The cognitive neuroscience of self‐awareness: Current framework, clinical implications, and future research directions

Self-awareness, the capacity to regard oneself as an object of awareness, remains a puzzle addressed by religion, philosophy, and science. This review examines the neurocognitive mechanisms behind self-awareness, describing it as a multidimensional, emergent property that manifests at different levels of cognitive complexity, framed within predictive coding theory. It discusses how self-awareness is altered in neuropsychiatric conditions and evaluates alternative frameworks for understanding it in both health and psychopathology. The article identifies gaps in current knowledge and suggests directions for future research.

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Abstract

Abstract Self‐awareness, the ability to take oneself as the object of awareness, has been an enigma for our species, with different answers to this question being provided by religion, philosophy, and, more recently, science. The current review aims to discuss the neurocognitive mechanisms underlying self‐awareness. The multidimensional nature of self‐awareness will be explored, suggesting how it can be thought of as an emergent property observed in different cognitive complexity levels, within a predictive coding approach. A presentation of alterations of self‐awareness in neuropsychiatric conditions will ground a discussion on alternative frameworks to understand this phenomenon, in health and psychopathology, with future research directions being indicated to fill current gaps in the literature. This article is categorized under: Philosophy > Consciousness Psychology > Brain Function and Dysfunction Neuroscience > Cognition