This interview explores the intimate relationship between language and consciousness, drawing insights from aphasia phenomenology, psychedelic experiences, and neuroscientific theories. Jeremy I. Skipper, a cognitive neuroscientist, argues that language is not merely a tool for reporting conscious experiences but plays a generative role in shaping and sustaining consciousness itself. He...
Sleep leads to a disconnection from the external world. Even when sleepers regain consciousness during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, little, if any, external information is incorporated into dream content [1-3]. While gating mechanisms might be at play to avoid interference on dreaming activity [4], a total disconnection from an ever-changing environment may prevent the sleeper from promptly...
In this interview, Tom Froese and Matthieu Koroma address the irruption theory, an account of how mental actions manifest themselves as unexplained variability in brain and bodily activity. We discuss how this approach can be applied to trace back consciousness in (neuro)physiological signatures such as scale free activity and informational complexity. We highlight the study of altered states...