Rhythmic Chanting and Mystical States across Traditions

Investigating the effects of focused attention (mantra) meditation on mismatch negativity: Insights into sensory and cognitive processing using an intensity oddball paradigm

Over the past fifty years, research has enhanced our understanding of meditation and its effects on cognition. Meditation is particularly promising due to its long-term (trait) effects, which persist outside meditation sessions. Advances in neuroimaging have enabled the study of these effects using neural markers such as mismatch negativity (MMN), which reflects the involuntary shift of attention to unexpected acoustic changes. This shift is modulated by attentional control, a key area where focused attention (FA) meditation training offers improvements. However, studies investigating the trait effects of FA meditation on MMN have produced mixed results, with previous research introducing confounds from short-term (state) effects that may influence trait-specific assessments. Furthermore, most research has focused on breath-based FA meditation, overlooking other prominent forms of FA meditation that might differentially modulate MMN, as per recent studies. The current study, therefore, examines mantra meditation, a widely practiced form of FA meditation, with an adequately powered sample to address the mixed findings in the literature. The study employs an intensity oddball paradigm instead of commonly used frequency oddball paradigms to assess whether MMN arises from higher-order cognitive processes or sensory adaptation. The findings reveal similar MMN amplitude in experts and novices, suggesting that MMN may be insensitive to meditation expertise or influenced by the enhanced attentional skills of novices. Additionally, a unidirectional polarity shift in event-related potential to deviant stimuli suggests that meditation effects on MMN are likely to be interpreted in the context of higher-order deviance detection mechanism.

Reclaiming ritual in palliative care: A hermeneutic narrative review

OBJECTIVES

To explore the potential of incorporating personally meaningful rituals as a spiritual resource for Western secular palliative care settings. Spiritual care is recognized as critical to palliative care; however, comprehensive interventions are lacking. In postmodern societies, the decline of organized religion has left many people identifying as "no religion" or "spiritual but not religious." To assess if ritual could provide appropriate and ethical spiritual care for this growing demographic requires comprehensive understanding of the spiritual state and needs of the secular individual in postmodern society, as well as a theoretical understanding of the elements and mechanisms of ritual. The aim of this paper is to provide a comprehensive and theoretically informed exploration of these elements through a critical engagement with heterogeneous literatures.

METHODS

A hermeneutic narrative review, inspired by complexity theory, underpinned by a view of understanding of spiritual needs as a complex mind-body phenomenon embedded in sociohistorical context.

RESULTS

This narrative review highlights a fundamental spiritual need in postmodern post-Christian secularism as need for embodied spiritual experience. The historical attrition of ritual in Western culture parallels loss of embodied spiritual experience. Ritual as a mind-body practice can provide an embodied spiritual resource. The origin of ritual is identified as evolutionary adaptive ritualized behaviors universally observed in animals and humans which develop emotional regulation and conceptual cognition. Innate human behaviors of creativity, play, and communication develop ritual. Mechanisms of ritual allow for connection to others as well as to the sacred and transcendent.

SIGNIFICANCE OF RESULTS

Natural and innate behaviors of humans can be used to create rituals for personally meaningful spiritual resources. Understanding the physical properties and mechanisms of ritual making allows anyone to build their own spiritual resources without need of relying on experts or institutionalized programs. This can provide a self-empowering, client-centered intervention for spiritual care.

Differential relationship between meditation methods and psychotic-like and mystical experiences

Much work has investigated beneficial effects of mindfulness-based meditation methods, but less work has investigated potential risks and differences across meditation methods. We addressed this in a large pre-registered online survey including 613 mediators where we correlated participants' experience with fifty meditation techniques to psychotic-like experiences (PLEs) and mystical experiences. We found a positive correlation for both PLEs and mystical experiences with techniques aiming at reducing phenomenological content ('null-directed', NDM) or classified as non-dual or less embodied. In contrast, methods aiming at achieving an enhanced cognitive state (CDM), also described as 'attentional' or strongly embodied, showed negative correlations with PLEs. Interestingly, participants' subjectively perceived that all types of meditation techniques were preventative of PLEs but less so for NDM. Participants differed in their reasons for meditating, broadly grouped into associated with spiritual exploration and associated with health. Participants who meditated for spiritual reasons were more likely to choose NDM techniques and more likely to experience PLEs. In contrast, participants who meditated for health-related reasons were more likely to choose CDM techniques. This study provides important information for meditators about the relationship of different techniques with PLEs and the moderating influences of individual traits.

