Biological Foundations of the Process-Contact Theory of the Psyche
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) April 29, 2026 Roman Kuznetsov
The paper lays out the biological foundations for the Process-Contact Theory of the Psyche (PCTP), aiming not to reduce psychic processes to neurobiology but to identify where the theory's ontological premises are realized in physiological and molecular mechanisms. The argument draws on autopoiesis and enactivism, modern reflex theory, and dissipative structures theory, with additional support from affect processing, somatic markers, the SEEKING system, polyvagal framework, epigenetics of co-regulation, and neuroplasticity. Core PCTP constructs—existential stake, internal object, retroflection, and the five-phase cycle of mental metabolism—are shown to have biological anchoring at reproducible or theoretically consistent levels, while thermodynamic metaphors remain illustrative. Clinical implications address limits of insight-oriented interventions due to extinction learning and the role of somatic and environmental components in therapy.