Brain activity and the production of written text during mediumistic trance: A controlled EEG study.
PloS one January 1, 2026 Kleber Monteiro Pinto, Thaise G L de O Toutain, Hugo Saba et al.
Mediums in a trance state showed distinct brain electrical activity compared to when they wrote in a normal waking state, with increased power in theta, alpha, beta1, and beta2 frequency bands. The quality of texts produced during trance was higher than the mediums' own waking texts, but there was no overall difference in text quality between mediums and a control group who simulated mediumistic writing. The findings indicate that complex language production is preserved across groups, while trance is associated with unique spectral brain dynamics during writing.