Research published in Brain and Cognition - The Consciousness Library

Exploring neural underpinning of Christian faith: How far can we go?

Brain and Cognition July 9, 2026 Stephanie Clarke, Sonia Crottaz-Herbette, Simo Frestadius et al.

Several neuroimaging studies demonstrated that spiritual/religious beliefs and practices rely on the same brain regions as secular cognition. Several reviews shaped the framework within which religious and secular cognition interacts, emphasizing the need for a precise definition of religiousness and spirituality. Christian faith presents a well-defined theological context, characterized by...

DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2026.106453 Full text Neural plasticity Brain correlates Christian faith Neuroimaging +2

Tourette's Syndrome as a vehicle in the search for the neural correlates of consciousness.

Brain and Cognition December 1, 2025 Peter J Chabot, Nicholas B Dadario, Michael E. Sughrue

The neurological underpinnings of Tourette's Syndrome offer an avenue to identify the neural correlates of consciousness. Neuroimaging of Tourette's Syndrome patients during the volitional control of premonitory urges highlight the involvement of the non-language dominant prefrontal portion of the frontal operculum of the inferior frontal gyrus and the anterior insular cortex in tic inhibition...

DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2025.106373 Full text

Mindfulness practices and transcranial direct current stimulation: A systematic review and meta-analysis of self-reported mindfulness.

Brain and Cognition May 27, 2025 Steven Wickens, Gummersall Timothy, Brown Trevor 4 citations

There is a growing body of evidence investigating the effectiveness of combining psychological therapy and techniques with transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) for facilitating meaningful change across a wide range of clinical and non-clinical domains. The objective of the current review was to examine mindfulness practices in combination with tDCS on self-reported mindfulness, given...

DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2025.106307 Full text Meta-analysis Multi-modal therapy Transcranial stimulation Tdcs +5

Cognition, emotion, and the default mode network.

Brain and Cognition October 30, 2024 Nicola Sambuco

The Default Mode Network (DMN) is increasingly recognized as a key hub where cognitive and emotional processes converge, particularly through its role in integrating episodic memory and emotional experiences. The current mini-review highlights three distinct patterns of brain activity within the DMN associated with emotional processing. The first pattern indicates that, while the ventromedial...

DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2024.106229

A neurophenomenological fMRI study of a spontaneous automatic writer and a hypnotic cohort.

Brain and Cognition August 1, 2023 Etzel Cardeña, Lena Lindström, Philippe R. Goldin et al. 4 citations

To evaluate the neurophenomenology of automatic writing (AW) in a spontaneous automatic writer (NN) and four high hypnotizables (HH). During fMRI, NN and the HH were cued to perform spontaneous (NN) or induced (HH) AW, and a comparison task of copying complex symbols, and to rate their experience of control and agency. Compared to copying, for all participants AW was associated with less sense...

DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2023.106060 Full text Agency Anomalous experience Automatic writing Hypnosis +1

Vividness as the similarity between generated imagery and an internal model.

Brain and Cognition July 1, 2023 Sean N Riley, Jim Davies

Vividness in visual mental imagery has been relatively under-explored compared to imagery's representational format and neural mechanisms. In this paper, we take a deeper look at vividness and suggest that in re-framing it, we can potentially reconcile disparate findings regarding visual cortex activation during imagery. Unlike traditional views of vividness that define the concept in terms of...

DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2023.105988 Full text Aphantasia Hyperphantasia Mental imagery Qualia +1

Pleasantness of mind wandering is positively associated with focus back effort in daily life: Evidence from resting state fMRI.

Brain and Cognition April 15, 2021 Hong He, Luming Hu, Xuemin Zhang et al.

Despite the dynamic property of consciousness, little research has explored the characteristic of the effort in trying to focus back, in which attention is shifted from mind wandering to ongoing activities. In the current study, we assessed the frequency of daily mind wandering, the pleasantness of daily mind wandering content, and the daily focus back effort of 69 participants, and then...

DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2021.105731

Reductions in perceived stress following Transcendental Meditation practice are associated with increased brain regional connectivity at rest.

Brain and Cognition January 13, 2020 Giulia Avvenuti, Andrea Leo, Luca Cecchetti et al.

Transcendental Meditation (TM) is defined as a mental process of transcending using a silent mantra. Previous work showed that relatively brief period of TM practice leads to decreases in stress and anxiety. However, whether these changes are subserved by specific morpho-functional brain modifications (as observed in other meditation techniques) is still unclear. Using a longitudinal design, we...

DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2020.105517

Effect of meditation on psychological distress and brain functioning: A randomized controlled study

Brain and Cognition August 1, 2018 F. Travis, Laurent Valosek, Artie Konrad et al.

