The Inventory of Nonordinary Experiences (INOE): Evidence of validity in the United States and India

Researchers increasingly recognize that the mind and culture interact at many levels to constitute our lived experience, yet we know relatively little about the extent to which culture shapes the way people appraise their experiences and the likelihood that a given experience will be reported. Experiences that involve claims regarding deities, extraordinary abilities, and/or psychopathology offer an important site for investigating the interplay of mind and culture at the population level. However, the difficulties inherent in comparing culture-laden experiences, exacerbated by the siloing of research on experiences based on discipline-specific theoretical constructs, have limited our ability to do so. We introduce the Inventory of Nonordinary Experiences (INOE), which allows researchers to compare experiences by separating the phenomenological features from how they are appraised and asking about both. It thereby offers a new means of investigating the potentially universal (etic) and culture-specific (emic) aspects of lived experiences. To ensure that the INOE survey items are understood as intended by English speakers in the US and Hindi speakers in India, and thus can serve as a basis for cross-cultural comparison, we used the Response Process Evaluation (RPE) method to collect evidence of item-level validity. Our inability to validate some items drawn from other surveys suggests that they are capturing a wider range of experiences than researchers intend. Wider use of the RPE method would increase the likelihood that survey results are due to the differences that researchers intend to measure.


Rare items associated with mystical experience that failed to validate in the general population in one or both countries.
The item wording is given for the first iteration in the validation process. For the wording of subsequent iterations, please contact the authors. 1. Connectedness (All). a. I have had an experience in which I lost a sense of my individual identity and felt a part of a greater whole that extends far beyond me. b. Muje aisa anubhava hua jaise maine apni khudki pahchan kho di hai aur ek mahan sampurnata ka hissa ban chuka hun.
c. Intended Interpretation: The loss of individual identity involves a blurring or disappearance of the boundaries between the self and everything else. Such experiences may be positive or negative. When experienced as positive, this experience may approximate Stace's definition of a mystical experience. d. Sources: AANEX, TAS, EDI e. Iterations: 4 in English; 6 in Hindi f. Issues: The experience is rare in the general population and left people who said "no" often guessing what we meant. After four iterations, we found a way to word it in English that did not result in false positives but were unable to do so in Hindi.

Unity.
a. I have had an experience in which it seemed as if I became one with a greater whole. b. Muje aisa anubhav hua hai jaise mein ek mahan sampurnata ka hissa bankar vileen ho gaya/gayi hun. c. Intended Interpretation: Unity involves the sense of becoming one with a larger whole and, thus, a blurring or disappearance of the boundaries between the self and something larger. It can be anything from a group to the cosmos. Such experiences may be positive or negative. This item is adapted from the mysticism scales. When experienced as positive, this experience may approximate Stace's definition of a mystical experience, which he defines as "an experience of undifferentiated unity," but that is not a requirement. Because this item leaves out any reference to changes in self or identity, it is vague and we can expect a wide range of responses. d. Sources: MS, MEQ, DSES e. Iterations: 4 in English, 7 in Hindi. f. Issues: The original item was interpreted broadly as including social phenomena, such as conscious conformity and the effects of crowd psychology, particularly in India. We attempted to revise the item to focus on changes in sense-of-self. We tried substituting nonordinary power/presence for "a greater whole" and also tried combining elements of Unity and Connectedness (All) to capture the boundary dissolution and mystical-type experiences. None of our efforts produced consistent interpretations in both contexts. c. Intended Interpretation: According to Lindahl & Britton, changes at this basic level of self can be very difficult to describe, and can include references to "not being there," "disappearing," or "not existing." Parnas et al. [23] define "Diminished Sense of Basic Self" as follows: "A pervasive sense of inner void, lack of inner nucleus, a pervasive lack of identity, feelings of being anonymous, as if nonexistent or profoundly different from other people (this difference may sometimes be specified as difference in the worldview, being linked to an existential orientation that is fundamentally different than that of fellow humans). d. Source: EDI e. Iterations: 2 in English, 1 in Hindi f. Issues: As a change in the basic level of self, this is a rare occurrence; respondents tended to interpret it in terms of social isolation and/or not being noticed.

