Integrative psychological & behavioral science

Epoché and Protoexistence: Toward a Genetic Phenomenology of Experiential Emergence.

Integrative psychological & behavioral science September 12, 2026 Cristóbal Pacheco, Pablo Fossa

This theoretical-conceptual essay reconsiders epoché in qualitative phenomenological research and its relation to experiential emergence. Rather than a one-time technique of bracketing, epoché is conceptualized as a sustained discipline of epistemic suspension, attentional reorientation, and phenomenological restraint. On this basis, protoexistence is reformulated as a heuristic for incomplete...

DOI: 10.1007/s12124-026-10027-y Full text Epoché Experiential emergence Genetic phenomenology Protoexistence +1

Extreme Experience Reconsidered: Existential, Developmental, and Embodied Dimensions.

Integrative psychological & behavioral science May 25, 2026 Shogo Tanaka

This paper offers a theoretical re-situating of extreme experiences in response to Dominik Mihalits' (2025) multidimensional model. While acknowledging the value of Mihalits' effort to de-pathologize extreme experiences, it is argued that many of the phenomena he seeks to conceptualize have long been addressed within earlier traditions of psychological and existential thought. Drawing on Karl...

DOI: 10.1007/s12124-026-10005-4 Full text Peak experience Body schema Boundary situations Embodiment +2

Aesthetic Anhedonia and Psychotic Hyper-Meaning: Dysregulated Symbolic Closure Dynamics.

Integrative psychological & behavioral science April 15, 2026 Seyed Kiarash Sadat Rafiei, Mahsa Asadi Anar 2 citations

Aesthetic anhedonia and psychotic hyper-meaning are typically treated within separate explanatory traditions: the former as a deficit of reward and motivation, the latter as a dysregulation of salience and belief formation. Phenomenologically, however, the two conditions display a striking symmetry. In severe anhedonia, patients often report not only reduced pleasure but a pervasive failure of...

DOI: 10.1007/s12124-026-09994-z Full text Aberrant salience Aesthetic anhedonia Computational psychiatry Meaning formation +4

The Concept of a Motivated Emotional Mind Explains Thinking Processes in Cognitive and Phenomenal Aspects.

Integrative psychological & behavioral science March 29, 2026 Wiesław L Galus 2 citations

Thinking is a multifaceted process that encompasses logical, inductive, deductive, and abductive reasoning, as well as planning, recalling past events and previous thoughts, imagining what may or may not happen, and experiencing and feeling affective states. The task of psychology is to explain what these thoughts are. How can physiological, biophysical, and neuronal processes in our bodies and...

DOI: 10.1007/s12124-026-09984-1 Full text Awareness Mem model Motivated emotional mind Phenomenal consciousness +2

Updated Expectations are Needed for Masked Priming Experiments: Commentary on Tsikandilakis et al. (2025).

Integrative psychological & behavioral science March 25, 2026 Gary D Fisk

Masking priming research into unconscious perception has a long history of ambiguous findings and controversies. Tsikandilakis and colleagues (2025) offer several commendable methodology recommendations that might resolve ambiguities and lead to compelling findings. However, better methodology might be insufficient to fully address the weaknesses of the null awareness paradigm. The expected...

DOI: 10.1007/s12124-026-09993-0 Full text Affective primacy hypothesis Cognitive unconscious Consciousness Emotion +4

From Subliminality, to the Unconscious Mind: Philosophical Lineages, Evolutionary Paradoxes, and the Future of the Origins of the Unconscious.

Integrative psychological & behavioral science March 17, 2026 Myron Tsikandilakis, Persefoni Bali, Roland Erich Uriko et al.

In previous works, we provided empirical evidence and the theoretical foundations for a conceptual dissociation between subliminality, such as purported emotional responses to invisible-imperceptible elicitors, and the intelligent workings of the notion of an unconscious mind, such as involuntary and automatic physiological experiences and behavioural patterns that precede but eventually...

