Behavioural and brain responses in cognitive trance: A TMS-EEG case study
Abstract
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clinph.2019.11.011 1388-2457/ 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of In This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativ Cognitive trance is defined as a volitional, purposeful and selfinduced modified state of consciousness (inherited from shamanic traditional practice), characterized by lucid but narrowed awareness of external surroundings with hyper-focused immersive experience of flow, expanded inner imagery, modified somatosensory processing, and an altered sense of self and time (Flor-Henry et al., 2017). The underlying neurophysiology of this particular state of consciousness remains poorly understood. We here report a case study of a highly trained expert in cognitive trance using transcranial magnetic stimulation combined with electroencephalography (TMS-EEG), aiming to probe trance-induced changes of electrical reactivity of cortical circuits to magnetic field perturbations. The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Liège in Belgium, and the subject gave her written informed consent. The participant (C.S.), a 56 year-old right-handed female, originally trained in Mongolia, has been practicing trance for 17 years and is able to self-induce a trance state without external help. Neuropsychiatric conditions were excluded. TMS-evoked EEG potentials (TEPs) were recorded in eyes-closed conditions during (i) normal resting wakefulness (baseline) and…
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