During the last three decades our understanding of the brain processes underlying consciousness and attention has significantly improved, mainly because of the advances in functional neuroimaging techniques. Still, caution is needed for the correct interpretation of these empirical findings, as both research and theoretical proposals are hampered by a number of conceptual difficulties. We...
Although mindfulness meditation has been practiced in the East for more than two millennia, Western scientific research and healthcare programs have only recently drawn their attention to it. Basically, the concept of mindfulness hinges on focusing on one's own awareness at the present moment. In this review we analyze different hypotheses about the functioning and the cerebral correlates of...
Mindfulness meditation has been practiced in the East for more than two millennia, but in last years also Western neurscientists drown their attention to it. Mindfulness basically refers to moment to moment awareness. In this review we summarize different hypotheses concerning effects of mindfulness meditation practice and cerebral correlates accounting for these; furthermore we expose some of...
John Kevin O’Regan (born on 24 May 1948) is an American neuroscientist who has lived and worked in Paris since 1971. He studied theoretical physics at Sussex and Cambridge Universities and in 1975 gained a PhD from Cambridge University for his research on eye movements during reading tasks. His interest in the study of the perceived stability in the visual process has led him to the discoveries...
Max Velmans, born 27 May 1942, is Emeritus Professor of Psychology at Goldsmiths, University of London. In 1994, he cofounded the Consciousness and Experiential Psychology Section of the British Psychological Society and made several publications in the area of consciousness studies, which culminated in a book titled Understanding Consciousness . In this book – which thus far has had two...
Benjamin Libet (Chicago, Illinois, 12 April 1916–Davis, California, 23 July 2007) was a scientist who conducted pioneering studies on consciousness and free will. He studied physiology, and between 1945 and 1948, he worked as an assistant professor at the University of Chicago. During his academic career, he was a lecturer at the Albany Medical College, New York; research fellow in...
Paul Churchland (born on 21 October 1942 in Vancouver, Canada) and Patricia Smith Churchland (born on 16 July 1943 in Oliver, British Columbia, Canada) are Canadian-American philosophers whose work has focused on integrating the disciplines of philosophy of mind and neuroscience in a new approach that has been called neurophilosophy . They are also central figures in the philosophical stance...
Over the last few decades, there has been increasing awareness among epileptologists about the need to refine our understanding and assessment of ictal consciousness, focusing on both subjective and behavioral aspects of seizures. Specifically, there have been suggestions that both the internal and external milieux - the former related to the phenomenal qualia of experience, the latter related...
Thomas Nagel is an American philosopher currently teaching Philosophy and Law at New York University. In 1974, he published an article – titled What Is It Like to Be a Bat? – that had enormous resonance in the community of philosophers of mind. The expression used by Nagel in his article has become a mesmerizing phrase in the common usage among philosophers to indicate the subjective feature of...