In 2007, two experiments that have now become very famous have appeared in the neuroscientific literature. With over of one thousand of citation, that moved neuroscientist to speculate about the self- representation and other conscious phenomena and to create new experiments, Henrik Ehrsson and Bigna Lengenhagger produce in two studies out of the body experiences in healthy subjects. The literature reports this kind of experience as consequence of neurological disease or drug use. In this article, I will prove that the (...) where, and the what, of the out of the body experience and the normal experience are something different from the bodily one and I will argue in favor of some kind of dualism and, in particular, a dualism called property dualism. ER -. (shrink)

In this paper, we present a case study with quantitative EEG data to examine the neurophysiological effects of a specific breathing and meditation practice rooted in the Sufi esoteric practices of the Islamic tradition. The practice includes several coordinated cognitive activities. To evaluate the effects of the chosen breath and meditation practice, we compared the functional states of the brain in five frequency bands before and after the completion of a 10-week practice. Statistically significant differences were found particularly in coherence (...) and absolute power scores which are recorded during a no-task state. The increased synchronization and coherence within and between brain regions suggest that changes may be associated with negative entropy quality of spiritual energies. Conversely, the positive entropy has proven to be basis of many mental and physical disorders such as depression. This brain exercise helps permanently reshape the functional connectivity in the brain in a more neurologically conducive way. ER -. (shrink)

In “A conceptual framework for consciousness,” Michael Graziano provides a substantive conceptual framework for explaining consciousness. In this commentary I will focus on the way Graziano sets up the issue, which fails to capture the opposition accurately. The opponent of Graziano’s approach is no mysticism, but non-cognitive theories exemplified by, e.g., Ned Block’s Overflow thesis. Without identifying the opponent accurately, its significance cannot be fully appreciated. In this commentary I attempt to capture the real disagreement to facilitate further communications. ER (...) -. (shrink)

The physical sciences, as generally understood, are disciplines concerned with the characteristics and behavior of physical objects and states. What is evident about the current condition of consciousness is that: 1) It has no identified physical states; 2) There is no generally accepted vocabulary of its functioning, or its participant entities; and 3) No ‘normal science’ operative structure upon which a community of scientists agree. The reasons are that consciousness is a prescientific concept persisting because there is no adequate physicalist (...) theory to replace it, and because biology operates in a way ‘invisible’ to assumed mental processes and vocabulary. What is required is a plausible theory built on a biophysical base. A theory is being developed: it is termed the _theory of brain-sign_. Brain-sign replaces consciousness as an evolved neural operation in which brains communicate with each other in the collective action of organisms, so addressing the limitations of being an isolated individual. It depends upon neural signification, in this case of the organisms’ immediate _causal orientation_ towards the world. Thus, multiple organisms are linked as one biophysical operation. Signs are biologically ubiquitous and inherently physical. Organisms are not subjective agents with transcendent powers acting in a perceivable world, but evolved organic objects with the ability to cooperate as one overarching biological process. It is anticipated this theoretical operation and vocabulary will explain brain function, which mind fails to do. It accounts for science from both its neural origins and its communal nature. ER -. (shrink)

Isaac Newton introduced physics mechanics that yielded successful results for an Earth-sized environment. In the following years, it is observed that these successful mechanics led to wrong results in wider regions. Albert Einstein accepted the speed of light as a constant to correct these errors and introduced the idea of "special relativity" in this context. This idea does not adequately explain the "visible universe" formed as a web of galaxies and its microwave history. The fact that the cosmic microwave background (...) radiation is in the form of a geoid rather than a sphere proves that the speed of light varies slightly between universal dimensions. In connection with this, the Doppler effect creates a critical delusion in the human brain. According to this effect, that is considered one of the most vital proofs of the Big Bang theory the universe is expanding. The main problem with this proof is that the center point of the big bang is always at the location of the observer. The fact is that explosion that occurs in a single region cannot have countless different explosion centers. That leads to the conclusion that the expanding universe model is a brain delusion. ER -. (shrink)

