Brain sciences
June 21, 2021
Ohad Nave, Fynn-Mathis Trautwein, Yochai Ataria et al.
91 citations
A fundamental aspect of the sense of self is its pre-reflective dimension, which specifies the self as a bounded and embodied knower and agent. Deep meditative states involving global dissolution of the sense of self offer a promising path for investigating this elusive feature. A comprehensive phenomenological inquiry into meditative self-boundary alteration systematically characterized induced states by changes in six experiential features: sense of location, agency, first-person perspective, attention, body sensations, and affective valence, along with their interaction with meditative technique and overall degree of dissolution. Quantitative analyses highlighted a unitary dimension of boundary dissolution.
Brain sciences
September 3, 2020
Liana Fattore, Matteo Marti, Rafaela Mostallino et al.
63 citations
Sex and gender shape how people respond to drugs, with men more likely to use illicit drugs and seek emergency care for serious overdoses, while women are equally prone to substance use disorders and may be more vulnerable to craving and relapse. Research on classic drugs like THC, morphine, and cocaine shows clear male-female differences. With over 900 new psychoactive substances (NPS) now identified—including synthetic cannabinoids, cathinones, opioids, and dissociatives—knowledge of their sex- and gender-specific effects remains minimal. This review gathers the limited evidence from animal and human studies, emphasizing how much remains unknown about NPS effects across sexes and genders.
Brain sciences
January 13, 2021
Gemma Perry, Vince Polito, William Forde Thompson
52 citations
Chanting, a rhythmic and repetitive vocalization used across many cultures for spiritual, healing, and communal purposes, often induces mystical states—altered states of consciousness marked by profound peace. An international survey of 464 regular chanters from 33 countries found that 60% experienced mystical states during chanting. Those who reported such states scored higher on measures of absorption, altruism, and religiosity than those who did not. Mystical experiences were especially characterized by positive mood and a sense of ineffability. No differences in mystical state prevalence emerged between vocal and silent chanting, group and individual practice, or across different chanting traditions. The findings propose a framework for understanding mystical states during chanting.
Brain sciences
June 4, 2023
Muhammad Youshay Jawad, Saleha Qasim, Menglu Ni et al.
46 citations
Ketamine shows promise as a treatment for bipolar depression, though evidence remains weak. A scoping review of 10 clinical studies (5 randomized controlled trials and 5 open-label studies) found that ketamine was generally tolerable, with minimal risk of triggering manic or hypomanic episodes, and demonstrated some effectiveness in reducing depressive symptoms and suicidality. The treatment may be particularly useful for patients with treatment-resistant bipolar depression. However, more research is needed to establish ketamine's role in both acute and maintenance treatment phases, and to study its potential for preventing recurrence and suicidal behavior.
Brain sciences
July 14, 2021
Charlotte Martial, Géraldine Fontaine, Olivia Gosseries et al.
37 citations
People who have had a near-death experience often report a disturbed sense of having a distinct self. In a survey of 100 individuals who scored 27 or higher out of 80 on the Near-Death-Experience Content scale, 80 had their experience in a life-threatening situation and 20 did not. Participants completed inventories measuring ego dissolution and ego inflation during their NDE, as well as a scale of nature-relatedness. Ego-dissolution scores were higher than ego-inflation scores. Total NDE intensity positively correlated with ego dissolution and, more weakly, with ego inflation and nature-relatedness. Ego dissolution also correlated with the intensity of out-of-body experiences and a sense of unity. The findings suggest that dissolved ego-boundaries are a common feature of NDEs.
Brain sciences
August 18, 2021
Roberto Guidotti, Cosimo Del Gratta, Mauro Gianni Perrucci et al.
27 citations
Long-term meditation practice reshapes functional connectivity patterns in large-scale brain networks, and the specific patterns depend on the type of meditation used. Using fMRI and multivariate pattern analysis, researchers found that connectivity patterns in key brain networks could predict both a meditator's expertise and age. Expertise-related patterns differed between Focused Attention (FA) and Open Monitoring (OM) meditation: FA involved networks for attention, while OM involved networks for cognitive control and emotion regulation. Age-related patterns were unaffected by meditation style. The findings indicate that intensive mental training induces neuroplastic changes in brain network connectivity that are specific to the form of meditation practiced.
