Projects Overview 2024
Deep Phenotyping of Interoception in Adolescence: Making the Imperceptible Perceptible
Institution: Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Principal Investigator: Joseph McGuire
Co-Investigator(s): Martin Lindquist, Kimberly Smith
Region: USA
Overview: This study looks at how teenagers' ability to sense their internal body signals affects mental health problems and tests new ways to improve this ability using virtual reality.
Abstract:
Interoceptive dysfunction has been implicated in the onset, persistence, and treatment of mental and behavioral health (MBH) conditions (e.g., anxiety, eating disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorders). However, it has received minimal investigation in the developmentally sensitive period of adolescence when most MBH conditions emerge. This study conducts a multi-modal phenotyping of interoception in adolescence (e.g., neuroimaging, physiology, behavioral, self-report) to investigate the relationship between interoception and key learning processes (e.g., aversive/fear learning, appetitive/reward learning). Additionally, it evaluates the efficacy of two distinct approaches to improve interoceptive outcomes using standardized single session interventions delivered in virtual reality (VR). The team will utilize advanced machine learning techniques to develop patient-centered profiles of interoceptive dysfunction and determine the intervention approaches that are most effective for each profile. Findings will provide insights into mechanisms that influence interoception in adolescence, identify efficacious mind-body interventions to improve interoceptive dysfunction, and create patient-centered profiles that lead to personalized treatments. Collectively, this will aid in the early detection and effective treatment of MBH associated with interoceptive dysfunction in adolescence.
Developing and Testing a Novel Critical Open-Mindedness Intervention to Reduce Polarization and Bridge Divides
Institution: Stanford University
Principal Investigator: Geoffrey Cohen
Co-Investigator(s): Brian Knutson
Region: USA
Overview: Researchers will study the causes of closed-mindedness and develop an intervention to promote open-mindedness and constructive dialogue by addressing perceived threats to personal identity.
Abstract:
The present research has two primary objectives: (1) to identify the behavioral, psychological, and neural factors underlying closed-mindedness and polarization, and (2) to develop a novel intervention to promote open-mindedness toward alternative views, critical thinking about one’s own views, and inclusive dialogue across difference. We define the psychological state we aim to cultivate as “critical open-mindedness,” and posit it as a key condition for learning and growth. Our approach is based on the theoretical insight that perceived threats to people’s sense of self-integrity—their view of themselves as good, rational, and adaptive—impede openness, learning, and intellectual challenge. These threats are likely to arise in disagreements over important issues that are tied to individuals' core values. However, these threats can be mitigated by brief, self-affirming experiences. Our intervention builds on research on “wise interventions” to provide people with new perspectives and tools that they can bring into their own lives to navigate disagreement. The intervention affirms individuals as agents of change, teaches them self-affirmation techniques to use in conversation, and equips them with concrete behavioral strategies. We anticipate that by engaging in these practices, individuals will exhibit both behavioral changes in their interactions and reductions in cognitive biases, such as confirmation bias. Additionally, we predict changes in neural activity, with decreased activity in the threat system and increased activity in the reward system in response to belief-incongruent information. Through this research, we will develop a comprehensive understanding of the basis of critical open-mindedness and create a theory-driven strategy to foster it.
Does Narrative Skill Training Increase Transcendent Thinking and Social-Emotional Wellbeing Among Minoritized Adolescents?
Institution: University of California, Los Angeles
Principal Investigator: Rebecca Gotlieb
Region: USA
Overview: Researchers will test how teaching minority adolescents narrative skills impacts their thinking and well-being, hoping to find a sustainable way to improve these skills in diverse youth.
Abstract:
Society faces a hydra-headed crisis of youth’s lack of deep reasoning, or transcendent thinking, and lack of social-emotional wellbeing. Compelling evidence suggests that the way young people comprehend, construct, convey, and construe narratives represents a form of agency they have over driving their own intellectual and emotional development—a truth that is observable psychosocially and neurobiologically. Narrative skills improve with intervention, but such interventions have rarely been conducted with adolescents, especially from minoritized groups. The aim of this project is to refine and test immediate and delayed impacts of a narrative skills intervention on expanding early adolescents’ transcendent thinking and psychological wellbeing. 180 minoritized early adolescents will be assessed for transcendent thinking, psychological wellbeing, and other related measures pre-intervention, immediately post-intervention, and again 2 months later. Participants will be randomized by school into treatment, active control, and no-touch control groups. To teach narrative skills to early adolescents in a way that makes them feel empowered rather than patronized (as youth at this stage are prone to feel), they will engage in two 1-hour training sessions about narrative skills, followed by 10 weekly 30-minute sessions tutoring younger children in how to use narrative skills. Active controls will engage in two 1-hour sessions about teaching reading, followed by 10 weekly 30-minute sessions tutoring younger children in reading. We hypothesize that adolescents who participate in the narrative skills intervention will show improvements in transcendent thinking and social-emotional wellbeing (relative to active- and no-touch control groups). We hypothesize that improvements will be sustained after the conclusion of the intervention. We expect that this study could provide necessary evidence of the importance of narrative skill development for expanding the Perception Box and serve as the basis for a scalable, sustainable, inexpensive narrative skills intervention for diverse youth.