While there is still a limited understanding of the Selfhood phenomenon, an emerging consensus is that the experiential Selfhood refers to a sense of the undergoing experience in its implicit first-person mode of givenness that is immediately and tacitly given as “mine”. It is also evident that there are phenomenological disruptions within self-consciousness ranging from normal everyday short-lived dissociative episodes to pathological, intense and prolonged forms of dissociative experience classified as depersonalization disorder (DD). In the present study we explored the (...) neurophenomenology of Selfhood (using the recently introduced neurophysiological three-dimensional construct model of experiential Selfhood, Fingelkurts et al., 2020) in a newly diagnosed and untreated 29-year-old female who suffers from DD. According to the triad model of Selfhood, three major components of Selfhood (phenomenal first-person agency – “Self”, embodiment – “Me”, and reflection/narration – “I”) are related to three operational modules (OMs) of the self-referential brain network (reliably estimated by electroencephalogram operational synchrony analysis). We have found that subject with DD exhibited a strong enhancement of functional integrity of the brain Self-module, a moderate decrease in the functional integrity of Me-module, and a pronounced decrease in the functional integrity of I-module, – all of which were associated with severity of specific DD symptoms. (shrink)

The focus here is on the neglected, simply accepted, quotidian world, rather than the much-discussed consciousness. Contra common sense and science both, any actual independent external world out there is here denied. World is conceived instead as a _continual creation_ on the part of each quantum thermofield brain in parallel, which is “triply-tuned”: by sensory input, by memory and by self-tuning. Such a brain does not primarily process information—does not compute—but through its multiple tunability achieves an internal match in which (...) a world is disclosed, even though there is no world out there, only objects under quantum description at microscopic, mesoscopic and macroscopic scales. This unconventional formulation revives a version of monadology via quantum brain theory. ER -. (shrink)

How did I come to non-reductive neurophilosophy? Let me sketch my biography a little. When I was young, I always wanted to study philosophy, the basic questions of the world, humans and the mind fascinated me – going down to the bottom of things. However, I did not want to study philosophy in isolation from the science. My fascination was and still is on the mind and specifically subjectivity as core feature of the mind. Subjectivity and mind are obviously key (...) topics in philosophy. However, having grown up from the mid/end of the 20 th century allowed me to also study the mind empirically and thus to complement philosophy by science. At my time there were no neuroscience programs yet. Hence, the only way to study the brain and its connection to the mind was to go into medicine which I did parallel to my philosophy studies. ER -. (shrink)

We have many biological systems that regulate the perception of time, which is one of our most essential abilities that allows subjectively predicting, perceiving and understanding the duration of experiences, feelings and achievements. There are findings obtained from many studies aiming to illuminate the place and importance of time, which was the most critical reference point for human understanding of life in the past, for us mammals. According to these findings, it is observed that there is a similar mechanism that (...) provides the perception of time in almost every living organism. Time perception is vital for the healthy functioning of cognitive activities, physiological needs and behavioral relations, and the bio-psycho-social order's systematicity. Among the studies conducted, the findings obtained in the studies related to the effect of psychiatric disorders on the perception of time are somewhat blurry compared to the others. The research for this study was based on six basic Polymorphisms known to affect time perception and internal clock mechanisms. These are as follows: SLC6A4 / 5-HTTLPR, 5HT2A / T102C, DRD2 / TAQ1A, SLC6A3 / 3UTR VNTR, COMT / VAL158MET, GABRB2 A/C, CLOCK. In our study, the relationship between the rs1800497 polymorphism, which is one of these seven polymorphisms that are effective in the functioning of the internal clock in the human brain, and the inventory used in the measurement of anxiety, was examined in 14 participants. Beck Anxiety Inventory was used to measure anxiety, and PCR was used to detect genetic variants. When the findings were evaluated, no significant relationship was found between anxiety and DRD2 rs1800497 polymorphism. ER -. (shrink)

First described by Galton in 1880 and then remaining unnoticed for a century, recent investigations in neuroscience have shown that a condition called aphantasia appears in certain individuals, which causes them to be unable to experience visual mental imagery. Comparing aphantasia to hyperphantasia – i.e., photo-like memory – and considering the neurological basis of perceptual phenomena, we are revisiting Hume's division of perceptions into impressions and ideas. By showing different vivacities of mental phenomena and comparing them to neurological research, we (...) are stating that not only impressions and ideas differ "in the degrees of force and liveliness", but ideas and impressions amongst themselves as well. Such a gradual range of perceptions and mental images bears significant consequences for not only representational theory and historical interpretations, but linguistics and semiotics as well. (shrink)

The major conflict in the old philosophy of mind was the material or supernatural origin of mind and consciousness. Based on new neuroscientific findings, philosophers have become more cautious in considering the immaterial origin of the mind. At present, the main debate in the philosophy of mind is the dependence or independence of mental phenomena on information and signals received from the outside world. If we consider the brain as a living organ and the mind as a product of brain (...) activity, the need of this organ for matter and energy obtained from nature has been neglected as signals. Gut hormones, food-derived nutrients, and gut microbiome effects influence brain functions. Therefore, it is impossible to consider a brain separated from the surrounding world as long as it is alive and needs nutrient flow. ER -. (shrink)

