Caitlin Lynch

• Institute for Advanced Consciousness Studies

Aesthetic chills are a peak emotional response to stimuli such as music, films, or speech characterized by shivers and goosebumps and activation of dopaminergic circuits. Despite growing scientific interest in this phenomenon, repeated exposure to chills stimuli has not been studied yet, due to the absence of a validated database. This study levera...

The MindGym, a novel immersive technology utilizing a reflective chamber environment, was developed to create standardized experiential content, including anxiolytic experiences. This study examined whether therapeutic experiences originally created in the MindGym could maintain their efficacy when delivered via 360-degree recordings through virtua...

Self-transcendence (ST) is a state of consciousness associated with feelings of ego-dissolution, connectedness, and moral elevation, which mediates well-being, meaning-making, and prosociality. Conventional paths to ST, like religious practice, meditation, and psychedelics, pose nontrivial barriers to entry, limiting ST’s study and application. Aes...

Background Virtual reality (VR) and immersive technologies offer benefits in anxiety reduction and mood enhancement. This study examines the effectiveness of rain stimuli and guided breathwork delivered through MindGym, a novel reflective chamber, and a traditional VR headset. Methods Physiological measures, cognitive, and trait and state assessmen...

Why does the same experience elicit strong emotional responses in some individuals while leaving others largely indifferent? Is the variance influenced by who people are (personality traits), how they feel (emotional state), where they come from (demographics), or a unique combination of these? In this 2,900+ participants study, we disentangle the...

Aesthetic chills are a peak emotional response to affectively charged stimuli such as music, films, or speech. This study investigates the impact of repeated exposure on the frequency and intensity of aesthetic chills. Through a longitudinal approach, we quantified changes in chill likelihood, intensity, and pleasure across multiple exposures, focu...

We significantly enriched ChillsDB, a dataset of audiovisual stimuli validated to elicit aesthetic chills. A total of 2,937 participants from Southern California were exposed to 40 stimuli, consisting of 20 stimuli (10 from ChillsDB and 10 new) presented either in audiovisual or audio-only formats. Questionnaires were administered assessing demogra...

Our culture and its scientific endeavor direly need a holistic characterization of mind and body. Many phenomena attest to the profound effects of beliefs on bodily function (e.g., open-label placebo’s effects on chronic pain) and interoceptive systems’ role in mental processes (e.g., the emerging role of gut microbiomes in mood). We need a mechani...