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  • In accordance with Bud (A.D.) Craig's theories, we maintain that ascending physiological signals in their temporal dynamics are a necessary prerequisite for human time judgments. Functional neuroimaging and psychophysiological evidence have increasingly demonstrated that the subjective judgment of time is based on the physical and emotional self. The psychological literature reveals how emotions and related body feelings shape subjective time. Empirical studies of altered states of consciousness, namely meditative states, are also of prime interest as the perception of the physical state is strongly modulated and thereby affects the subjective experience of time. Our conclusion is that the sense of time is strongly embodied.

  • Floatation-REST (Reduced Environmental Stimulation Therapy) minimizes stimulation of the nervous system by immersing subjects in an environment without sound or light while they effortlessly float in thermoneutral water supersaturated with Epsom salt. Here we investigated the relationship between altered states of consciousness (ASC) and its association with the affective changes induced by Floatation-REST. Using a within-subject crossover design, 50 healthy subjects were randomized to 60 min of Floatation-REST or 60 min of Bed-REST (an active control condition that entailed lying supine on a warm waterbed in a dark and quiet room). Following Floatation-REST, subjects felt significantly more relaxed, less anxious, and less tired than after Bed-REST. Floatation-REST also induced significantly more pronounced ASC characterized by the dissolution of body boundaries and the distortion of subjective time. The loss of body boundaries mediated the loss of anxiety, revealing a novel mechanism by which Floatation-REST exerts its anxiolytic effect.

  • The range of phenomena that can be induced by psychedelic substances is broad and variable, including effects on perception, cognition, and emotion. The umbrella term “psychedelic phenomenology” is used to refer to a combination of altered experiential features, such as hallucinations or ego dissolution, which together constitute a psychedelic experience. However, there is no consensus on the set of alterations of consciousness that qualifies an altered state to be a “psychedelic state.” In this chapter we summarize the most commonly discussed changes in subjective experiences which could be seen as “core features” of psychedelic experiences. While acknowledging the rich history of pioneering phenomenological work of the last century, this chapter focuses on more recent developments in the quantitative work on the assessment of these phenomena. We also address the under-researched phenomenology of distressing effects, often referred to as “challenging experiences” or “bad trips,” and point to their importance in understanding the therapeutic potential and risks associated with psychedelic phenomenology. Historically, one can find many links between psychedelic phenomenology and the phenomenology of psychopathology. We stress the importance to refine the assessment and description also of distressing effects, to identify factors that promote acute experiences which are beneficial and limit those which can have potentially harmful long-term effects.

  • Altered states of consciousness lead to profound changes in the sense of self, time and space. We assessed how these changes were related to sexual responsiveness during sex. 116 subjects reported (a) intensity of awareness concerning body, space and time, and (b) satisfaction, desire, arousal, and orgasm occurrence. We differentiated vaginal intercourse orgasm from noncoital orgasm. Female vaginal intercourse orgasm was further differentiated as with or without concurrent clitoral masturbation. Overall, sexual responsiveness was related to greater body awareness and lesser time and space awareness. Satisfaction, desire, and arousal were especially associated with less time awareness in women. Female orgasms during vaginal intercourse were related to greater body awareness and lesser time awareness, but noncoital orgasms were unrelated. Our findings provide empirical support for the hypotheses that altered states of consciousness with attentional absorption are strongly related to sexual responsiveness in women, and to a lesser extent in men.

  • Empirical findings in the Cognitive Sciences on the relationship between feeling states and subjective time have led to the assumption that time perception entails emotional and interoceptive states. The perception of time would thereafter be embodied; the bodily self, the continuous input from the body is the functional anchor of phenomenal experience and the mental self. Subjective time emerges through the existence of the self across time as an enduring and embodied entity. This relation is prominently disclosed in studies on altered states of consciousness such as in meditative states, under the influence of hallucinogens as well as in many psychiatric and neurological conditions. An increased awareness of oneself coincides with an increased awareness of time. Conversely, a decreased awareness of the self is associated with diminished awareness of time. The body of empirical work within different conceptual frameworks on the intricate relationship between self and time is presented and discussed.

Last update from database: 04.06.25, 15:35 (UTC)