Travelling waves crossing the nervous networks at mesoscopic/macroscopic scales have been correlated with different brain functions, from long-term memory to visual stimuli. Here we investigate a feasible relationship between wave generation/propagation in recurrent nervous networks and a physical/chemical model, namely the Belousov–Zhabotinsky reaction. Since BZ’s nonlinear, chaotic chemical process generates concentric/intersecting waves that closely resemble the diffusive nonlinear/chaotic oscillatory patterns crossing the nervous tissue, we aimed to investigate whether wave propagation of brain oscillations could be described in terms of BZ (...) features. We compared experimentally detected oscillations during the spontaneous activity of the brain with BZ-like concentric waves simulated by a recently introduced artificial network. The observed overlap and agreement between simulated and measured oscillatory patterns suggests that changes in cortical areas’ neural activity might be described in terms of a recognizable diffusion pattern. We describe biological plausibility, benefits and limits of our approach and discuss the relationship among BZ-like networks, Pandemonium-like architectures and the spontaneous activity of the brain. ER -. (shrink)

The so-called predictive coding or predictive processing theory of mind has attracted significant attention in the brain and behavioral sciences over the past couple of decades. We aim to discuss an important ethical implication of the theory’s success. As predictive coding has become influential in the study of mental disorder and illness, particularly on autism spectrum disorder and schizophrenia, we point out a significant risk of further harming an already stigmatized population. Specifically, because predictive coding is undergirded by Bayesian inference, (...) and Bayesian inference is often thought to imply ‘rationality’, the cognitive framework engenders a risk of strengthening existing negative attitudes towards individuals having mental disorders and illnesses by associating such individuals with also having ‘irrational brains.’ ER -. (shrink)

Some frontal and temporal lobe areas are known to be part of the limbic system. The prefrontal, orbitofrontal and basal forebrain nuclei are examples of frontal lobe anatomical structures that have direct connections with the hippocampus, amygdala and basal ganglia component of the limbic system. The cognitive functions that are associated with these areas are memory, behavior and attention. Surgical clipping of a ruptured intracranial anterior circulation aneurysm would require some manipulation or retraction force applied to these regions and with (...) concurrent presence of cisternal hemorrhages, brain edema and swelling, neurocognitive impairment is likely. By using state of the art technique in magnetoencephalography, diffusion tensor imaging and standard neuropsychological assessment tools, gross abnormalities in brainwave morphology, contour of white matter fibers and neuropsychological scores were detected. Appealingly, these abnormalities were also used to rehabilitate the cognitively impaired individuals by using neuro-navigation guided transcranial magnetic stimulation and utilizing stimulatory and inhibitory mode of the repetitive stimulation. ER -. (shrink)

What is neurophilosophy? Different variants of connecting neuroscience and philosophy emerged in recent years. Besides reductive, parallelistic, and neurophenomenological variants, we here focus on Non-Reductive Neurophilosophy as introduced by the author of this paper. NRNP can methodologically be characterized by the inclusion of multiple domains and various methodological strategies – this amounts to domain pluralism and method pluralism. That is combined with an iterative methodological movement between the different domains and, specifically conceptual and empirical domains resulting in concept-fact iterativity. Such (...) non-reductive neurophilosophical approach can make major contributions to both neuroscience and philosophy. Concerning the latter, we demonstrate how a non-reductive neurophilosophical approach allows taking into view a deeper neuro-ecological and spatiotemporal layer of Martin Heidegger’s Fundamental ontology and its “being in the world”. This may also require a more fundamental approach to consciousness in both its phenomenological features and neural basis – this has recently been proposed in the “Temporo-spatial theory of consciousness”. In sum, due to its particular methodological strategy, NRNP allows providing a broader more comprehensive framework to philosophical problems like subjectivity, consciousness, and mind-body problem. Moreover, NRNP may provide a novel deeper framing and reading of historical authors which may allow to connect them to current and systematic philosophical and even neuroscientific issues. ER -. (shrink)

