for psychographed content were higher than those for control writing, for both the whole sample and for experienced mediums. The fact that subjects produced complex content in a trance dissociative state suggests they were not merely relaxed, and relaxation seems an unlikely explanation for the underactivation of brain areas specifically related to the cognitive processing being carried out. This finding deserves further investigation both in terms of replication and explanatory hypotheses.

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

“…In most Western societies, when a person has sensorial experiences and behaviors felt as the non-self, this is usually interpreted as a sign of mental disease, and the majority of mental health professionals interpret theexternal "agencies" and "communicating spirits" as fragments of the individual's own self and inner conflicts 4,5 . However, other scholars, in light of evidence stemming from controlled studies about the accuracy of mediumistic communications and about "near-death" experiences, consider plausible that some individuals, in altered mental states, could actually communicate through extra-sensorial perception with some form of non-local consciousness [6][7][8] .…”

Varieties of Non-ordinary Experiences in Brazil—a Critical Review of the Contribution of Studies of ‘Religious Experience’ to the Study of Religion

“…In a study about the women's role in the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (short IURD, for Igreja Universal do Reino de Deus), Pimentel (2005) argues that the IURD theology explains why women are the preferred bodies to experience demonic possession. While it is regarded as the responsibility of men and women to liberate the world from the evil spirits that are seen as responsible for all misery and evil (Oliva 1995), it is women's role as mothers and housewives to keep evil away from the family. It is therefore the duty of women to fight demons that afflict members of their families.…”

Contribuições da Psicologia Evolucionista e das Neurociências para a compreensão das crenças e experiências religiosas

“…Parte das hipóteses tem sido confirmada pelos estudos, porém, as pesquisas indicam várias áreas cerebrais relacionadas às vivências religiosas, não apenas aquelas ligadas ao processamento emocional, ao planejamento e ao senso de identidade (Beauregard e Paquette, 2006). Os resultados também parecem variar conforme o grau de profundidade do estado mental estudado (Wang et al, 2011) e em função de diferenças entre os participantes (Short et al, 2010;Peres et al, 2012 Todavia, há também estudos independentes favoráveis, com base em variações no protocolo (Bell et al, 2007, Tinoco e Ortiz, 2014, o que pode indicar a necessidade de mais pesquisas para esclarecer a extensão e aplicabilidade das hipóteses. LEGENDA: ** Confirmação empírica ampla (de um modo geral, os resultados convergem com a hipótese ou teoria).…”