Experiencing your brain: neurofeedback as a new bridge between neuroscience and phenomenology.
Juliana Bagdasaryan, Michel Le van Quyen
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 2013 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2013.00680 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Intervention | Neurofeedback |
| Topics | Philosophy of mind |
| Keywords | Downward causation Multiscale neural dynamics Neurofeedback Neurophenomenology Voluntary action |
| Citations | 124 |
| Key points | Proposes that neurofeedback paradigms can pragmatically integrate first-person and third-person descriptions in neurophenomenology by creating iterative causal closed loops where conscious experience directly influences neural activity. |
Abstract
Neurophenomenology is a scientific research program aimed to combine neuroscience with phenomenology in order to study human experience. Nevertheless, despite several explicit implementations, the integration of first-person data into the experimental protocols of cognitive neuroscience still faces a number of epistemological and methodological challenges. Notably, the difficulties to simultaneously acquire phenomenological and neuroscientific data have limited its implementation into research projects. In our paper, we propose that neurofeedback paradigms, in which subjects learn to self-regulate their own neural activity, may offer a pragmatic way to integrate first-person and third-person descriptions. Here, information from first- and third-person perspectives is braided together in the iterative causal closed loop, creating experimental situations in which they reciprocally constrain each other. In real-time, the subject is not only actively involved in the process of data acquisition, but also assisted to directly influence the neural data through conscious experience. Thus, neurofeedback may help to gain a deeper phenomenological-physiological understanding of downward causations whereby conscious activities have direct causal effects on neuronal patterns. We discuss possible mechanisms that could mediate such effects and indicate a number of directions for future research.
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 9
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to Neurophenomenology - The Case of Studying Self Boundaries With Meditators. Frontiers in Psychology 2020
- Self-specific processing in the meditating brain: a MEG neurophenomenology study. Neuroscience of Consciousness 2016
- The Kantian brain: brain dynamics from a neurophenomenological perspective. Current Opinion in Neurobiology April 1, 2015
- Differential Subjective Experiences in Learners and Non-learners in Frontal Alpha Neurofeedback: Piloting a Mixed-Method Approach. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 2018
- The Influence of Faradarmani Consciousness Field on the Survival and Death of MCF-7 Breast Cancer Cells: An Optimization Perspective The Scientific Journal of Cosmointel April 17, 2022
and 4 more in the library
Cites 6
- Guiding the study of brain dynamics by using first-person data: Synchrony patterns correlate with ongoing conscious states during a simple visual task Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences January 22, 2002
- Effortless awareness: using real time neurofeedback to investigate correlates of posterior cingulate cortex activity in meditators' self-report Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 2013
- Anticipating seizure: pre-reflective experience at the center of neuro-phenomenology. Consciousness and Cognition September 1, 2007
- Microcognitive science: bridging experiential and neuronal microdynamics. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 2013
- The Neurobiology of Consciousness: Lucid Dreaming Wakes Up heiDOK (Heidelberg University) 2009
and 1 more in the library