RESEARCH BASE

Search 3,717 documents across 34 fields — every claim tier-rated by evidence

3,717 documents 34 sections 47,686 citations 34,596+ keywords indexed 4 evidence tiers

118 results for "altered states" — page 1 of 6

Y_4_21 Credible Altered States

Y_4_21 — Fasting-Induced Altered States

Fasting-induced altered states of consciousness — visionary experiences, euphoria, time distortion, dissociation, and mystical-type experiences produced by prolonged food deprivation — represent one of humanity's oldest

fasting altered states ketosis beta-hydroxybutyrate vision quest asceticism
Y_5_08 Credible Altered States

Y_5_08 — Sweat Lodge and Heat-Induced Altered States

The sweat lodge — and heat-induced altered states more broadly — represents one of the most ancient and geographically widespread methods of intentionally altering consciousness through controlled hyperthermia: sustained

sweat lodge inipi Lakota sauna banya heat therapy
Y_4_03 Altered States

Y_4_03 — Shamanic Practices / Altered States Synthesis

Shamanic practices represent humanity's oldest spiritual technology, attested across every inhabited continent from at least 30,000 BCE (Upper Paleolithic cave art) to the present day. Despite vast cultural distances — g

shamanism altered states Mircea Eliade ecstasy trance soul journey
Y_2_17 Verified Altered States

Y_2_17 — Barrier Gating and Altered States of Consciousness

Altered states of consciousness — produced by psychedelics, anesthetics, hypnagogic and hypnopompic transitions, near-death events, deep meditation, breathwork, and sensory deprivation — share a common functional signatu

altered states default mode network REBUS psychedelics ion channels blood-brain barrier
Y_3_07 Altered States

Y_3_07 — Music, Consciousness, and Altered States

Music is one of the most powerful modulators of conscious experience available without pharmacological intervention. Neuroimaging reveals that music engages an extraordinarily distributed network: auditory cortex (superi

music cognition music neuroscience chills frisson musical emotion default mode network music auditory cortex
Y_1_01 Altered States

Y_1_01 — Altered States, Psychedelics & Ancient Knowledge

Psychoactive substances played a significant — possibly central — role in ancient knowledge traditions. The Eleusinian Mysteries (kykeon), Vedic tradition (Soma), Egyptian practice (blue lotus), and Mesoamerican religion

Eleusis kykeon ergot Soma haoma Amanita muscaria
T_3_12 Credible Psychology & Social

T_3_12 — Altered States of Consciousness: Trance, Meditation, and Sensory Deprivation

Altered states of consciousness (ASCs) — states that differ qualitatively from ordinary waking awareness in terms of perception, cognition, self-awareness, affect, and volition — have been systematically studied since th

altered state of consciousness ASC trance meditation sensory deprivation float tank
U_2_22 Credible Art, Music & Culture

U_2_22 — Shamanic & Entoptic Art

The neuropsychological model of shamanic art proposes that much of humanity's oldest visual art — from Upper Paleolithic cave paintings in Europe to San Bushman rock art in southern Africa to Aboriginal art in Australia

shamanic art entoptic phenomena rock art Lewis-Williams cave art altered states
Credible

INTERDOC_68 — Entity Categories as Attractors in Consciousness State-Space

A recurring mystery across the corpus: why do DMT users, shamanic practitioners, near-death experiencers, medieval monks, ancient temple visitors, and modern abduction reporters describe the same limited set of entity ty

entity encounters consciousness state-space attractors DMT entities NDE beings shamanic entities
K_1_15 Credible Consciousness

K_1_15 — Consciousness–Genetics Interface

Genetic variation significantly modulates conscious experience, including baseline personality, susceptibility to altered states, response to psychoactive substances, meditation capacity, and vulnerability to disorders o

consciousness genetics COMT serotonin receptors FOXP2 psychedelic response meditation genetics
K_5_21 Verified Consciousness

K_5_21 — Entoptic Phenomena: Neural Basis of Universal Visual Patterns

Entoptic phenomena are visual experiences generated within the eye or visual nervous system rather than by external stimuli. They include phosphenes (light flashes from pressure on the eye or electrical stimulation), for

entoptic phosphene form constants geometric hallucination cave art neural pattern
Verified

INTERDOC_63 — Sensory Gating as Universal Consciousness Threshold Modulator

Melzack and Wall's gate control theory (1965, Science) demonstrated that pain perception is not direct signal transmission but filtered through a spinal "gate" modulated by large-fiber input, small-fiber input, and desce

sensory gating gate control theory anesthesia hypnagogia sleep paralysis NDEs
Verified

INTERDOC_55 — Barrier Permeability as Consciousness Gate

The mammalian nervous system is biochemically isolated from the rest of the body and the external environment by a layered system of barriers — the blood-brain barrier (BBB), the intestinal epithelial barrier, the blood-

blood-brain barrier gut-brain axis intestinal permeability consciousness gating neuroinflammation sepsis encephalopathy
Credible

INTERDOC_37 — Consciousness, Entity Contact, and the Contact Nexus

[KEY FINDING] Entity encounters are reported through at least seven independent consciousness-alteration pathways: (1) Psychedelics — DMT, psilocybin, ayahuasca, iboga, 5-MeO-DMT, mescaline; (2) Meditation — deep jhāna s

entity contact altered states consciousness DMT meditation shamanic journey
Y_4_11 Altered States

Y_4_11 — Trance States Across Cultures

Trance — an altered state of consciousness characterized by narrowed or shifted attention, altered sense of self, reduced awareness of external surroundings, and modified responsiveness — is one of the most universal fea

trance ritual trance cross-cultural trance possession trance shamanic trance altered states of consciousness
Y_5_18 Credible Altered States

Y_5_18 — Sensory Deprivation & Float Tanks

Sensory deprivation — the systematic reduction or elimination of external sensory input — has been studied scientifically since the 1950s, with two primary paradigms: chamber REST (Restricted Environmental Stimulation Te

sensory deprivation flotation REST isolation tank John Lilly Epsom salt theta waves
Y_5_14 Credible Altered States

Y_5_14 — Drumming and Rhythmic Entrainment: Percussive Paths to Trance

Drumming and rhythmic entrainment — the use of sustained, repetitive percussive sound to alter consciousness — is one of the oldest and most universal methods of inducing trance states across human cultures. From the fra

drumming rhythmic entrainment shamanic drumming theta waves Neher auditory driving
Y_3_08 Altered States

Y_3_08 — Breathwork and Holotropic States of Consciousness

Deliberate manipulation of breathing patterns to alter consciousness is among the oldest and most widespread human practices, documented in yogic pranayama (circa 500 BCE, Yoga Sutras of Patanjali), Tibetan tummo (inner-

breathwork holotropic breathwork Stanislav Grof hyperventilation respiratory alkalosis hypocapnia
Y_3_17 Credible Altered States

Y_3_17 — Breathwork Traditions: Pranayama, Holotropic Breathing, and Respiratory Consciousness

Breathwork — the intentional manipulation of breathing patterns to influence physiological, psychological, and (in traditional frameworks) spiritual states — encompasses ancient practices dating to the earliest recorded

breathwork pranayama holotropic Wim Hof Buteyko respiratory physiology
Y_3_18 Credible Altered States

Y_3_18 — Sensory Deprivation and Float Tank Research

Sensory deprivation — the deliberate reduction of external sensory stimulation — and its modern therapeutic form, flotation-REST (Restricted Environmental Stimulation Technique), have been studied since the 1950s as a me

sensory-deprivation float-tank isolation-tank restricted-environmental-stimulation john-lilly flotation-rest