Effects of High-Quality Listening on Psychological and Biological Well-Being Through the Expansion of the Perception Box
Institution: University of California, Riverside
Principal Investigator: Sonja Lyubomirsky
Region: USA
Overview: Researchers will study how attentive and supportive listening can improve well-being and health for both the speaker and listener, potentially even broadening their perspectives and creating a stronger sense of connection.
Abstract:
High-quality listening (HQL), characterized by attention, understanding, and positive intention toward the speaker, has been found to boost psychological safety and facilitate attitude change, potentially creating a sense of connection that promotes the well-being and physical health of both conversation partners. Our program of research offers a novel approach to understanding the benefits of HQL by observing speakers and listeners simultaneously. First, we will assess the extent to which HQL facilitates Perception Box expansion after conversations. Second, we will test whether HQL improves psychological well-being and provides vagal tone and molecular benefits (specifically, reduced inflammation and enhanced antiviral defense). Four studies across two phases will integrate controlled laboratory and in-vivo experiments to establish both internal and ecological validity. This research aims to expand understanding of the relationship between psychological and biological well-being by illuminating the immediate and downstream impacts of HQL in conversations, the “glue” of daily social life. If successful, we will also reveal HQL as an effective technique for expanding one’s Perception Box, with demonstrable psychological and physiological benefits.
Identifying Optimal Responses to Challenges Related to Expanding the Perception Box in Psilocybin-Assisted Therapy
Institution: Emory University
Principal Investigator: Roman Palitsky
Co-Investigator(s): Deanna Kaplan, Merlijn Olthof (University of Groningen)
Region: USA
Overview: Researchers will study the effects of psilocybin on adults with depression, using various methods to track changes in behavior and psychological states to identify factors that predict positive or negative outcomes of these perception-altering experiences.
Abstract:
Background: To better understand the complex interplay of benefits and risks that accompany transformative, Perception Box-expanding experiences, and to maximize benefits while reducing risks, this project aims to (1) characterize precursors to deterioration vs. improvement (2) identify modifiable real-world variables linked with differential outcomes of psilocybin-induced Perception Box expansion, and (3) apply these to identify when challenging experiences lead to better vs. worse outcomes.
Methods: In a trial that will administer a single 25-mg dose of psilocybin to 141 adults with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), this study will conduct intensive, multi-modal ecological assessment of real-world social behaviors and psychological experiences during the 2 weeks prior to, and 2 weeks following, psilocybin administration. We will use complex dynamic systems modeling to compute sudden gains, losses, and their early warning signs, among study participants. Alongside traditional self-report measures of depression and wellbeing, this study will empirically observe real-world behaviors by means of the Electronically Activated Recorder (EAR), a smartphone app that records short samples of ambient sound while participants go about their daily lives. Collected at baseline and 1 and 4 weeks after dosing, these data will allow us to identify risk and resilience factors based on objectively observed behaviors and social interactions, and to explore how observed behavioral variables predict both therapeutic gains and adverse effects (AEs) after psilocybin. Ecologically momentary assessment will be collected 4x per day by means of a smartphone app for 14 days before and after dosing, including assessment of psychological states and a stream-of-consciousness voicediary. Enhanced assessment of post-acute adverse events will be conducted with the Psychedelic Assisted Therapy Adverse Events (PATAE) measure to assess cultural, spiritual, interpersonal,
psychotherapeutic, metacognitive, and perceptual domains, uniquely relevant to shifts in the Perception Box but not yet addressed elsewhere in psychedelics research. Sudden gains and losses, as well as “early warning signals” within longitudinal trajectories derived from EMA and EAR data will be identified via complex dynamic systems modeling, as well as “early warning signals.”