Animated Life.
a. I have experienced the physical world as seemingly conscious or animated with life. b. Maine aisa vishishta anubhav kiya hai ki yah poora bhautik jagat jivant aur sachet hai.
c. Intended Interpretation: This item is derived from the concept of animism, which is the perception that all things-animals, plants, rocks, rivers, weather systems, human handiwork and perhaps even words-are animated and alive. "The perception that all things are animated and alive" is ambiguous and could refer either to a belief or an experience. We are asking whether people have experienced the physical world as animated or alive. The mysticism scales ask people if they have "felt as if all things were alive" or "seemed to be aware" or "seemed to be conscious" or contained "a living presence." d. Source: MS, MEQ e. Iterations: 2 each in English and Hindi. f. Issues: We interpreted this item, which was derived from the mysticism scales, as referring to Animism. Some respondents interpreted it much as they did the Unity item. We replaced this item with items that more accurately capture Animism, i.e., Places [animated] and Objects [animated], and continued trying to validate the Unity item.
Other relatively rare items.
The item wording is given for the first iteration in the validation process. For the wording of subsequent iterations, please contact the authors. 6. Synesthesia (formerly Sound Changes Things). a. I have had an experience in which different senses blended together, e.g., sounds had colors. b. Mujhe aisa anubhav hua hai jaise indriya ek dusre se mix ho gayi hai (jaise rango se awaj sunai de rahi hai.) c. Intended Interpretation: Synesthesia is "a phenomenon in which a person experiences a sensory stimulus, such as hearing a piece of music, and another of their senses simultaneously perceives the stimulus" (https://www.betterhelp.com/advice/synesthesia/the-many-types-of-synesthesia-explained). d. Iterations: 2 in English, 2 in Hindi e. Issues: This is a rare experience for which we were not able to find a good generic description, especially for India where people may be less familiar with the concept.

7.
Hyper-Real. a. I have experienced the world as different or altered, such that it somehow seemed much more "real" or vivid. b. Mujhe aisa anubhav hua jaise ajoobajoo sab kuch adhik vaastavik aur tivra mahsoos hone laga tha.
c. Intended Interpretation: The person reports an experience in which everything is perceived as unusually vivid. The person can be awake or dreaming. We are not looking for "vivid" memories or deep insights, but for perceptual shifts in which everything seems more vivid, perhaps analogous to everything appearing in "high definition" as opposed to "normal resolution." There is potential here for responses that involve metaphoric changes in perception, e.g., "after he said that, I saw everything in a new light," which is NOT what we want. Respondents do not have to explicitly say their experience involved a change in literal (rather than metaphoric) perception, but we need to be able to infer it from the context or description. d. Source: AANEX e. Iterations: 5 in English, 4 in Hindi f. Issues: We got a spectrum of responses (e.g., clearing mind, flashbulb memory) with the initial wording; after rewording it to focus on sensory vividness, we still got mixed responses.
8. Smell. a. I have smelled a scent, fragrance, or odor even though nothing around me could have produced it. b. Maine ek khushboo ya gandh ka anubhav kiya hai jiska koi sadharan karan nahi tha.
c. Intended Interpretation: The individual recalls an occasion in which they smelled something for which there seemed to be no ordinary cause (i.e., no external stimulus). It should have the qualities of a regular sensory perception regardless of whether they believe it was real or not. The subject may smell it alone or with others. d. Source: PAGE-R, SAE e. Issues: This is the least common form of hallucination; respondents confused it with memories of previous smells and new smells of an unknown source.

