The human mind is constituted by inner, subjective, private, first-person conscious experiences that cannot be measured with physical devices or observed from an external, objective, public, third-person perspective. The qualitative, phenomenal nature of conscious experiences also cannot be communicated to others in the form of a message composed of classical bits of information. Because in a...
Abstract The effects of intensive meditation practices on the functional and structural organization of the human brain have been addressed by a growing number of neuroscientific studies. However, the different modulations of meditation expertise and of ageing, in the underlying brain areas and networks, have not yet been fully elucidated. These effects should be distinguished in order to...
Functional neuroimaging research has consistently associated brain structures within the default mode network (DMN) and frontoparietal network (FPN) with mind‐wandering. Targeted lesion research has documented impairments in mind‐wandering after damage to the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and hippocampal regions associated with the DMN. However, no lesion studies to date have applied lesion...
This chapter begins with definitions and the history of the attribute of respiration as it has always related to the mystery of the breath, which in turn is associated with life and death and, as life force, connected to spirit and soul. Connections are explored between the breath and instinctual expression of strong affects, and connections with the inspirations of the inner world and the...
. This essay explores the universal nature of aesthetic, creative, and mystical experience, tracing some essential interrelations among the three. Enlarging upon the work of anthropologist Jacques Maquet, I speculate that “sensory fixedness” is both necessary and sufficient to achieve aesthetic experience, and that the unification of mind engendered by sensory fixedness is the essential source of...
Sustained attention is a fundamental ability ensuring effective cognitive processing and can be enhanced by meditation practice. However, keeping a focused meditative state is challenging for novices because involuntary mind-wandering frequently occurs during their practice. Inspired by the potential of force-control tasks in invoking internal somatic attention, we proposed a haptics-assisted...
experiencing emotional challenges. Students face an increasingly unstable and uncertain world due to rising political discord, terrorism, tensions between world powers, and more. Additional factors are further impacting college students’ emotional health. Research shows excessive engagement with digital technology –such as the high frequency of electronic messaging– negatively affects users’...
Often, as we read, we find ourselves thinking about something other than the text; this tendency to mind-wander is linked to poor comprehension and reduced subsequent memory for texts. Contemporary accounts argue that periods of off-task thought are related to the tendency for attention to be decoupled from external input. We used fMRI to understand the neural processes that underpin this...
In this paper, I will critically consider Clark and Chalmers’ hypothesis of the «extended mind» in order to sketch a possible phenomenological account of active externalism, by following three steps: (i) I will consider Clark and Chalmers’ hypothesis within the broader context of the so-called «physical symbol system hypothesis» theorized by Herbert A. Simon; (ii) I will connect the problem of...
Increasing levels of psychological distress in university student populations are a growing concern. Mindfulness training provides a potential intervention to improve well-being outcomes. This paper uses a thematic analysis approach to explore the experiences of pre-clinic physiotherapy students participating in a six-week mindfulness programme based on either sitting meditation or mindful...