Implications: Finding the conditions that encourage benefits from Perception Box-expanding tools like psychedelics, while reducing the risk of deterioration, will be necessary for making psychedelics safe, effective, equitable, and beneficial, ensuring that those who experience challenges are not left behind. Because challenges can accompany other Perception Box-expanding techniques (e.g., meditation), this research will be directly relevant for research on those techniques by developing readily transferable methodological frameworks for subsequent studying the real-world impacts of Perception Box shifts.
The Transformative Potential of Anesthesia-Induced Dream States
Institution: Stanford University
Principal Investigator: Boris Heifets
Co-Investigator(s): Laura Hack, Patrick Purdon
Region: USA
Overview: Researchers are developing a new therapy for PTSD using anesthesia to induce a specific type of dream that has the potential to help people recover from trauma and improve mental well-being.
Abstract:
Millions of people suffer from anxiety disorders, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)—a condition that severely impacts quality of life. Despite the availability of various treatments, there remains a significant unmet need for more universally effective therapies for PTSD. In this project, we will develop a novel therapeutic intervention that expands the walls of the ‘Perception Box’ by using anesthesia to induce and sustain a stable therapeutic dream state. We will first develop a neurophysiological biomarker of anesthesia dream experiences in healthy participants using the anesthetic propofol. We will then test this biomarker-guided anesthesia procedure in a double-blind, randomized control trial testing the therapeutic efficacy of this transformative dream experience in reducing symptoms of PTSD.
If successful, this approach could be a significant leap forward in PTSD treatment leading to more efficacious interventions. Additionally, this intervention holds immense potential for transforming the treatment of other mental health disorders and advancing surgical and anesthetic practices in general. We have already shown that integrating this approach into standard surgical practices is feasible and promising. We hope that inducing such dream states during anesthesia may enhance the psychological well-being of surgical patients without mental health conditions by reducing surgery-related anxiety and improving post-surgical mood and recovery. Beyond its immediate applications, identifying a neural marker of anesthesia dreaming could significantly contribute to our understanding of the neural correlates of dreaming and of conscious experiences more broadly. These insights could have far-reaching implications across a range of disciplines, spanning from neuroscience and medicine to psychology and philosophy.
Transformative Benefits of Contemplative Sleep Practices and a Novel Pathway to Deliver Benefits to the General Public
Institution: Northwestern University
Principal Investigator: Ken Paller
Co-Investigator(s): Gabriela Torres Platas, Michael Sheehy (University of Virginia)
Region: USA
Overview: This project aims to characterize ways for individuals to learn how to use their dreaming experiences to expand their perceptual horizons in the waking state.
Abstract:
Although people spend a third of their lives asleep, they seldom recognize the tremendous opportunities for enhanced well-being that sleep offers. Contemplative dreaming with a set of intentional practices, as used for many centuries in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, provides an opportunity to deconstruct conventional reality and work through normal perceptual rigidity. In this project, we seek to understand how contemplative sleep practices can transform mental life. We are developing the methodology and technology to make such strategies widely accessible, combining wake contemplative training with novel uses of virtual reality and sleep engineering. Based on our prior work, we are also using interactive dreaming to allow for the real-time analysis of dream experiences and their neural correlates. Our new methods will provoke lucid dreams (which occur when a person recognizes that they are dreaming while still asleep) and can even be successful in people with no prior experience with lucid dreaming. We will attempt to increase lucid dreaming with these strategies using a wireless device for measuring EEG in the home. We will also develop a virtual-reality experience to attempt to enhance the impact of an intervention based on contemplative dreaming. Additionally, results from experts in contemplative dreaming will help us understand how wake-based and sleep-based practices are effectively combined. We hypothesize that these experts will be able to respond to prompts during lucid dreams in accordance with plans set before sleep. This project will thus produce knowledge about how advanced dreaming can help people radically adjust habitual tendencies to transcend the ordinary limits of perception. In our outreach phase, we will share our contemplative-dreaming intervention with the public. Understanding the potential benefits of contemplative dreaming will also support future research exploring a variety of methods for Perception Box expansion.
A Computational Psychiatry Approach to Understanding the Brain Mechanism Underpinning Altered Perception in Psychosis
Institution: The University of Melbourne
Principal Investigator: Marta Garrido
Co-Investigator(s): Suresh Sundram (Monash University), Nao Tsuchiya (Monash University), Stephen Wood
Region: AU
Overview: Researchers will use brain scans and decision-making tasks to determine if people with psychosis have a different balance of prior beliefs and sensory information when forming perceptions, which could lead to new treatments.
