August 16, 2026
Morten Overgaard, Martin Dietz, Peter Thestrup Waade
preprint
Scientific theories of consciousness are typically evaluated by comparing empirical findings across experimental paradigms. Such comparisons implicitly assume that different paradigms provide commensurable evidence and do not systematically favour particular theoretical interpretations. Here, we test this assumption using the updated ConTraSt database, comprising 518 published consciousness...
Communications Psychology
November 26, 2025
Morten Overgaard, Peter Fazekas, Asger Kirkeby-Hinrup et al.
Consciousness research has long been dominated by competing grand theories, yet consensus remains elusive. We propose shifting focus toward construct-based, data-driven, and iterative approaches that identify the empirical building blocks of conscious experience and provide a more cumulative, integrative path forward for the field.
Neuroscience of Consciousness
September 24, 2025
Asger Kirkeby-Hinrup, S. Fink, Morten Overgaard
Abstract It is well known that in interdisciplinary consciousness studies there are various competing hypotheses about the neural correlate(s) of consciousness (NCCs). Much contemporary work is dedicated to determining which of these hypotheses is right (or the weaker claim is to be preferred). The prevalent working assumption is that one of the competing hypotheses is correct, and the...
Front Psychol
September 23, 2025
Asger Kirkeby-Hinrup, Andreas Stephens, Aron Balogh Sjöstrand et al.
4 citations
Methodological issues in consciousness research: theory comparison, the role of empirical evidence, and a replication crisis.
Consciousness and Cognition
September 1, 2024
Asger Kirkeby-Hinrup, Jakob Stenseke, Morten Overgaard
The recent "Conscious Turing Machine" (CTM) proposal offered by Manuel and Lenore Blum aims to define and explore consciousness, contribute to the solution of the hard problem, and demonstrate the value of theoretical computer science with respect to the study of consciousness. Surprisingly, given the ambitiousness and novelty of the proposal (and the prominence of its creators), CTM has...
Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences
September 28, 2023
Morten Overgaard
The contrasts between so-called objective and subjective measures of consciousness have been a dominating topic of discussion for decades. The debate has classically been dominated by two positions – that subjective measures may be completely or partially reduced to objective measures, and, alternatively that they must exist in parallel. I argue that many problems relate to subjective reports...
The European journal of neuroscience
November 1, 2022
Lau M Andersen, Mikkel C Vinding, Kristian Sandberg et al.
In the search for the neural correlates of consciousness, it is often assumed that there is a stable set within the relevant sensory modality. Within the visual modality, the debate has centred upon whether frontal or occipital activations are the best predictors of perceptual awareness. Although not accepted by all as definitive evidence, no-report and decoding studies have indicated that...
Consciousness and Cognition
September 1, 2022
Timo L Kvamme, Mesud Sarmanlu, Morten Overgaard
Double-blinding subjects to the experiment's purpose is an important standard in neurofeedback studies. However, it is difficult to provide evidence that humans are entirely unaware of certain information. This study used insights from consciousness studies and neurophenomenology to develop a contingency awareness questionnaire for neurofeedback. We assessed whether participants had an...
Philosophy and the Mind Sciences
July 19, 2021
Morten Overgaard, Asger Kirkeby-Hinrup
Subjective experience has often taken center stage in debates between competing conceptual theories of the mind. This is also a central object of concern in the empirical domain, and especially in the search for the neural correlates of consciousness (NCCs). By now, most of the competing conceptual theories of consciousness have become aligned with distinct hypotheses about the NCCs. These...
Neuroscience of Consciousness
2021
S. H. del Pin, Zuzanna Skóra, Kristian Sandberg et al.
Abstract The theoretical landscape of scientific studies of consciousness has flourished. Today, even multiple versions of the same theory are sometimes available. To advance the field, these theories should be directly compared to determine which are better at predicting and explaining empirical data. Systematic inquiries of this sort are seen in many subfields in cognitive psychology and...
July 26, 2020
Morten Overgaard, Jesper Mogensen, Asger Kirkeby-Hinrup
Drawing on neuroscientific research and metacognitive theory, this groundbreaking volume examines the theoretical implications that are elicited when neural correlates of consciousness (NCC) are identified.The relationship between consciousness and the brain has concerned philosophers for centuries, yet a tacit assumption in much empirically minded consciousness research seems to be that if we...
Cortex; a journal devoted to the study of the nervous system and behavior
November 1, 2019
María Hernández-Lorca, Kristian Sandberg, Dominique Kessel et al.