Background: Psychological stability and brain integration are important factors related to physical and mental health and organization effectiveness. This study tested whether a mind‐body technique, the Transcendental Meditation (TM) program could increase EEG brain integration and positive affect, and decrease psychological distress in government employees. Method: Ninety‐six central office...

DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2018.03.011

fMRI during Transcendental Meditation practice

Brain and Cognition June 1, 2018 Michelle C. Mahone, F. Travis, R. Gevirtz et al.

&NA; This study used a within group design to investigate blood flow patterns (fMRI) in 16 long‐term practitioners of Transcendental Meditation (mean practice: 34.3 years with each having over 36,000 h of meditation practice). During Transcendental Meditation practice, blood flow patterns were significantly higher in executive and attention areas (anterior cingulate and dorsolateral prefrontal...

DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2018.02.011

The relationship between semantic access and introspective awareness.

Brain and Cognition June 2018 Xu Xu, Chunyan Kang, David Pascucci et al.

There have long been speculations about the relationship between consciousness and language. This study aimed to determine whether an individual's level of introspective awareness, based on self-report, relates to accessibility of their semantic system as evaluated by the N400. Thirty-five university students completed the study. All were right-handed, with normal or corrected-to-normal vision,...

DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2018.02.005 Full text Dmn Introspective awareness N400 Self-assessment +2

Neuroscience and everyday life: Facing the translation problem.

Brain and Cognition February 2018 Jolien C. Francken, Marc Slors

To enable the impact of neuroscientific insights on our daily lives, careful translation of research findings is required. However, neuroscientific terminology and common-sense concepts are often hard to square. For example, when neuroscientists study lying to allow the use of brain scans for lie-detection purposes, the concept of lying in the scientific case differs considerably from the...

DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2017.09.004 Full text Phenomenology Cognitive ontology Concepts Constructs +3

Binocular rivalry after right-hemisphere stroke: Effects of attention impairment on perceptual dominance patterns.

Brain and Cognition October 2017 Kjersti Mæhlum Walle, Hillary Lynn Kyler, Jan Egil Nordvik et al.

Binocular rivalry is when perception fluctuates while the stimuli, consisting of different images presented to each eye, remain unchanged. The fluctuation rate and predominance ratio of these images are regarded as information source for understanding properties of consciousness and perception. We administered a binocular rivalry task to 26 right-hemisphere stroke patients and 26 healthy...

DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2017.06.007 Full text Attention Binocular rivalry Neglect Perception +1

Cognitive functions of intracellular mechanisms for contextual amplification.

Brain and Cognition March 2017 William A Phillips

Evidence for the hypothesis that input to the apical tufts of neocortical pyramidal cells plays a central role in cognition by amplifying their responses to feedforward input is reviewed. Apical tufts are electrically remote from the soma, and their inputs come from diverse sources including direct feedback from higher cortical regions, indirect feedback via the thalamus, and long-range lateral...

DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2015.09.005 Full text Apical amplification Cognition Consciousness Contextual modulation +2

Prediction error minimization: Implications for Embodied Cognition and the Extended Mind Hypothesis.

Brain and Cognition March 1, 2017 Leon De Bruin, John Michael

Over the past few years, the prediction error minimization (PEM) framework has increasingly been gaining ground throughout the cognitive sciences. A key issue dividing proponents of PEM is how we should conceptualize the relation between brain, body and environment. Clark advocates a version of PEM which retains, at least to a certain extent, his prior commitments to Embodied Cognition and to...

DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2016.01.009 Full text Embodied cognition Extended mind hypothesis Prediction error minimization

Default mode network activation and Transcendental Meditation practice: Focused Attention or Automatic Self-transcending?

Brain and Cognition February 1, 2017 Frederick Travis, Niyazi Parim

This study used subjective reports and eLORETA analysis to assess to what extent Transcendental Meditation (TM) might involve focused attention-voluntary control of mental content. Eighty-seven TM subjects with one month to five years TM experience participated in this study. Regression analysis of years TM practice and self-reported transcendental experiences (lack of time, space and body...

DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2016.08.009 Full text Dmn Automatic self-transcending Focused attention Frontal +3

8-week Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction induces brain changes similar to traditional long-term meditation practice - A systematic review.

Brain and Cognition July 16, 2016 Rinske A. Gotink, Rozanna Meijboom, Meike W Vernooij et al.

Unlabelled: The objective of the current study was to systematically review the evidence of the effect of secular mindfulness techniques on function and structure of the brain. Based on areas known from traditional meditation neuroimaging results, we aimed to explore a neuronal explanation of the stress-reducing effects of the 8-week Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and Mindfulness...

DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2016.07.001 Meditation Mindfulness Brain Humans +4

Increases in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and decreases the rostral prefrontal cortex activation after-8 weeks of focused attention based mindfulness meditation.