Items we were unable to ground in specific bodily sensations in both contexts.
The item wording is given for the first iteration in the validation process. For the wording of subsequent iterations, please contact the authors. 9. Telepathy. a. I have had an experience in which it seemed that I was able to communicate by thought alone. b. Muje aisa anubhav hua hai jaise maine keval vicharo dwara (muh se bole bina) kisi aur se baat-chit ya vartaalaap kiya hai.
c. Intended Interpretation. Communication with another person by thinking rather than by using words or other signals. Sending and/or receiving both count. d. Source: AANEX e. Iterations: 2 in English, 2 in Hindi f. Issues: The responses included communication via passive nonverbal cues; we tried to reword to exclude this interpretation but were not successful.

Energy.
a. I have experienced flows of energy within my body, for which there seemed to be no ordinary explanation b. Maine apne andar asadharan urja ya shakti ke pravah ka anubhav kiya hai c. Intended Interpretation. An experience of energy that feels like an electric current flooding through the body. d. Source: KS e. Iterations: 4 in English, 2 in Hindi f. Issue: We had difficulty anchoring this in a consistent bodily sensation. Responses in the US ranged from moods to adrenaline rushes to seizures. Responses in India, where energy was translated as shakti, reflected the range of meanings of that key term, including energy in the secular sense (with responses similar to those in the US) and various forms of "sacred energy" associated with deities and/or unusual human powers. Review of discussions of the "kundalini experience," which we had hoped to capture with this item, surfaced a wide range of associated phenomena that did not suggest a way to refine our item or the intended interpretation.
11. Intuitions. a. I have had a thought, insight, or intuition that did not seem to be my own. b. Mere paas aise vichaar, antardrshti, ya antargyaan hain jo aisa prateet hota tha jaise ki ve mujhme utpann nahi hue.
c. Intended Interpretation: The experience has to refer to something thought-like that does not seem to be self-produced. The thoughts can seem like they are spoken aloud, i.e., experienced as a "voice in the head." The thoughts do not have to be attributed to another agent; we leave that to the appraisals. Marginal Interpretation: Something that lacked a sense of ownership as above, but was not a thought/insight/intuition (e.g., a feeling that felt like it was "not mine"). Differential Diagnosis: In 'Another Self in Body,' the other has to be explicit but not in this case. d. Notes: This item is derived from "thought insertion," which is defined by the ICD-10 as "feeling as if one's thoughts are not one's own, but rather belong to someone else and have been inserted into one's mind." Ratcliffe and Wilkinson [24] contend that "thought insertion involves experiencing thought contents as alien." As they elaborate: "One's experience of p is perception-like, in that p appears nonself-produced. But it also remains thought-like, in that p continues to resemble thought content more so than sensory perceptual content." e. Source: O-LIFE, AANEX, PAGE-R f. Iterations: 1 in English (validated); 5 in Hindi g. Issues: We had difficulty anchoring this in a consistent sense of "non-ownership," especially in India.
Many responses in India referred to a "power" that few possess, which seems to be tied to the "intuition" word in Hindi. Eliminating the Hindi word for intuition and inserting "definitely" before "feels" did not solve the problem.
12. Moods. a. I have had a mood, feeling, or emotional state that did not seem to be my own. b. Maine aisi bhavnae mahsoos ki hai to mere mei nahi lekin vastav mei kahin aur se utpann hui thi.
c. Intended Interpretation: The experience has to refer to something emotion-like that does not seem to be self-produced. The emotions can be acted out, as in a person "overtaken by rage." The emotions do not have to be attributed to an other; we leave that to the appraisals. Marginal interpretation: Something that does not seem to be self-produced but is not a mood, feeling, or emotion (e.g., a thought). The aspects of the self must speak in their own "voice" and must engage in a conversation or dialogue. The aspects of self can be positive or negative, sought or unsought, welcome or unwelcome. The "aspect of self" is internal, but respondents may also believe the "aspects" to extend beyond the self, but that determination is left to the appraisals. Related Items: There is potential overlap between this item and "Another Self in Body," particularly with the sense of being internally divided, expressed in terms of a "divided mind" or "being of two minds." In this case, however, the divisions in the sense of self must have their own voice and engage in conversation. In so far as the aspect of the self is experienced as an other agent in their body, there can be overlap with Guidance (if the conversation involves guidance), with Messages (if the other delivers a message in the context of the conversation). d. Source: This item was inspired by Jungian inner dialogues. e. Iterations: 2 in English, 3 in Hindi f. Issues: We hoped to anchor this item in voices that seemed to have their own sense of agency or autonomy, but were unable to arrive at wording that separated those sorts of inner voices from competing thoughts and pro/con lists.
14. Altered Time. a. I have had an experience in which time seemed to slow down, or speed up, or cease to exist. b. Mujhe aisa anubhav hua jaise samay dhima ho gaya hai athva samay sthir ho gaya hai. The item as initially worded overlapped too much with absorption. We were able to validate a modified, more focused version in English, but 3/6 'yes' responses were not understood in India so the item failed to validate in both contexts.