Exploring the Physiological and Psychological Effects of Group Chanting in Australia: Reduced Stress, Cortisol and Enhanced Social Connection

Chanting, an ancient ritual practiced in diverse cultures and traditions worldwide, has typically been employed for meditation, healing, self-awareness, and psychological growth. However, there is little understanding of the physiological and psychological benefits of chanting, and how vocalization might contribute to such effects. This study aimed to determine whether 12-minutes of group chanting, through vocal or silent repetition of the sound "om," would reduce stress and anxiety, while increasing feelings of social connection, and whether vocal chanting would yield stronger effects. Thirty-four participants were randomly assigned to vocal or silent group chanting conditions. Saliva samples were collected before and after chanting to assess cortisol levels, while self-report measures included the State Trait Anxiety Inventory and the Adapted Self-Report Altruism Scale (including additional items on cross-cultural altruism). Following chanting, participants also provided a written description of their experiences. Both vocal and silent chanting resulted in significant decreases in cortisol levels and self-reported anxiety. The reduction in cortisol was similar for vocal and silent chanting, but self-reported anxiety decreased more following vocal chanting. Altruism scores increased following both vocal and silent chanting. However, there was no evidence of altruistic tendencies extending toward people from a culture other than one's own. Results are discussed in relation to the phenomenology of chanting, and to current theory and evidence on the physiological and psychological effects of chanting and singing.

Chanting and meditation: an 8-week intervention to promote executive functions in school-age children

The present study investigated the effectiveness of a newly developed 8-week meditation program, which included chanting and meditation, on executive functions (EFs) in school-age children. Twenty-five students assigned to an experimental group participated in the meditation program, engaging in daily and weekly activities for 8 weeks. Another 25 students served as a control group and participated in regular school activities. Pretest and posttest assessments included the n-back task for working memory, the go/no-go task for inhibition, and the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) for cognitive flexibility. A mixed repeated measures ANOVA was conducted to analyze interaction effects, within-group differences, and between-group differences. The experimental group demonstrated greater improvement compared to the control group across several measures: (1) reaction time in the 1-back task, (2) correct responses in the no-go condition of the go/no-go task, and (3) percentage of correct responses, errors, perseverative errors, non-perseverative errors, perseverative responses, and conceptual level responses in the WCST (p < 0.001). These findings underscore the potential benefits of an 8-week school-based meditation program incorporating chanting and meditation for enhancing EFs in school-age children.

The Psychedelic Renaissance: A Catholic Perspective

After being outlawed in 1970, psychedelics have reemerged in the consciousness of Western society in the form of the so-called psychedelic renaissance. This has led to widespread interest in psychedelic compounds being used for recreation, treatment of mental illness and addiction, and even the so-called "enhancement" of individuals and society. This renewed interest in psychedelics has resulted in seemingly endless publications in both the popular and the academic press, including authors from fields as diverse as philosophy, theology, pharmacology, neuroscience, and clinical medicine. A common thread in this developing literature is the claim that psychedelic compounds mediate their reported benefits by inducing the so-called psychedelic mystical experience (PME). The nature of PME is hotly debated, with some claiming that it is entirely psychological and others proposing that it involves contact with extramental reality. This raises a number of important questions for Catholics, especially whether PME should be considered properly "mystical," how PME compares with traditionally understood Catholic mysticism, and whether, and if so under what conditions, psychedelics could be licitly used by the Catholic faithful. This paper is an attempt to begin the process of reconciling empiric scientific data regarding psychedelics generally, and PME specifically, with Catholic philosophical and theological considerations, with the goal of both providing recommendations regarding the licitness of the use of psychedelic compounds and inviting conversation about this important and challenging topic.

