Our study explores how people with psychotic-like transpersonal experiences but who haven't been diagnosed with schizophrenia process sensory information.
Our research project focuses on examining sensory information processing characteristics of people who report psychotic-like transpersonal experiences (an experience that expands a person's sense of identity and awareness beyond the usual, for example, hearing voices) but do not have a diagnosis of schizophrenia and provide non-threatening and supernatural or spiritual explanations for their experiences. We aim to see if their sensory processing is different from those with schizophrenia.
There is increased recognition of a need to better understand and explain non-ordinary experiences and spirituality at different levels and consider their potential implications and applications for improving mental health. Our project is aligned with recent calls for multidisciplinary studies of non-ordinary experiences.
Measuring the startle response
In this project, we are assessing sensory information processing characteristics of individuals who report psychotic-like unusual experiences but do not have a diagnosis of schizophrenia (“UNIQUE” individuals), for the first time, using prepulse inhibition (PPI) of the startle response.
PPI refers to a reliable reduction in startle amplitude to a strong sensory stimulus (like a sudden loud noise), if this is preceded by 30-150 milliseconds by a weak near-threshold stimulus (for example, a weak non-startling noise). PPI provides a simple measure of sensorimotor gating, the brain's ability to filter out unnecessary sensory information.
Many studies have shown that people with schizophrenia have reduced PPI, but no study has yet examined whether UNIQUE individuals show lower PPI (as seen in people with schizophrenia) or higher PPI (similar to experienced meditators who also experience non-dual awareness during their meditation practice), compared to PPI in healthy individuals without psychotic-like unusual experiences.
Our approach
In this study, we will compare PPI in two groups of adults: those with high scores and those with low scores on a measure of psychotic-like transpersonal experiences (n=36 per group, based on observed effect sizes in schizophrenia patients versus control comparisons). These participants will be selected to represent the top and bottom 25% scorers out of a larger pool (n=144), recruited from the general population through purposive sampling to ensure the full range of transpersonal experiences.
We will also compare PPI in the Low and High transpersonal experiences groups with PPI in a group of schizophrenia patients who were assessed using the same PPI paradigm and procedures in one of our earlier studies.
Additionally, we will measure non-dual awareness, mindfulness, and schizotypy (a personality trait) using self-report questionnaires. We will examine how these factors relate to PPI across all participants.
Understanding how people with psychotic-like experiences process sensory information can provide valuable insights into these experiences and their impact on mental health. This research could lead to better mental health interventions and a deeper understanding of the relationship between non-ordinary experiences and wellbeing.
Meet the Principal Investigator(s) for the project
Professor Veena Kumari - Professor Veena Kumari obtained a PhD in Psychology from Banaras Hindu University, India in 1993 prior to joining the Institute of Psychiatry, London for post-doctoral research. She became a Beit Memorial Research Fellow in 1999, a Wellcome Senior Fellow in Basic Biomedical Science in 2002, and a Full Professor in 2006 at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience (formerly known as the Institute of Psychiatry), King’s College London, UK. She left King’s College London in 2016 to join the Sovereign Health Group (USA) as the Chief Scientific Officer and returned to the UK in 2018 to join Brunel University London as Professor of Psychology and the Director of the Centre for Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience (CCN).
Her research interests include the neurobiological effects of pharmacological and psychological treatments in psychosis, neurobiology of violence in mental illness, psychobiology of addiction, and personality and brain functioning. Prof Kumari has over 300 publications in reputed psychology, psychiatry and neuroscience journals and received various national and international awards for her research including the Young Investigator Award from the National Alliance of Research on Schizophrenia and Depression, USA (1999), research fellowship from BEIT Memorial Foundation (1999-2002), the BAP (British Association of Psychopharmacology) Clinical Psychopharmacology Prize (2002), Wellcome Senior Fellowship in Basic Biomedical Science (2002-2009), the prestigious Humboldt Research Award (2014), and most recently a Bonn International Fellowship (2020/21).
Professor Kumari has supervised a large number of post-graduate and doctoral students and served in editor or editorial board member roles for a number of psychology and psychiatry journals.
Related Research Group(s)
Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience - Fundamental and applied research into brain function using techniques such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), electroencephalography (EEG), electromyography (EMG), eye-tracking, transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), transcranial direct-current stimulation (tDCS), infrared thermography together with psychophysics and cognitive behavioural paradigms in health and disease.
Partnering with confidence
Organisations interested in our research can partner with us with confidence backed by an external and independent benchmark: The Knowledge Exchange Framework. Read more.
Project last modified 17/02/2025