DOI: 10.1007/s12124-026-09974-3 Full text Differences Evolution Origins Subliminal +1

Ritual Resilience through Full-Moon Meditation: Reclaiming the Sacred Value of Sojiwan Temple in a Commodified Heritage Landscape.

Integrative psychological & behavioral science March 7, 2026 Tri Yatno

The commodification of cultural heritage has significantly disrupted the sacredness of religious sites in Indonesia, posing a challenge for communities seeking to preserve spiritual value within economically driven landscapes. This study focuses on Sojiwan Temple, a ninth-century Buddhist monument in Central Java, where full-moon meditation has emerged as a form of ritual resilience that...

DOI: 10.1007/s12124-026-09979-y Full text Full-moon meditation Heritage governance Ritual resilience Sacred heritage +2

The Discussion of Free Will and Neurodeterminism: Some Methodological Implications.

Integrative psychological & behavioral science February 15, 2026 Vladimir Glebkin

This article critically examines the fundamental tenets of neurodeterminism in the discussion of free will, focusing on three key methodological issues: the personification of the brain as an independent actor, the assumed direct correspondence between neural processes and mental states, and the relationship between action predictability and free will. Through a comprehensive theoretical...

DOI: 10.1007/s12124-026-09980-5 Full text Compatibilism Consciousness Free will Linguistic intuition +2

Figures of Liminality and Transgressors of Limits and Borders: the Trickster, the Uncanny, and the Spiritus Mercurius. A Dialogue between Anthropology, Cultural Psychology and Psychoanalysis.

Integrative psychological & behavioral science February 3, 2026 Raffaele De Luca Picione, Angelo Maria De Fortuna, Lorenzo Curti et al. 1 citation

The article explores the Trickster as a symbol of liminality, transgression, and creativity, analyzing its characteristics through mythology, folklore, and literature. The Trickster (a prankster and a "boundary-crosser") embodies ambiguity, deception, and hidden wisdom, operating at the intersection of order and disorder, of sacred and profane. Through myths such as that of Hermes, as well as...

DOI: 10.1007/s12124-025-09970-z Full text

Approximations Between Cultural-historical Psychology and Enactivism: Applications to Theories of Memory and Implications for Education.

Integrative psychological & behavioral science December 29, 2025 Adriana Damascena Da Silva Santos, Caio Maximino

This paper aims to foster a conceptual synthesis between enactivist theories of memory and cultural-historical activity theory, exploring their shared rejection of internalist models of cognition. By comparing these frameworks, we argue that both converge on a socially embedded, ecologically grounded understanding of memory as a dynamic, mediated activity rather than a static mental repository....

DOI: 10.1007/s12124-025-09967-8 Full text Biocultural neuroscience Dialectics Enactivism Epistemology of memory +1

Protoexistence: A Liminal Layer in the Architecture of Pre-Reflective Consciousness.

Integrative psychological & behavioral science December 1, 2025 Cristóbal Pacheco, Pablo Fossa

This article introduces the concept of protoexistence-a pre-reflective, affective layer of experience that resists narrative integration and challenges conventional frameworks of temporality and subjectivity. Drawing on foundational insights from Husserl's internal time-consciousness (1998) and Merleau-Ponty's later reflections on the visible and the invisible (1969), this article explores how...

DOI: 10.1007/s12124-025-09950-3 Full text Affective phenomenology Embodied subjectivity Phenomenological mapping Pre-reflective experience +2

Situated Psychology: A Sketch.

Integrative psychological & behavioral science July 31, 2025 Rasmus Birk, Sarah Kirkegaard Jensen, Noomi Matthiesen et al. 1 citation

This article-and this special issue-focuses on situated psychology. The purpose of this article is to provide a brief theoretical outline of what situated psychology is. If the reader wonders why they are not immediately familiar with the term 'situated psychology,' there is a simple explanation: it is a new concept (except for Phillip Cushman's argument that psychology should be "historically...