Abstract:
People integrate two sources of information when forming perceptions: sensory information and prior knowledge. As a result, a perceptual experience can be biased by one’s prior beliefs or expectations. Recent work provides contradictory evidence for whether psychotic symptoms arise from an overreliance on prior or on sensory information. We will test these competing hypotheses in the psychosis spectrum in the general and clinical populations and ask whether such alterations occur in a continuous or discontinuous manner within that spectrum. Participants will complete a series of perceptual decision-making tasks under uncertainty while their brain activity is recorded with optically pumped magnetometers (OP-MEG) and while in the 7T MRI. Tasks will be completed by four groups: people on the schizophrenia spectrum (SZS), first-episode psychosis (FEP), ultra-high risk (UHR), and neurotypical individuals (NT) in the general community. Unlike previous work, we will quantify the degree of reliance in both prior and sensory information using Bayesian modelling. Ultra-high field fMRI at 7T has cortical laminar resolution and will elucidate whether priors and likelihoods are encoded in top-down (deep layers) or bottom-up connections (middle layers). Brain connectivity techniques (e.g., Dynamic Causal Modelling) with OP-MEG will uncover the neural dynamics underpinning aberrant perception with unprecedented spatio-temporal resolution. Using a multi-pronged approach (across sensory modalities and brain imaging approaches) we will determine the neural mechanism underpinning altered perception in psychosis. Importantly, knowing whether perceptual alterations in psychosis are caused by aberrant beliefs (top-down processes) or sensations (bottom-up), or both, will inform when therapeutic strategies should focus on cognitive training (to change beliefs), drug interventions (to change sensory encoding), or both. Identifying the fundamental neural mechanisms that cause psychosis will inform rehabilitation strategies by pointing to brain stimulation and pharmacological targets. Moreover, understanding the neural trajectory of psychosis across illness stages will provide a means to predict and prevent transition to severer stages.
Breathe Hard to Breathe Easy: High-Intensity Online Breathwork-Assisted Psychotherapy for Social Anxiety
Institution: Maastricht University
Principal Investigator: Kim Kuypers
Region: NL
Overview: This study will examine if a new type of online therapy that combines high-intensity breathing exercises with traditional psychotherapy can reduce social anxiety better than slow-paced breathing exercises.
Abstract:
This study investigates the efficacy of breathwork-assisted psychotherapy (BAP) in reducing social anxiety (SA). High-intensity breathwork, aimed at inducing altered states of consciousness (ASC), will be combined with online psychotherapy to evaluate its impact on individuals suffering from SA. A randomized controlled design will be used, where 86 participants will be divided into two groups: one undergoing the novel high-ventilation breathwork-assisted psychotherapy (HV-BAP), and another receiving a control intervention using slow-paced breathwork (SP-BAP). The treatments will be delivered through two modules, each involving preparation, a 45-minute breathwork session, and integration. The study's primary outcome is the reduction in SA, measured through validated psychological scales at baseline, one week, and one month after the last integration session. Secondary outcomes include changes in salivary cortisol levels, heart rate variability, and social performance. Additionally, associations with suggestibility, openness, therapeutic alliance, and treatment expectancy will be assessed. The study aims at furthering the understanding of ASC's therapeutic potential through breathwork, paving the way for more accessible and effective treatments for SA and potentially other mental health conditions.
Numadelic VR Experiences for Improving Mental Health Outcomes in Patients Facing Life-Threatening Illness
Institution: CiTIUS (Centro Singular de Investigación en Tecnoloxías Intelixentes)
Principal Investigator: David Glowacki
Region: ES
Overview: Researchers are using virtual reality to simulate near-death experiences in order to study their potential to reduce death anxiety and improve mental health in terminally ill patients and their loved ones.
Abstract:
Perhaps more than any other experience, death has a fundamental significance owing to its inevitability. Theoretical frameworks for thinking about death often invoke ‘terror management theory’ (TMT), which proposes that high anxiety results from the conflict between humans’ evolutionary self-preservation instinct and awareness of their inevitable mortality. TMT frames human behavior as a way of managing this fundamental anxiety – e.g., through constructing cultural beliefs, systems, and communities that counter biological mortality with more significant and enduring forms of meaning and value. Broadly speaking, trauma tends to amplify fear. Seen through the lens of TMT, the experience of ‘nearly dying’ should therefore amplify death anxiety. NDEs however, offer a fascinating exception to TMT: they appear to quickly and dramatically diminish the anxiety associated with death. Many who have experienced NDEs report a sense that awareness persists beyond the physical body. The dramatic benefits associated with NDEs in transforming attitudes toward death have inspired researchers to explore other types of experiences that mimic NDEs. For example, the psychedelic therapy pioneer Walter Pahnke proposed that self-transcendent states of consciousness which arise during psychedelic drug experiences (PsyDEs) helped patients facing life-threatening illnesses (LTIs) address their fear of the unknown.
