Frontiers in Psychology
January 1, 2015
Christopher L Edwards, Josie E Malinowski, Shauna L McGee et al.
Considering recent dreams in a structured group discussion can lead to personal insight, more so than discussing a recent waking event. In two small studies, participants who discussed a dream using either the Ullman or Schredl method reported high levels of experiential insight. For the Ullman method, insight ratings were significantly higher for dreams than for control events. The findings support the idea that reflecting on dream content helps identify waking-life sources and may generate personal realizations, possibly linked to REM sleep's role in emotional memory consolidation.
Frontiers in Psychology
January 1, 2015
Valdas Noreika, Andrés Canales-Johnson, Justin Koh et al.
During the transition from relaxation to drowsiness, people often experience hypnagogic phenomena such as perceptual imagery or linguistic intrusions—sudden, unpredictable anomalies in inner speech. In a single participant across 10 EEG sessions, drowsiness depth (measured by Hori stages) increased in the 20 seconds before reporting such an experience, and EEG Dimension of Activation values decreased, indicating rapid changes in brain predictability. Linguistic intrusions were associated with higher alpha and gamma power over the left hemisphere, while perceptual imagery corresponded to higher beta power over the right hemisphere. These results suggest that the modality and incongruence of hypnagogic experiences have distinct EEG signatures, and sleep onset offers a way to study the neural basis of consciousness fragmentation in healthy individuals.
Frontiers in Psychology
January 1, 2015
Phebe B Kemmer, Ying Guo, Yikai Wang et al.
Experienced Zen meditators and meditation-naïve controls underwent fMRI during an attention-to-breathing task and completed computerized neuropsychological tests. Resting-state functional connectivity differences between the groups were identified, particularly in frontoparietal circuits connected to visual and executive control areas. A machine-learning classifier distinguished meditators from controls with 79% accuracy based on brain network connectivity, and with 75% accuracy based on behavioral test scores. Variation in connectivity among frontoparietal, executive, and visual circuits correlated with performance on a sustained attention task. The findings demonstrate the utility of network analysis for studying how contemplative practice relates to brain function.
Frontiers in Psychology
January 1, 2015
Serena Scarpelli, Cristina Marzano, Aurora D'Atri et al.
Dream recall after REM sleep is linked to higher frontal theta oscillations, a brain rhythm also involved in encoding memories while awake. In six healthy subjects awakened from afternoon naps, theta activity in the frontal cortex was greater before a remembered dream than before a forgotten one, though only the measure of sustained theta oscillations reached statistical significance. The findings support the idea that dream recall depends on the momentary brain state during sleep rather than on a fixed individual trait.
Frontiers in Psychology
January 1, 2015
Yi-Yuan Tang, Qilin Lu, Hongbo Feng et al.
Five days of integrative body-mind training (IBMT, 30 minutes per day) significantly increased cerebral blood flow in the subgenual/ventral anterior cingulate cortex, medial prefrontal cortex, and insula. Both IBMT and relaxation training increased left-lateralized cerebral blood flow, but only IBMT improved blood flow in the left anterior cingulate cortex and insula, brain regions important for self-regulation. These changes are associated with improved positive mood and frontal asymmetry.
Frontiers in Psychology
January 1, 2015
Rozalyn Simon, Maria Engström
The default mode network (DMN) is a set of brain regions that activate together during mind wandering, self-reflection, and considering others' perspectives. Abnormal DMN activity correlates with symptom severity in mental disorders, suggesting it could serve as a biomarker for diagnosis and for assessing pharmacological treatments. Meditation practice also modulates the DMN, and meditation is increasingly recognized as beneficial for treating mental disorders. The authors propose using DMN measures as a biomarker to monitor the therapeutic effects of meditation in mental disorders, noting recent findings support this approach.
Frontiers in Psychology
January 1, 2015
Serena Scarpelli, Aurora D'Atri, Maurizio Gorgoni et al.
