Current Neurology and Neuroscience Reports
July 27, 2019
Costanza Peinkhofer, Jens P Dreier, Daniel Kondziella
45 citations
Near-death experiences (NDEs) are conscious perceptual experiences involving self-related emotional, spiritual, and mystical feelings that can occur in close encounters with death or in non-life-threatening situations. Their origin remains unknown. Recent prospective studies confirm that NDEs represent a spectrum of highly distinctive memories associated with negative or positive emotions, influenced by the causal event, though the temporal sequence of images varies. Some drugs, particularly ketamine, can produce experiences similar or identical to NDEs. New models extend previous neural network theories and incorporate evolutionary and quantum aspects. While NDEs' factual existence is no longer doubted and their semiology is well-described, a comprehensive pathophysiological model is still lacking.
Current Neurology and Neuroscience Reports
August 1, 2024
Daniel C Mograbi, Rafael S. Rodrigues, Bheatrix Bienemann et al.
12 citations
Self-awareness—the capacity to make oneself the object of one's own attention—has clinical relevance, and understanding its neurochemical basis may clarify causes of and treatments for psychopathological conditions. This article reviews how psychedelics influence self-awareness by affecting brain networks such as the default-mode and salience networks, and neurotransmitters. Within a predictive-coding framework, it examines effects on interoception, body ownership, agency, metacognition, emotional regulation, and autobiographical memory. Improved emotional regulation and autobiographical memory have been observed with psychedelic use, suggesting changes in higher-order self-awareness, modulated by relaxed priors and enhanced cognitive flexibility. Bodily self-awareness alterations are less consistent, potentially varying with dose, acute versus long-term effects, and clinical conditions.
Current Neurology and Neuroscience Reports
December 20, 2025
Robert Lawrence Kuhn
1 citation
A comprehensive, cross-disciplinary taxonomy called 'Landscape of Consciousness' organizes more than 350 theories of phenomenal consciousness across physicalist and non-physicalist traditions into 10 primary categories, including Materialism, Non-Reductive Physicalism, Quantum & Dimensions, Information, Panpsychisms, Monisms, Dualisms, Idealisms, and Anomalous & Altered States. Materialism, the largest category, contains 12 subcategories such as Neurobiological, Computational & Functionalism, and Embodied & Enactive. The taxonomy aims to encourage novel thinking among medical practitioners and neuroscientists by presenting theories neutrally in their authors' words. Two central theses are that understanding phenomenal consciousness should seek expansive yet rational diversity, and that issues like AI consciousness and free will depend on particular theories of consciousness.
Current Neurology and Neuroscience Reports
October 18, 2025
Joshua G Berenbaum, Benjamin Morrison, Brenna Hagan et al.
The frontal cortex is involved in many functions linked to consciousness, and disorders that damage frontal brain areas or networks can alter conscious experience. This review examines how frontal disorders affect consciousness, considering competing theories: some hold that the frontal cortex is necessary for consciousness, others emphasize posterior cortical regions, and the Memory Theory of Consciousness proposes that consciousness depends on modality-specific localization throughout the brain. The authors argue that frontal disorders do not abolish consciousness but can disrupt conscious abilities including sustained attention, working memory, problem-solving, complex thought, executive function, response inhibition, decision-making, and goal-oriented behavior. Understanding this relationship has significant scientific, clinical, and societal implications.
Current Neurology and Neuroscience Reports
March 1, 2014
Erin J. Wamsley
Dreaming is shaped by the brain's consolidation of memories during sleep. After new information is learned, memory traces are gradually stabilized and reorganized for long-term storage. Sleep provides an ideal state for this process, allowing memory networks to be reactivated without new sensory input. This reactivation and consolidation influences conscious experience during sleep, contributing to dream content recalled upon waking. The article reviews evidence supporting this hypothesis and addresses common objections.