Institute for Advanced Consciousness Studies

Struggling with and ?

If you're in or you can get paid to participate ($30/hr) in a new study where we are evaluating if flashing lights inside an infinity mirror cube can help with

⬇️ Sign Up ⬇️

Immersive Audiovisual Experiences: Effects on Well-being IACS is working with Lumena, Inc. to evaluate if an infinity mirror cube can induce states of calm and focus similar to advanced meditation.

NEW STUDY ALERT!

🧠 Pioneering Stress-Reduction Study: Be Part of the Future! 🌟
Join our groundbreaking research using advanced light technology to combat stress and burnout. Your participation could help shape new therapies for mental well-being!

✅ Experience cutting-edge neuroscience
✅ Contribute to stress-management innovations
✅ Quick 90-minute session in Santa Monica
✅ Earn up to $45 for your time
✅ Parking validated

Curious about the science behind stress relief? Click to learn more and see if you qualify! -- https://advancedconsciousness.org/product/p004/

Limited spots available - advance scientific understanding today! 🔬💡

Immersive Audiovisual Experiences: Effects on Well-being IACS is working with Lumena, Inc. to evaluate if an infinity mirror cube can induce states of calm and focus similar to advanced meditation.

Our latest PNAS Nexus study (out today!) delves even deeper into the enigmatic world of aesthetic chills. Using 2,900+ participants, social media data mining, and machine learning, we untangle the complex interplay of demographics, personality, and emotional state that influences the experience of chills. Put simply: we can predict whether an individual is going to get chills from certain stimuli based on pre-exposure questionnaires. This work holds promise for understanding how to tailor emotional experiences toward personalized therapeutic applications.

Predicting individual differences in peak emotional response Abstract. Why does the same experience elicit strong emotional responses in some individuals while leaving others largely indifferent? Is the variance influence

In the latest from IACS, we do a deep dive into the neurobiology of aesthetic chills and ask how bodily sensations shape emotional experiences.

If you've ever felt goosebumps listening to a moving symphony or shivers when witnessing something powerful, those are "aesthetic chills". We are finding that they may be far, far more than a physical reaction. In this work, we dive into how they connect to the brain's reward system, the creation of emotions, and even how we understand our own world models.

By: Felix Schoeller | Abhi Jain | Diego A. Pizzagalli | Nicco Reggente, PhD

The neurobiology of aesthetic chills: How bodily sensations shape emotional experiences - Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience The phenomenon of aesthetic chills—shivers and goosebumps associated with either rewarding or threatening stimuli—offers a unique window into the brain basis of conscious reward because of their universal nature and simultaneous subjective and physical counterparts. Elucidating the neural mechan...

Hearing subjective reports from participants in our study on using neuromodulation to deepen meditative states makes all the work well worth it 🙂

Here, Eddy Vaisberg provides a well-grounded portrayal of his experience and his thoughts on implications.

Peak Experiences at the Push of a Button: My tFUS Experiment The inaugural article of my mental fitness tech blog sharing my experience with one of the most exciting technologies in the space

Our first publication of 2024 showcases how aesthetic chills can be used as a therapeutic tool for individuals suffering from depression.

The study found that chill-inducing stimuli have the potential to positively influence the core schema of individuals with depression, impacting areas of self-related beliefs. The associated phenomenology triggered by chills appears to share similarities with the altered states of consciousness induced by psychedelic substances like psilocybin.

💡 This is an important stepping stone in the promotion of positive affect vs. blunting of negative affect.

https://bmcpsychiatry.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12888-023-05476-3

🤼 With MIT Media Lab, Felix Schoeller, Abhi Jain

Aesthetic chills mitigate maladaptive cognition in depression - BMC Psychiatry Background Depression is a major global health challenge, affecting over 300 million people worldwide. Current pharmacological and psychotherapeutic interventions have limited efficacy, underscoring the need for novel approaches. Emerging evidence suggests that peak emotional experiences characteriz...

Is the brain at birth (and before) capable of conscious experience? New research sheds fresh light on the mystery of infant consciousness. Read all about it in the latest blog at IACS.