Dream recall is predicted by theta (5-8 Hz) EEG oscillations over frontal regions just before awakening, paralleling the role of theta activity in successful episodic memory retrieval during wakefulness. This continuity suggests shared neurophysiological mechanisms between encoding and retrieval of episodic memories across sleep and wakefulness. REM sleep shows limbic activation and prefrontal deactivation, which may explain emotional dream content. Amygdala and hippocampus morphoanatomical measures predict dream bizarreness, vividness, and emotional load. Existing evidence cannot definitively determine whether this theta-dream recall relation reflects state- or trait-like differences.
Frontiers in Psychology
January 1, 2015
Ravinder Jerath, Molly W Crawford, Vernon A Barnes
The Global Workspace Theory and Integrated Information Theory are two leading models of consciousness, but they fail to explain many aspects of conscious experience. This theoretical paper compares them to the authors' own model, in which the thalamus fills in processed sensory information from corticothalamic feedback loops within a proposed three-dimensional default space, recreating internal and external worlds in the mind. This 3D default space comprises all cells of the body, communicating via gap junctions and electrical potentials to create a unified space. Visual and non-visual sensory information is filled in within this dynamic space, producing a seamless conscious experience. The neural sensory memory space is likely generated by baseline neural oscillatory activity from the default mode network, other salient networks, brainstem, and reticular activating system.
Frontiers in Psychology
October 30, 2014
K. Sandberg, L. M. Andersen, M. Overgaard
Moving beyond the traditional method of contrasting conscious and unconscious conditions can improve the search for the neural correlates of consciousness (NCC). Existing paradigms that control for precursors and consequences of consciousness offer advantages but also have pitfalls. Multivariate decoding of neural activity patterns is proposed as a supplement because it can detect which patterns consistently predict conscious experiences on single trials. The NCC proper should be consistently predictive, whereas consequences of consciousness may not occur on every trial and prerequisites may be present without conscious experience, making both less predictive.
Frontiers in Psychology
September 24, 2014
Tom Alexander de Graaf, Alexander T eSack
Non-invasive brain stimulation techniques such as transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) can help clarify which brain processes are necessary for conscious vision versus those that are merely correlated with it. Neuroimaging methods like fMRI or EEG reveal brain activity linked to conscious perception, but they cannot distinguish whether that activity is a prerequisite, a consequence, or a substrate of conscious experience. By temporarily altering brain activity, NIBS allows researchers to test causal roles, thereby disentangling the neural correlates of consciousness. This review discusses how these techniques advance understanding of the brain mechanisms underlying conscious vision.
Frontiers in Psychology
September 16, 2014
Talis eBachmann, Anthony G. Hudetz
Consciousness arises from the interaction of two distinct brain mechanisms: one that represents the specific contents of perception and cognition (the data) and another that regulates the level of activity of those contents. Neither mechanism alone is sufficient; without specific contents there is no conscious experience, and without sufficient activity those contents remain unconscious. When both are activated to the necessary degree, they jointly provide conditions sufficient for conscious experience to emerge. This theoretical integration combines two previously separate research traditions—one studying the contents of conscious experience and the other studying the level of consciousness—and emphasizes understanding the mechanisms of consciousness rather than mere correlates.
Frontiers in Psychology
September 16, 2014
Mattie eTops, Maarten A S Boksem, Markus eQuirin et al.
The Predictive And Reactive Control Systems (PARCS) theory integrates competing accounts of awareness by describing the default mode network (DMN) and anterior insula (AI) as parts of two distinct behavioral and homeostatic control systems. The DMN, active at rest without external tasks, supports self-reflective awareness and prospection, while the AI is linked to awareness and task-related attention. PARCS explains how mental states shift between prospective self-reflection and awareness of the emotional moment depending on which control system dominates. These shifts enable intake of novel information, its integration into existing knowledge, and creation of a continuous personal context.
