Vectorial Cerebral Hemisphericity as Differential Sources for the Sensed Presence, Mystical Experiences and Religious Conversions

@article{Persinger1993VectorialCH,
  title={Vectorial Cerebral Hemisphericity as Differential Sources for the Sensed Presence, Mystical Experiences and Religious Conversions},
  author={Michael A. Persinger},
  journal={Perceptual and Motor Skills},
  year={1993},
  volume={76},
  pages={915 - 930}
}
  • M. Persinger
  • Published 1 June 1993
  • Psychology
  • Perceptual and Motor Skills
Multiple variants of the sensed presence often precede mystical and religious experiences that are frequently followed by sudden, permanent changes in self-concept. The model of vectorial hemisphericity assumes that the relative metabolic activity of synaptic patterns between the cerebral hemispheres at the time of transient interhemispheric intercalation determines the affect, content, and type of experience. Depending upon the relative activity of the two hemispheres, intrusions of the right… 
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The sensed presence as right hemispheric intrusions into the left hemispheric awareness of self: an illustrative case study.
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The existence of these neurocognitive processes demands a reevaluation of the psychiatric default explanations of "hysteria" and questions the belief that "awareness during seizures" or "premonition of subsequent somatosensory experience" contraindicates an epileptic process.
Right Hemisphericity, Low Self-Esteem, and Unusual Experiences: A Response to Vingiano
Vingiano's (1992) challenge concerning the relationship between right hemisphericity, low self-esteem, mystical experiences, and religiosity can be clarified by the concept of vectorial…
The Sensed Presence as Right Hemispheric Intrusions into the Left Hemispheric Awareness of Self: An Illustrative Case Study 1
The hypothesis of vectorial hemisphericity predicts that left hemispheric intrusions of the right hemispheric equivalent of the sense of self should be associated with the experience of a “presence”…
Paranormal and Religious Beliefs May Be Mediated Differentially by Subcortical and Cortical Phenomenological Processes of the Temporal (Limbic) Lobes
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Partial correlation analyses supported the vectorial hemisphericity concept, but agreements with extreme religious beliefs, such as killing others in God's name, were associated with weekly church attendance and were primarily endorsed by men but not by women.
The Sensed Presence Within Experimental Settings: Implications for the Male and Female Concept of Self
TLDR
Within an optimal experimental setting, women reported more frequent experiences of a sensed presence than did men, and men were more likely than women to consider these experiences as “intrusions” from extrapersonal or ego-alien sources.
The neural substrates of religious experience.
  • J. Saver, J. Rabin
  • Psychology
    The Journal of neuropsychiatry and clinical neurosciences
  • 1997
TLDR
The authors suggest a limbic marker hypothesis for religious-mystical experience, which suggests the temporolimbic system tags certain encounters with external or internal stimuli as depersonalized, derealized, crucially important, harmonious, and/or joyous, prompting comprehension of these experiences within a religious framework.
Brain changes during a shamanic trance: Altered modes of consciousness, hemispheric laterality, and systemic psychobiology
Abstract There have been a number of electrophysiological and neuroimaging studies in “altered” states of consciousness including dissociative conditions, hypnosis, and meditation; however, the…
Potential production of Hughlings Jackson's “parasitic consciousness” by physiologically-patterned weak transcerebral magnetic fields: QEEG and source localization
Elevated Incidence of a Sensed Presence and Sexual Arousal during Partial Sensory Deprivation and Sensitivity to Hypnosis: Implications for Hemisphericity and Gender Differences
TLDR
Both sexes exhibited a significant association between the experience of a presence and sexual arousal in a setting that emphasized hypnosis and partial sensory deprivation.
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References

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TLDR
Partial correlation analyses supported the vectorial hemisphericity concept, but agreements with extreme religious beliefs, such as killing others in God's name, were associated with weekly church attendance and were primarily endorsed by men but not by women.
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