Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews
September 1, 2017
Georg Northoff, Zirui Huang
235 citations
The brain's intrinsic time and space are fundamental for consciousness. The Temporo-spatial Theory of Consciousness (TTC) proposes four distinct neuronal mechanisms that correspond to different dimensions of consciousness: (1) temporo-spatial nestedness of spontaneous activity accounts for the level or state of consciousness, serving as a neural predisposition; (2) temporo-spatial alignment of pre-stimulus activity accounts for the content or form of consciousness, acting as a neural prerequisite; (3) temporo-spatial expansion of early stimulus-induced activity accounts for phenomenal consciousness, as neural correlates; and (4) temporo-spatial globalization of late stimulus-induced activity accounts for cognitive features, as neural consequences.
Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews
September 1, 2021
Ruben E Laukkonen, Heleen A Slagter
183 citations
Deconstructive meditation can profoundly change the mind by reducing the brain's tendency to generate predictions based on past experience. The predictive processing framework suggests that meditation disengages anticipatory processes, gradually decreasing counterfactual and temporally deep cognition until all conceptual processing falls away, unveiling a state of pure awareness. Three main meditation styles—focused attention, open monitoring, and non-dual—lie on a single continuum, each relinquishing increasingly ingrained habits of prediction, including the predicted self. This deconstruction permits insights by making these processes available to introspection. The framework is consistent with empirical and neurophenomenological evidence and highlights the top-down plasticity of the predictive mind.
Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews
July 1, 2023
Daniel Collerton, James Barnes, Nico J Diederich et al.
80 citations
Eight distinct models of complex visual hallucinations have been proposed since 2000, each based on different views of brain organization. Researchers from each model group have now agreed on an integrated Visual Hallucination Framework that aligns with current theories of both real and hallucinatory vision. The Framework identifies cognitive systems involved in hallucinations and enables systematic investigation of how hallucination experiences relate to changes in underlying cognitive structures. The episodic nature of hallucinations points to separate factors for their onset, persistence, and end, suggesting a complex relationship between temporary states and long-term traits of hallucination risk. The Framework also suggests new research directions and potential treatments for distressing hallucinations.
Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews
March 1, 2025
Liad Mudrik, Melanie Boly, Stanislas Dehaene et al.
68 citations
In a structured public debate at the 2022 meeting of the Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness, proponents of five major theories—Global Neuronal Workspace Theory, Higher-Order Theories, Integrated Information Theory, Recurrent Processing Theory, and Predictive Processing—clarified their theories' core mechanisms, foundational premises, and what each theory aims to explain. The discussion revealed more controversy than agreement, particularly on the most basic questions: what consciousness is, how to identify conscious states, and what any adequate theory must account for. Addressing these foundational disagreements is essential for advancing the field and enabling meaningful comparison of competing theories.
Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews
July 1, 2021
Stephen D Worrell, Thomas J Gould
47 citations
Excessive alcohol consumption contributes to one in ten deaths of U.S. working-age adults and costs the country about $250 million yearly. Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) involves changes in synaptic plasticity, hippocampal neurogenesis, and neural connectivity. Depressed mood and stress are major relapse determinants, and AUD frequently co-occurs with depression and stress disorders. Current medications (disulfiram, naltrexone, acamprosate) have limitations. Ketamine, an NMDA receptor antagonist used in anesthesia, affects neurotransmitter systems, synaptic plasticity, neurogenesis, and neural connectivity. It has strong support for treating depression and stress disorders like PTSD, and preliminary evidence for treating substance use disorders. This review explores behavioral and neural evidence for ketamine therapy in AUD.
Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews
December 1, 2022
Steven Kotler, Michael Mannino, Scott Kelso et al.
44 citations
Flow is a cognitive state of complete attentional absorption during a task, marked by intense concentration, a sense of control, feedback, and a balance between challenge and skill. It involves loss of self-consciousness, integration of action and awareness, and altered time perception. This review examines neurophysiological correlates and neuromodulatory processes of flow, focusing on large-scale brain networks and dopaminergic, noradrenergic, and endocannabinoid systems. The authors outline an evidence-based hypothetical scenario and place flow in a broader context with other altered states like psychedelic experiences and traumatic stress. They present a theoretical framework to inspire future testable hypotheses.
Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews
December 1, 2023
Guy W Fincham, Amy Kartar, Malin V Uthaug et al.
41 citations
High Ventilation Breathwork (HVB)—volitional manipulation of breathing used historically for psychological distress—produces extraordinary changes in subjective experience and profound effects on central and autonomic nervous systems by modulating neurometabolic parameters and interoceptive sensory systems. Clinical observations and neurophysiological studies indicate these practices may have therapeutic potential for trauma-related, affective, and somatic disorders. The evidence base suggests that the phenomenological effects of HVB can be understood and potentially harnessed through volitional perturbation of psychophysiological state, but further research is needed for detailed mechanistic knowledge and rigorous clinical testing of these potential uses.
Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews
May 1, 2025
B Romeo, E Kervadec, B Fauvel et al.
36 citations
A meta-analysis of studies on psychedelic-assisted therapies found a significant positive correlation between the intensity of mystical experiences and clinical improvement across all diagnoses (r = .33). The association was stronger for mood disorders (r = .41) than for addictions (r = .19), and greater in protocol-based clinical settings (r = .50) than in naturalistic use (r = .14). Prospective designs showed stronger correlations (r = .43) than retrospective designs (r = .14). The intensity of psychedelic experiences is reliably associated with therapeutic outcomes, especially for mood disorders, and controlled environments and therapeutic support strengthen this relationship.
Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews
July 1, 2023
Manoj K Doss, Harriet de Wit, David A Gallo
30 citations
Psychoactive drugs affect emotional episodic memory at three stages: encoding, consolidation, and retrieval. Drugs given before encoding can impair (e.g., alcohol, benzodiazepines, THC, ketamine), enhance (e.g., dextroamphetamine), or both impair and enhance (e.g., MDMA) emotional memories compared to neutral ones. Sedatives given after encoding can preferentially boost emotional memories during consolidation, but this selectivity may weaken or reverse over time. Retrieving memories under THC, dextroamphetamine, MDMA, or sedatives can distort memory, especially for positive emotional content. The review proposes neural mechanisms and discusses how these effects might influence drug use and abuse.
Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews
January 1, 1982
R L Commissaris, M Davis
25 citations
The hallucinogens DMT and 5-MeODMT have opposite effects on the acoustic startle response in rats when given systemically: DMT depresses it while 5-MeODMT increases it. When injected directly into the brain, both drugs depress startle equally. When injected into the spinal cord, 5-MeODMT increases startle but DMT has no effect. Tests using electrical stimulation of a brainstem nucleus confirm that 5-MeODMT acts in the spinal cord to enhance startle, whereas DMT does not. The authors suggest that the differing behavioral effects of these drugs may depend on whether their action is primarily in the brain (where both are equally potent) or the spinal cord (where only 5-MeODMT is active).
Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews
June 1, 2025
Georg Northoff, Bianca Ventura
21 citations
The brain-mind connection remains a central challenge because subjective experience is first-person while neural activity is observed from a third-person perspective. Neurophenomenology offers a systematic method to link these domains, but does not explain how they relate independently of methodology. Spatiotemporal Neuroscience proposes that neural activity and subjective experience share analogous spatiotemporal dynamics as a common feature. This paper shows how the two frameworks can be integrated on theoretical grounds, illustrated by examples of self, meditation, and depression. The integration provides complementary insights, deepens understanding of the brain-mind connection, and suggests new methodological approaches for empirical investigation.
Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews
September 1, 2025
Ruben Laukkonen, Karl Friston, Shamil Chandaria
17 citations
A theoretical paper proposes that active inference can model consciousness through three conditions: a world model (epistemic field) defining what can be known, inferential competition (Bayesian binding) selecting only coherent inferences that reduce long-term uncertainty, and epistemic depth—a recursive sharing of beliefs throughout a hierarchical system like the brain. This loop allows the world model to know itself non-locally and continuously evidence that knowing, distinct from self-consciousness. The authors formally propose a hyper-model for precision-control whose latent states encode global weighting rules, enacting epistemic agency and flexibility reminiscent of general intelligence. The theory also addresses altered states, meditation, and the full spectrum of conscious experience.
Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews
June 1, 2025
Joshua Kugel, Ruben E Laukkonen, David B Yaden et al.
