Impact of auto-induced cognitive trance on acute stress recovery and general wellbeing: a psycho-physiological approach

The NeuroSchool PhD Program of Aix-Marseille University (France) has launched its annual calls for PhD contracts for students with a master's degree in a non-French university. 

This project is one of the proposed projects. Not all proposed projects will be funded, check our website for details.

State of the art: Chronic stress significantly elevates the risk of mental and physical pathologies, highlighting the urgent need for effective, accessible regulation strategies. In recent years, non-ordinary states of consciousness (NOC) - accessed through meditation, hypnosis, or breathwork - have gained increasing attention as experiential practices capable of promoting psychological flexibility, emotional regulation, and well-being. Auto-Induced Cognitive Trance (AICT) emerges as a new technique for entering the NOC state. Empirical studies have described AICT as involving enhanced mental imagery, changes in self-boundaries, and a marked narrowing of attentional focus accompanied by reduced sensitivity to external stimuli. Despite the growing popularity, the potential role of AICT in stress regulation remains largely unexplored. 

Objectives: The presented project lies on the key question: can AICT facilitate down-regulation of acute stress induction, and through what mechanisms?  

Methods: The study will recruit three parallel groups: AICT practitioners, cardiac coherence practitioners, and ordinary state controls. Participants will be assigned based on their training. Each participant will complete a single session: a stress task followed immediately by their group's respective intervention practice (AICT, cardiac coherence, or passive wakefulness). Continuous physiological measures (brain EEG activity, heart rate variability, electrodermal activity, blood pressure, respiration, pupil diameter measurements) will be collected alongside psychological scales (STAI, HAD or PSS scale) and cognitive performance. Structured in pilot experiment, main trial and clinical extensions work packages, this study will provide novel mechanistic data on AICT stress regulation and will explore its potential extension to clinical populations.

Expected results: We hypothesize that the AICT state - following acute stress induction – facilitates, as well as cardiac coherence, down-regulation of stress at the psychological, physiological, and phenomenological levels, and we expect to identify the underlying mechanisms.  We hypothesize that the participants’ level of expertise (both AICT and cardiac coherence) and their age, modulates stress coping, recovery responses, and cognitive performance. 

Feasibility: The equipment required for this project is already in place and fully operational, and all ethic committee authorizations have been obtained on a similar project. We already collaborate with the Human Experimentation Laboratory in CRPN. 

Within Aix Marseille Université, NeuroMarseille brings together 8 research laboratories and NeuroSchool, a graduate school in neuroscience, to increase the attractiveness of the university, international collaborations, interdisciplinarity, links with the clinical and industrial worlds and the integration of students into professional life. 

Launched in July 2018, NeuroSchool unifies and harmonizes the training of the third year of the Bachelor of Life Sciences (Neuroscience track), the Master's and the PhD in Neuroscience. 

• Expected candidate profile : The candidate must hold a foreign Master’s degree in neurobiology or neuroscience. Training in clinical psychology or cognitive science would be a significant asset, particularly for implementing the experimental and psychometric measures outlined in the protocol. Prior international research experience and familiarity with CRPN research team are strong advantages. An interest in nonordinary states of consciousness would be appreciated. The successful candidate must demonstrate an ability to combine quantitative and qualitative approaches and to work at the interface between neuroscience, cognitive science, and clinical practice. Programming skills would also be appreciated. The candidate should speak fluent French and English.