Frontiers in Psychology
September 4, 2018
Raphaël Millière, Robin Carhart‐Harris, Leor Roseman et al.
402 citations
Both meditation and psychedelic drugs like psilocybin and LSD can disrupt the sense of self, but these disruptions are not uniform. Meditation traditions aim to dissolve the self through altered states, while psychedelics produce drug-induced ego dissolution via serotonin receptor agonism. The authors argue that self-consciousness is a multidimensional construct, with narrative aspects (autobiographical memory, self-related thoughts) and embodied aspects (multisensory processes) being differently affected by each. They caution against conflating temporary self-loss with long-term selflessness as a trait, though preliminary evidence suggests possible correlations. The article calls for nuanced understanding of these phenomena.
Sci Rep
November 19, 2019
Christopher Timmermann, Leor Roseman, Michael Schartner et al.
325 citations
Intravenous DMT, a fast-acting psychedelic, markedly reduces alpha and beta brain wave power and increases spontaneous signal diversity in the human brain, as measured by EEG. The emergence of delta and theta oscillatory activity correlates with the peak of the subjective experience, especially its eyes-closed visual component. Relationships between changes in subjective experience and brain activity were observed across time, linking specific brain changes to specific aspects of the experience.
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience
May 23, 2017
Raphaël Millière
216 citations
High doses of hallucinogenic drugs can produce a profound alteration of self-experience known as drug-induced ego dissolution (DIED), where the sense of self dissolves and boundaries between self and world disappear. Three classes of drugs induce this: classical psychedelics, dissociative anesthetics, and kappa opioid receptor agonists. Neuroimaging of DIED may reveal neural correlates of the self, but results must be interpreted cautiously—they may show necessary but not sufficient conditions for selfhood. The phenomenon likely disrupts the minimal or embodied self, a basic sense of self rooted in multimodal sensory integration, consistent with Bayesian models of phenomenal selfhood. DIED challenges philosophical views that consciousness always involves self-awareness and suggests ordinary experience includes a minimal self-awareness that fades during ego dissolution.
Philosophy and the Mind Sciences
March 24, 2020
Raphaël Millière
47 citations
Some states of consciousness may lack self-consciousness entirely. The author distinguishes six common notions of self-consciousness and argues that none is necessary for consciousness, because for each there exist conscious states where it is plausibly absent. Such states are at least partially selfless. Preliminary empirical evidence suggests some conscious states may lack all six forms, making them totally selfless—lacking every way one could be self-conscious. The author addresses four objections to the possibility and reportability of such totally selfless states.
PsyArXiv
May 14, 2025
James W. Sanders, Raphaël Millière, Ema Demšar et al.
4 citations
preprint
Under DMT, immersive experiences and perceived presences follow a consistent structural pattern: bodily sensations arise first, then visual and auditory elements, and only after multisensory integration and 3D spatial characteristics develop do perceived sentient presences emerge. Micro-phenomenological interviews with 23 participants who received intravenous DMT (20mg) during fMRI-EEG recordings identified 125 phenomenological categories structuring immersion, including modal sensory dimensions, amodal feelings, self/world configurations, and social engagement modes. Perceived presences varied in sensory manifestation, semantic complexity, and social interaction modes. The findings advance understanding of non-ordinary states of consciousness and support future neurophenomenological research.
bioRxiv
July 18, 2019
Christopher Timmermann, Leor Roseman, Michael Schartner et al.
4 citations
preprint
Intravenous DMT, a fast-acting psychedelic, markedly alters human brain activity. Compared with a placebo, DMT reduced oscillatory power in alpha and beta brainwaves and increased spontaneous signal diversity. Time-referenced analyses linked changes in subjective experience to changes in brain activity. Emergence of delta and theta frequency oscillations correlated with the peak of the experience, particularly its eyes-closed visual component. These findings advance understanding of the neurobiological underpinnings of immersive states of consciousness.
Sci Rep
November 6, 2025
Anna O. Ermakova, Fiona Dunbar, Mathieu Seynaeve et al.