Summary

Over the past 20 years, there has been a renewed interest in of psychedelics. Many articles have been published extoling the benefits of psychedelics, including for the treatment of mental illness and addiction, recreation, and "enhancement" of individuals and society. A common claim is that the benefits of psychedelics are a result of the psychedelic mystical experience (PME). This paper considers both the use of psychedelics and PME from the perspective of Catholic theology, provides recommendations about their use for the Catholic faithful, and invites further conversation about this important and challenging topic.

Short Summary

This paper considers challenges posed by psychedelics, considers licitness of use, and calls for further discussion.

Autism and Religion

The disease burden of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a definitive public health challenge. The quality of life of children with ASD depends on how the cultural environment fits their special needs, including religious and spiritual factors. Does ASD predict low religiosity, and if not, what is the significance for clinical care? To answer this question, we reviewed the literature on the cognitive models of ASD and religious beliefs. We found that the cognitive models of ASD and religious beliefs substantially overlap, which is particularly important from a developmental psychological perspective. These models include Theory of Mind and intentionality, the "broken mirror" hypothesis, central coherence, and the intense world theory. We dispute the assumption that individuals with ASD are inherently less religious and spiritual than the neurotypical population. Religiosity is possibly expressed differently in ASD with unique spiritual experiences and beliefs ("gifted, visionary, and truth-seeker"). In some circumstances, a religious background can be helpful for both children with ASD and their caregivers. These circumstances should not be neglected, and clinicians are encouraged to consider patients' religious context, resources, and needs.

The role of non-ordinary states of consciousness occasioned by mind-body practices in mental health illness

BACKGROUND

Research with hallucinogens suggests that non-ordinary states of consciousness (NOSCs), particularly mystical-type experiences, predict improvements in various affective disorders and substance use disorders (SUDs). Little is known, however, about the therapeutic potential of NOSCs induced by mind-body practices such as meditation, yoga and breathwork.

METHODS

We conducted a literature review in online databases (PubMed, Scopus, Google Scholar) and preprint databases (SSRN, bioRxiv) to identify studies of NOSCs induced by mind-body practices and their effects in affective disorders and SUDs.

RESULTS

A wide variety of mind-body practices involving physical movement (i.e., shamanic drumming, yoga) and hyper-focused immersive mental experiences (i.e., meditation, breathwork) have been reported in the literature. Preliminary evidence, mostly from qualitative studies and open label studies, suggest that mind-body practices produce NOSCs. Such experiences have been associated with short-term reduced levels of anxiety and depression, increased motivation to quit addictive behaviors, and enhanced self-awareness and spiritual well-being.

LIMITATIONS

Findings are limited by the scarcity of literature in this field. Further rigorous and methodologically sound empirical research is needed, including comparative studies of NOSCs occasioned by different methods.

CONCLUSIONS

Mind-body practices may represent a promising approach for treating mental health disorders. The NOSCs induced by such practices may lead to beneficial shifts in perceptions, values, beliefs, and behaviors. Given the challenges with hallucinogen-based therapies, mind-body practices may represent a more accessible and acceptable way of eliciting potentially helpful NOSCs in clinical practice.

Psychedelic replications in virtual reality and their potential as a therapeutic instrument: an open-label feasibility study

Background

Recent research has shown promising results for the therapeutic benefits of psychedelics. One popular view claims that these benefits are mediated by the subjective experiences induced by these substances. Based on this, we designed a virtual reality experience, Psyrreal, that mimics the phenomenological components of psychedelic experiences.

Aims

We aimed to investigate the therapeutic efficacy of Psyrreal and psychedelic VR experiences in treating depressive symptoms as well as explore the effect of Psyrreal on subjective factors which have been suggested to mediate the therapeutic benefits of psychedelics.

Methods

In this open-label feasibility study, thirteen participants with mild-to-moderate depression underwent a 2-day therapeutic intervention implementing Psyrreal. Depressive symptoms were evaluated by the Emotional State Questionnaire (EST-Q2) at the start of the intervention and 2 weeks after. A thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews after Psyrreal was also conducted as an additional assessment of the method.

Results

A 2-day intervention implementing Psyrreal led to significant decreases in depressive symptoms at the 2-week follow-up (n = 10, p = 0.007, Hedges' g = 1.046) measured by the Emotional State Questionnaire (EST-Q2). The analysis of semi-structured interviews suggests that Psyrreal could lead to insight and alterations in the sense of self in some people.

