Transcript Document

Persistent Non-Symbolic
Experience in Adults
Jeffery A. Martin
Center for the Study of Non-Symbolic Consciousness
And
Harvard University
What is
Persistent Non-Symbolic Experience
(PNSE)?
Approach
• ‘Gold standard’ self report measures
– Example: Batch 1 - Modified M-Scale, DES2, STAI, SWLS, BFI,
TAS, and Modified MUMEX
• In-depth interviews (6-12+ hours)
– Focused on Cognition, Affect, Memory and Perception
– Extracting and refining testable psychological claims from self
reports
• Example: “Loss of self” …what does this actually mean?
• Clearly talking to someone who’s saying “I did X”
• Physiological measurement
– HRV, SPV, breath, etc.
– EEG, fMRI, …
– DNA, blood, and other bio soon…
Participants
•
•
•
•
Super achievers => broke and homeless
Mostly religious or spiritual
Age range late teens to mid-nineties
Globally dispersed (we only track English speakers, but come across many
others)
• Generally educated
• Skewed toward men
• Various races but our sample is skewed towards Caucasians
Basically, if I put you in a room with a mix of people who report this and
people who don’t, it would be very unlikely that you could tell the
difference from just observing them interact
PNSE Continuum
Location 1
Location 2
Location 3
Location 4
• Locations actually represent regions that have
sub-locations with them
• Sub-locations are grouped within locations for
convenience
• Some people stay in one spot, others move
• Generally a forward progression but not
always
PNSE Continuum
Location 1
- Expansion of sense of
self, connection to divine
- Much less affected by
‘self’ thoughts
- Distance from but still
have positive and
negative emotions
- Deep peace but can be
suppressed by triggered
conditioning
- Effects from perceptual
triggers fall off quickly
- Deep peace and
beingness feels more real
than anything previous
- Trust in ‘how things are’
- Personal history less
relevant, memories less
PNSE Continuum
Location 1
Location 2
- ‘Self’ thoughts continue to
fade
- Peace increasingly harder
to suppress/conditioning
fades
- Shift towards increasingly
positive emotions, until
only very positive emotions
remain
- Intermediate levels of
perceptual triggers
increasingly fade
- More likely to feel that
there is a correct decision
or path to take when
presented with choices
- Higher well-being than
location one
Location 3
Location 4
PNSE Continuum
Location 1
Location 2
Location 3
- Only single positive
emotion remains
- Feels like a
combination of
universal
compassion, love,
joy, …
- Higher well-being
than location 2
Location 4
PNSE Continuum
Location 1
- Expansion of sense of
self, connection to divine
- Much less affected by
‘self’ thoughts
- Distance from but still
have positive and
negative emotions
- Deep peace but can be
suppressed by triggered
conditioning
- Effects from perceptual
triggers fall off quickly
- Deep peace and
‘beingness feels more real
than anything previous
- Trust in ‘how things are’
- Personal history less
relevant, memories less
Location 2
- ‘Self’ thoughts continue to
fade
- Peace increasingly harder
to suppress/conditioning
fades
- Shift towards increasingly
positive emotions, until
only very positive emotions
remain
- Intermediate levels of
perceptual triggers
increasingly fade
- More likely to feel that
there is a correct decision
or path to take when
presented with choices
- Higher well-being than
location one
Location 3
- Only single positive
emotion remains
- Feels like a
combination of
universal
compassion, love,
joy, …
- Higher well-being
than location 2
Location 4
- No sense of agency
- No emotions
- No ‘self’ thoughts
- Perceptual triggers
at their bare
minimum
- No sense of divine
or universal
consciousness
- life was simply
unfolding and they
were watching the
process happen
- Memory
deficits/scheduled
appointments, etc.
- Highest well-being
reported
Getting There…
Applied Research - Feedback
Narrow AI
rt-fMRI sEEG
MEG
fMRI
Home
Bio-feedback
Applied Research - Stimulation
tDCS
T/FUS
rt-fMRI sEEG
MEG
fMRI
Home Unit
Recent Experiment
•
•
•
•
•
•
Best practices
Combined based on data
Taught by best people in each area
4 months
2 classes – 1 course
6 participants
– 3 men, 3 women
– high, med, low well-being
– 1 man did not successfully complete the program
Recent Experiment
• NSE
– Location 1 = 1 person
– Location 2 = 1 person
• Measures
– STAI, STRESS, PILL, M-Scale, NETI, AHI, CES-D, FEQ,
GHS, PNAS, Gratitude, Optimism, Meaning, ATH,
SWLS
– In ‘positive’ direction across subjects
SWLS
Jan-14
32
25
12
31
28
5-35
May-14
34
35
25
35
33
STAI Y-1 (Current Anxiety)
Jan-14
65
80
55
77
68
20-80
May-14
80
80
72
80
80
M-Scale
Jan-14 May-14
109
134
88
133
160
160
114
160
90
146
32-160
Toughest Case…
STAI Y-1 (Anxiety Now)
STAI Y-2 (Anxiety Persist.)
Stress
MNETI (PNSE)
AHI (Overall Happiness)
CES-D (Depression)
GHS (Enduring Happiness)
SWLS (Wellbeing)
FEQ (% Time Happy)
Jan-14 May-14
55
72
44
71
28
4
67
84
2.04
3.5
25
8
3.25
5.25
12
25
20
65
Max
80
80
0
120
5
0
7
35
100
Another Example
STAI Y-1 (Anxiety Now)
STAI Y-2 (Anxiety Persist.)
Stress
MNETI (PNSE)
AHI (Overall Happiness)
M-Scale
GHS (Enduring Happiness)
SWLS (Wellbeing)
FEQ (% Time Happy)
CES-D (Depression)
Jan-14 May-14
68
80
65
79
16
3
71
103
3.13
4.38
90
146
4.5
6.75
28
33
65
99
10
1
Max
80
80
0
120
5
160
7
35
100
0
Thank You!
Paper at: nonsymbolic.org/PNSE-Article.pdf
Email: [email protected]