DOI: 10.1007/s12124-025-09927-2 Full text Externalism Jean lave Situated learning William james

A Fragmented Mind: Altered States of Consciousness and Spirit Possession Between Rituals and Therapy.

Integrative psychological & behavioral science July 30, 2025 Donato Giuseppe Leo 3 citations

This paper focuses on understanding how cultural influences, social expectancy, and personal beliefs shape the perception of altered states of consciousness and how these mental states have been interpreted as a way to communicate with the spiritual world. Altered states of consciousness are commonly encountered in religious, spiritual, and therapeutic (e.g., hypnosis) practices. While...

DOI: 10.1007/s12124-025-09929-0 Full text Consciousness Exorcism Spirit possession Trance states

The Gateway Experience Facilitates Psychological Well-Being.

Integrative psychological & behavioral science March 13, 2025 Priscilla Fabrizi, Thomas Ditye

This study investigates the effects of the Gateway Experience (GE) on psychological well-being. The GE has been developed several decades ago for the induction of altered states of consciousness. It incorporates several techniques such as hypnosis, meditation, and binaural beats, which are known to facilitate well-being, sleep, learning and memory, and emotional states, but have not been tested...

DOI: 10.1007/s12124-025-09901-y Full text Meditation Cia Gateway experience Gateway programme +1

Homo Putans: Supposing and Existence.

Integrative psychological & behavioral science February 15, 2025 Can Büyükbay

This article introduces Homo Putans, the "supposing human," as a novel philosophical framework for understanding human existence. Supposing, distinct from mere thinking or imagination, involves hesitation, doubt, and a creative engagement with possibilities. It is characterized by its ability to confront ambiguity and construct meaning in the face of uncertainty. The proposed concept,...

DOI: 10.1007/s12124-025-09897-5 Full text Phenomenology Philosophy of mind Cognitive science Doubt +2

The Social Context of Consciousness: An Integrative Framework for Neuroscience, Psychology, and Law.

Integrative psychological & behavioral science February 14, 2025 Chetan Sinha 2 citations

This article discusses social context of consciousness, the role of the brain and the psychological processes of their actions in the context of the socio-legal framework. Consciousness is understood without integrating with broader social and cultural situations. The understanding of consciousness also requires one's critical understanding of social context and group processes. Law has a more...

DOI: 10.1007/s12124-025-09896-6 Full text Brain Consciousness Decolonization Meaning-making +1

Phenomenological Mapping: A Method For Understanding Pre-Reflective Consciousness.

Integrative psychological & behavioral science December 28, 2024 Cristóbal Pacheco, Pablo Fossa 2 citations

Exploring the nuanced and often elusive realm of pre-reflective consciousness presents a methodological challenge, as it involves capturing experiences that arise prior to reflective thought and language. This article introduces Phenomenological Mapping, an innovative research method designed to systematically study the pre-reflective dimensions of human experience. Grounded in the foundational...

DOI: 10.1007/s12124-024-09874-4 Full text Embodied cognition Neurophenomenology Phenomenological mapping Pre-reflective consciousness +2

Mindfulness: Future Pathways and Cross-Fertilizations through Cultural Psychology.

Integrative psychological & behavioral science December 21, 2024 Enno Von Fircks

This commentary outlines a novel agenda for future mindfulness research, building on various authors' insights, particularly Indius (Indius, S. (2024). Meditation and Self-transcendence: A Human need? Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science, 58(3), 878-883), who integrates Maslow's hierarchy of needs into the discussion of mindfulness. Indius argues for a revision of humanistic...

DOI: 10.1007/s12124-024-09884-2 Full text Mindfulness Daoism Semiotic resources Spiritual psychology

Consciousness and the Axon Initial Segment.

