Studying hallucinations from a new dimension and making a scientific interpretation of PSI, this paper reveals the essence of ASC in light of a new filtering hypothesis.
You can read the paper at SSRN Electronic Library
I know English isn’t your first language, but coming on a nonspecialist discussion forum and speaking in jargon isn’t a good way to grab people’s interest. I may take a look at this later if I find time and inclination, but it would stimulate discussion here if you would actually start a discussion. Provide a synopsis of your work and make a statement about your conclusions.
Basically from your abstract, it sounds as if you’re hypothesizing that fantasy-prone individuals are more likely to believe that they have psychic powers. Is that a fair summary?
I know English isn't your first language, but coming on a nonspecialist discussion forum and speaking in jargon isn't a good way to grab people's interest. I may take a look at this later if I find time and inclination, but it would stimulate discussion here if you would actually start a discussion. Provide a synopsis of your work and make a statement about your conclusions.Thank you very much for your kind suggestion! I tried to put more information here, but it seems the forum screen my content. I will try again later.
Basically from your abstract, it sounds as if you're hypothesizing that fantasy-prone individuals are more likely to believe that they have psychic powers. Is that a fair summary?That could be a sub-conclusion.
I know English isn't your first language, but coming on a nonspecialist discussion forum and speaking in jargon isn't a good way to grab people's interest. I may take a look at this later if I find time and inclination, but it would stimulate discussion here if you would actually start a discussion. Provide a synopsis of your work and make a statement about your conclusions.Thank you very much for your kind suggestion! I tried to put more information here, but it seems the forum screen my content. I will try again later. The forum spam filter is overly aggressive. Nothing the admins can do about that. Try a new post. I find that sometimes typing another sentence on a separate paragraph at the bottom of the post will get past the filter.
We find in our research that a theoretical framework of hallucinations can be constructed by a further analysis of the changes in the relation of their relative strength on perception. At the same time, a scientific interpretation of the so-called supernatural phenomena will be made. But what need to be emphasized is that, in our discussion, the strength of hallucinations is applied not to one single stimulation (for example, strong visual shock), but to the completeness, consistence and vividness of the whole imaginary scene.
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1. When internal false stimulation is far weaker than external objective stimulation:
When internal false stimulation is far weaker than external objective stimulation, one is actually in “elementary hallucinations" mentioned above. Firstly, he will detect some internal false stimulations which are not in accordance with the external objective scene. Then, since he can distinguish reality from illusions in this state, he is able to determine that the inconsistent stimulations are hallucinations.
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2. When internal false stimulation is almost equal to external objective stimulation:
The mixture of the two kinds of stimulation causes two conflicting experiences in perception simultaneously, and furthermore, leads to paradoxical and deranged apperceiving. One is hesitant to determine which is real. This is quite fancy, but often happens in “deep hallucinations". It is the first stage of “deep hallucinations", and we call it “paradoxical hallucinations." The shift from “elementary hallucinations" to “paradoxical hallucinations" happens when internal false stimulation becomes stronger to make clear scenes.
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This paradoxical state can explain the generation mechanism of many supernatural phenomena. Let’s take OBE as an example. When one is in such experiences, internal false stimulation makes him feel that he goes to another place, but his objective touching and seeing still operate to confirm him that he still stays in the original place. This sense of paradox and derangement is the fundamental reason for the feeling of being out of body. Let’s take another example: synesthesia. Seeing a sound and hearing a picture result from that the internal and external stimulations affect perception together so as to mismatch the two pairs of five senses. For example, when the external hearing is much stronger than its counterpart and the external vision is much weaker than its counterpart, one will naturally mismatch the objective hearing and the false vision, that’s, experiencing synesthesia.
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3. When internal false stimulation is far stronger than external objective stimulation:
In this condition, there are many fancier effects. When internal false stimulation is far stronger than external objective stimulation, all kinds of complete, consistent and vivid imaginary scenes are formed. Being totally lost in fantasies means the temporal ignorance of the external objective world. This is the second stage of “deep hallucinations", which we call “complete hallucinations". Since vision takes account of 70% of the information one receives, external objective stimulation is greatly undermined when the eyes are closed. Therefore, the shift from “paradoxical hallucinations" into “complete hallucinations" happens mostly because internal false stimulation becomes relatively stronger when eyes are closed to weaken external stimulation.
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At this moment, if some external objective stimulation becomes stronger, people in fantasies will detect that such stimulations are not in accordance with the internal imaginary scenes.
Since one is totally lost in fantasies, he regards all internal false stimulation as real and actually has no idea of what is real or false. Therefore, the inconsistent and “unexplainable" external objective stimulation will be wrongly treated as supernatural phenomena or ESP. This is opposite to the previous “elementary hallucinations". The former is the stronger external against the weaker internal while the latter is the weaker external against the stronger internal. We can call it “the real is the false when the false is treated as real". Obviously, it is a wonderful experience to watch the real world from another imaginary world.
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If hallucinations are examined in light of the definition of ESP (Extra Sensual Perception), the former actually can be treated as the latter: perception in our daily life results from external objective stimulation through sensation, while hallucinations from the direct effects of internal false stimulation on perception instead of on sensation. People, however, regard it as hallucinations rather than ESP.
Therefore, ESP happens because there are two pathways to affect perception and the essence of ESP is that internal false stimulation is mistaken as external objective stimulation which happens through various senses and that external objective stimulation as perception which does not result from various senses.
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4. Another extreme state of hallucinations:
Dreams are not often treated as hallucinations. But according to the definition of hallucinations, that is, “perceptions that occur in the absence of external objective stimulation", the paper holds that dreams, in nature, are a kind of hallucinations. Unlike common hallucinations whose cause is the reduction of self-awareness, the cause of the hallucinations in dreams is sensory deprivation. When sleeping, the sensations of the five senses shut down and the external stimulation to perception, which is far lower than that in the sensory deprivation experiment (especially the sense of touch), almost vanishes. Therefore, within a very short time, imaginary scenes can appear. It is because sensation shuts down in dreams that perception is affected only by internal false stimulation.
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5. Conclusion:
In common hallucinations, external objective stimulation and internal false stimulation affect perception together. The changes in the relation of their relative strength are three-fold: “elementary hallucinations", “paradoxical hallucinations" and “complete hallucinations". The last two belong to “deep hallucinations".
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The so-called supernatural phenomena usually appear in “deep hallucinations". The above analysis proves that there are no supernatural phenomena at all in ASC, and they are simply illusions which happens along with hallucinations.
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But many people who claim to have experienced them, firmly hold that they are real. The reason lies in that waking from “deep hallucinations" is essentially different from waking from dreams. In dreams, sensation shuts down and all the stimulation perception receives is internal and false. Therefore, one can easily determine that he was dreaming (in hallucinations) after waking, even though he cannot distinguish reality from illusions during the dream. However, in “paradoxical hallucinations", both internal and external stimulations affect perception and their strengths are similar. As a result, once waking up, one cannot clearly determine what parts are reality and what parts are hallucinations. In “complete hallucinations", ESP “truly" happened, totally different from “dreaming out" ESP in dreams. Consequently, once waking up, one wrongly thinks that supernatural phenomena are real.
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If you are interested in our research, you can read the paper at SSRN Electronic Library
Sorry, everyone! To get past of the overly aggressive forum spam filter, I have to separate my content into pieces.
Abstract: Our research is based on the empirical documents which give experiential descriptions of various altered states of consciousness (meditation, mind-altering drugs, hypnosis, physiological lesion and so on). Firstly, we summarizes four essential phenomena in ASC after an initial clarification.
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