Conclusion

This work proposes a novel method using virtual reality to augment the treatment of psychological disorders as well as to precisely investigate the mediating subjective factors of the therapeutic effects of psychedelic substances. Our preliminary results suggest that VR experiences combined with psychological support show potential in treating depressive symptoms and further research into similar methods is warranted.

The Altered States Database: Psychometric data from a systematic literature review

In this paper, we present the development of the Altered States Database (ASDB), an open-science project based on a systematic literature review. The ASDB contains psychometric questionnaire data on subjective experiences of altered states of consciousness (ASC) induced by pharmacological and non-pharmacological methods. The systematic review follows the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. Scientific journal articles were identified through PubMed and Web of Science. We included studies that examined ASC using the following validated questionnaires: Altered States of Consciousness Rating Scale (APZ, 5D-ASC, 11-ASC), Phenomenology of Consciousness Inventory (PCI), Hallucinogen Rating Scale (HRS), or Mystical Experience Questionnaire (MEQ30). The systematic review resulted in the inclusion of a total of 165 journal articles, whereof questionnaire data was extracted and is now available on the Open Science Framework (OSF) website (https://osf.io/8mbru) and on the ASDB website (http://alteredstatesdb.org), where questionnaire data can be easily retrieved and visualized. This data allows the calculation of comparable psychometric values of ASC experiences and of dose-response relationships of substances inducing ASC.

Measurement(s)	Psychometric questionnaire data
Technology Type(s)	Systematic literature review (PRISMA)
Sample Characteristic - Organism	Human

How Chanting Relates to Cognitive Function, Altered States and Quality of Life

Chanting is practiced in many religious and secular traditions and involves rhythmic vocalization or mental repetition of a sound or phrase. This study examined how chanting relates to cognitive function, altered states, and quality of life across a wide range of traditions. A global survey was used to assess experiences during chanting including flow states, mystical experiences, mindfulness, and mind wandering. Further, attributes of chanting were assessed to determine their association with altered states and cognitive benefits, and whether psychological correlates of chanting are associated with quality of life. Responses were analyzed from 456 English speaking participants who regularly chant across 32 countries and various chanting traditions. Results revealed that different aspects of chanting were associated with distinctive experiential outcomes. Stronger intentionality (devotion, intention, sound) and higher chanting engagement (experience, practice duration, regularity) were associated with altered states and cognitive benefits. Participants whose main practice was call and response chanting reported higher scores of mystical experiences. Participants whose main practice was repetitive prayer reported lower mind wandering. Lastly, intentionality and engagement were associated with quality of life indirectly through altered states and cognitive benefits. This research sheds new light on the phenomenology and psychological consequences of chanting across a range of practices and traditions.

Effects of Audiovisual Interactions on Working Memory Task Performance—Interference or Facilitation

(1) Background: The combined n-back + Go/NoGo paradigm was used to investigate whether audiovisual interactions interfere with or facilitate WM. (2) Methods: College students were randomly assigned to perform the working memory task based on either a single (visual or auditory) or dual (audiovisual) stimulus. Reaction times, accuracy, and WM performance were compared across the two groups to investigate effects of audiovisual interactions. (3) Results: With low cognitive load (2-back), auditory stimuli had no effect on visual working memory, whereas visual stimuli had a small effect on auditory working memory. With high cognitive load (3-back), auditory stimuli interfered (large effect size) with visual WM, and visual stimuli interfered (medium effect size) with auditory WM. (4) Conclusions: Audiovisual effects on WM follow the resource competition theory, and the cognitive load of a visual stimulus is dominated by competition; vision always interferes with audition, and audition conditionally interferes with vision. With increased visual cognitive load, competitive effects of audiovisual interactions were more obvious than those with auditory stimuli. Compared with visual stimuli, audiovisual stimuli showed significant interference only when visual cognitive load was high. With low visual cognitive load, the two stimulus components neither facilitated nor interfered with the other in accordance with a speed–accuracy trade-off.

