Hannes Schätzle, Frederic von Wegner
Abstract Subanaesthetic ketamine alters the content of consciousness while leaving responsiveness intact. We asked whether this state can be decoded from single eyes-closed EEG epochs, and how spectral power and phase-based connectivity compare when used as features. Re-analysing openly available 62-channel EEG from ten participants (awake versus subanaesthetic ketamine), we trained classifiers...
Nandakumar Sasidharan Rajalekshmi
preprint
The origin of creation and the emergence of subjective experience remain among the deepest unsolved questions in science. We propose a unified hypothesis in which 'creation' is any entity or process with a beginning and an end in space and time. This premise implies the existence of a universal ground state as the source which is all-pervading, eternal, uniform and memoryless. All observable...
This work provides a formal architecture of consciousness based on a single axiom of existence - consciousness is the fundamental basis of reality and not a product of matter. It combines the principles of Advaita Vedanta philosophy, the “hard problem” of consciousness (Chalmers), and quantum informational theory (Faggin & D‘ariano) to develop a framework that provides an ontic-epistemic...
Guy Simon, Nir Tadmor, Jules Evans et al.
preprint
Abstract Background Psychedelic substances are increasingly used outside clinical trials, yet individuals seeking support after challenging experiences often report that available services are inadequate or misaligned with their needs. While prior research documents both beneficial and adverse outcomes of naturalistic use, less is known about how such experiences are received and interpreted...
Fabio Mattiussi, Patrizio Tressoldi
preprint
This study investigates the perspectives of Advanced Meditators (AMs) on death, focusing on their beliefs, emotional responses, and sense-making processes related to the end of life. Drawing on the responses obtained through direct interviews with 45 experienced practitioners, we utilized thematic analysis to identify a distinctive pattern of existential attitudes shaped by long-term...
Otto Lehto, Liam D. Ryan
preprint
The problem of other minds takes an especially acute form in thorny comparative cases, when we ask whether an infant is more, less, or differently conscious than an adult, or whether an octopus is more, less, or differently conscious than a dog. These judgments must be made in the absence of a settled theory of consciousness while navigating significant empirical uncertainties. For all these...
Kwangjun Lee, Cyriel M A Pennartz
preprint
Taking phenomenal consciousness as explanandum, we first circumscribe it using five hallmarks. Fundamentally, conscious experience corresponds to generating a best-guess representation of what the sensory inputs the wakeful brain receives are about. This process can be computationally approached with predictive processing (PP): the brain constantly generates inferential, predictive...
G Samuelson
preprint
Dreaming is among the most vivid demonstrations that consciousness can occur in a state of relative sensory disconnection. This paper reviews whether dream experience is better explained as an endogenous neurocognitive construction or as evidence of contact with another dimension, multiverse branch, or anomalous informational domain. The review integrates literature from the neuroscience of REM...
Ramin Bidari
preprint
This paper explores the profound relationship between energetic consciousness and the brain, arguing that consciousness is an independent force beyond time and space that utilizes the brain as a tool for experiencing reality. Unlike traditional neuroscientific perspectives that consider the brain as the source of consciousness, this study suggests that consciousness actively alters the brain’s...
Tom Murray, Thomas McConkie, Matthew D. Sacchet
preprint
Contemplative science is entering a “third wave” that investigates advanced meditative development, including the study of advanced states and practitioners and the phenomenology and neurocognitive correlates of enduring trait transformations (meditative development). This paper argues that these research directions would benefit from the systematic inclusion of adult cognitive-developmental...