Frontiers in Psychology
September 16, 2014
Joaquin eNavajas, Hernan Gonzalo Rey, Rodrigo eQuian Quiroga
A review of studies on the neural correlates of consciousness (NCCs) argues that disagreements in the field arise because different studies capture different conscious processes. The authors advocate for paradigms that produce different perceptual outputs from identical visual inputs. They distinguish perceptual awareness, linked to a boost in object-selective neural assemblies, from contextual awareness, reflected in the firing of concept neurons in the medial temporal lobe that trigger rich representations of context, associations, and memories.
Frontiers in Psychology
August 22, 2014
Andreas Keller, B. D. Young
Olfaction offers advantages for consciousness research due to its computational and phenomenological simplicity, which aids in identifying basic principles, and its unique features that distinguish it from vision. These qualities make olfaction an ideal system for testing theories of consciousness. This collection presents recent research findings on olfactory consciousness.
Frontiers in Psychology
May 22, 2014
Daniel eCollerton
Psychological treatments for emotional distress produce lasting changes in cognitive and emotional consciousness and brain function. Pre and post treatment functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging localizes brain changes following psychotherapy to frontal, cingulate, and limbic circuits, which support a wide range of conscious experiences. Multivoxel Pattern Analysis of distributed changes across these brain areas may distinguish between different states of consciousness, illustrating the holistic nature of consciousness and the interplay between brain and consciousness.
Frontiers in Psychology
May 22, 2014
Enrico eFacco, Christian eAgrillo
A case of near-death experience (NDE) occurred without any life-threatening conditions, challenging the dominant hypotheses that NDEs stem from brain disorders or psychological reactions to the threat of death. The individual experienced typical NDE features—peace, bright light, encountering deceased relatives, and transcending space and time—despite being medically stable. This evidence indicates that neither a brain-based nor a wish-fulfillment explanation can fully account for such experiences, suggesting a broader theoretical framework is needed to understand the phenomenon.
Frontiers in Psychology
May 22, 2014
James H. Austin
Zen Buddhist meditation trains attention and awareness during daily life, reduces egocentric behaviors, and applies compassionate insight-wisdom. This review examines how such training relates to Zen's emphasis on direct experience, particularly acute states of awakening called kensho and satori. It distinguishes concentrative and receptive forms of meditation, which train top-down and bottom-up attentional processing. Two processing pathways are contrasted: an egocentric frame of reference tied to body and mind, and an other-centered (allocentric) frame. A model proposes that a triggering stimulus causes the reticular nucleus to release GABA, inhibiting the dorsal thalamus and blocking somatic and psychic cortical functions, thereby deleting maladaptive aspects of selfhood while releasing a unified experience of other.
Frontiers in Psychology
May 22, 2014
Axel eCleeremans
Consciousness is not an intrinsic property of certain neural states but something the brain learns to do. The brain continuously and unconsciously learns to redescribe its own activity to itself, developing meta-representations that characterize first-order representations. These learned redescriptions, enriched by emotional value, form the basis of conscious experience. Learning and plasticity are central to consciousness; experiences occur only in experiencers that have learned they possess certain first-order states and have learned to care more about some states than others. This is the Radical Plasticity Thesis, an enactive perspective turned both inward and outward. Consciousness involves signal detection on the mind, which is the brain's non-conceptual, implicit theory about itself.
Frontiers in Psychology
May 22, 2014
Roger D Orpwood
Re-entrant feedback within sensory cortex or from prefrontal areas is strongly linked to the emergence of consciousness. This paper examines how local cortical networks process information under re-entrant activation, distinguishing between information structure (physical embodiment) and information message (content). It shows that if feedback enables an attractor state, the message assigned in each pass represents the previous pass's message. As information cycles repeatedly, the assigned message evolves from recognizing what the input structure is, to what it is like, how it appears, and how it seems, potentially enabling individual networks to generate qualia. Networks in cortical layers 2/3 and 5a have the required connectivity, and evidence links such cyclic activity to conscious percepts.