3 citations
5-MeO-DMT, a short-acting psychedelic, produces a distinctive subjective experience with rapid onset, peaking at 8–15 minutes and returning to baseline within 45–60 minutes, as shown by interviews with 32 psychedelic-naïve healthy participants in a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Effects intensify with dose and are generally well tolerated. Unlike other psychedelics, 5-MeO-DMT elicits strong emotional or bodily experiences with relatively few visual effects, and can trigger therapeutically relevant content such as emotional breakthroughs and personal insights.
PsyArXiv
December 29, 2024
James W. Sanders, Raphaël Millière, Zachary G. Daily et al.
3 citations
preprint
DMT reliably produces profound experiences of immersion in other worlds and encounters with seemingly autonomous presences, but the lived qualities and unfolding of these experiences remain poorly understood. Micro-phenomenological interviews with twenty-three healthy participants who received DMT during fMRI scanning revealed rich dimensions of immersive experience—from multisensory engagement to radical reconfigurations of self and world—and illuminated varied ways presences can be seen, felt, or otherwise sensed. The analysis identified structural features and temporal dynamics, particularly the layering of sensory effects followed by spatial, self-related, and social effects, extending beyond traditional constructs like ego dissolution or mystical experience. This mapping advances understanding of DMT's effects and conscious experience, inviting comparisons with meditation, lucid dreaming, and presence phenomena in lab-induced hallucinations or Parkinson's disease.
June 4, 2023
Timo Torsten Schmidt, Cyril Costines, Enzo Tagliazucchi et al.
2 citations
preprint
The Altered Xperience Project (AXP) is an open citizen science initiative that systematically collects data on subjective experiences from consciousness-manipulating techniques, including psychoactive substances and non-pharmacological methods. A proof-of-principle dataset (v1.0) includes data collected through May 2022, with most gathered between October 3 and 13, 2022. The dataset covers low, medium, and high doses of alcohol, cannabis, NMDA, and psilocybin. Participants were recruited internationally via social media by the citizen science group El gato y la Caja, and participation was incentivized with an infographic comparing individual data to others. The data is publicly available on the Open Science Framework.
Neuroscience of consciousness
January 1, 2026
James W Sanders, Raphaël Millière, Ema Demšar et al.
The psychedelic compound DMT induces highly immersive experiences that often include encounters with seemingly sentient presences. Using micro-phenomenology, immersion under DMT was characterized as a structured continuum from subtle to gross forms. Twenty-three participants received 20 mg intravenous DMT during fMRI-EEG, followed by detailed interviews. Analysis yielded 125 phenomenological categories describing structural dimensions like sensory faculties, spatial organization, and self-world configuration. Bodily effects typically preceded visual and auditory ones, and perceived presences emerged only after multisensory integration and 3D spatial characteristics had developed, illustrating a hierarchical relationship between subtle and gross immersion. Perceived presences varied widely in sensory modality, semantic complexity, and relational mode, showing immersion as a dynamic, constructive process.
Philosophical Perspectives on Psychedelic Psychiatry
September 13, 2024
Raphaël Millière
The chapter examines whether ordinary experience includes a distinct feeling of owning one's body, known as the phenomenology of body ownership. Proponents argue that reports from pathological conditions and bodily illusions support this view, but those reports are open to interpretation. The author considers drug-induced experiences in which healthy subjects report disownership of body parts or the whole body, obtained under controlled conditions. Reports of subjective transitions between owning and disowning one's body provide tentative evidence that ordinary experience may involve a phenomenology of ownership that can be disrupted. While not definitive, such evidence suggests the debate would benefit from closer attention to drug-induced states and disentangling the multi-faceted bodily effects of psychoactive compounds.
Neuroscience of Consciousness
January 1, 2020
Martin Fortier-Davy, Raphaël Millière
Bayne and Carter argue that psychedelic-induced consciousness does not fit the traditional view of modes as levels of consciousness, supporting instead a multi-dimensional account where modes differ along several dimensions without a linear ordering. The authors discuss the assumption that psychedelics induce a single mode of consciousness and raise conceptual issues with the traditional account. They also pose questions about how to individuate the dimensions that differentiate modes of consciousness, suggesting these could be addressed in future discussions of the multi-dimensional account.