The experiential self state as affective salience: a dual-self states framework for consciousness and self-transcendence.

Summary

Consciousness can be understood as a dynamic continuum between two self-states: a reflective, narrative mode supported by the default mode network, and an experiential, affective-salience mode anchored in the salience network (anterior insula and anterior cingulate cortex). The experiential self-state integrates interoceptive and exteroceptive signals into a coherent, non-propositional sense of being-here-as-subject, with sustained non-reflective meta-awareness. Within predictive processing, this state involves reduced precision-weighting of high-level self-referential priors, governed by dopaminergic, noradrenergic, and serotonergic mechanisms. This framework accounts for individual differences in mindfulness and absorption, and for conditions with dysregulated salience processing. Self-transcendent experiences—absorption, meditation, awe, mystical or religious experiences—are expressions of the experiential self-state.

Study at a glance

Abstract

This article proposes a dual-self states framework in which reflective and experiential modes of consciousness are understood as dynamic configurations along a processing continuum. The reflective/experiential self-state corresponds to narrative, denotational, and self-referential consciousness underpinned by default mode network activity. The experiential self state is characterized as an affective-salience mode of perspectival awareness, anchored in salience network hubs (particularly the anterior insula and anterior cingulate cortex), which integrate interoceptive and exteroceptive signals into a coherent, non-propositional sense of being-here-as-subject, accompanied by sustained, non-reflective meta-awareness. Within a predictive processing framework, the experiential self state corresponds to a configuration in which the precision-weighting of high-level self-referential priors is reduced and a broader range of affective and bodily signals shapes conscious experience, a shift governed by dopaminergic, noradrenergic, and serotonergic mechanisms. This characterization carries direct implications for individual differences in traits such as mindfulness and absorption, and for conditions involving dysregulated salience processing. The framework further proposes that self-transcendent experiences, including absorption, meditation, awe, and mystical or religious experience, are best understood as expressions of the experiential self state, and serve as theoretical and empirical testing grounds for the framework's core claims.