Frontiers in Psychology
May 22, 2014
Daniel eBor, Anil K. Seth
The prefrontal parietal network (PPN) is closely linked to both consciousness and cognitive processes like attention, working memory, and executive control. Although attention and consciousness can be dissociated under certain circumstances, attention as a content selection and boosting mechanism is an important and necessary aspect of consciousness. Chunking, which involves detecting useful patterns within integrated, attended information, activates the PPN particularly robustly compared to other cognitively demanding tasks. The authors propose that these cognitive functions together form the core psychological components of consciousness, and that the main evolutionary purpose of consciousness may be to provide innovative solutions to complex or novel problems.
Frontiers in Psychology
May 22, 2014
Srivas eChennu, Tristan A Bekinschtein
The interplay between top-down and bottom-up attention and consciousness is often examined during sleep, sedation, and disorders of consciousness such as the vegetative state (VS) and minimally conscious state (MCS). The auditory oddball paradigm, which elicits the mismatch negativity (MMN) and P300 event-related potentials, is a common tool for assessing cognitive processing in these contexts. The P300 wave can be separated into the earlier P3a, linked to bottom-up attention, and the later P3b, linked to top-down attention. Emerging evidence from healthy volunteers and patients reveals dissociations between attention and awareness across these states, highlighting neurophysiological and cognitive parallels and differences that inform theoretical frameworks.
Frontiers in Psychology
May 22, 2014
Manuela Maria Marin, Joydeep eBhattacharya
Flow, an extremely focused state of consciousness linked to peak performance and pleasure, was studied in 76 piano performance students. Daily practice and trait emotional intelligence predicted flow experience, while gender, age, duration of training, and age of first training did not. Winning a prize in a piano competition was predicted by daily practice and age training began, but a positive relationship between flow and high achievement was not supported. A self-developed questionnaire suggested that structural and compositional features of musical pieces and related emotional expressions may facilitate flow. The findings highlight the role of emotion in flow during music performance.
Frontiers in Psychology
January 6, 2014
Joel Krueger
The mind can extend beyond the brain into music. Acts of musicking—engaging with music—grant access to emotional experiences that are otherwise inaccessible. Musical affordances, or possibilities for action offered by music, invite different forms of entrainment, which enhance the functionality of emotion-regulating processes. This draws out novel emotional experiences with expanded complexity and phenomenal character. Music should therefore be thought of as part of the vehicle needed to realize these emotional experiences, supporting a model of the musically extended mind.
Frontiers in Psychology
January 1, 2014
Laura Galbusera, Lisa C. Fellin
How researchers understand other minds shapes how they study psychopathology. The paper critically examines three methodological stances: the dominant third-person approach (DSM-based, quantitative), the first-person approach (phenomenological psychopathology that tries to grasp patients' conscious experience), and the second-person approach, which emphasizes the intersubjective, circular construction of knowledge between researcher and participant. While acknowledging the value of methodological pluralism, the authors argue that a second-person perspective should inform psychopathology research because it recognizes that understanding arises from the relationship between self and other, not from detached observation or solitary introspection.
Frontiers in Psychology
January 1, 2014
Nava Levit‐binnun, Ricardo Tarrasch
Short contemplative exercises inspired by Buddhist self-inquiry, called "personal brain investigations," were introduced in an undergraduate neuroscience course for psychology students. At the start of class, all students participated in brief exercises bringing stable awareness to specific perceptual or cognitive processes. For bonus credit, 102 of 265 students completed a longer version: 10 minutes daily, 4 days a week, with lab reports and teacher feedback. Surveys, final grades, and a one-year follow-up quiz showed that bonus-track students were significantly more likely to remember class material. Qualitative analysis of their reflections indicated positive feelings, deeper connection with material, personal insights, and acquired contemplative skills like increased awareness, non-judgmental attitudes, and better stress management.