In recent work, Glowacki et al described a ‘numadelic’ aesthetic – i.e., an approach for constructing immersive digital experiences which is based on the phenomenology reported by those who have undergone NDEs. (1) Numadelic VR has previously shown the ability to elicit non-ordinary states, achieving scores comparable to moderate doses of PsYDs on several psychometric scales. (2) This project will undertake to develop and optimize and a multi-session numadelic VR program called ‘Clear Light’ (CL) which invites groups of people to experience aspects of NDEs and contemplate whether awareness persists beyond the physical body. By simulating aspects of NDEs, CL aims directly addresses the fear, depression, anxiety, social isolation, and loneliness often faced by patients with LTIs, along with their family and loved ones. To optimize Clear Light, we will undertake a series of lab-based studies and design research iterations which are informed by psychometrics, phenomenological interviews, and physiological measurements. Liaising with a network of palliative care doctors and death doulas, we will carry out a randomized controlled trial (RCT) comparing CL to treatment-as-usual control conditions, tracking pre and post outcome measures (both short-term and long-term) which evaluate the efficacy of mental health treatments in patients facing LTIs.
References
1. D. R. Glowacki, VR models of death and psychedelics: an aesthetic paradigm for design beyond day-to-day phenomenology. Frontiers in Virtual Reality 4, (2024).
2. D. R. Glowacki et al., Group VR experiences can produce ego attenuation and connectedness comparable to psychedelics. Scientific Reports 12, 8995 (2022).
Psilocybin-Assisted Neurocognitive Training for Sustained Reduction of Negative Attention Biases
Institution: Maastricht University
Principal Investigator: Natasha Mason
Co-Investigator(s): Bettina Sorger
Region: NL
Overview: This study investigates the potential of combining psilocybin administration with attention bias modification training (ABMT) to quickly and persistently reduce negative attention biases in highly anxious individuals.
Abstract:
This study explores whether psychedelics, which acutely shift attention away from negatively-valenced stimuli and promote neuroplasticity, can enhance attention bias modification training (ABMT). By leveraging the heightened neuroplasticity induced by psychedelics, we aim to reshape rigid cognitive patterns (e.g. negative attention biases) that contribute to anxiety. We hypothesize that administering psilocybin in combination with repeated ABMT in the days following administration will more rapidly and persistently reorient attention away from negative stimuli compared to ABMT or psilocybin alone. Additionally, a subset of individuals will receive additional neurofeedback-assisted attention training to assess the benefits of externalizing maladaptive attentional states and instilling agency in maintaining healthy ones.
A total of 120 highly-anxious participants will be randomly assigned to receive either psilocybin or placebo with ABMT or control-ABMT, with a subset of participants also receiving neurofeedback-assisted attention training or control training. Primary outcomes will measure how quickly and persistently participants learn to shift their attention away from negative stimuli. Further outcomes will evaluate brain mechanisms underlying these changes and the impact on psychological well-being. Overall, by combining psychedelics with targeted cognitive training and neurofeedback, this research aims to create lasting adaptive changes in behavior and open new therapeutic avenues for treating anxiety disorders.
When Does Meditation Expand the Perception Box? A Comparative Longitudinal Study
Institution: The University of Melbourne
Principal Investigator: Julieta Galante
Co-Investigator(s): Cate Bailey, Ana Dragojlovic, Deanna Kaplan (Emory University School of Medicine), Cullan Joyce, Nicholas Van Dam
Region: AU
Overview: A two-year study will investigate the effects of regular meditation practice on health and well-being in different meditation traditions, using various self-reported measures and "voice diaries" to assess changes in perception and experiences.
Abstract:
While the benefits of introductory meditation courses are well documented, regular practice remains virtually unexplored scientifically. We will conduct a two-year longitudinal cohort study recruiting participants from popular secular and spiritual Buddhist traditions: Mindfulness-based programs, Theravada, and Zen. We will study whether and how more practice leads to better health and well-being via “Perception Box” expansion, which will be operationalised using measures around empathy, values, experience-distancing processes, and sensory experiences. Practice characteristics, resource investment, health, and well-being will be self-reported periodically, as well as spoken stream-of-consciousness “voice diaries” to assess experience themes, contextual cues in discourse, and linguistic and acoustic features. We will compare findings between traditions and with models of meditation progression used by meditation teachers. Our research will offer a thorough understanding of the potential of regular meditation to promote health and well-being, informing policymakers and millions of prospective practitioners.