The Multidimensional Approach to Presence (MAP): Integrating Micro-Phenomenology, Artistic and Somatic Practices in a Contemplative Framework for the Study of Experience
September 21, 2025 Camila Valenzuela-Moguillansky preprint
A contemplative research framework called the Multidimensional Approach to Presence (MAP) is proposed for scientifically studying lived experience. Building on micro-phenomenology, the framework examines how cultivating presence—inhabiting one's experience as it unfolds—can be integrated into experiential inquiry. Analyzing three moments of generating experiential knowledge (contact with experience, description, and analysis), the article argues from an enactive perspective that experience is dynamic, self-referential, and transformative. MAP places presence at the core of investigation, using tools like micro-phenomenological interviewing, somatic practices, and artistic expression methodologically, while epistemologically contending that investigating experience requires transforming modes of knowing through self-transformation. The article highlights the need to broaden cognitive science's methodological and epistemological repertoire for a science of experience.