Electrophysiological (EEG) microstates during dream-like bizarre experiences in a naturalistic scenario using immersive virtual reality

Abstract

Monitoring the reality status of conscious experience is essential for a human being to interact successfully with the external world. Despite its importance for everyday functioning, reality monitoring can systematically become erroneous, for example, while dreaming or during hallucinatory experiences. To investigate brain processes associated with reality monitoring occurring online during an experience, i.e., perceptual reality monitoring, we assessed EEG microstates in healthy, young participants. In a within-subjects design, we compared the experience of reality when being confronted with dream-like bizarre elements versus realistic elements in an otherwise highly naturalistic real-world scenario in immersive virtual reality. Dream-like bizarreness induced changes in the subjective experience of reality and bizarreness, and led to an increase in the contribution of a specific microstate labelled C′. Microstate C′ was related to the suspension of disbelief, i.e. the suppression of bizarre mismatches. Together with the functional interpretation of microstate C′ as reported by previous studies, the findings of this study point to the importance of prefrontal meta-conscious control processes in perceptual reality monitoring.