Brain and Cognition February 1, 2016 Barbara Tomasino, Franco Fabbro

Mindfulness meditation is a form of attention control training. The training exercises the ability to repeatedly focus attention. We addressed the activation changes related to an 8-weeks mindfulness-oriented focused attention meditation training on an initially naïve subject cohort. Before and after training participants underwent an fMRI experiment, thus, although not strictly a cross over...

DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2015.12.004 Full text Attention Mindfulness meditation Prefrontal cortex FMRI

Electroencephalographic and autonomic alterations in subjects with frequent nightmares during pre-and post-REM periods.

Brain and Cognition November 1, 2014 Péter Simor, János Körmendi, Klára Horváth et al.

Abnormal arousal processes, sympathetic influences, as well as wake-like alpha activity during sleep were reported as pathophysiological features of Nightmare Disorder. We hypothesized that in Nightmare Disorder, wake-like cortical activity and peripheral measures linked to arousals would be triggered by physiological processes related to the initiation of REM periods. Therefore, we examined...

DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2014.08.004 Full text Dreaming Nightmare Alpha power EEG +2

Disentangling the neural mechanisms involved in Hinduism- and Buddhism-related meditations.

Brain and Cognition October 2014 Barbara Tomasino, Alberto Chiesa, Franco Fabbro

The most diffuse forms of meditation derive from Hinduism and Buddhism spiritual traditions. Different cognitive processes are set in place to reach these meditation states. According to an historical-philological hypothesis (Wynne, 2009) the two forms of meditation could be disentangled. While mindfulness is the focus of Buddhist meditation reached by focusing sustained attention on the body,...

DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2014.03.013 Full text Meditation Mindfulness Default system Executive attention +2

Fractal characterization of internally and externally generated conscious experiences.

Brain and Cognition June 2014 Antonio Ibáñez-Molina, Sergio Iglesias-Parro

Although there is an extensive literature on the study of the neural correlates of consciousness (NCC) this is a subject that is far from being considered over. In this paper we present a novel experimental paradigm, based on binocular rivalry, to study internally and externally generated conscious experiences. We called this procedure bimodal rivalry. In addition, and assuming the non-linear...

DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2014.03.002 Full text Bimodal rivalry Consciousness EEG Fractal dimension +1

Hypnotic assessment based on the recurrence quantification analysis of EEG recorded in the ordinary state of consciousness.

Brain and Cognition November 2013 Dario Madeo, Eleonora Castellani, Enrica L Santarcangelo et al.

The cerebral cortical correlates of the susceptibility to hypnosis in the ordinary states of consciousness have not been clarified. Aim of the study was to characterize the EEG dynamics of subjects with high (highs) and low hypnotisability (lows) through the non-linear method of Recurrence Quantification Analysis (RQA). The EEG of 16 males--8 highs and 8 lows--was monitored for 1min without...

DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2013.08.002 Full text EEG Hypnotic susceptibility Hypnotisability Non-linear time series +1

Christfried Jakob's late views (1930-1949) on the psychogenetic function of the cerebral cortex and its localization: culmination of the neurophilosophical thought of a keen brain observer.

Brain and Cognition April 1, 2012 Zoë D Théodoridou, Lazaros C Triarhou 2 citations

This article follows the culmination of the scientific thought of the neurobiologist Christfried Jakob (1866-1956) during the later part of his career, based on publications from 1930 to 1949, when he was between 64 and 83 years of age. Jakob emphasized the necessity of bridging philosophy to the biological sciences, neurobiology in particular. Thus, we consider him as one of the early...

DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2011.11.005 Full text

Impaired executive functions in subjects with frequent nightmares as reflected by performance in different neuropsychological tasks.

Brain and Cognition April 1, 2012 Péter Simor, Péter Pajkossy, Klára Horváth et al.

Nightmare disorder is a prevalent parasomnia characterized by vivid and highly unpleasant dream experiences during night time sleep. The neural background of disturbed dreaming was proposed to be associated with impaired prefrontal and fronto-limbic functioning during REM sleep. We hypothesized that the impaired prefrontal and fronto-limbic functioning in subjects with frequent nightmares would...

DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2012.01.006 Full text

Consciousness lost and found: subjective experiences in an unresponsive state.

Brain and Cognition December 1, 2011 Valdas Noreika, Leila Jylhänkangas, Levente Móró et al. 62 citations

Anesthetic-induced changes in the neural activity of the brain have been recently utilized as a research model to investigate the neural mechanisms of phenomenal consciousness. However, the anesthesiologic definition of consciousness as "responsiveness to the environment" seems to sidestep the possibility that an unresponsive individual may have subjective experiences. The aim of the present...

DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2011.09.002 Full text

Papers