New research sheds fresh light on mystery of infant consciousness Is the brain at birth (and before) capable of conscious experience? This latest article dives in.

🧠Are you in or near Los Angeles? Want to help out with modern neuroscience research? Our latest study is looking at the ways in which immersive content delivery systems can impact how specific content can impact how you feel.

💸 Get paid $30 an hour to participate! Your parking will be validated.

🥖Sign up here to see if you qualify for an in-person visit to our lab in Santa Monica:

Assessing The Impact of an Immersive Audiovisual Experience on Mood and Cognitive States IACS is working with Lumena, Inc. to evaluate if an infinity mirror cube can induce states of calm and focus similar to advanced meditation.

📣📣 NEW PAID STUDY ALERT 📣📣

IACS is now recruiting ~100 participants to visit the lab where they will engage in a 10-minute experience using immersive technology. Participant responses to questionnaires before and after will help us evaluate the impact of the experiences on mood and cognitive states.

The study pays $30/hr and parking is free! Most participants finish in 1.5 hours and the average compensation is a total of $45.

You can learn more about the study and sign up to be a participant here:

Assessing The Impact of an Immersive Audiovisual Experience on Mood and Cognitive States IACS is working with Lumena, Inc. to evaluate if an infinity mirror cube can induce states of calm and focus similar to advanced meditation.

IACS was featured in a TechForPsych episode! If you're interested in how we use to help individuals reach "deeper" states of , they did a fantastic job translating our ultrasound efforts into a digestible video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfictxLgwOE

Also, you can sign up to be in these studies! See the comments.

10 Years Meditation in 12 minutes with new tech 2023 (get paid $420 to try it!) This lab will pay you $420 to try their amazing new tech for research IACS Application Link: https://meditationlifu.studyenrollment.com/►►►Mendi Affiliate Li...

IACS is gearing up for a very exciting study where participants in the lab will play what's known as a "Dictator Game". In this game, participants will be informed that they will be receiving a sum of money that they are free to split with other people in Los Angeles. For this study to be valid, we need to use real money and real people.

That's where you come in! We'd love to include anyone who sees this post as a potential recipient of those funds. All you'll need to do is fill out a brief survey to see if you qualify. Then, as we run the study and participants decide to share their money with you, we will Venmo you.

This study will allow us to measure what is known as "empathic concern" in individuals and the degree to which our experiential technology is able to increase one's empathic concern. If we're successful, that means more money will be given out by participants (good for you!).

If you're interested in being involved, fill out your information at this link and, if you qualify, a representative from IACS will reach out! --

Screening Survey (Player in Dictator Task) The following questions will determine if you qualify to participate in one part of our study: Identify the neurophysiological correlates of pro-social chills-eliciting content. You will be represented by an avatar in an economic game, called the Dictator Task. People will be presented images of the...

Sociopathic Superintelligences, Artificial Empathy, and Robot Bodhisattvas, Oh My! We explore the ethical challenges of creating and responsibly developing artificial empathy in robots without creating sociopaths.

New paper out today from IACS in Science Robotics about "artificial empathy".

Given the accelerating powers of artificial intelligence (AI), we must equip artificial agents and robots with empathy to prevent harmful and irreversible decisions. Current approaches to artificial empathy focus on its cognitive or performative processes, overlooking affect, and thus promoting sociopathic behaviors. Artificially vulnerable, fully empathic AI is necessary to prevent sociopathic robots and protect human welfare.

Read all about it and get access to the PDF here:

Sociopathic Superintelligences, Artificial Empathy, and Robot Bodhisattvas, Oh My! We explore the ethical challenges of creating and responsibly developing artificial empathy in robots without creating sociopaths.

IACS is pioneering the rigorous evaluation of commercial-grade

KCRW did a piece on "expanding your mind without the drugs" that includes a summary of some of our current efforts.

Give it a read and listen:

‘Technodelics’: Expand your mind without the drugs | Greater LA A growing movement of boundary-pushing art installations and cutting-edge devices seek to induce altered states. No drugs required.

