Frontiers in Psychology
January 1, 2020
Aviva Berkovich-Ohana, Yair Dor-Ziderman, Fynn-Mathis Trautwein et al.
101 citations
Neurophenomenology integrates first-person (subjective) and third-person (objective) approaches to the mind. This practical guide outlines theoretical principles, the importance of phenomenological training, and the utility of cooperating with meditators as skilled participants. First-person accounts range from thick to thin phenomenology, highlighting a tension in naturalizing phenomenology. A typology of bridges creates mutual constraints between approaches. The paper demonstrates a decade of neurophenomenological studies investigating the sense of self, focusing on its embodied and minimal aspects accessed via dissolution of sense-of-boundaries, revealing the multi-dimensionality and flexibility of embodied selfhood.
Neuroscience of Consciousness
January 1, 2016
Yair Dor-Ziderman, Yochai Ataria, Stephen Fulder et al.
100 citations
The sense of being a self separate from the world can vary in intensity, is linked to specific brain activity, and can be altered through meditation. A long-term meditation practitioner deliberately produced three mental states with different degrees of self-boundary experience while undergoing magnetoencephalography. The results were partly confirmed in ten other experienced meditators. Right-lateralized beta oscillations in the temporo-parietal junction, which supports the unity of self and body, and in the medial parietal cortex, a key self-representation area, were implicated. The graded, flexible nature of self-specific processes may have clinical relevance for people with disturbed self-boundaries.
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.
The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience
June 26, 2024
Fynn-Mathis Trautwein, Yoav Schweitzer, Yair Dor-Ziderman et al.
27 citations
Long-term meditators can intentionally reduce the sense of being an embodied self, and this change is linked to decreased high-beta brain activity in the posterior medial cortex. In a study of 46 experienced meditators (19 female, 27 male) who underwent magnetoencephalographic monitoring, those who reported radical disruptions of embodied self-experience—such as loss of agency and a localized first-person perspective—showed the strongest neural reductions. These neural changes correlated with lifetime meditation experience and interview-based reports of experiential shifts, but not with standard self-report questionnaires. The findings suggest that posterior medial cortex oscillations are central to supporting the embodied sense of self.
April 18, 2021
Ohad Nave, Fynn-Mathis Trautwein, Yochai Ataria et al.
16 citations
preprint
The pre-reflective sense of self, a tacit and constant feature of consciousness that frames the self as a bounded and embodied agent, is difficult to study empirically. Deep meditative states that dissolve this sense of self offer a path for investigation. In a phenomenological study, meditative self-boundary alteration was characterized by changes in six experiential features: sense of location, agency, first-person perspective, attention, body sensations, and affective valence. Quantitative analyses revealed a unitary dimension of boundary dissolution. Passive meditative gestures of “letting go,” which reduce attentional engagement and sense of agency, drove the depth of dissolution. These findings support an enactive approach linking the pre-reflective self to sensorimotor activity and attention-demanding processes.
Neuroscience of Consciousness
January 1, 2025
Yair Dor-Ziderman, Yoav Schweitzer, Ohad Nave et al.
10 citations
Meditators' brains show acceptance rather than denial when processing death-related stimuli linked to the self, as measured by a magnetoencephalogram visual mismatch-response (vMMR) paradigm. This neural shift corresponds with increased self-reported well-being and is associated with positively valenced experiences of self-dissolution during meditation. The findings suggest that the brain's defensive response to mortality is not fixed but can be reduced through insight meditation grounded in mindful awareness, which trains acceptance of impermanence. The results also indicate that addressing mortality concerns is important when interventions may disrupt self-consciousness.
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.
PsyArXiv
August 21, 2023
Yair Dor-Ziderman, Yoav Schweitzer, Ohad Nave et al.
3 citations
preprint
The brains of mindfulness meditators exhibit an acceptance of death that predicts positively-valenced meditative self-dissolution experiences.
February 13, 2023
Fynn-Mathis Trautwein, Yoav Schweitzer, Yair Dor-Ziderman et al.
3 citations
preprint
Long-term meditators can intentionally reduce their sense of being an embodied agent, and this change corresponds to specific brain activity reductions. In a preregistered study, 46 experienced meditators (19 female, 27 male) used advanced meditation techniques to attenuate their embodied self-experience while undergoing magnetoencephalography. Those who reported radical disruptions—such as losing a sense of agency or a localized first-person perspective—showed reduced high-beta-band oscillations in the posterior medial cortices (PMC). These neural changes correlated with lifetime meditation experience and interview-based reports, but not with standard self-report questionnaires. The findings show that combining first-person methods with neuroscience can reveal how the brain supports the embodied sense of self.
October 1, 2025
Daniel Andrew Atad, Pedro A. M. Mediano, Fynn-Mathis Trautwein et al.
1 citation
preprint
The sense of being a bounded self can be attenuated or dissolved while awareness remains. Analyzing magnetoencephalography data from 46 long-term meditators, the study found that both meditation conditions (self-boundary dissolution and maintenance) increased broadband entropy rate and directed information transfer compared to rest, driven mainly by high-frequency activity. Localized reductions in information transfer from the anterior cingulate to posterior cingulate and in high-beta entropy rate in sensorimotor and posterior-medial cortices differentiated the two meditation conditions. Reduced orbitofrontal cortex entropy rate and reduced information transfer from occipital, cingulate, limbic, and subcortical areas correlated strongly with self-boundary dissolution phenomenology. Together with a previously reported neural correlate of reduced high-beta power in the posterior-medial cortex, these two neural correlates explained over half the variance in phenomenological dissolution scores (R² = 0.52).
The MIT Press eBooks
December 16, 2025
Stephen Fulder
The author reflects on a lifelong exploration of consciousness through Buddhist-inspired meditation and daily life. Consciousness is described as dependent on sensory input and lacking inherent self-existence, drawing on early Buddhist scripture. The author's personal journey includes years in India, teaching retreats, peace work, and family life, aiming for a liberated awareness that merges with totality rather than seeking ecstatic experiences. The piece is a personal reflection, not an empirical study, presenting the author's perspective on how such awareness emerges in everyday activities.
Consciousness and Cognition
January 1, 2026
Yoav Schweitzer, Aviva Berkovich-Ohana, Yair Dor-Ziderman et al.
During deep meditation, the usual boundary between self and world blurs, and people report a reduced sense of controlling their actions. The brain normally dampens its response to self-initiated sensations, a marker of agency called sensory suppression. In a preregistered study, 46 experienced meditators performed a button-pressing task during MEG scanning. Self-reports showed partial attainment of deep meditative states. At the group level, dissolution states did not significantly alter sensory suppression, but individuals who reported deeper meditation showed stronger sensory suppression. This suggests that variation in meditation depth may obscure group-level effects, highlighting a complex relationship between meditation depth, sense of agency, and sensory processing.