Predictors and potentiators of psychedelic-occasioned mystical experiences

Mystical experiences are often described as being among the most profound and meaningful events of a person’s life. Their occurrence, while a normal but uncommon phenomenon, is reliably occasioned by psychedelic substances under the appropriate conditions, although care is needed around the context of usage to help ensure safe and beneficial experiences. The occurrence of mystical experiences in psychedelic sessions is a key mediator of the sustained psychological benefits reported in both healthy and clinical populations. Certain factors including set and setting, drug dosage, trait absorption, drug type, intention and states of surrender and acceptance all predict or influence the occurrence of mystical experiences. Various additional factors may further contribute to the occurrence and intensity of mystical experiences and enhance their long-term benefits, including music, meditation and spiritual practices and nature-based settings. This review examines these factors and considers how they might be optimised to increase the chances of a mystical experience occurring, while also considering factors that are negatively associated with mystical experiences with suggestions on how these might be mitigated where applicable. Finally, potential future research avenues for furthering our knowledge of psychedelic mystical experiences and how their benefits might be enhanced is suggested. Maximising the potential for the occurrence of mystical experiences is an important aspect of the beneficial application of psychedelics.

Exploring the "Dark Matter" of Social Interaction: Systematic Review of a Decade of Research in Spontaneous Interpersonal Coordination

Interpersonal coordination is a research topic that has attracted considerable attention this last decade both due to a theoretical shift from intra-individual to inter-individual processes and due to the development of new methods for recording and analyzing movements in ecological settings. Encompassing spatiotemporal behavioral matching, interpersonal coordination is considered as "social glue" due to its capacity to foster social bonding. However, the mechanisms underlying this effect are still unclear and recent findings suggest a complex picture. Goal-oriented joint action and spontaneous coordination are often conflated, making it difficult to disentangle the role of joint commitment from unconscious mutual attunement. Consequently, the goals of the present article are twofold: (1) to illustrate the rapid expansion of interpersonal coordination as a research topic and (2) to conduct a systematic review of spontaneous interpersonal coordination, summarizing its latest developments and current challenges this last decade. By applying Rapid Automatic Keyword Extraction and Latent Dirichlet Allocation algorithms, keywords were extracted from PubMed and Scopus databases revealing the large diversity of research topics associated with spontaneous interpersonal coordination. Using the same databases and the keywords "behavioral matching," "interactional synchrony," and "interpersonal coordination," 1,213 articles were identified, extracted, and screened following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses protocol. A total of 19 articles were selected using the following inclusion criteria: (1) dynamic and spontaneous interactions between two unacquainted individuals (2) kinematic analyses, and (3) non-clinical and non-expert adult populations. The results of this systematic review stress the proliferation of various definitions and experimental paradigms that study perceptual and/or social influences on the emergence of spontaneous interpersonal coordination. As methods and indices used to quantify interpersonal coordination differ from one study to another, it becomes difficult to establish a coherent picture. This review highlights the need to reconsider interpersonal coordination not as the pinnacle of social interactions but as a complex dynamical process that requires cautious interpretation. An interdisciplinary approach is necessary for building bridges across scattered research fields through opening a dialogue between different theoretical frameworks and consequently provides a more ecological and holistic understanding of human social cognition.

Assessing Vocal Chanting as an Online Psychosocial Intervention

The ancient practice of chanting typically takes place within a community as a part of a live ceremony or ritual. Research suggests that chanting leads to improved mood, reduced stress, and increased wellbeing. During the global pandemic, many chanting practices were moved online in order to adhere to social distancing recommendations. However, it is unclear whether the benefits of live chanting occur when practiced in an online format. The present study assessed the effects of a 10-min online chanting session on stress, mood, and connectedness, carried out either in a group or individually. The study employed a 2 (chanting vs. control) × 2 (group vs. individual) between-subjects design. Participants (N = 117) were pseudo-randomly allocated across the four conditions. Before and after participation, individuals completed the Spielberg’s State Trait Anxiety Inventory, the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule, the Social Connectedness Scale and Aron’s Inclusion of Self in Other Scale. Online chanting led to a significant reduction in stress and an increase in positive affect when compared to the online control task. Participants who took part in group chanting also felt more connected to members of their chanting group than participants in the control group. However, feelings of general connectedness to all people remained similar across conditions. The investigation provides evidence that online chanting may be a useful psychosocial intervention, whether practiced individually or in a group.