15 citations
A sudden shift in understanding or perspective that feels true—called insight—is common during psychedelic experiences and is often considered central to their therapeutic value. A systematic review of 98 studies (40 survey, 58 interventional) found that insight was positively correlated with psychedelic dose and was significantly higher after psychedelics in 93% of studies comparing to placebo. Crucially, 86% of studies found that insight was associated with therapeutic improvement, and this relationship was often stronger than that of mystical-type experience. The findings suggest insight's importance for clinical practice and understanding mechanisms of psychedelic therapy, though heterogeneous study designs and possible publication bias limit meta-analytic conclusions.
Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews
November 1, 2023
Sophia Linguiti, Jacob W Vogel, Valerie J Sydnor et al.
15 citations
A systematic review of 91 fMRI studies on acute psychedelic effects found substantial methodological heterogeneity. Only 51 unique samples were used across the 91 papers, and 54% of studies did not meet current standards for correcting Type I errors or controlling motion artifacts. Psilocybin and LSD consistently modulated connectivity along the sensorimotor-association cortical axis. Ketamine consistently increased activation in the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex. The review calls for future adoption of pre-registration, standardized processing and statistical testing, and data sharing to improve rigor.
Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews
May 1, 2023
Lisa Raoul, Marie-Hélène Grosbras
15 citations
A narrative review of research on bodily experience finds that different fields study neurophysiological, perceptual, affective, and social aspects using separate taxonomies, making it hard to see how these dimensions relate. The authors propose an integrative framework grounded in phenomenal consciousness, self-consciousness, and bodily self-consciousness. This model relies on predictive processes and specific neural substrates to provide a common basis for evaluating findings across dimensions. It enables conceptual assessment of interrelationships between bodily experiences and promotes interdisciplinary approaches.
Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews
August 1, 2025
Larry Douglas Fort, Cyril Costines, Marc Wittmann et al.
14 citations
A review of classification schemes for altered states of consciousness (ASCs) groups them into three types: those based on subjective experiences (state-based), those based on induction methods (method-based), and those based on neurophysiological mechanisms (neuro/physio-based). Comparing and extending these schemes can improve identification of neural correlates of consciousness and inform clinical research. The authors cluster concepts from state-based schemes to help quantify core ASC phenomenology for basic and clinical studies.
Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews
June 1, 2025
Idil Sezer, Matthew D Sacchet
14 citations
Long-term meditators provide a way to study how extensive meditation training affects the autonomic nervous system. Research has described a state of 'relaxed alertness' with both sympathetic and parasympathetic activation, but findings vary widely, showing either branch alone, both, or shifting patterns. This review synthesizes these inconsistent results by considering three factors: the specific style of meditation, the meditator's expertise level, and within-practice variations. Accounting for these factors reveals consistent patterns, shifting from 'long-term' to a more precise 'advanced' meditation concept that highlights skills and stages. Specific heart rate variability patterns, including very low and low-frequency spectral power peaks and cardiac-respiratory coupling, emerge, which can inform improved meditation training.
Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews
August 1, 2024
Teresa Campillo-Ferrer, Adriana Alcaraz-Sánchez, Ema Demšar et al.
14 citations
Out-of-body experiences (OBEs), where a person feels located outside their physical body, often occur spontaneously near or during sleep. This review examines sleep-related OBEs and proposes that maintaining consciousness during the transition from wakefulness to REM sleep (sleep-onset REM periods) may enable them. A new conceptual model is introduced to distinguish sleep-related OBEs from similar states like lucid dreaming and sleep paralysis, and to suggest possible brain activity patterns (polysomnographic features) underlying them. The predictive coding framework is applied to connect sleep-related OBEs with those occurring during wakefulness.
Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews
September 1, 2024
Jesca E De Jager, Rutger Boesjes, Gijs H J Roelandt et al.
13 citations
Electroconvulsive shocks (ECS) and ketamine are fast-acting antidepressant treatments whose shared neurobiological mechanisms are explored in this systematic review of animal models of depression. Both interventions consistently increase hippocampal neurogenesis and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) levels. They also positively affect glutamatergic neurotransmission, astrocyte and neuronal morphology, synaptic density, vasculature, and functional plasticity. Restoration of neuroplasticity may be a common mechanism underlying their antidepressant efficacy. Fewer studies have examined these processes after ECS. Understanding these shared fundamental mechanisms could help develop novel therapeutic approaches for severe depression.
Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews
July 1, 2024
Mina Kheirkhah, Allison C Nugent, Alicia A Livinski et al.
13 citations
Music and ketamine each influence therapeutic outcomes, yet their combined use is rarely studied. This scoping review maps existing research on administering music alongside ketamine or esketamine in humans. Studies include healthy volunteers and patients of various ages, using different doses and treatment processes, with music played at varying times relative to drug administration. Research on music during ketamine anesthesia is included, as anesthesia drove early ketamine use. Recreational ketamine studies are excluded. The review is limited to English-language articles with no year restriction. It is the first comprehensive overview of music and ketamine/esketamine interplay, offering guidance for future study design.
Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews
May 1, 2023
Georg Northoff, Andrea Scalabrini, Stuart Fogel
13 citations
Dreams occupy a bizarre and poorly understood state of consciousness. The Topographic-dynamic Re-organization model (TRoD) proposes that dreaming involves a shift toward increased activity and connectivity in the default-mode network (DMN) alongside reduced activity in the central executive network, except during lucid dreaming. Dynamically, dreams shift toward slower brain frequencies and longer timescales, placing them between wakefulness and NREM stage 2 or slow-wave sleep. This re-organization produces abnormal spatiotemporal processing of internal and external inputs, moving from temporal segregation to integration. The resulting integration yields bizarre, self-centric mental content and hallucinatory-like states, suggesting that topography and temporal dynamics may serve as a common currency linking brain activity to dream experience.
Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews
June 1, 2025
Shakila Meshkat, Gunjan Malik, Richard J Zeifman et al.
11 citations
Psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy may reduce alcohol consumption and help with smoking cessation, especially for alcohol and tobacco use disorders. In a systematic review of 16 published studies, most focused on alcohol or tobacco use, and over half used psilocybin combined with psychotherapy. Doses ranged from microdosing to 20–40 mg per 70 kg. Alcohol use disorder studies reported fewer heavy drinking days and higher abstinence rates, with brain scans showing normalized activity. Tobacco use disorder studies found high smoking abstinence rates, with mystical experiences predicting long-term success. Findings for other substance use disorders were mixed. The evidence is preliminary; larger clinical trials are needed.
Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews
August 1, 2024
Marina Weiler, David J Acunzo, Philip J Cozzolino et al.
10 citations
Out-of-body experiences (OBEs), where individuals feel detached from their physical bodies, often lead to lasting increases in pro-social behaviors such as tolerance and empathy. This article proposes that these changes occur through ego dissolution—a sense of unity and interconnectedness similar to that induced by psychedelics. The authors examine potential brain mechanisms, focusing on the temporoparietal junction and the Default Mode Network, to explain how OBEs might enhance empathy. The work synthesizes existing ideas to illuminate the relationship between altered states of consciousness and empathic improvement.
Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews
August 1, 2025
Lucie Berkovitch, Baptiste Fauvel, Katrin H Preller et al.
8 citations
Psilocybin, a psychedelic compound, shows fast-acting and sustainable efficacy for treating psychiatric disorders. A systematic review of 81 neuroimaging studies found that psilocybin reproducibly impacts brain networks, particularly the default mode network, though other findings were inconsistent. Effects include acute alterations in self-experience, sensory and emotional processing, and sustained changes in mood, personality, and social functioning. In patients with depression, clinical outcomes correlated with brain changes. The review indicates psilocybin induces acute and long-lasting functional brain changes, shedding light on mechanisms underlying its subjective and therapeutic effects.
Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews
February 1, 2026
Borjan Milinkovic, Jaan Aru
7 citations
Consciousness in biological systems arises from two fundamental computational features absent in current artificial intelligence: scale-inseparable, substrate-dependent multiscale processing as a metabolic optimization strategy, and continuous-valued computations performed by the fluidic substrate alongside discrete operations. These features are essential to the brain's mode of computation. The absence of consciousness in artificial systems reflects a deeper divide between digital and biological computation, not merely missing functional organization. The authors outline foundational principles of a biological theory of computation and explain why current AI systems are unlikely to replicate conscious processing as it arises in biology.