The experiential self state as affective salience: a dual-self states framework for consciousness and self-transcendence.
Neuroscience of Consciousness 2026 DOI: 10.1093/nc/niag033 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Altered states of consciousness Meditation Philosophy of mind |
| Keywords | Experiential consciousness Interoception Meta-awareness Predictive processing Salience network Self-transcendence |
| Key points | Proposes that reflective and experiential self-states are dynamic configurations along a processing continuum, with the experiential state characterized by reduced precision-weighting of self-referential priors and integration of affective and bodily signals, governed by dopaminergic, noradrenergic, and serotonergic mechanisms. |
Abstract
This article proposes a dual-self states framework in which reflective and experiential modes of consciousness are understood as dynamic configurations along a processing continuum. The reflective/experiential self-state corresponds to narrative, denotational, and self-referential consciousness underpinned by default mode network activity. The experiential self state is characterized as an affective-salience mode of perspectival awareness, anchored in salience network hubs (particularly the anterior insula and anterior cingulate cortex), which integrate interoceptive and exteroceptive signals into a coherent, non-propositional sense of being-here-as-subject, accompanied by sustained, non-reflective meta-awareness. Within a predictive processing framework, the experiential self state corresponds to a configuration in which the precision-weighting of high-level self-referential priors is reduced and a broader range of affective and bodily signals shapes conscious experience, a shift governed by dopaminergic, noradrenergic, and serotonergic mechanisms. This characterization carries direct implications for individual differences in traits such as mindfulness and absorption, and for conditions involving dysregulated salience processing. The framework further proposes that self-transcendent experiences, including absorption, meditation, awe, and mystical or religious experience, are best understood as expressions of the experiential self state, and serve as theoretical and empirical testing grounds for the framework's core claims.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on altered states of consciousness, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Altered States of Consciousness | 1966 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Functional neuroanatomy of altered states of consciousness: The transient hypofrontality hypothesis | 2003 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| The Psychedelic Mystical Experience in the Human Encounter with Death | 1969 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| A neurophenomenological approach to non-ordinary states of consciousness: hypnosis, meditation, and psychedelics | 2022 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Hypnotic phenomena and altered states of consciousness: a multilevel framework of description and explanation | 2003 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
Citations in the library
Cites 61
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- How Does Mindfulness Meditation Work? Proposing Mechanisms of Action From a Conceptual and Neural Perspective Perspectives on Psychological Science October 14, 2011
- Psychosis as a state of aberrant salience: a framework linking biology, phenomenology, and pharmacology in schizophrenia. American Journal of Psychiatry 2003
and 56 more in the library