Brain sciences
October 20, 2021
Serena Scarpelli, Valentina Alfonsi, Maurizio Gorgoni et al.
23 citations
During the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, people reported lower dream recall, fewer nightmares, less frequent lucid dreams, and reduced emotional intensity in dreams compared to the first wave. Dreams during the second wave had a more negative tone. Changes in dream frequency between the two waves were linked to post-traumatic growth, sleep-related PTSD symptoms, and sleep quality. Emotional features of dreams correlated with pandemic-related factors such as job changes, forced quarantine, having infected relatives or friends, and seeking mental health help. The findings partly support the continuity hypothesis, which links dream content to waking experiences.
Brain sciences
September 30, 2024
Luca Simione, Alessandro Frolli, Francesca Sciattella et al.
22 citations
A systematic review of 37 studies suggests that mindfulness-based interventions may help reduce psychological distress, behavioral problems, and improve cognitive and social skills in people with autism spectrum disorder and their caregivers. The review grouped studies by intervention targets: adults (12 studies), children and adolescents (9 studies), caregivers and medical staff (13 studies), and combined child/adolescent and parent interventions (5 studies). Although results appear promising, the overall low quality of the existing studies means recommendations must be made with caution. The review also notes a scarcity of research on young patients and calls for tailored interventions for different ASD subgroups and expanded support for teachers.
Brain sciences
July 25, 2021
Alicja Różyk-myrta, Andrzej Brodziak, Małgorzata Muc-Wierzgoń
18 citations
A theoretical model integrates the 'Orch OR' and 'cemi' theories—which propose quantum processing in microtubules and the importance of the brain's electromagnetic field—with the authors' own theory of neural circuits for mental imagery. The model addresses components of consciousness such as the ego and qualia perceptions, presented intuitively for medical professionals. The authors argue that understanding consciousness is crucial for healthcare, as its disorders appear in emergencies, anesthesia, and cognitive decline in aging. They highlight that modern functional brain imaging, transcranial magnetic stimulation, and clinical studies on mindfulness and psychoactive substances now allow verification of these ideas, especially in people with self-awareness and identity disorders.
Brain sciences
April 22, 2025
Fabrizio Schifano, Stefania Bonaccorso, Davide Arillotta et al.
14 citations
Chemsex involves using drugs like synthetic cathinones, GHB/GBL, ketamine, methamphetamine, and others to enhance and prolong sexual experiences. Stimulants increase sexual arousal, performance, and social interactions; MDMA-like drugs foster emotional closeness; GHB/GBL promotes disinhibition, leading to condomless sex with multiple partners; ketamine facilitates receptive anal intercourse or fisting. Polydrug use can cause serotonergic syndrome, seizures, drug interactions, and sympathomimetic overstimulation, along with psychopathological conditions that may lead to misuse of opioids, gabapentinoids, or antipsychotics. Reducing stigma and providing multidisciplinary medical, psychological, and social support are key to managing these challenges.
Brain sciences
May 16, 2025
Edmund T Rolls
7 citations
A unified theory proposes that motivational states drive goal-directed actions to obtain anticipated rewards or avoid punishers, while emotional states arise when those rewards or punishers are actually received or not. The same genes and brain systems define primary rewards and punishers, like sweet taste or pain, and learn to anticipate them. The primate orbitofrontal cortex computes reward value, and the anterior cingulate cortex learns actions to obtain goals. Overlearned habits involve less emotion. The orbitofrontal cortex connects to language-related inferior frontal gyrus for declarative reports of subjective feelings. Reasoning brain systems offer alternative strategies for obtaining rewards or avoiding punishers, sometimes setting different goals than emotional systems.
Brain sciences
November 26, 2024
Yoav Schweitzer, Fynn-Mathis Trautwein, Yair Dor-Ziderman et al.
7 citations
Long-term meditators show enhanced low-level prosocial capacities, including better emotion recognition and reduced outgroup bias, compared to non-meditators. A neural index of self-boundary flexibility, measured via high beta deactivation, remained stable over a year and negatively correlated with recognizing negative emotions, suggesting a link to reduced social threat perception. The study involved 44 long-term meditators and 53 controls. These findings connect the neural correlates of self-boundary flexibility to prosociality, supporting the idea that flexing self-boundaries through meditation may enhance prosocial traits.
