Francis Erdman
preprint
This paper develops Recursive Field Functionalism, a modest extension of Dennettian functionalism and Humphrey’s recursive account of consciousness. Building on an earlier homotopic model of mental content, it argues that percepts, concepts, and beliefs are not separate mental substances but different degrees of stabilization within a single informational hierarchy. Consciousness, on this view,...
Anton Kleschev Alevtinowitch
preprint
We present a formal theory of qualia in which subjective experience is identified with the internally accessible difference generated by self-referential enrichment in an open metastable system. The framework synthesizes eight prior lines of work into a single architecture: Xi-Theory contributes distinction acts and integrity; Innernet contributes ontological levels and return dynamics;...
Sonia Medina, Owen G. O’Daly, Matthew A. Howard et al.
preprint
Abstract Mind-body treatments can improve coping mechanisms, and occasionally perceived pain, in individuals with Fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS). However, their mechanisms-of-action remain unclear and predictors of treatment response are lacking. We employed resting-state blood oxygen level dependent (rsBOLD) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to address this need by examining changes in...
Helen Y. Weng, Mushim P. Ikeda, Jarrod A Lewis-Peacock et al.
Mindfulness and compassion meditation are thought to cultivate prosocial behavior. However, the lack of diverse representation within both scientific and participant populations in contemplative neuroscience may limit generalizability and translation of prior findings. To address these issues, we propose a research framework called Intersectional Neuroscience which adapts research procedures to...
Nicholas G. Polson
preprint
We give a predictive-processing account of three phenomena usually treated apart: a rhetorical device from the smoking-cessation literature, the rebound produced by negated instructions, and the contemplative use of mantra. Belief is a precision-weighted posterior. The claim is negative: persuasion and suggestion rarely supply better evidence, and so rarely move a posterior mean. They act...
Jake H. Davis, Evan Thompson
This chapter examines relates current philosophical conceptions of consciousness to the Buddhist scheme known as the five aggregates.
Peter G. Burton
Cognitive System Theory has great depth as an explanation of human Higher Brain Function. The CST model has three levels of analysis: cognitive logistics in Brain; cognitive structure in Mind; and a triadic control topology at the level of Consciousness. There are applications, implications and consequences of this new theory, not least of which is the definition of Meaning2.0, Individuality2.0...
Vladimir Bondarev
preprint
Attempts to reduce consciousness to notions of quantum mechanics lead to quantum theories of consciousness that are unlikely to be successful. The main drawback of these theories is that they consider reality, which is studied by quantum mechanics, as the cause of consciousness a priori. The paper shows that this reality exists only in one's mind and is the product, not the cause, of...
Jonathan Delafield-Butt
preprint
Panpsychism is a metaphysical framework around which science can understand the nature of subjective experience. Panpsychism affords a scientific view of mind and body as a coherent mind–body unity, with agentive purpose. Fundamental to minds is motor control, a core aspect that combines sensory experience, its evaluation in choice of agent action, and extension into the public expression of...
Juensung J. Kim
preprint
Recent academic discussion of magic has largely fallen into three camps: the psychological study of magical thinking, in an effort to explain it away; the sociological or anthropological study of magical beliefs and practices, remaining agnostic about their efficacy; and some attempts to make magic presentable as a subject of serious cognitive science. The present paper presents an alternative...