ABSTRACT

Contemporary investigators of consciousness have begun to establish a presence in the broader scientific community. This influence has been achieved through the formation of specialized independent journals, professional organizations, and scientific meetings, all devoted to discourse and analysis of human consciousness. In providing a receptive venue for theory, research, and applications in consciousness studies, the new scientific disciplines of consciousness have in large part reversed the prior trend of suppressing the scientific study of consciousness.

While consciousness investigators may have transcended the publishing obstacles previously imposed by adherents of the orthodox model, contemporary consciousness research does not seem to have escaped the theoretical biases which have dominated orthodox scientific psychology for the past half-century. In particular, orthodox psychology’s almost exclusive focus on cognitive processes, and on the brain structures believed to be primary in cognition, the cerebral hemispheres, have dominated research on consciousness. For the new science of consciousness to fulfill its promise of providing a truly independent venue for consciousness study, it must overcome the limitations created by focusing exclusively on cognition and the cerebral cortex.

We suggest a model of consciousness based primarily on states and processes within the autonomic nervous system. Special states of consciousness require an underlying special state of the autonomic nervous system. Most methods for voluntary induction of an altered state of consciousness involve manipulations of the autonomic nervous system. Behavioral medicine techniques including meditation, hypnosis, autogenic training, and relaxation therapy depend on the promotion of a special state of autonomic imbalance referred to as parasympathetic dominance. Parasympathetic dominance, a special state of the autonomic nervous system, functions as a neurobiological gateway state to most of the altered states of consciousness of interest.

While the parasympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) is responsible for the calming-down response and metabolism, it functions in continuous interaction with the other ANS branch, the sympathetic nervous system. The sympathetic branch of the ANS mediates the emergency/alarm fight-or-flight response, which is energy-consuming, motoric, and adrenalin-based. Autonomic dynamics, the interaction between the sympathetic and parasympathetic branches of the ANS, are a crucial neurobiological substrate of subjective experience. Autonomic balance, the relative dominance of either sympathetic or parasympathetic, is construed as the neurobiological analog of human stability, both physical and emotional.

Trance states (altered states of consciousness) are defined as occasions of marked dominance of either the sympathetic or parasympathetic branch of the ANS. States of marked sympathetic dominance (sympathetic trances) are toxic, dysphoric states such as panic states, psychotic states, and trauma states. States of marked parasympathetic dominance (parasympathetic trances) are calming, restorative, and healing. Examples of parasympathetic dominant trances include sleep, meditation, and hypnosis.

The autonomic model of consciousness delineates the role of autonomic balance in everyday activities, during exercise, during symptoms and illness states, and during special states of consciousness. The status of the autonomic model as a theoretical adjunct to various approaches in mind-body medicine is emphasized.

Human consciousness occurs in the context of a complete mind-body neural circuit. Mind-body circuits are defined as neuroanatomical circuits consisting of at least three elements, including mind (cerebral cortex), brain (subcortical), and body (autonomic nervous system). The brain component is further defined as containing one or more elements of the limbic-hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (LHPA) axis. Seven major mind-body circuits are identified. Each circuit is differentiated in terms of the following dimensions: (1) instinctual vs conditioned/learned; (2) excited vs relaxed; (3) motoric/active vs nonmotoric/passive; (4) ergotropic vs trophotropic; (5) internal vs external focus of attention and coping efforts; (6) toxic/stressful vs healing/restoring. Circuits are also differentiated in terms of autonomic balance (sympathetic vs parasympathetic dominance), cerebral lateralization, cerebral synchronization, prevalent neurotransmitters, responsiveness to specific drugs, triggering influences, linked somatic pathologies and psychopathologies, quality of consciousness, and associated altered states of consciousness.

Three instinctual mind-body circuits, and their associated modes of mind-body functioning, are specified. The instinctual emergency/alarm circuit (limbic-posterior-hypothalamic-
pituitary-adrenal-sympathetic) is sympathetic-dominant, adrenergic, action-oriented, motoric, energy-consuming, externally-focused, ergotropic, excitatory, cortically desynchronized, and dysphoric. The instinctual calming-down circuit (limbic-anterior- hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal-parasympathetic) is parasympathetic-dominant, cholinergic and serotonergic, nonmotoric, energy-conserving, internally-focused, trophotropic, inhibitory, cortically synchronized, and relaxed. The instinctual defense/withdrawal circuit involves co-activation of the emergency alarm circuit and energy-conservation circuits, producing simultaneous elevation of excitatory and inhibitory processes within the brain and autonomic nervous system. This circuit exhibits concurrent hyperelevations of sympathetic and parasympathetic, incomplete parasympathetic dominance, is cortically desynchronized, energy-consuming, toxic, and dysphoric.

Conditioned versions of the three instinctual circuits become established in the course of human development. A conditioned emergency/alarm circuit consists of linkages between cortical associations and the instinctual alarm circuit structures and reactions. Similarly, cortically-conditioned defense/withdrawal and calming-down circuits are established. Cortical linkages for ergotropic, sympathetic-dominant, cortically desynchronized states become associated with right hemisphere cerebral dominance, while trophotropic, cortically synchronized, parasympathetic-dominant states are associated with left-hemisphere dominance. Voluntarily elicited states of parasympathetic dominance, such as meditative states and hypnosis, reflect cortical synchronization and bilateral frontal activation.

The importance of investigating complete mind-body circuits in the scientific study of consciousness, and in the clinical practice of mind-body medicine, is stressed. Most methods of intervention available to the mind-body practitioner involve the activation of one or more of the specified mind-body circuits. Similarly, most methods for voluntarily evoking an altered state of consciousness involve manipulation of specific mind-body circuits. Future accessing and control of special states of consciousness and mind-body healing may depend on a comprehensive understanding of mind-body circuits.