Evidence of Validity Questioned.
We collected evidence of validity for this group of items, but upon final review, we identified issues that made the evidence less compelling and led us to leave the item out of the validated INOE. The item wording is given for the final iteration in the validation process. 15. Auras. a. I have seen an aura or halo of light surrounding a person, for which there seemed to be no ordinary source. b. Maine ek vyakti ke ird-gird tej ya prakash dekha hai jiski koi sadharan vajah nahi thi.
c. Intended Interpretation: The individual recalls an occasion in which they saw a light or an energy field around /surrounding a person for which there seemed to be no ordinary cause (i.e., no external stimulus). The light or energy field may include the person's body or a portion thereof, such as their face, but it has to have the qualities of a visual perception regardless of whether they believe it was real or not. The subject may see it alone or with others. Gurus and saints have them (allegedly). d. Source: AEI, AANEX, KS, SAE e. Iteration Count: 2 in English, 2 in Hindi f. First Iteration: I have seen an aura or light glowing around a person, for which there seemed to be no ordinary source. / Maine ek vyakti ke ird-gird ek chamak ya prakash dekha hai jiski koi sadharan vajah nahi thi. g. Reason for Elimination: There was only one 'yes' response in the US and it was not understood.

Other Reality.
a. I have been in contact with what seemed to be a world or reality other than this world. b. Mai is duniya (jahan saare log samanyaroop se rahte hai) se ekdum hi alag duniya ke sampark mei hun.