Integrative psychological & behavioral science December 19, 2024 Majid Beshkar 1 citation

According to the QBIT theory, consciousness depends on the emergence of macroscopic coherence in a specific intracellular substrate which registers and processes sensory information. This occurs in a particular neuronal compartment called the axon initial segment which has unique properties not found in other neuronal segments. These unique properties allow the integration of synaptic inputs,...

DOI: 10.1007/s12124-024-09883-3 Full text Axon initial segment Brain Consciousness

The QBIT Theory of Consciousness: Information, Correlation, and Coherence.

Integrative psychological & behavioral science December 1, 2024 Majid Beshkar

The ultimate goal of the QBIT theory is to provide a scientific solution to the problem of consciousness. The theory assumes that qualia (plural for quale) are real physical entities. Each quale is a physical system consisting of qubits bonded together by quantum entanglement. The qubits of a quale are so intimately bonded together that they collectively form a unified whole that is more than...

DOI: 10.1007/s12124-023-09784-x Full text Coherence Consciousness Correlation Entanglement +4

The QBIT Theory: Consciousness from Entangled Qubits.

Integrative psychological & behavioral science December 1, 2024 Majid Beshkar

How does the brain generate consciousness? The present paper is an attempt to answer this question from the perspective of the QBIT theory. In sum, the theory argues that the brain has a prior belief (P) about the stimulus that has caused a sensory representation (R) to be created in the brain. When the conditional entropy of P given R becomes less than zero, the brain becomes more than certain...

DOI: 10.1007/s12124-022-09745-w Full text Brain Conditional entropy Consciousness Entanglement +2

Doping Existential Despair: Mindful of the Exotic Lure.

Integrative psychological & behavioral science September 1, 2024 Luca Tateo 3 citations

The paper builds on (von Fircks, E. Integr. psych. Behav. Sci. 2023) article on mindfulness meditation analysed in a Meadian perspective. First, the selective appropriation of some concepts by hegemonic psychology is critically discussed. Then, the consequences of adopting the whole philosophical system of Eastern perspectives are envisaged. Finally, a proposal for a truly ecological shift in...

DOI: 10.1007/s12124-024-09839-7 Full text Ecology Metaphysics Monadism Tensegrity

Meditation and Self-transcendence: A Human Need?

Integrative psychological & behavioral science September 1, 2024 Simone Indius 3 citations

Building on Fircks (2023), who aims at integrating the theoretical and historical roots of mindfulness into psychology through a bridge between Taoism, relying on the polarity of life and wu wei (the principle of not-forcing) and Mead's Social Psychology, this commentary seeks to further explore how mindfulness, meditation and self-transcendence plays a role in the personal needs hierarchy of...

DOI: 10.1007/s12124-024-09848-6 Full text Meditation Hierarchy of needs Maslow Self-transcendence

Bridging the gap between consciousness and matter: recurrent out-of-body projection of visual awareness revealed by the law of non-identity.

Integrative psychological & behavioral science March 1, 2024 Jinsong Meng

Consciousness is the most precious function of brain; however, there is an explanatory gap between consciousness and matter, which is deemed to affect the scientific research on consciousness. We believe that a methodological trap commonly present in scientific research and the incompleteness of logic are the true reasons that affect the research on consciousness. Here, a novel logic tool, the...

DOI: 10.1007/s12124-023-09775-y Full text Consciousness Explanatory gap Non-identity law Out-of-body projection +2

The QBIT theory of consciousness: Entropy and qualia.

Integrative psychological & behavioral science September 1, 2023 Majid Beshkar

The QBIT theory is a recently introduced multi-disciplinary approach to the problem of consciousness. One of the main axioms of the theory is that when information-theoretic certainty of an observer about a stimulus goes beyond a certain threshold, the observer becomes conscious of that stimulus. This axiom could provide an explanation for how the brain generates consciousness.In short, the...

DOI: 10.1007/s12124-022-09684-6 Full text Brain Consciousness Entropy Information theory +4

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