The self is experienced as continuous across time, and this temporal continuity may be reflected in the brain's intrinsic neural timescales, measured by the autocorrelation window (ACW). In an EEG study, participants first recorded an autobiographical narrative, then listened to their own narrative and a stranger's narrative while their brain activity was recorded. They also continuously rated the emotional valence of each narrative by moving a cursor. Compared to the non-self narrative, the self-narrative elicited longer neural ACWs and greater spatial extent and speed of cursor movement. These results suggest that longer temporal windows of neural activity are important for self-specificity, and that temporal continuity may serve as a common currency linking brain and self.
Meditation practices with a wider attentional focus, such as Shoonya meditation, are associated with longer intrinsic neural timescales (INTs) in the brain, measured as the autocorrelation window (ACW) of EEG signals, compared to practices with a narrower focus like Mantra or Vipassana meditation. The study compared three groups of highly proficient practitioners from different traditions and a meditation-naïve control group. The results indicate a correspondence between the width of attentional scope and the duration of neural temporal windows, suggesting that subjective attentional width relates to objective neural activity patterns.
Altered experiences of time and space are linked to general symptoms and basic self-disorders in people with schizophrenia spectrum disorder. Self-disturbance acts as a key mediator through which fundamental time-space disruptions influence perceptual changes as well as negative, positive, and general symptoms. Data were collected at three medical expert centers using semi-structured phenomenological interviews and analyzed with network and mediation methods.