Frontiers in human neuroscience
January 1, 2017
Noriaki Kanayama, Tomohisa Asai, Takashi Nakao et al.
10 citations
In 96 healthy adults, lower gray matter volume in the insular cortex was linked to greater reported malfunction in the sense of ownership over one's body, as measured by the Embodied Sense of Self Scale. No such relationship was found for the sense of agency or narrative self. This suggests that the feeling of ownership may rely on distinct brain structures, and the scale could help screen for such neural correlates.
Frontiers in human neuroscience
January 1, 2024
Patrick Mcnamara, Jordan Grafman
8 citations
Religious and spiritual experiences depend on interactions among three large-scale brain networks: the default mode network, the frontoparietal network, and the salience network. This pattern aligns with the Triple Network Model of neuropsychiatric function. A cycling version of that model can explain the neural basis of ecstatic seizures, brain scans of religious participants, psychedelic mystical states, and perceptions of supernatural agents. To fully account for perceptions of supernatural agents, REM sleep and dreaming mechanisms likely play a role. Future work should explore how such perceptions develop and how brain-mediated religious beliefs affect in-group cohesion and out-group hostility.
Frontiers in human neuroscience
January 1, 2021
Jesse J Winters
8 citations
A new theory of consciousness, the Temporally-Integrated Causality Landscape (TICL), proposes that the neural correlate of consciousness is a structure of temporally integrated causality spanning a large portion of the thalamocortical system. This structure contains subsystems with higher levels of temporally-integrated causality than the whole, each existing as meaningful content from the system's point of view. The theory is compared with five major neuroscientific theories of consciousness using five characteristics of phenomenal consciousness. Although the theories emphasize different evidence, they share fundamental agreements, suggesting possible convergence. A key dividing feature is spatial and temporal nesting, which does not align with whether theories explicitly invoke EM fields.
Frontiers in human neuroscience
January 1, 2025
Raquel Aparicio-Terrés, Samantha López-Mochales, Margarita Díaz-Andreu et al.
6 citations
Electronic music with a slower tempo (around 1.65 Hz, or 99 beats per minute) produces stronger brainwave entrainment and greater feelings of unity than faster tempos (around 2.85 Hz, or 171 beats per minute). Nineteen participants listened to one-minute electronic music excerpts at three different tempos while their brain activity was recorded with electroencephalography and they reported subjective experiences. Although entrainment was higher at the slower tempo and unity feelings were also higher, there was no direct link between how much an individual's brainwaves synchronized and their altered-state experiences. Instead, stronger entrainment correlated with slower reaction times, suggesting entrainment plays a functional role in processes related to rhythm-induced altered states, though the study could not confirm whether participants actually entered an altered state.
Frontiers in human neuroscience
January 1, 2025
Niclas Kaiser, Juan Camilo Avendano-Diaz
4 citations
Relational neuroscience often overlooks the subtle, implicit qualities of shared interpersonal moments, especially those central to psychotherapy. The authors argue this gap arises from over-reliance on simplified quantitative methods, neglect of experiential factors, and a lack of convergence research. Drawing on 4E cognition and Mobile Brain/Body Imaging, they advocate integrating subjective experience with neural data and focusing on 'qualities' rather than binary or linear scales. They propose ConNECT (Convergence research including Neuroscience and Experiences, Capturing meaningful dynamics with Therapists' knowledge) as a multi-disciplinary path to better understand interpresence and the neurobiology of meaningful relational moments.
Frontiers in human neuroscience
January 1, 2015
Tal Yatziv, Hilla Jacobson
3 citations
Perceptual differences between autistic and typically developing individuals do not stem from a deficiency in basic phenomenal consciousness—the raw, immediate experience of the world. Instead, the atypicality is cognitive and conceptual, affecting how perceptual objects are integrated with concepts. Drawing on three-level processing models, the paper argues that the second level of perceptual processing, which supports viewer-centered visual representations and early integration (the mark of phenomenal consciousness), is typical in autism. The third, more cognitive level, which integrates perceptual objects with concepts, is atypical. Thus, autistic individuals likely have similar basic perceptual experiences but differ in cognitive access to those experiences.
