Consciousness and Cognition - The Consciousness Library

Misplacing memories? An enactive approach to the virtual memory palace.

Consciousness and Cognition November 1, 2019 Anco Peeters, Miguel Segundo-Ortin 48 citations

In this paper, we evaluate the pragmatic turn towards embodied, enactive thinking in cognitive science, in the context of recent empirical research on the memory palace technique. The memory palace is a powerful method for remembering yet it faces two problems. First, cognitive scientists are currently unable to clarify its efficacy. Second, the technique faces significant practical challenges...

DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2019.102834 Full text Anti-representationalism Embodied cognition Enactivism Extended mind +3

Thought insertion and disturbed for-me-ness (minimal selfhood) in schizophrenia.

Consciousness and Cognition September 1, 2019 Mads Gram Henriksen, Josef Parnas, Dan Zahavi 82 citations

In contemporary consciousness research, we have defended a position of experiential minimalism, arguing that for-me-ness (or minimal selfhood) is a necessary, universal feature of phenomenal consciousness. The concept of for-me-ness refers to the fact that experiences are given first-personally to the subject of experience. To challenge the universality of for-me-ness, several authors have...

DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2019.102770 Full text Consciousness First-rank symptoms For-me-ness Minimal self +3

Consciousness as a concrete physical phenomenon.

Consciousness and Cognition September 1, 2019 Jussi Jylkkä, Henry Railo 2 citations

The typical empirical approach to studying consciousness holds that we can only observe the neural correlates of experiences, not the experiences themselves. In this paper we argue, in contrast, that experiences are concrete physical phenomena that can causally interact with other phenomena, including observers. Hence, experiences can be observed and scientifically modelled. We propose that the...

DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2019.102779 Full text Empirical observation Epistemic gap Model-dependent realism Philosophy of science +2

Cannabis-associated impairments in the fading affect bias and autobiographical memory specificity.

Consciousness and Cognition September 1, 2019 Daniel Pillersdorf, A. Scoboria

We investigated potential relationships between cannabis use and 2 phenomena associated with autobiographical remembering: the fading affect bias (FAB) and memory specificity. The FAB is an emotional affect regulation mechanism that is observed when the intensity of affect associated with experiencing negative memories fades faster than the intensity of affect associated with experiencing...

DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2019.102792

Absorption and spiritual experience: A review of evidence and potential mechanisms.

Consciousness and Cognition August 1, 2019 Michael Lifshitz, Michiel van Elk, Tanya M Luhrmann 162 citations

Some people seem to have a 'talent' for spiritual experience: they readily sense the presence of supernatural beings, receive special messages from God, and report intense feelings of self-transcendence, awe and wonder. Here we review converging strands of evidence to argue that the trait of 'absorption' captures a general proclivity for having spiritual experiences. Participants scoring highly...

DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2019.05.008 Full text Absorption Agency Hypnosis Individual differences +6

Systema Temporis: A time-based dimensional framework for consciousness and cognition.

Consciousness and Cognition August 1, 2019 Lachlan Kent, George Van Doorn, Britt Klein 11 citations

This study uses a combined categorical-dimensional approach to depict a hierarchical framework for consciousness similar to, and contiguous with, factorial models of cognition (cf., intelligence). On the basis of the longstanding definition of time consciousness, the analysis employs a dimension of temporal extension, in the same manner that psychology has temporally organised memory (i.e.,...

DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2019.102766 Full text Access consciousness Cognition Intelligence Phenomenal consciousness +3

"Seeing Rain": Integrating phenomenological and Bayesian predictive coding approaches to visual hallucinations and self-disturbances (Ichstörungen) in schizophrenia.

Consciousness and Cognition August 1, 2019 Jakob Kaminski, Philipp Sterzer, Aaron Mishara

We present a schizophrenia patient who reports "seeing rain" with attendant somatosensory features which separate him from his surroundings. Because visual/multimodal hallucinations are understudied in schizophrenia, we examine a case history to determine the role of these hallucinations in self-disturbances (Ichstörungen). Developed by the early Heidelberg School, self-disturbances comprise...

DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2019.05.005

The role of levels of processing in disentangling the ERP signatures of conscious visual processing.

Consciousness and Cognition August 1, 2019 Monika Derda, Marcin Koculak, Bert Windey et al.

We aimed to distinguish electrophysiological signatures of visual awareness from other task-related processes through manipulating the level of processing of visual stimuli. During an event-related EEG experiment, 36 subjects performed either color (low-level condition) or magnitude (high-level condition) evaluations of masked digits. Participants also assessed subjective visibility of each...

DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2019.102767 Full text Awareness Consciousness Contrastive analysis EEG +4

The unfolding argument: Why IIT and other causal structure theories cannot explain consciousness.