Brain sciences
April 4, 2025
Ying Zhao, Anqi Wang, Weiqiao Zhao et al.
5 citations
A neurophysiological biomarker called the spectral exponent (SE), which measures the steepness of the aperiodic (1/f) slope of EEG activity, can help distinguish levels of consciousness in patients with disorders of consciousness (DoC). In a study of 15 DoC patients, 9 conscious brain-injured controls, and 23 healthy controls, narrowband SE (1-20 Hz) differentiated DoC patients from controls and minimally conscious from vegetative/unresponsive states. SE correlated positively with behavioral scores on the CRS-R, particularly the visual subscale. Longitudinal tracking in one patient showed a reduction in SE negativity, flattening of the 1/f slope, and parallel behavioral recovery. The SE offers an objective complement to subjective behavioral assessments.
Brain sciences
June 27, 2024
Emanuele Cirillo, Claudio Zavattaro, Roberto Gammeri et al.
5 citations
Tactile experience is essential for interacting with objects, controlling actions, and forming relationships, and it is a foundational part of body awareness. How touch comes to consciousness is not a single, uniform process; it is modulated by factors such as whether we perceive our bodies as belonging to us. This review examines pathological conditions where people lack conscious touch yet show implicit processing, uses tactile illusions in healthy individuals and brain-damaged patients to reveal higher-order processes affecting tactile awareness, and discusses these observations in relation to models of touch and body representation.
Brain sciences
June 21, 2024
J F Pagel
4 citations
REM sleep was originally called paradoxical sleep because its EEG resembles wakefulness and it is associated with dreaming. However, dream recall and content are not exclusive to REM sleep; they also occur in other sleep stages. Two aspects of REM sleep remain paradoxically unique: its intracranial theta rhythm (5-8 Hz), which does not propagate to scalp electrodes, and its association with long, salient dream reports. The assumption that REM sleep equals dreaming led to a foundational error in neuroscience, as dreaming occurs throughout sleep in different forms. Few studies have compared dreams across sleep stages, so the most paradoxical aspect of REM sleep dreaming may be how little it has been studied.
Brain sciences
April 25, 2024
Abel A Oldoni, André D Bacchi, Fúlvio R Mendes et al.
4 citations
Lucid dreaming, a state where dreamers know they are dreaming and may control the dream, is naturally rare, prompting interest in induction methods. This review examines neuropsychopharmacological approaches, covering sleep regulation, REM sleep control via neurotransmission, and the brain areas involved in lucidity. Substances that boost cholinergic or dopaminergic transmission, like galantamine, show potential for inducing lucid dreaming by increasing metacognition, REM sleep, or dream recall. However, the complexity of these neurotransmitter systems makes interpreting results challenging. The authors conclude that while promising, more research is needed to develop a reliable pharmacological method for inducing lucid dreaming.
Brain sciences
March 27, 2024
James Chmiel, Agnieszka Malinowska, Filip Rybakowski et al.
4 citations
Mindfulness meditation may reduce hunger, risk of relapse, stress, depression, and aggression in people with methamphetamine addiction, and can improve cognitive function, whether used alone or with transcranial direct current stimulation. A review of ten studies using behavioral measures found mindfulness an effective treatment option, potentially by inducing neuroplasticity. No drugs are approved for methamphetamine addiction, and existing treatments have moderate effectiveness, so mindfulness offers a promising avenue. However, the review calls for more high-quality research using neuroimaging and neurophysiological measures to confirm these findings and understand underlying mechanisms.
Brain sciences
April 13, 2025
Sergio Bagnato, Cristina Boccagni, Jacopo Bonavita
3 citations
Two versions of the ChatGPT large language model (4o and o1) answered 57 open-ended questions about prolonged disorders of consciousness, written as if from a patient's relative. Both models gave predominantly correct answers (80.7-96.8% accuracy). ChatGPT 4o showed greater empathy, while ChatGPT o1 more often recommended consulting a healthcare professional (especially in Italian). English responses were more accurate than Italian only for ChatGPT 4o on clinical data. The findings suggest chatbots could help support caregivers of people with disorders of consciousness, but occasional inaccuracies mean information should be verified with a doctor.
Brain sciences
March 20, 2025
Gilberto Galindo-Aldana, Luis Arturo Montoya-Rivera, Jose Jaime Esqueda-Elizondo et al.