Studies of the neural correlates of consciousness (NCCs) combining MEG/EEG with behavioral data have described two main time ranges relating to conscious perception: 130-320 (the visual awareness negativity; VAN) and 300-500 (P3a) ms after stimulus onset. At the same time, two event-related potential (ERP) peaks have shown an emotional modulation of endogenous attention: the early posterior...
Sleep Medicine Reviews
February 1, 2019
Peter Fazekas, Georgina Nemeth, Morten Overgaard
Reports of white dreams, the feeling of having had a dream experience without being able to specify this experience any further, make up almost one third of all dream reports, yet this phenomenon-until very recently-had not yet been in the focus of targeted investigations. White dreams are typically interpreted as forgotten dreams, and are sidelined as not being particularly informative with...
Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences
September 19, 2018
Morten Overgaard
62 citations
In consciousness research, it is common to distinguish between phenomenal consciousness and access consciousness. Recently, a number of scientists have attempted to show that phenomenal content can be empirically separated from cognitive access and, accordingly, that the mental content that is accessed is not (always) identical to the content that is experienced. One notable position is that of...
Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences
September 19, 2018
Peter Fazekas, Morten Overgaard
30 citations
The problem of perceptual consciousness-the question of how our subjective experiences (colours as we see them; sounds as we hear them; tastes, etc., as we feel them) could be accounted for in terms of brain processes-is often regarded as the greatest unsolved mystery of our times. In recent literature, one of the most pressing questions in this regard is whether the neural basis of perceptual...
Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences
September 19, 2018
Jesper Mogensen, Morten Overgaard
17 citations
In the present communication, phenomenal consciousness, access consciousness and the closely related concept of working memory are presented in the context of a neurocognitive model-the REF (reorganization of elementary functions) framework. The REF framework is based on connectionist networks within which the 'units' are advanced processing modules called elementary functions (EFs). In this...
Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991)
June 1, 2016
Lau M Andersen, Michael N Pedersen, Kristian Sandberg et al.
Two electrophysiological components have been extensively investigated as candidate neural correlates of perceptual consciousness: An early, occipitally realized component occurring 130-320 ms after stimulus onset and a late, frontally realized component occurring 320-510 ms after stimulus onset. Recent studies have suggested that the late component may not be uniquely related to perceptual...
Frontiers in Psychology
October 30, 2014
Kristian Sandberg, Lau M Andersen, Morten Overgaard
Contrasting conditions with and without awareness has been the preferred method for investigating the neural correlates of consciousness (NCC) for decades, yet recently it has been suggested that further insights can be made by moving beyond this method, specifically by meticulously controlling that potential precursors and consequences of the NCC are not mistaken for an NCC. Here, we briefly...
Neuroimage
October 15, 2014
Kristian Sandberg, Gareth Robert Barnes, Bahador Bahrami et al.
During binocular rivalry, visual perception alternates spontaneously between two different monocular images. Such perceptual reversals are slowed or halted if stimuli are presented intermittently with inter-stimulus intervals larger than ~400 ms--a phenomenon called stabilization. Often, the neural correlates of reversal and stabilization are studied separately, and both phenomena in turn are...
Journal of Vision
February 23, 2011
H. Lou, Joshua Skewes, Kristine Rømer Thomsen et al.
83 citations
Liberal acceptance, overconfidence, and increased activity of the neurotransmitter dopamine have been proposed to account for abnormal sensory experiences, for instance, hallucinations in schizophrenia. In normal subjects, increased sensory experience in Yoga Nidra meditation is linked to striatal dopamine release. We therefore hypothesize that the neurotransmitter dopamine may function as a...
Frontiers in Psychology
2010
Morten Overgaard, Rikke Overgaard
55 citations
Experimental investigations of the neural substrate of consciousness typically take one of two paths, studying (1) contents or (2) levels of consciousness. It seems obvious to most that these two "paths" are interrelated, yet much less obvious how. This paper gives one suggestion to grasp the interrelation, arguing that conscious levels are determined by conscious contents in a very specific...
Brain and Cognition
February 1, 2004
Morten Overgaard, J. Nielsen, A. Fuglsang-Frederiksen
The study of subliminal perception in normal and brain lesioned subjects has long been of interest to scholars studying the neural mechanisms behind conscious vision. Using brief durations and a developed methodology of introspective reporting, we present an experiment with visual stimuli that gives rise to little or no subliminal perception under normal viewing conditions. Coupled with...