Wolfgang Fach, researcher at the Institute for Frontier Areas of Psychology and Mental Health, Germany delves into the nature of exceptional experiences (EE) and a proposed basic system of classification. By using fundamental principles from Metzinger’s theory of mental representations, Fach has devised a compact questionnaire for the assessment of EE, known as PAGE-R.
In this presentation, the various classes of EE are broken down and explained. Two classes of EE refer to their spatial location and are internal, as occurring in the self, and external, occurring in the world. Internal EEs are characterized by alterations in bodily sensation, moods, emotions, internal monologue, and cognition. External EEs can include seeing, hearing, feeling, smelling, or sensing a presence. The two other classes of EE are coincidence which refers to EEs that occur as a result of the connection of usually disconnected elements within oneself, for example, precognition or telepathy. On the other hand, there is also dissociative EE, which is the result of separation within the self or world, out-of-body experiences, and sleep paralysis are examples of such.
The PAGE-R and newly designed PAGE-R-II have proven to be reliable and effective methods of classifying EE. Naturally, future scientific research into exception experiences will benefit greatly from a standardized classification system.
Presented at the “62nd Annual Convention of the Parapsychological Association” on July 4, 2019, Paris, France; program chaired by Ramses D’Leon. Download the Abstracts at https://www.parapsych.org/articles/37/483/2019_pa_convention_abstracts_of.aspx
The Parapsychological Association is an international professional organization of scientists and scholars engaged in the study of psi (or ‘psychic’) experiences, such as telepathy, clairvoyance, psychokinesis, psychic healing, and precognition. The primary objective of the PA is to achieve a scientific understanding of these experiences.
A longer version of this convention video, including the Q&A period, is available to PA members-only at parapsych.org. There is a level of PA membership for everyone interested in the scientific and scholarly advancement of parapsychology. Learn more at: https://www.parapsych.org/join_the_pa.aspx
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Published on October 5, 2021