Micro-phenomenology of immersion and perceived presences under DMT

This paper is one of the first to use micro-phenomenology—a structured interview technique that reconstructs subjective experience in fine temporal detail

This paper is one of the first to use micro-phenomenology—a structured interview technique that reconstructs subjective experience in fine temporal detail—to investigate how the immersive DMT state develops and how the commonly reported experience of encountering "entities" or "presences" emerges. Rather than asking participants to summarise their trip, the researchers reconstructed the moment-to-moment unfolding of the experience.

• Participants: 23 healthy volunteers.

• Intervention: 20 mg intravenous DMT administered during simultaneous fMRI and EEG recording.

• Method: Following the drug session, participants completed detailed micro-phenomenological interviews exploring the temporal evolution of their experience.

• Researchers identified 125 phenomenological categories describing dimensions of immersion, sensory processing, spatial experience, self-experience and perceived presences

1. Immersion develops progressively rather than appearing instantly

The authors found that immersion under DMT is not an all-or-none phenomenon. Instead, it unfolds along a continuum from relatively subtle alterations to complete immersion in an alternative experiential world.

2. A consistent sequence of sensory changes emerged

Across participants, immersion followed a broadly hierarchical developmental pattern.

Typically:

• bodily sensations (e.g. vibrations, warmth, pressure) emerged first,

• visual phenomena developed next,

• auditory phenomena generally appeared later.

Although individual experiences varied, these broad sequences were remarkably consistent.

3. Multisensory integration preceded "entity" encounters

One of the study's central findings was that perceived presences did not arise immediately.

Instead, they generally appeared only after:

• multiple sensory systems had become engaged,

• three-dimensional spatial awareness had developed,

• participants experienced themselves as located within an immersive environment.

This suggests that "entity encounters" are relatively high-level constructions emerging from an already established immersive state rather than isolated hallucinations.

4. Perceived presences were highly variable

The experiences commonly described as "entities" differed substantially between individuals.

The study advances psychedelic research by providing a detailed framework for understanding how complex altered states emerge over time. Rather than treating experiences such as "entity encounters" as isolated phenomena, it suggests they arise through progressive changes in sensory integration, spatial representation and self-world organisation.

Because participants underwent simultaneous fMRI and EEG during DMT administration, the phenomenological maps generated here can potentially be linked with neural activity in future neurophenomenological studies

Abstract

Psychedelic compound N,N-Dimethyltryptamine (DMT) is renowned for inducing highly immersive experiences, often including encounters with seemingly sentient presences. While such phenomena are well documented, immersion under psychedelics remains conceptually underdefined and phenomenologically underexplored. Here we apply micro-phenomenology to characterize immersion under DMT as a structured continuum from subtle to gross forms of immersion, and to examine how perceived presences arise within this continuum. Twenty-three participants received 20 mg intravenous DMT during simultaneous fMRI–EEG acquisition, followed by detailed micro-phenomenological interviews focused on the temporal unfolding of experience.

Micro-phenomenological analysis methods yielded 125 phenomenological categories describing structural dimensions, including sensory and amodal faculties, spatial organisation, self–world configuration, and modes of social relatedness. Dynamic analysis revealed reliable developmental patterns, with bodily effects typically preceding visual and auditory ones, and perceived presences emerging only after multisensory integration and 3D spatial characteristics had developed, illustrating a hierarchical relationship between subtle and gross forms of immersion. Perceived presences varied widely in sensory modality, semantic complexity, and relational mode.

These findings show immersion under DMT as a dynamic, constructive process, providing precise structural features for future neurophenomenological modelling, and supporting the view that DMT research may inform our understanding of immersive experience across other aetiologies, including ordinary experience of the world.

James W Sanders, Raphaël Millière, Ema Demšar, Zachary G Daily, David Erritzoe, Robin Carhart-Harris, Christopher Timmermann, Micro-phenomenology of immersion and perceived presences under DMT, Neuroscience of Consciousness, Volume 2026, Issue 1, 2026, niag015, Read Paper

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