Behavioral Sciences
August 9, 2018
Andrea Schiavio, Dylan van der Schyff
79 citations
Mind is increasingly understood as embodied, embedded, extended, and enactive (4E), but these ideas have rarely been applied to musical development. This article explores how 4E cognitive science can inform music pedagogy by connecting the concept of autopoiesis—the self-regenerating nature of living systems—with the emergent dynamics of musical growth. It argues that principles of self-organization align with several new teaching approaches and that these conceptual tools support interactive and collective music pedagogy. The work promotes collaboration among musicians, pedagogues, and cognitive scientists to enrich understanding of musical learning.
Behavioral Sciences
March 31, 2023
Jonathan Joseph Dawood Hristova, Virtudes Pérez-Jover
39 citations
Psilocybin therapy, combined with psychological support, shows promising potential for treating major depressive disorder. A review of eight studies found that one or two doses of psilocybin, administered alongside therapeutic support, can produce rapid and substantial improvements in depressive symptoms and well-being that last for months. The therapy also enhances introspective capacity. These benefits were observed in cases of treatment-resistant depression and depression related to life-threatening illnesses like cancer. The findings affirm the efficiency of this approach for the 280 million people worldwide affected by depression, a leading cause of disability.
Behavioral Sciences
August 4, 2023
Jeong Sik Kim, Hyun Jung Park
9 citations
Mindfulness is directly and indirectly linked to better task performance among service employees. In a study of 359 workers in Korea, mindfulness first strengthens psychological resilience, which then promotes customer-oriented behavior and deep acting (genuine emotional engagement). These sequential steps together enhance how well employees perform their tasks. The findings suggest that mindfulness resources in the workplace can benefit both employees and customers by building resilience and improving service interactions.
Behavioral Sciences
March 9, 2026
Luis Miguel Gallardo, Saamdu Chetri
3 citations
Hypnosis, long seen as a clinical tool for reducing symptoms like pain and anxiety, actually works by reorganizing how the brain processes emotions and self-awareness. This review proposes that hypnotic induction reconfigures large-scale brain networks—the default mode network, executive control network, and salience network—to create heightened experiential plasticity, enabling adaptive emotion regulation and reducing dissociative fragmentation. The authors introduce 'Fundamental Peace' as a dynamic neuro-experiential state of flexible attention, emotional coherence, reduced self-referential rigidity, and compassionate self-awareness. Neuroimaging shows hypnotic states reduce DMN activity and enhance ECN-SaN coupling. Meta-analysis of 85 controlled trials confirms robust pain reduction, and clinical studies show improvements in trauma-related dissociation and emotional dysregulation.
Behavioral Sciences
July 3, 2026
Matthew Crippen
Predictive processing (PP) accounts often characterize mental illness as maladaptive and epistemically distorting due to mismatches between brain-generated top-down models and bottom-up sensory inputs, but this review identifies exceptions. Hypervigilance in trauma survivors with PTSD or depression may sustain desirable gaps between anticipated problems and actual harms. Depressive slowdowns can be adaptive when physiological problems make activity strenuous. PP researchers introduce tacit normative assumptions, such as stipulating thresholds for predictive model specificity in autism and ADHD, and presupposing Western concepts of self as neurocognitive ideals in schizophrenia interpretations. PP accounts of prediction error can tacitly invoke veridical representation despite claims that cognition evolved for action, not truth-seeking. Greater attention to these exceptions and cultural variability may strengthen the framework's capacity to understand and treat psychiatric conditions.
Behavioral Sciences
March 24, 2026
J. Richard Kendrick, Ghonwa Ahmad, Audrey Wood et al.
An analysis of 500 high-engagement threads (12,852 comments) from the r/TherapeuticKetamine subreddit found that people primarily use ketamine for mood-related concerns (53%). Positive effects, most often improved emotional well-being (65%), were reported alongside adverse effects that were predominantly psychological or mood-related (56%). 70% of reported doses exceeded 149 mg, indicating a trend toward higher doses. Intravenous administration (40%) and sublingual troches (23%) were the most common routes. Concurrent use of prescribed psychotropics, cannabis, and psychedelics was also reported. The findings suggest substantial heterogeneity in individual experiences and underscore the importance of clinical monitoring for addiction potential and drug interactions.
Behavioral Sciences
February 23, 2026
Joshua Lipson, Hannes Kettner, Robin Carhart-Harris et al.
Mood before taking a psychedelic substance and factors like social connectedness, mindfulness, and spirituality influence how the experience unfolds. People with higher baseline depression and anxiety tend to have more challenging experiences but not more mystical ones, while those with greater wellbeing report more mystical and fewer challenging experiences. Mindfulness and spirituality are linked to more mystical experiences, and social connectedness and mindfulness are linked to fewer challenging ones. Mystical and challenging experiences were weakly but positively correlated overall.
Behavioral Sciences
November 28, 2025
Arisa Yokosu, Takahiko Maruyama, Hiromitsu Miyata
A single 45-minute session of the Wakame Exercise, a paired body–mind practice from a Japanese martial arts tradition, increased nondual awareness and reduced the salience of perceived body boundaries in undergraduates compared to a control practice or rest. Nondual awareness was positively correlated with creative attitudes, and higher creative attitudes were linked to greater decentering after the practice. These brief paired practices rooted in Eastern martial arts can promote temporary boundary dissolution and may enhance creativity.