{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,20]],"date-time":"2026-07-20T15:15:15Z","timestamp":1784560515840,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":55,"publisher":"Oxford University Press (OUP)","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,18]],"date-time":"2025-08-18T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1755475200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":229,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2025,2,6]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n               <jats:p>A Ganzfeld is a homogeneous, unstructured visual field that is known to induce visual hallucinations. Aside from visual percepts emerging in participants\u2019 awareness, Ganzfeld viewing is characterized by decays of color and brightness. The studies dedicated to this topic from the 20th century have focused on these decays, although they have been reported in a confusing way, with different terms for these decaying experiences. This paper synthesizes the current state of the Ganzfeld literature going back to the 1930s with the purpose of clarifying the terminology of the phenomena that have largely retained their mysterious aspects. We built a Ganzfeld space to study the phenomenology without the restricted feeling of a confined space that translucent Ganzfeld goggles cause. Employing a multi-method approach, we combined quantitative and qualitative measures to better grasp the number, kind and temporal dynamics of the experienced phenomena as well as their experiential characteristics. We offer more insight into the different kinds of visual percepts that emerge in participants\u2019 awareness, induced by the Ganzfeld, and we identified three distinct types of decays of color and brightness. Based on previously used terminology, we propose to employ the terms \u2018fade-out\u2019, \u2018black-out\u2019 and \u2018blank-out\u2019, and present both the prevalence as well as the qualitative characteristics of these decays. Finally, we shed some light onto the role of eye movements and blinks on the experienced phenomena. All of this is relevant groundwork to be able to study the dynamics of different Ganzfeld experiences, in relation to different states of consciousness and their neural correlates in future work.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1093\/nc\/niaf021","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,18]],"date-time":"2025-08-18T20:36:23Z","timestamp":1755549383000},"source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":5,"title":["And then there was light in the ganzfeld: clarifying the methods, experiences, and modulating factors of hallucinations and decays"],"prefix":"10.1093","volume":"2025","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5124-8386","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Eleftheria","family":"Pistolas","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Laboratory of Experimental Psychology, Department of Brain and Cognition, University of Leuven (KU \u00a0 Leuven ), Tiensestraat 102 - Box 3711, Leuven 3000,","place":["Belgium"]},{"name":"Leuven Brain Institute, University of Leuven ( KU Leuven ), ON5, Herestraat 49, Leuven 3001,","place":["Belgium"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7970-1541","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Johan","family":"Wagemans","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Laboratory of Experimental Psychology, Department of Brain and Cognition, University of Leuven (KU \u00a0 Leuven ), Tiensestraat 102 - Box 3711, Leuven 3000,","place":["Belgium"]},{"name":"Leuven Brain Institute, University of Leuven ( KU Leuven ), ON5, Herestraat 49, Leuven 3001,","place":["Belgium"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"286","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,18]]},"reference":[{"key":"2025081816361763700_ref56","article-title":"Gestalt psychology in German culture, 1890\u20131967","volume-title":"Holism and the quest for objectivity","author":"Ash","year":"1995"},{"key":"2025081816361763700_ref1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1442","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1468-2982.2007.01502.x","article-title":"The brain is hyperexcitable in migraine","volume":"27","author":"Aurora","year":"2007","journal-title":"Cephalalgia"},{"key":"2025081816361763700_ref2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"246","DOI":"10.1037\/h0022208","article-title":"Vision in the ganzfeld","volume":"64","author":"Avant","year":"1965","journal-title":"Psychol Bull"},{"key":"2025081816361763700_ref3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1291","DOI":"10.1016\/0042-6989(76)90056-0","article-title":"Brightness sensation in a ganzfeld","volume":"16","author":"Barlow","year":"1976","journal-title":"Vis Res"},{"key":"2025081816361763700_ref4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"699","DOI":"10.1113\/jphysiol.1969.sp008836","article-title":"Changes in the maintained discharge with adaptation level in the cat retina","volume":"202","author":"Barlow","year":"1969","journal-title":"J Physiol"},{"key":"2025081816361763700_ref5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"70","DOI":"10.1037\/h0083596","article-title":"Effects of decreased variation in the sensory environment","volume":"8","author":"Bexton","year":"1954","journal-title":"Can J Psychol"},{"key":"2025081816361763700_ref6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"744","DOI":"10.1037\/a0027580","article-title":"Elementary visual hallucinations and their relationships to neural pattern-forming mechanisms","volume":"138","author":"Billock","year":"2012","journal-title":"Psychol Bull"},{"key":"2025081816361763700_ref7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"967","DOI":"10.1016\/0042-6989(87)90012-5","article-title":"Perceptual \u2018blankout\u2019 of monocular homogeneous fields (Ganzfelder) is prevented with binocular viewing","volume":"27","author":"Bolanowski","year":"1987","journal-title":"Vis Res"},{"key":"2025081816361763700_ref8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"473","DOI":"10.1113\/jphysiol.1971.sp009581","article-title":"Sustained and transient neurones in the cat\u2019s retina and lateral geniculate nucleus","volume":"217","author":"Cleland","year":"1971","journal-title":"J Physiol"},{"key":"2025081816361763700_ref9","first-page":"1510","article-title":"Comparisons of homogeneous ganzfelds with ganzfelds containing simple figures","volume":"16","author":"Cohen","year":"1956","journal-title":"Dissertation Abstracts"},{"key":"2025081816361763700_ref10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"403","DOI":"10.2307\/1419576","article-title":"Spatial and textural characteristics of the ganzfeld","volume":"70","author":"Cohen","year":"1957","journal-title":"Am J Psychol"},{"key":"2025081816361763700_ref11","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"390","DOI":"10.2307\/1420084","article-title":"Color-perception in the chromatic ganzfeld","volume":"71","author":"Cohen","year":"1958","journal-title":"Am J Psychol"},{"key":"2025081816361763700_ref12","first-page":"119","volume-title":"Visual Search Techniques","author":"Cohen","year":"1960"},{"key":"2025081816361763700_ref13","first-page":"410","article-title":"Cessation of visual experience under prolonged uniform visual stimulation","volume":"13","author":"Cohen","year":"1958","journal-title":"Am Psychol"},{"key":"2025081816361763700_ref14","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"515","DOI":"10.1007\/s00213-009-1561-0","article-title":"From drugs to deprivation: a Bayesian framework for understanding models of psychosis","volume":"206","author":"Corlett","year":"2009","journal-title":"Psychopharmacol"},{"key":"2025081816361763700_ref15","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"3544","DOI":"10.1007\/978-1-0716-1006-0_515","volume-title":"Encyclopedia of Computational Neuroscience","author":"Cowan","year":"2022"},{"key":"2025081816361763700_ref16","volume-title":"Handbook of Physiology","author":"DeValois","year":"1984"},{"key":"2025081816361763700_ref17","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1007\/BF00406756","article-title":"Optische Untersuchungen am Ganzfeld. 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