Consciousness and Cognition July 1, 2019 Adrien Doerig, Aaron Schurger, K. Hess et al.

How can we explain consciousness? This question has become a vibrant topic of neuroscience research in recent decades. A large body of empirical results has been accumulated, and many theories have been proposed. Certain theories suggest that consciousness should be explained in terms of brain functions, such as accessing information in a global workspace, applying higher order to lower order...

DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2019.04.002 Full text

Enactive social cognition: Diachronic constitution & coupled anticipation.

Consciousness and Cognition April 1, 2019 Alan Jurgens, Michael D Kirchhoff 18 citations

This paper targets the constitutive basis of social cognition. It begins by describing the traditional and still dominant cognitivist view. Cognitivism assumes internalism about the realisers of social cognition; thus, the embodied and embedded elements of intersubjective engagement are ruled out from playing anything but a basic causal role in an account of social cognition. It then goes on to...

DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2019.02.001 Full text Causal-constitutive fallacy Diachronic constitution Enactivism Intersubjectivity +3

Inducing synesthesia in non-synesthetes: Short-term visual deprivation facilitates auditory-evoked visual percepts.

Consciousness and Cognition April 1, 2019 Anupama Nair, David Brang

Sounds can modulate activity in visual cortex, facilitating the detection of visual targets. However, these sound-driven modulations are not thought to evoke conscious visual percepts in the general population. In individuals with synesthesia, however, multisensory interactions do lead to qualitatively different experiences such as sounds evoking flashes of light. Why, if multisensory...

DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2019.02.006 Full text Auditory-visual Hallucinations Imagery Multisensory +2

Neurochemical models of near-death experiences: A large-scale study based on the semantic similarity of written reports.

Consciousness and Cognition March 1, 2019 Charlotte Martial, Héléna Cassol, Vanessa Charland-Verville et al. 98 citations

The real or perceived proximity to death often results in a non-ordinary state of consciousness characterized by phenomenological features such as the perception of leaving the body boundaries, feelings of peace, bliss and timelessness, life review, the sensation of traveling through a tunnel and an irreversible threshold. Near-death experiences (NDEs) are comparable among individuals of...

DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2019.01.011 Full text Phenomenology Near-death experience: nde Profound states Dissociatives: ketamine +3

Consciousness and topologically structured phenomenal spaces.

Consciousness and Cognition February 26, 2019 R. Prentner 43 citations

There are strong reasons to believe that our conscious inner life is structured, suggested both by introspection as well as scientific psychology. One of the most salient structural characteristics of conscious experiences is known as unity of consciousness. In this contribution, we wish to demonstrate how features of experience that pertain to the unity of consciousness could be made precise...

DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2019.02.002 Full text

Training novice practitioners to reliably report their meditation experience using shared phenomenological dimensions.

Consciousness and Cognition February 1, 2019 Oussama Abdoun, Jelle Zorn, Stefano Poletti et al. 44 citations

Empirical descriptions of the phenomenology of meditation states rely on practitioners' ability to provide accurate information on their experience. We present a meditation training protocol that was designed to equip naive participants with a theoretical background and experiential knowledge that would enable them to share their experience. Subsequently, novices carried on with daily practice...

DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2019.01.004 Full text Meditation Mindfulness Demand characteristics Desirable responding +4

Dispositional mindfulness attenuates the emotional attentional blink.

Consciousness and Cognition 2019 Dominique Makowski, Marco Sperduti, Samantha Lavallée et al.

Emotional stimuli have been shown to automatically hijack attention, hindering the detection of forthcoming targets. Mindfulness is defined as a present moment non-judgemental attentional stance that can be cultivated by meditation practices, but that may present interindividual variability in the general population. The mechanisms underlying modification in emotional reactivity linked to...

DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2018.11.004 Full text Mindfulness Attention Cognitive flexibility Emotion +1

A methodological dilemma for investigating consciousness empirically.

Consciousness and Cognition November 1, 2018 Tobias Schlicht

This paper exposes a methodological dilemma arising for the research program of finding the neural correlate of consciousness (NCC), the minimal set of brain processes sufficient for a particular percept. The main claim is that it is doubtful that the right kind of correlations will ever be obtained because the foregoing conceptual decisions regarding the relations between consciousness,...

DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2018.11.002 Full text Cognition Cognitive access Consciousness Methodology +1

Consciousness in a multilevel architecture: Evidence from the right side of the brain.

Consciousness and Cognition September 1, 2018 B. Velichkovsky, O. Krotkova, A. Kotov et al.

By taking into account Bruce Bridgeman's interest in an evolutionary framing of human cognition, we examine effective (cause-and-effect) connectivity among cortical structures related to different parts of the triune phylogenetic stratification: archicortex, paleocortex and neocortex. Using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data from 25 healthy subjects and spectral Dynamic...

DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2018.06.004

Comparative psychology without consciousness.

Consciousness and Cognition August 1, 2018 Peter Carruthers 37 citations

The goal of this paper is to establish the truth of the following conditional: if a global workspace theory of phenomenal consciousness is correct, and is fully reductive in nature, then we should stop asking questions about consciousness in nonhuman animals-not because those questions are too hard to answer, but because there are no substantive facts to discover. The argument in support of...

DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2018.06.012 Full text Hard problem Access consciousness Animal consciousness Degrees of consciousness +2

Exploring the effects of galantamine paired with meditation and dream reliving on recalled dreams: Toward an integrated protocol for lucid dream induction and nightmare resolution.

Consciousness and Cognition August 1, 2018 Gregory S. Sparrow, Ryan Hurd, Ralph Carlson et al.

An experimental home study examined the impact of a pre-sleep protocol for enhancing self-awareness, lucidity, and responsiveness in dreams. It included ingesting the cholinesterase inhibitor galantamine--which is widely reported to increase the frequency of lucid dreaming--prior to engaging in middle-of-the-night meditation and the imaginary reliving of a distressing dream while exercising new...

DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2018.05.012 Full text Lucid dream Meditation Dream reliving Galantamine +1

A free will needs a free mind: Belief in substance dualism and reductive physicalism differentially predict belief in free will and determinism.

Consciousness and Cognition August 1, 2018 Matthias Forstmann, Pascal Burgmer

In this article, we show that lay people's beliefs about how minds relate to bodies are more complex than past research suggests, and that treating them as a multidimensional construct helps explain inconclusive findings from the literature regarding their relation to beliefs about whether humans possess a free will. In two studies, we found that items previously used to assess a unidimensional...

DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2018.07.003 Full text Philosophy of mind Determinism Experimental philosophy Free will +4

Placing meta-stable states of consciousness within the predictive coding hierarchy: The deceleration of the accelerated prediction error.

Consciousness and Cognition July 10, 2018 Amirali Shirazibeheshti, J. Cooke, Srivas Chennu et al.

While many studies have linked prediction errors and event related potentials at a single processing level, few consider how these responses interact across levels. In response, we present a factorial analysis of a multi-level oddball task - the local-global task - and we explore it when participants are sedated versus recovered. We found that the local and global levels in fact interact. This...

DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2018.06.010 Full text

Amphioxus neurocircuits, enhanced arousal, and the origin of vertebrate consciousness.

Consciousness and Cognition July 1, 2018 Thurston Lacalli

Gene expression studies have recently identified the amphioxus homolog of a domain comprising the combined caudal diencephalon plus midbrain, regions implicated in locomotory control and some forms of primary consciousness in vertebrates. The results of EM-level reconstructions of the larval brain of amphioxus, reviewed here, highlight the importance of inputs to this region for light and...

DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2018.03.006 Full text Brain evolution Consciousness Dimes Dien-mesencephalon +3

Experiencing meditation - Evidence for differential effects of three contemplative mental practices in micro-phenomenological interviews.

Consciousness and Cognition July 1, 2018 Marisa Przyrembel, Tania Singer

Despite increasing interest in effects of meditation, systematic in-depth research on how it qualitatively feels to engage in different kinds of contemplative practices is still missing. To fill this gap, we explore the validity of Micro-phenomenological Interviews (MpI) to assess experiences during breathing meditation (BM), observing-thought meditation (OTM), and loving-kindness meditation...

DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2018.04.004 Full text Meditation Contemplative science First-person data Linguistic inquiry +2

How bizarre? A pluralist approach to dream content.

Consciousness and Cognition July 1, 2018 Melanie G. Rosen

Are dreams bizarre, nonsensical experiences or real-world simulations? I introduce a pluralist approach to dream content that highlights the philosophical and empirical implications of treating dreaming as a highly varied experience that can be anywhere on a spectrum from truly bizarre and incoherent to wake-like and mundane. Here I discuss several explanations for why theorists disagree on...

DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2018.03.009

Music-colour synaesthesia: Concept, context and qualia.

Consciousness and Cognition May 1, 2018 Caroline Curwen

This review provides a commentary on coloured-hearing arising on hearing music: music-colour synaesthesia. Although traditionally explained by the hyperconnectivity theory (Ramachandran & Hubbard, 2001a) and the disinhibited feedback theory (Grossenbacher & Lovelace, 2001) as a purely perceptual phenomenon, the review of eight coloured-hearing neuroimaging studies shows that it may not be...

DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2018.04.005 Full text Chromesthesia Concept Ideaesthesia Music-colour/color +2

Papers