Abstract In this article, I use the study of selfscape dreams to discuss contagion‐like processes not as unique or extraordinary phenomena per se, but rather as a particular kind of social influence more broadly conceived. In particular, I argue that dream consciousness gives us clues about how social influence (and contagion) actually works: partially, incrementally, in a “condensed” way,...
ABSTRACT: An inquiry‐based intervention has been found to have a positive effect on burnout and mental well‐being parameters among teachers. The aim of the current study was to qualitatively evaluate the effect of the inquiry‐based stress reduction (IBSR) meditation technique on the participants. Semi‐structured interviews were conducted before and after the IBSR intervention and were analyzed...
Religiously Flavored Therapy, Therapeutically Flavored Morality Peter Heinegg Why Buddhism Is True: The Science and Philosophy of Meditation and Enlightenment. By Robert Wright, New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 2017. xii + 321 pp. $27. There is no one quite like Robert Wright on the American literary scene today, an ex‐Baptist secular humanist (agnostic, not atheistic), intellectual journalist...
Abstract. The formal logic of many celebrated paradoxes of quantum measurements does not rule out the effect of the observer’s mind on the outcome of a measurement or even on the prehistory of a quantum system. The modern methodology of quantum mechanics offers a consistent explanation of the role of an observer’s consciousness in physical measurements in universal terms of the interaction...
It has been argued that disorders in body-ownership and aberrant experiences in self-consciousness are due to biases in multisensory integration. Here we examine whether such biases are also associated with spontaneous out-of-body experiences (OBEs) in a nonclinical population. One-hundred and 80 participants took part in a rubber hand illusion (RHI) experiment with synchronous and asynchronous...
Thoughts occur during wake as well as during dreaming sleep. Using experience sampling combined with high-density EEG, we investigated the phenomenal qualities and neural correlates of spontaneously occurring thoughts across wakefulness, non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep, and REM sleep. Across all states, thoughts were associated with activation of a region of the midcingulate cortex....
We construct a complexity-based morphospace to study systems-level properties of conscious & intelligent systems. The axes of this space label 3 complexity types: autonomous, cognitive & social. Given recent proposals to synthesize consciousness, a generic complexity-based conceptualization provides a useful framework for identifying defining features of conscious & synthetic systems. Based on...
The hard problem of consciousness lies in explaining what constitutes the subjectivity of consciousness. I argue that significant headway can be made on the problem from an embodied mind view, and particularly if we turn to William James’ theory of emotions. The challenge is one of explaining how bodily subjectivity arises from biological processes. I argue that the solution to this problem...
This paper does two things. Firstly, it clarifies the way that phenomenological data is meant to constrain cognitive science according to enactivist thinkers. Secondly, it points to inconsistencies in the ‘Radical Enactivist’ handling of this issue, so as to explicate the commitments that enactivists need to make in order to tackle the explanatory gap. I begin by sketching the basic features of...
This case study of a campus known to incorporate contemplative practices in the curriculum and co-curriculum explored how a mindful campus is operated as well as what organizational structures and cultures are in place to support the use of contemplative practices. Supportive structures include physical structures (i.e., a labyrinth and meditation room), non-physical structures (i.e., a faculty...