3 citations
A systematic review of 141 articles found that research on mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) and their effects on executive function, social cognition, and EEG is scarce but suggests strong correlations between cognitive improvements and shifts in alpha-beta brainwave asymmetry in frontal areas. Executive functions—including emotional regulation, awareness, planning, social skills, and focused attention—are the most studied domain, while social cognition receives less attention. Although 58% of treatment effect estimates were positive, the average outcome did not significantly differ from zero. The authors conclude that methodological variations and confounding factors prevent attributing inaccurate or generalizable benefits.
Brain sciences
June 13, 2025
Alexander A Fingelkurts, Andrew A Fingelkurts
2 citations
This conceptual review examines how the three core aspects of experiential selfhood—'Self,' 'Me,' and 'I'—are altered in psychiatric and neurological disorders. Drawing on neurophenomenological evidence, the authors find that across most conditions the proportional configuration of these aspects remains stable, with the 'Self' consistently dominant, followed by 'Me,' then 'I.' This hierarchy is disrupted only in extreme cases such as vegetative (unresponsive) states and schizophrenia. The review proposes that all neuropsychopathologies are disorders of selfhood, where disruptions in the dynamic balance of these aspects accompany distinct dysfunctions.
Brain sciences
November 1, 2024
Robert Pepperell
2 citations
Conscious experience cannot yet be explained by physical brain processes, but this paper proposes a framework grounded in energy processing. All physical processes involve energy transfer, transduction, and transformation during work in material systems. If consciousness is physical, it must follow the same principle. The brain is treated as a material system that performs biophysical work at classical and quantum scales. Evidence suggests conscious experience arises when nervous systems perform such work with a certain level of dynamic complexity or organization. An empirically grounded, falsifiable hypothesis is offered to explain how energy processing in nervous systems may produce conscious experience at a fundamental physical level.
Brain sciences
August 28, 2025
Seif Abouheif, Ahmed Awad, Christopher R. McCurdy
1 citation
Indolethylamine N-methyltransferase (INMT) is an enzyme that adds a methyl group to compounds such as tryptamine, serotonin, and dopamine. Dysregulation of INMT activity is linked to neuropsychiatric disorders, neurodegeneration, and several cancers. This review describes the enzyme's structure, its role in disease, and methods to measure its activity, including both radiolabeled and non-radiolabeled assays. It also surveys natural and synthetic inhibitors of INMT that may have therapeutic value. The authors argue that INMT is an underexplored target for drug development and that integrating structural biology, disease pathology, and inhibitor profiling could advance therapeutic applications.
Brain sciences
May 6, 2025
Yang Bai
1 citation
Disorders of consciousness present ongoing challenges for clinicians and neurorehabilitation specialists because reliable assessment methods and effective interventions are lacking. The field is dynamic, but current approaches remain insufficient for accurately diagnosing or treating patients with these conditions.
Brain sciences
December 22, 2024
Clarissa A Moura, Anne N de Sousa-Silva, Ana Lívia Mesquita Soares et al.
1 citation
In stressed mice, neither (R,S)-ketamine nor (S)-ketamine affected the retrieval of avoidance memory, but (S)-ketamine, and to a lesser extent (R,S)-ketamine, reduced avoidance responses during re-exposure to an aversive stimulus. Both forms equally produced antidepressant effects in the tail suspension test. However, only the racemic mixture (R,S)-ketamine induced anxiolytic actions in the open field test. These results suggest that (R,S)-ketamine may be more effective than (S)-ketamine for simultaneously reducing avoidance responses and producing antidepressant and anxiolytic effects in stressed mice.
Brain sciences
July 22, 2024
Liliana Albertazzi
1 citation
Seeing cannot be reduced to separate parts like stimuli, brain activity, or objective methods because subjective experience is an undivided whole. Traditional neuroscience and Gestalt psychology have studied visual perception by focusing on the percept—the object seen—while avoiding the question of what it means to be conscious as self-referentiality. This creates a logical trap similar to Baron Munchausen pulling himself from quicksand by his own hair. The paper proposes an experimental phenomenological approach that analyzes seeing as a unified whole, reversing the usual mindset. This reversal clarifies how phenomenology, psychophysics, and neuroscience relate to and depend on each other.