c. Intended Interpretation:
This can include what seems like travel to another world, e.g., another planet, heaven, an astral plane, the spirit world, or contact with an entity that presumably came from another world, such as an alien, a ghost, spirit, or dead person. The "world" should not be part of "this world," as it is in "we are worlds apart in our thinking" or "we live in separate worlds." As long as it is not part of "this world," the other world can be appraised as real or imaginary --we leave that to the appraisals. d. Source: AEI, NDES e. Iterations: 2 in English, 2 in Hindi f. First Iteration: I have been in contact with what seemed to be a world or reality other than the one I usually inhabit. / Mai jis duniya mei samanya rupse rahta hun us duniya se ekdam hi alag duniye ke sampark mei hun. g. Reason for Elimination: The intended interpretation and responses were quite varied and in retrospect we decided that this item was not well anchored in bodily sensations, feelings, or perceptions. c. Intended Interpretation: An experience in which life feels pointless or meaningless, unfulfilling, without direction, goals, purpose, usefulness, or companionship. May be associated with feeling hopeless or like a failure. Note: Nihilists, material is, and humanists may also say yes to this item because they believe life is inherently meaningless, even though they do not report any specific feelings as described above; 2/20 (2/8 yes responses) were of this type on MTurk. d. Source: AANEX e. Iterations: 2 in English, 2 in Hindi f. First Iteration: I have had an experience of meaninglessness that stood out from all other such experiences. / Mujhe nirtarthakta/arthahinata/vyarthata ka anubhav hua he jo baki aise anubhavo se alag tha. g. Reason for Elimination: This item doesn't seem to be as well anchored as Hopelessness. The responses tend to overlap except for those who ignored the "felt experience" part and said 'yes' because they believe there is inherently no meaning. Examples weren't as specific here as with hopelessness. If we had refined it (as we later did some other items) to read, e.g.: "I have had a specific experience in which it felt as if …", we might well have been able to validate it.
19. Another Self in Body. a. I have had an experience in which it seemed like there was another self or being in my body. b. Muje aisa anubhav hua jaise mere andar mere sivaay koi anya atma ya jeev hai.
c. Intended Interpretation: This item includes any experience in which it seems as if an "other" (not "me") is present in the body. The other can be associated with self-alien movements, thoughts, or emotions. It may be minimally or robustly realized. The other may be experienced as co-conscious, i.e., both present at the same time, or as alternating. This item is worded to capture a range of agentic divisions from a sense of divided mind to dissociative identity disorder (aka multiple personalities/alter personalities) and complete or partial 'possession' by spirits or deities. The reality of the other agent, whether it's a split off part of themselves or an external agent, is all part of the appraisal. d. Source: AEI, PAGE-R e. Iterations: 3 in English, 2 in Hindi f. First Iteration: I have had an experience in which it seemed like there was another self or being in me.
/ Muje aisa anubhav hua jaise mere andar koi anya atma ya jeev hai. g. Reason for Elimination. During the validation of this item, it was rarely endorsed in either population. Participants who said 'No' gave a range of hypothetical examples that matched the intended interpretation. Most of the 'Yes' responses described a co-conscious, conscience-like 'inner voice' and/or a sense of inner conflict or being 'of two minds.' Although the intended interpretation allowed for a range of self-alien movements, thoughts, or emotions, we decided during the final review that this item posed difficulties much like those we encountered with Inner Dialogues, Moods, and Intuitions (discussed above). Here too we had hoped to anchor this item in selves or beings that seemed to have their own sense of agency or autonomy, but we were unable to arrive at wording that separated those sorts of inner voices from more mundane inner conflicts. For other issues related to this item, see (25).

Connectedness (others).
a. I have had an experience in which I became one with everyone at a large group event and lost my sense of individuality. b. Jab kisi ek sammelan/utsav mei logo ke bade samooh ke saath muje aisa anubhav hua hai jaise mein us samooh ke saath ek-ras ho gaya/gayi hun aur meri khudki pahchan meet gayi hai.
c. Intended Interpretation: An experience of losing oneself (to some degree) in a group or collectivity. It typically involves the blurring or even dissolution of self-other boundaries. d. Notes: This corresponds to Durkheim's notion of "collective effervescence." Examples would include all kinds of group events, such as worship, group singing, sports events, concerts, rallies, crowds, etc. The experience can be positive or negative. Based on Yaden et al's [26] definition of self-transcendent experiences as "transient mental states marked by decreased self-salience and increased feelings of connectedness" with others or one's surroundings, this falls at the more intense end of the spectrum. In the U.S., when people appraised the experience negatively, they tended not to understand it as intended. They describe consciously conforming, which they resent; they still believe they are an individual but think that others don't recognize their individuality. 80% understood -weaker item. e. Source: This item was inspired by items that referred to a feeling of connection to all life in the DSES and a sense of union with others in the EDI and refined in light of Durkheim's notion of collective effervescence. f. Iterations: 4 in English, 4 in Hindi g. First Iteration: I felt a sense of being connected to everyone around me. / Maine aisa mahsus kiya hai jaise mei apne aas-paas ke sabhi logo ke saath juda hua hun. h. Reason for Elimination. Connectedness (others) required major changes. Its wording, which initially referred to feeling a "sense of connectedness with everything around me," was revised to focus more specifically on "becoming one with everyone in the context of a group event." The final wording was understood by 95% of respondents in India, but only 80% in the US. About half of the respondents in the US said 'yes' (9/20), but of those 3 were coded as Not Understood. In two cases, we coded them as not understood because the respondent felt like individuals but weren't recognized as such in the context of a group event. This item, although better understood than the sense of self items we did not include, suffered from similar difficulties; in this case, differentiating relatively mundane experiences of loss of self due to conscious conformity and/or lack of recognition by others from the loss of sense of self that can occur in crowds, sports events, or intense rituals.

