What is an altered state of consciousness?

Abstract

<div> ‘‘Altered State of Consciousness’’ (ASC) has been defined as a changed overall pattern of</div> <div> conscious experience, or as the subjective feeling and explicit recognition that one’s own</div> <div> subjective experience has changed. We argue that these traditional definitions fail to</div> <div> draw a clear line between altered and normal states of consciousness (NSC). We outline</div> <div> a new definition of ASC and argue that the proper way to understand the concept of ASC</div> <div> is to regard it as a representational notion: the alteration that has happened is not an</div> <div> alteration of consciousness (or subjective experience) per se, but an alteration in the</div> <div> informational or representational relationships between consciousness and the world. An</div> <div> altered state of consciousness is defined as a state in which the neurocognitive background</div> <div> mechanisms of consciousness have an increased tendency to produce misrepresentations</div> <div> such as hallucinations, delusions, and memory distortions. Paradigm examples of such</div> <div> generally misrepresentational, temporary, and reversible states are dreaming, psychotic</div> <div> episodes, psychedelic drug experiences, some epileptic seizures, and hypnosis in highly</div> <div> hypnotizable subjects. The representational definition of ASC should be applied in the</div> <div> theoretical and empirical studies of ASCs to unify and clarify the conceptual basis of ASC</div> <div> research.</div>