Neuroscience of Consciousness
2026
Ralph Andrews, Paul M Dockree
Breathing, beyond its metabolic role, has been increasingly implicated in shaping perception, attention, and aspects of cognitive processing. Here, we propose the Rhythmic Embodied Perception (REP) Framework, a multi-level framework linking body and brain to explain how respiration structures conscious experience. At the neurophysiological level, slow respiratory cycles modulate cortical...
Journal of pineal research
March 1, 2025
Emanuele R G Plini, Michael C Melnychuk, Paul M Dockree
Growing evidence demonstrates that meditation practice supports cognitive functions, including attention and interoceptive processing, and is associated with structural changes across cortical networks, including prefrontal regions and the insula. However, the extent of subcortical morphometric changes linked to meditation practice is less appreciated. A noteworthy candidate is the pineal...
medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences
March 5, 2024
Emanuele Rg Plini, Michael C Melnychuk, Paul M Dockree
preprint
Growing evidence demonstrates that meditation practice supports cognitive functions including attention and interoceptive processing, and is associated with structural changes across cortical networks including prefrontal regions, and the insula. However, the extent of subcortical morphometric changes linked to meditation practice is less appreciated. A noteworthy candidate is the Pineal Gland,...
bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
March 21, 2023
Adrien Martel, Nicolás Bruno, Ian H. Robertson et al.
preprint
Abstract Mind-wandering is typically characterized by the common experience wherein attention veers off into thoughts unrelated to the task at hand. Recent research highlights the intentionality dimension of mind-wandering as a key predictor of adverse functional outcomes with intentional and unintentional task-unrelated thought (TUT) differentially linked to neural, behavioral, clinical, and...
Psychophysiology
April 22, 2018
Michael Christopher Melnychuk, Paul M Dockree, Redmond G. O'Connell et al.
117 citations
Abstract The locus coeruleus (LC) has established functions in both attention and respiration. Good attentional performance requires optimal levels of tonic LC activity, and must be matched to task consistently. LC neurons are chemosensitive, causing respiratory phrenic nerve firing to increase frequency with higher CO 2 levels, and as CO 2 level varies with the phase of respiration, tonic LC...