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July 1, 2014 Ben Gibran
Causal realism is the view that causation is a structural feature of reality; a power inherent in the world to produce effects, independently of the existence of minds or observers. This article suggests that certain problems in the philosophy of mind are artefacts of causal realism; because they presuppose the existence or possibility of a real causal nexus between the ‘physical’ and the...
Journal of Forensic and Legal Medicine July 2014 Richard J. Stevenson, Laurence Tuddenham
A man in his twenties who had no previous history of violence, snorted large quantities of two substances he identified as 3-methoxyphencyclidine (3-MeO-PCP), and methylenedioxypyrovalerone (MDPV); both are recognised as novel psychoactive substances, or commonly described in the media as "legal highs". He also inhaled butane gas. He experienced vivid hallucinations and developed bizarre ideas....
Schizophrenia Bulletin July 2014 Renaud Jardri, Agna A. Bartels‐Velthuis, Martin Debbané et al.
Typically reported as vivid, multisensory experiences which may spontaneously resolve, hallucinations are present at high rates during childhood. The risk of associated psychopathology is a major cause of concern. On the one hand, the risk of developing further delusional ideation has been shown to be reduced by better theory of mind skills. On the other hand, ideas of reference, passivity...
International Journal of Transpersonal Studies July 1, 2014 Kenneth Ring, Ralph Metzner, Philip E. Wolfson 1 citation
Off-label use of ketamine as a mind-altering substance did not begin in the laboratory, but in the psychedelic culture that grew out of the 1960s counterculture movement. Whatever the risks and limitations of such experimentation, without them the remarkable therapeutic effects of the drug might well have gone unnoticed, and unresearched. The following personal accounts-both inspiring and...
International Journal of Transpersonal Studies July 1, 2014 Philip E. Wolfson 2 citations
Prior studies have reported variously on the presence or absence of dissociative effects at subanesthtetic doses of ketamine administered for treatment-resistant depression. This mixedmethods study emulated the protocol used for the studies in question, with IV administration of 0.5mg/kg over 40 minutes with eight experienced ketamine users. Quantitative measures were generally insignificant...
Philosophy July 1, 2014 Tyler Burge 25 citations
AbstractWhat are the earliest beings that have minds in evolutionary order? Two marks of mind are consciousness and representation. I focus on representation. I distinguish a psychologically distinctive notion of representation from a family of notions, often called ‘representation’, that invoke information, causation, and/or function. The psychologically distinctive notion implies that a...
PLoS One June 27, 2014 Kim P. C. Kuypers, Rafael de la Torre, Magı́ Farré et al. 88 citations
The present study aimed at investigating the effect of MDMA on measures of empathy and social interaction, and the roles of oxytocin and the 5-HT1A receptor in these effects. The design was placebo-controlled within-subject with 4 treatment conditions: MDMA (75 mg), with or without pindolol (20 mg), oxytocin nasal spray (40 IU+16 IU) or placebo. Participants were 20 healthy poly-drug MDMA...
Neuroimage June 25, 2014 Aaron Kucyi, Karen D. Davis 381 citations
Humans spend much of their time engaged in stimulus-independent thoughts, colloquially known as "daydreaming" or "mind-wandering." A fundamental question concerns how awake, spontaneous brain activity represents the ongoing cognition of daydreaming versus unconscious processes characterized as "intrinsic." Since daydreaming involves brief cognitive events that spontaneously fluctuate, we tested...
June 23, 2014 Eviatar Shulman
A cornerstone of Buddhist philosophy, the doctrine of the four noble truths maintains that life is replete with suffering, desire is the cause of suffering, nirvana is the end of suffering, and the way to nirvana is the eightfold noble path. Although the attribution of this seminal doctrine to the historical Buddha is ubiquitous, Rethinking the Buddha demonstrates through a careful examination...
June 5, 2014 Roger Bartra
In this unique exploration of the mysteries of the human brain, Roger Bartra shows that consciousness is a phenomenon that occurs not only in the mind but also in an external network, a symbolic system. He argues that the symbolic systems created by humans in art, language, in cooking or in dress, are the key to understanding human consciousness. Placing culture at the centre of his analysis,...