Frontiers in human neuroscience
January 1, 2025
Evan Alexander Owens, Robert O Duncan
2 citations
Bodily self-consciousness (BSC) comprises embodiment—the sense of owning a body—and presence—the sense of being at a location. Evidence suggests these rely on partly distinct neural networks, but how they interact remains unclear. A model is proposed in which presence depends on embodiment. In a virtual-reality experiment, correlated versus uncorrelated sensory feedback manipulated embodiment, and first- versus third-person perspective manipulated presence. Behavioral performance (reaction times and accuracy) improved with correlated feedback and first-person perspective. Functional MRI revealed frontoparietal areas supporting embodiment and temporoparietal areas supporting presence. Manipulations of embodiment produced larger effect sizes in presence-related areas than vice versa, and this pattern held for overlapping areas. The data indicate that presence-related brain areas may depend on activity in embodiment-related networks.
Frontiers in human neuroscience
January 1, 2024
Ravinder Jerath, Connor Beveridge
2 citations
Reflexes integrate multimodal sensory information rapidly, yet how unconscious processes contribute to consciousness remains unclear. The Default Space Theory (DST) proposes a unified internal representation that integrates sensory inputs, cognition, emotion, and unconscious processes. Neuroimaging advances (fMRI, EEG, MEG) highlight neural oscillations and sensory integration in conscious experience. This perspective argues that research on reflexes' dynamic relationship with consciousness is lacking, particularly top-down cortical modulation of subcortical reflex circuits. Understanding how the brain encodes a multimodal model of self and environment to produce quick reflex responses could clarify boundaries between conscious and unconscious activity, offering new avenues for studying consciousness's physical nature.
Frontiers in human neuroscience
January 1, 2024
Suguru Kawazu, Marie Amitani, Hajime Suzuki et al.
2 citations
A multicenter cluster-randomized controlled trial tested a 4-week mindfulness yoga program added to treatment as usual (cognitive behavioral therapy based on self-monitoring) for 43 children aged 10–15 years with school refusal. Anxiety symptoms, measured by the Spence Children's Anxiety Scale, showed no significant difference between the yoga group (adjusted post-test score 39.9) and the non-yoga group (39.4); the between-group difference was 0.4 (80% CI -4.8 to 5.6, p = 0.54). Exploratory analysis found improvement on the Physical Injury Fears subscale, and pulse rate was significantly lower in the yoga group. The intervention appeared safe but had limited effectiveness for anxiety.
Frontiers in human neuroscience
January 1, 2024
Beatrix Krause-Sorio, Sergio Becerra, Prabha Siddarth et al.
1 citation
Watching videos of galactic nebulas while meditating on universal connectedness activates brain regions involved in object, sensory, and memory processing, including the bilateral lateral occipital and fusiform gyri, right postcentral gyrus, and hippocampus. Compared to viewing AI-generated digital art or nature videos, meditation produced increased brain activity in sensory integration and sensorimotor areas such as the left parietal operculum and bilateral postcentral and supramarginal gyri. A pilot fMRI study with nine healthy adults (mean age 29; 5 women) used a block design to compare these conditions. The findings suggest distinct neural responses for meditative contemplation versus passive viewing of art or nature, though further research is needed to clarify therapeutic applications.
Frontiers in human neuroscience
January 1, 2026
Borros Arneth
Subjective experience arises when a system's internal predictions and sensory inputs become recursively coupled, minimizing entropy exchange with the environment while maintaining high internal informational dynamics. This metastable condition, termed dynamic entropic closure, produces a self-referential, phase-coherent pattern that constitutes awareness. The framework builds on predictive processing and the Free Energy Principle, offering operational constraints and falsifiable predictions for neurophysiology, and is compatible with but distinct from Integrated Information Theory and global-workspace accounts.
Frontiers in human neuroscience
January 1, 2026
John Sanfey
The hard problem of consciousness—explaining how subjective experience arises from physical processes—stems from the same logical paradox that makes quantum and classical physics incompatible: the measure-theoretic limit. Continuous time requires point-equivalent instants of zero duration, which cannot exist ontologically, making it impossible to explain state transitions within continuous time without approximations. Consciousness functions as an ontological workaround for problems related to temporally extended information in continuous time, including sensory qualia.
Frontiers in human neuroscience
January 1, 2025
Diego Iacono, Gloria C Feltis
Traumatic brain injury and near-death experiences can sometimes trigger unexpected cognitive and creative enhancements, including heightened artistic expression. Alterations in brain networks such as the default mode network, frontoparietal circuits, and limbic regions may underlie shifts in self-awareness, emotion processing, and symbolic thinking. Neuroplasticity, diaschisis, and compensatory reorganization may facilitate novel cognition and creative output after injury. Genetic factors and evolutionary perspectives are considered. The article argues that certain brain injuries and altered states can reconfigure cognitive and emotional systems, leading to emergent artistic abilities or intensified creative insight, challenging traditional dichotomies between damage and function.