The latest from IACS is out in Cognitive Science!

Cognitive Science Below the Neck: Toward an Integrative Account of Consciousness in the Body

You can get the article and ready a blog-style summary by Leonardo Christov-Moore on our new website:

Cognitive Science Below the Neck We propose a widening of cognitive science's scope to include the body and develop a formal language to describe it's relationship with mind.

Do you meditate? Are you interested in helping us develop technology that can help deepen and sustain your practice? Such tools could help lower the barrier of entry for new mediators to begin a practice. You've cultivated your mind; perhaps it can help change the world.

We are evaluating the efficacy of using neuromodulation to deepen meditative states. This 5-session study takes place over 14 total hours. You will be compensated $30/hr (~$420) for your participation. You'll also be able to get a picture of your brain.

Interested in being a part of ground-breaking neuroscience? Sign up here: https://meditationlifu.studyenrollment.com/

If you know anyone else who may be interested, please forward them the link!

Help us better understand the neuroscience of meditation With funding from the Tiny Blue Dot Foundation, The Institute for Advanced Consciousness Studies (IACS) will be conducting a series of basic research studies aimed at modeling and reinstating the neurocognitive underpinnings supporting gradations in the meditative experience (i.e., different neural....

The first publication out of IACS is here. If you are curious about the potential mechanisms of action underlying low intensity focused ultrasound (LIFU) for , look no further! LIFU has the exclusive potential to non-invasively excite (or inhibit) almost any region of the brain with high spatial precision. This breakthrough tool could change neuroscience as we know it.

Read all about it here: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2022.872639/full

Do you practice Vipassana Meditation? If so, you may qualify to participate in a new neuroscience research study!

Learn more and see if you qualify here: https://meditation.studyenrollment.com/

IACS is currently recruiting expert Vipassana meditators to help in the development of a hyper-personalized meditation assistance tool. You will be paid $30 per hour. The experiment takes place across two days for a total of 6-7 hours.

Come be a part of cutting-edge science aimed at helping to lower the barrier of entry to meditation.

IACS MEDGRAD Study With funding from the Tiny Blue Dot Foundation, The Institute for Advanced Consciousness Studies will be conducting a series of basic research studies aimed at modeling the neurocognitive underpinnings supporting gradations in the meditative experience (i.e. different neural representations for deep...

Get paid $30/hr to participate in cutting-edge research.

We are recruiting subjects for a study on how a new light and sound device can alter your brain.

The current study takes about 3 hours and parking is free.

Get started here: https://iacs.studyenrollment.com/

IACS EEG Study The purpose of this study is to determine the differences in electroencephalogram (“EEG”) sensor activity and behavioral measures tracking mood states between different light and sound experiences as compared to instructed breathwork exercises. The light-and-sound experience is developed by AhhB...

Are you within driving distance of Santa Monica?

Want to get paid $30/hr to participate in research?

Want to help us do great, local science?

You've come to the right place!

We are recruiting subjects for a study on how a new light and sound device can alter your brain.

The current study takes about 3 hours and parking is free.

Get started here: https://iacs.studyenrollment.com/

IACS EEG Study The purpose of this study is to determine the differences in electroencephalogram (“EEG”) sensor activity and behavioral measures tracking mood states between different light and sound experiences as compared to instructed breathwork exercises. The light-and-sound experience is developed by AhhB...

Institute for Advanced Consciousness Studies updated their business hours.

Institute for Advanced Consciousness Studies updated their phone number.

The Institute for Advanced Consciousness Studies is now recruiting subjects for an EEG study on how a new light and sound experience compares to mediation. Payment is $30/hr. Sign up using the link below. If you qualify we will schedule you for a session (roughly 2 hours) at our lab in Santa Monica. Thank you in advance for helping us to develop this exciting science.

https://iacs.studyenrollment.com/

Institute for Advanced Consciousness Studies updated their website address.

It's now easier to contact Institute for Advanced Consciousness Studies.