Mapping of Subjective Accounts into Interpreted Clusters (MOSAIC): Topic Modelling and LLM applied to Stroboscopic Phenomenology.

Abstract

Stroboscopic light stimulation (SLS) on closed eyes typically induces simple visual hallucinations, characterized by vivid, geometric, and colourful patterns. A dataset of 898 sentences, extracted from 407 open subjective reports, was recently compiled as part of the Dreamachine programme (https://dreamachine.world/) (Collective Act, 2022), an immersive multisensory experience that combines SLS and spatial sound in a collective setting. Although open reports extend the range of reportable phenomenology, their analysis presents significant challenges, particularly in systematically identifying patterns. To address this challenge, we implemented a data-driven approach leveraging large language models and topic modelling to uncover and interpret latent experiential topics directly from the Dreamachine's text-based reports. Our analysis confirmed the presence of simple visual hallucinations typically documented in scientific studies of SLS, while also revealing experiences of altered states of consciousness and complex hallucinations. Building on these findings, our computational approach expands the systematic study of subjective experience by enabling data-driven analyses of open-ended phenomenological reports, capturing experiences not readily identified through standard questionnaires. By revealing rich and multifaceted aspects of experiences, our study broadens our understanding of stroboscopically induced phenomena while highlighting the potential of natural language processing and large language models in the field of computational phenomenology. More generally, this approach provides a practically applicable methodology for uncovering subtle hidden patterns of subjective experience across diverse research domains. Open-source implementation and an interactive web application are provided to facilitate application of this methodology.