Goosebumps (formerly Bodily Sensations).
a. I can recall a specific, intense experience in which all of my body hairs suddenly stood on end (not due to cold or illness). b. Mujhe ek vishishta aur alag hi anubhav hua hai jahan mere sharir ke saare rongte khade ho gaye ho. (thand ya bimari ke karan nahi).
c. Intended Interpretation: The person has an experience in which "small bumps appear on the surface [of their skin] as the hairs become erect" (technically known as piloerection, frission, cutis anserina, and horripilation) (adapted from Oxford Language online). d. Notes: They need to recall a specific experience. We rule out cold (the most common cause) and illness and are looking for other sorts of experiences e.g., shocking, frightening, awe-inspiring, or extremely exciting. e. Source: This item was inspired by items that referred to feeling unusual sensations in the AANEX and KS. f. Iterations: 4 in English, 4 in Hindi. g. First Iteration: I have had an experience of goosebumps or my hairs standing on end (when I was not cold) that stood out from other such experiences. / Mujhe ek alag hi anubhav hua hai jahan mere sharir ke saare rongte khade ho gaye ho. h. Reason for Elimination. The final wording was understood by 95% of respondents in India, but only 80% in the US. The PPU for the US was 69%, because 4/13 'yes' respondents did not have a specific experience or type of experience in mind.

Presence (dead).
a. I have sensed the presence of, or interacted with, a person who was dead, either directly or with the assistance of another person. b. Khudse ya anya vyakti ki madad se, maine kisi mrit vyakti se sampark ya upasthiti ka anubhav kiya hai.
c. Intended Interpretation: The sense that a person who was once alive is now present based on some sort of perceived internal or external cues. d. Notes: The subject may or may not interact with the perceived presence. The presence may be characterized as a known person, e.g., a dead friend or relative, or more vaguely as a ghost, spirit, ancestor. Any characterization is OK as long as they were once alive in human form. The perceived presence can be positive or negative, sought or unsought, welcome or unwelcome. The deceased may manifest through a living being or material object (e.g., an 'oracle,' 'medium,' 'shaman', a 'spirit guide', or 'talisman'). The power or being may simply seem to be present; whether the subject actually thinks it is present will come out in the appraisals. e. Differential diagnosis: Signs or messages without the sense of an "other" being present fall under our Messages item. f. Related Items: There is potential overlap between this item and other Presence-related items in so far as the "other" is viewed as having previously been alive (embodied). g. Source: This item was inspired by items that referred to communicating with the dead in the AEI, PAGE-R, SAE, and NDES. h. Iterations: 2 in English, 2 in Hindi. i. First Iteration: I have sensed the presence of, or interacted with, a person who was missing or dead, either directly or with the assistance of another person. / Khudse ya anya vyakti ki madad se, maine kisi mrit ya lapata vyakti ka sampark ya upasthiti ka anubhav kiya hai. j. Reason for Elimination. The final wording was understood by 95% of respondents in the US and 86% of respondents in India; the PPU/NPU for the US were 100%/95%, the PPU/NPU for India were 50%/94%. The 50% PPU in India was due to 2/4 respondents who said 'yes' describing a deity or spirit rather than a dead person. The 100% PPU in the US was based on only one response. Despite the high overall proportion of respondents who understood the item as intended, this item was removed due to the risk of skewed cross-cultural comparisons, where the prevalence in India is likely to be inflated relative to the prevalence in the US. This item requires further testing in the US and a rewrite in India to make sure people focus on the dead rather than deities/spirits.

Validation Not Attempted
We developed 26 additional items, 23 of which were used in an exploratory study [27], and 3, which were developed later. We did not attempt to validate them either because we viewed them as low priority for a comparative study of the US and India, discovered wording problems in the English items, had problems translating them into Hindi, and/or decided that an item was redundant.

Lower Priority
Most of the items we designated as low priority were rare and/or rarely valorized in the US and/or India.