Synthesis:Phenomenology of Consciousness Inventory

The Phenomenology of Consciousness Inventory (PCI) is one of the most commonly used scales in our field. According to its author,

The PCI has been used to quantify the subjective experience associated with a variety of stimulus conditions, including: hypnosis (Pekala, 1991, 2015, 2016), meditation (Venkatesh, Raju, Shivani, Tompkins, & Meti, 1997), fire-walking (Hillig & Holroyd, 1997/1998; Pekala & Ersek, 1992/1993), an out-of-the- body experience (OBE) within a near death event (NDE; Maitz & Pekala, 1991), shamanistic trances (Rock, Wilson, Johnston, & Levesque, 2008), charismatic leadership (Churches, 2015), religious/spiritual narratives (Wildman & McNamara, 2010), a virtual reality environment (Huang, Himle, & Alessi, 2000), drumming (Maurer, Kumar, Woodside, & Pekala, 1997), schizophrenia (Roussel & Bachelor, 2000/2001), epilepsy (Johanson, Valli, & Revonsuo, 2011), music perception (Nagy & Szabo, 2004), and psi phenomena (Rock & Storm, 2010).

Dimensions, sub-dimensions, and items

• Altered state of awareness
  • 21. My state of consciousness was not any different or unusual from what it ordinarily is. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 I felt in an extremely different and unusual state of consciousness.
  • 40. My state of awareness was very different from what I usually experience. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 My state of awareness was no different than usual.*
  • 53. My state of awareness was not unusual or different from what it ordinarily is. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 I felt in an extraordinarily unusual and nonordinary state of awareness.
• Altered experience
  • Altered body image
    • 11. My body ended at the boundary between my skin and the world. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 I felt my body greatly expanded beyond the boundaries of my skin.
    • 26. My bodily feelings seemed to expand into the world around me. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 My bodily feelings were confined to the area within my skin.*
    • 51. I continually maintained a very strong sense of separation between myself and the environment. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 I experienced intense unity with the world; the boundaries between me and the environment dissolved away.
  • Altered time sense
    • 15. My perception of the flow of time changed drastically. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 I noticed no changes in my perception of the flow of time.*
    • 30. Time seemed to greatly speed up or slow down. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 Time was experienced with no changes in its rate of passage.*
    • 43. I felt no sense of timelessness; time flowed as I usually experienced it. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 Time stood still; there was no movement of time at all.
  • Altered perception
    • 17. My perception of the world changed drastically. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 I noticed no changes in my perception of the world.*
    • 29. The world around me became extremely different in color or form. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 I noticed no changes in the color or form of the world around me.*
    • 39. I noticed no changes in the size, shape, or perspective of the objects in the world around me. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 Objects in the world around me changed in size, shape, or perspective.
  • Altered meaning
    • 4. I had an experience which I would label as very religious, spiritual, or transcendental. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 I did not have any experience which I would label as religious, spiritual, or transcendental.*
    • 23. I had an experience of awe and reverence toward the world. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 I had no experience of awe and reverence toward the world.*
    • 32. I experienced no profound insights besides my usual cognitive understanding of things. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 I experienced very profound and enlightening insights of certain ideas or issues.
    • 47. I experienced no sense of sacredness or deep meaning in existence beyond my usual feelings. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 Existence became deeply sacred or meaningful.
• Volitional control
  • 3. The thoughts and images I had were under my control; I decided what I thought or imagined. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 Images and thoughts popped into my mind without my control.*
  • 25. I had complete control over what I was paying attention to. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 I had no control over what I was paying attention to.*
  • 41. I relinquished control and became receptive and passive to what I was experiencing. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 I was willfully controlling what I was experiencing.
• Self-awareness
  • 13. I was not aware of being aware of myself at all; I had no self-awareness. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 I was very aware of being aware of myself; my self-awareness was intense.
  • 27. I was continually conscious and well aware of myself. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 I lost consciousness of myself.*
  • 50. I maintained a very strong sense of self-awareness the whole time. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 I did not maintain a very strong sense of self-awareness at all.*
• Rationality
  • 2. My thinking was clear and understandable. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 My thinking was unclear and not easy to understand.*
  • 24. Conceptually, my thinking was clear and distinct. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 Conceptually, my thinking was confused and muddled.*
  • 36. My thought processes were non-rational and very hard to comprehend. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 My thought processes were rational and easy to comprehend.
• Internal dialogue
  • 6. I was silently talking to myself a great deal. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 I did not engage in any silent talking to myself.*
  • 45. I did not engage in any silent talking to myself. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 I was silently talking to myself a great deal.
• Positive affect
  • Joy
    • 9. I felt ecstatic and joyful. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 I felt no feelings of being ecstatic or joyful.*
    • 46. I experienced no feelings of ecstasy or extreme happiness beyond my usual feelings. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 I felt feelings of ecstasy and extreme happiness.
  • Sexual excitement
    • 5. I became aware of very intense sexual feelings. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 I experienced no sexual feelings.*
    • 35. I was not aware of any sexual feelings. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 I experienced very strong sexual feelings.
  • Love
    • 20. I experienced no feelings of love. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 I experienced very strong feelings of love.
    • 49. I felt intense feelings of loving-kindness. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 I felt no feelings of loving-kindness.*
• Negative affect
  • Anger
    • 14. I felt no emotions of rage whatsoever. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 I felt enraged.
    • 33. I felt very angry and upset. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 I felt no feelings of being angry or upset.*
  • Sadness
    • 7. I felt very, very sad. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 I felt no feelings of sadness whatsoever.*
    • 31. I felt no feelings of unhappiness or dejection. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 I felt unhappy and dejected.
  • Fear
    • 16. I felt very frightened. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 I felt no emotions of being frightened.*
    • 42. I felt no feelings of being scared or afraid. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 I felt very scared and afraid.
• Imagery
  • Amount
    • 12. I experienced a great deal of visual imagery. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 I experienced no visual imagery at all.*
    • 44. I experienced no or very few images. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 My experience was made up almost completely of images.
  • Vividness
    • 18. My visual imagery was so vivid and three-dimensional, it seemed real. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 My visual imagery was so vague and diffuse, it was hard to get an image of anything.*
    • 48. My imagery was very vague and dim. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 My imagery was as clear and vivid as objects in the real world.
• Attention
  • Direction
    • 8. My attention was completely directed toward my own internal subjective experience. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 My attention was completely directed toward the world around me.*
    • 28. My attention was totally directed toward the environment around me. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 My attention was totally directed toward my own internal, subjective experience.
    • 52. My attention was completely inner-directed. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 My attention was completely outer-directed.*
  • Absorption
    • 1. I was forever distracted and unable to concentrate on anything. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 I was able to concentrate quite well and was not distracted.
    • 34. I was not distracted, but was able to be completely absorbed in what I was experiencing. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 I was continually distracted by extraneous impressions or events.*
• Memory
  • 10. I cannot remember what I experienced. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 I can remember just about everything that I experienced.
  • 22. I can recall nothing that happened to me. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 I can recall everything that happened to me.
  • 38. My memory of the events I experienced is extremely clear and vivid. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 My memory of the events I experienced is extremely blurred and hazy.*
• Arousal
  • 19. The muscles of my body felt very tense and tight. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 The muscles of my body felt very loose and relaxed.*
  • 37. I felt no feelings of tension or tightness at all. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 I felt tense and tight.

An asterisk (*) denotes items which must be reversed before intensity scores are computed.