Deep computational neurophenomenology: a methodological framework for investigating the how of experience.
Lars Sandved-Smith, Juan Diego Bogotá, Jakob Hohwy, Julian Kiverstein, Antoine Lutz
Neuroscience of Consciousness 2025 DOI: 10.1093/nc/niaf016 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Philosophy of mind |
| Keywords | Bayesian mechanics Active inference Computational modelling Consciousness Methodology Neurophenomenology |
| Citations | 10 |
| Key points | Argues that deep parametric active inference provides a formal framework for establishing epistemically advantageous mutual constraints between phenomenological, computational, behavioral, and physiological vocabularies in consciousness research. |
Abstract
The context for our paper comes from the neurophenomenology (NPh) research programme initiated by Francisco Varela at the end of the 1990s. Varela's working hypothesis was that, to be successful, a consciousness research programme must progress by relating first-person phenomenological accounts of the structure of experience and their third-person counterparts in neuroscience through "mutual constraints". Leveraging Bayesian mechanics, in particular deep parametric active inference, we demonstrate the potential for epistemically advantageous mutual constraints between phenomenological, computational, behavioural, and physiological vocabularies. Specifically, the dual information geometry of Bayesian mechanics serves to establish, under certain conditions, generative passage between lived experience and its physiological instantiation. This paper argues for the epistemological necessity of such a passage and the inclusion of trained reflective awareness in neurophenomenological empirical approaches. In particular, it showcases incremental explanatory gains for the scientist that arise from incorporating the participants' epistemic insights, shifting the focus from the contents of experience (i.e. what a subject experiences in a given experimental set-up) to the how of experience (i.e. the activities of consciousness that allow for a meaningful world to appear to us as such in lived experience). The explanatory power of the resulting 'meta-Bayesian' framework, deep computational NPh, arises from the disciplined circulation between first and third-person perspectives enabled by the formalism of deep parametric active inference, where parametric depth refers to a property of generative models that can form beliefs about the parameters of their own modelling process. Hence, this computational formalism contributes to understanding consciousness by bridging phenomenological descriptions and physiological instantiations, whilst also highlighting the significance of trained first-person investigation in experimental protocols.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on philosophy of mind, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Psychosis as a state of aberrant salience: a framework linking biology, phenomenology, and pharmacology in schizophrenia. | 2003 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| From dopamine to salience to psychosis--linking biology, pharmacology and phenomenology of psychosis. | 2005 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| How do the brain's time and space mediate consciousness and its different dimensions? Temporo-spatial theory of consciousness (TTC). | 2017 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| The phenomenology of deep brain stimulation-induced changes in OCD: an enactive affordance-based model. | 2013 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Looking for the Self: Phenomenology, Neurophysiology and Philosophical Significance of Drug-induced Ego Dissolution | 2017 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
Citations in the library
Cited by 12
- Shedding Light on Changes in Subjective Experience During an Intensive Contemplative Retreat: The Lyon Assessment of Meditation Phenomenology Questionnaire. Biological Psychiatry Global Open Science July 1, 2025
- Active inference, computational phenomenology, and advanced meditation: Toward the formalization of the experience of meditation. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews March 1, 2026
- A commentary to comparative analysis of meditation techniques on well-being and consciousness states: A cross-sectional study Journal of Neurosciences in Rural Practice August 6, 2026
- Qualities, subjectivity and spatial extension: is there a common factor? Frontiers in Psychology June 29, 2026
- Toward a Computational Phenomenology of Meditative Deconstruction: "Letting Go" and the Deconstruction of Experience With Active Inference. Neural Computation June 2, 2026
and 7 more in the library
Cites 21
- Neural correlates of consciousness: progress and problems Nature Reviews Neuroscience April 20, 2016
- Theories of consciousness. Nature Reviews Neuroscience July 1, 2022
- Investigating the phenomenological matrix of mindfulness-related practices from a neurocognitive perspective. American Psychologist October 1, 2015
- Meditation alters perceptual rivalry in Tibetan Buddhist monks Current Biology June 1, 2005
- Effortless awareness: using real time neurofeedback to investigate correlates of posterior cingulate cortex activity in meditators' self-report Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 2013
and 16 more in the library