ASC-Consortium
Head
Members
- Prof. Dr. Niels Birbaumer
Institute of Medical Psychology and Behavioral Neurobiology
Eberhard-Karls-University Tübingen, Germany - Prof. Dr. John Gruzelier
Department of Behavioural & Cognitive Sciences
Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine London, UK - Prof. Dr. Peter J. Lang
Center for the Study of Emotion and Attention
University of Florida, Gainesville, USA - Prof. Dr. Dietrich Lehmann
The KEY Institute for Brain-Mind Research
University Hospital of Psychiatry, Zürich, Switzerland - Prof. Dr. Wolfgang H. R. Miltner
Department of Biological and Clinical Psychology
Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Germany - Prof. Dr. Inge Strauch
Department of Clinical Psychology
University of Zürich, Switzerland - Prof. Dr. Dieter Vaitl
Center for Psychobiology and Behavioral Medicine
Justus-Liebig-University Giessen, Germany - Dr. Jiri Wackermann
Laboratory of Psychophysiology at the IGPP
Freiburg i. Br., Germany
Aims of the ASC Consortium
Interest in ASC
The upsurge of serious interest in altered states of consciousness is not new, and is going to become increasingly important in modern-day life. This interest is driven by the fact that beneath man's thin veneer of consciousness one can find a relatively uncharted realm of mental activities, the nature and function of which have been neither systematically explored, nor adequately conceptualized. Nevertheless the individual experience of an altered state of consciousness possesses the property of uniqueness, peculiarity and sometimes that of a feared event. An altered state of consciousness for a given individual is one in which he or she clearly feels a qualitative shift in his or her pattern of mental functioning. There are numerous clinical studies and research reports on sensory deprivation, daydreaming, hypnosis, meditation, states of dissociation, and last but not least, on the wide variety of pharmacologically induced aberration of mental states.
New Methods and Models
In the past, an enormous effort has been made to explore the nature of brain functions and of man's consciousness. In the meantime, there are new and sophisticated methods and techniques available which permit a deeper insight into the mechanisms of information processing, emotional responses, and social behavior. In addition, the concepts and models developed by the neuropsychological disciplines are also apt and flexible enough to be integrated into the exploration and conceptualization of altered states of consciousness. Thus, the time is ripe for taking up - after three decades of mere passivity - the challenge to again devote scientific efforts to altered states of consciousness.