http://www.cogsci.ucsd.edu/~pineda/COGS175/readings/Dietrich.pdf … The Transient Hypofrontality hypothesis says that trancelike "altered states" like dreams, meditation, hypnosis, glossolalia, and the "runner's high" are characterized by reduced frontal lobe activity.
The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) is involved in cognitive flexibility, critical reflection, sustained attention, and sense of time.
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When the DLPFC is damaged, people fail the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test. In an experimental task when the rule they're told to follow changes, they can't change their behavior. These are called "persistence errors." DLPFC damage keeps the mind stuck in its groove.
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People with depression and anxiety have reduced activity (measured by PET scans) in the DLPFC, but increased activity in the VMPFC. Perhaps, they worry/ruminate more about "am I ethical? am I socially appropriate?" but are less able to ask "am I making sense right now?"
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In REM sleep, most of the brain is active just as during waking, except the prefrontal cortex. This may explain why dreams are "dreamlike" -- they lack consistency, the "first person" identity shifts, time distorts, little analytical thought occurs. All PFC functions.
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During lucid dreaming, though, the PFC is activated. The difference between a dream and a lucid dream seems to be in the prefrontal cortex.
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Generative neural nets like DeepDream produce "dreamlike" images, and GPT-2 produces text samples with a "dream-logic" quality. Perhaps what we're seeing is an algorithm that simulates the cortex but not the PFC?
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Dietrich hypothesizes that exercise and hypnosis are, like dreams, hypofrontal states, but we don't have direct physiological evidence of this, only behavioral. EG, people are worse at PFC-heavy tasks while running but not at other cognitive tasks.
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http://www.psychohistorian.org/downloads/psychology/newberg2006.pdf … an n=5 PET scan study found that blood flow to the prefrontal cortex is reduced during glossolalia compared to hymn singing, suggesting that glossolalia is a hypofrontal state.
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The evidence on meditation is inconsistent. EEG studies from the 1960's-70's found more alpha state and less beta state during meditation, normally an indicator of less frontal lobe activity. But fMRI studies from the 1990's showed *more* PFC activity during meditation.
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This is suspect to me because it tracks changing attitudes towards meditation in the US -- "mindfulness" is more associated with focus, productivity, and maturity today, so researchers probably expect to see more PFC activity. Also, fMRI sucks.
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Dietrich thinks trance states, including endurance exercise, are good for mental stability because they temporarily turn off our frontal lobes. Sort of a Bakhtinian thing. I find this an appealing idea.
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