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Persistent Non-Symbolic Experience in Adults

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

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Persistent Non-Symbolic Experience in Adults

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  1. Persistent Non-SymbolicExperience in Adults Jeffery A. MartinCenter for the Study of Non-Symbolic Consciousness And Harvard University

  2. What isPersistent Non-Symbolic Experience(PNSE)?

  3. 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…

  4. 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

  5. PNSE Continuum Location 1 Location 3 Location 4 Location 2 • 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

  6. 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

  7. PNSE Continuum Location 1 Location 3 Location 4 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

  8. PNSE Continuum Location 1 Location 3 Location 4 Location 2 - Only single positive emotion remains - Feels like a combination of universal compassion, love, joy, … - Higher well-being than location 2

  9. PNSE Continuum Location 1 Location 3 Location 4 Location 2 - 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 - ‘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 - Only single positive emotion remains - Feels like a combination of universal compassion, love, joy, … - Higher well-being than location 2 - 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

  10. Getting There…

  11. Applied Research - Feedback PNSE • Home Bio-feedback

  12. Applied Research - Stimulation PNSE • Home Unit

  13. 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

  14. 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

  15. SWLS

  16. STAI Y-1 (Current Anxiety)

  17. M-Scale

  18. Toughest Case…

  19. Another Example

  20. Thank You! Paper at: nonsymbolic.org/PNSE-Article.pdf Email: jeffery.a.martin@gmail.com

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