It is argued that in terms of Thomas Kuhn's analysis of how different fields of science develop and progress, consciousness research is still in the pre-paradigm or pre-science phase that precedes the advent of any universally accepted paradigm. A means by which this long-standing situation may be escaped is here suggested. This is to treat each of the three distinct theoretical positions that presently drive experimental research on the nature of consciousness as mini-paradigms and then apply the same logic that (...) Kuhn sees as underpinning paradigm shifts in mature sciences to decide which of these three mini-paradigms becomes the first universally accepted paradigm of a mature science of consciousness. At present, the three mini-paradigms that drive experimental research on the nature of consciousness are: the cognitive-science process theory mini-paradigm, the neurophysiologists' preferred psychoneural identity theory mini-paradigm and the EMF field theory mini-paradigm. In established science, paradigms shift when enough 'anomalies' – falsified predictions or largely unrecognised but once-recognised-unacceptable consequences – build up to make the existing paradigm uncomfortable for those who operate within it. At this point, a sudden paradigm shift occurs, ushering in another long period of 'normal science' during which the new paradigm drives experimentation. With regard to the three existing mini-paradigms on the nature of consciousness, it is argued that recognition that _processes_ are abstract entities –and that this renders the "consciousness is a process, not a thing" mini-paradigm dualist – makes this mini-paradigm unacceptable to practitioners who regard dualism as unscientific and who prefer to see themselves as staunchly scientific, and therefore as monists.. The strong prediction of the "consciousness is brain activity" mini-paradigm – that conscious experiences should invariably correlate with the firing of either particular single neurons or groups of single neurons in the brain – has now been falsified often enough to make this mini-paradigm unacceptable to its practitioners. And this leaves intact only the "consciousness is a 3-D electromagnetic field" mini-paradigm – the idea that conscious experiences_ are_ particular 3-dimensional patterns in the electromagnetic field generated by brain activity. And as a result, it is suggested that this third mini-paradigm might usefully become the first universally accepted full paradigm, which would finally allow announcement of the birth of a Kuhnian science of consciousness. ER -. (shrink)

As neuroscience has intensely developed in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, we increasingly see neurobiological results that bear upon age-old philosophical questions about the mind and its relation to the brain. Although neuroscience has not yet completely answered questions about learning and memory, or about attention, social impulses and sleep, for all these topics there are now relevant results. These results suggest that more can and will be understood in the coming years, especially as new techniques and methods are discovered (...) and applied. Arguments from philosophers regarding why consciousness in particular cannot ever be explained neurobiologically are also critically examined. On this contentious topic too, clinical neurologists in particular have sought ways of determining the conscious status of their patients in order better to treat them. Even on this topic there is early but promising neurobiological progress. ER -. (shrink)

This research falls in the ambit of ‘AI and Philosophy’. It explores why emulating the complex processes of subjective experience, emotions, consciousness, self-awareness, and the human personality, will be a huge challenge for AI research. It touches upon some finer aspects, like the huge variety of human emotions and feelings, processes of future and fringe consciousness, and the evolution of self-awareness and complex human self/personality, whose practical realization in an AI system would be very difficult, if not impossible. In the (...) backdrop of these serious challenges it also discusses an interesting possibility of emulation in the field of Hermeneutics, focusing on hermeneutics of _ṣ__an‘at-e ihām_ in Urdu, Persian, Arabic, Hindi, and Punjabi poetry. The basic purpose of this work is to underscore the critical importance of this area for AI research, and to shed light on those aspects of consciousness, emotions, awareness, understanding and self whose comprehension and inclusion is necessary in designing and constructing AI systems that can parallel human mental functioning. ER -. (shrink)

Against ideas of dualism, logocentrism, anthropocentrism, animism, panpsychism, biocentrism, neurocentrism, foundationalism, computationalism, especially substantialism, reductionism and even physicalism, the author argues that life may be the only non-reductive concept, even the only ontological concept, with which we may explain our consciousness, intelligence and language. Life, as defined in this article, explains but not only human brains, and even not only biological organisms. Still, the mind, also as defined in this article, is the only one it explains. No mind may exist (...) if not be a life or lives, and no life may exist if not be a mind or a part of it. If it is the mind that needs to be explained, it must finally and fundamentally be explained as a life or lives. If the question is about the origin of the mind, a life or lives must be the ultimate answer. In other words, life is the only attribute of mind, and mind also the only attribute of life, and therefore, consciousness, intelligence and language must be the properties of all the living systems, including non-biological living systems. A model of mind is hypothesized based on the analysis of two kinds of lives and their relationship with matter and energy. It may be deduced from this model: 1. All the memories of a living brain are its intelligence. 2. Both consciousness and nonconscious are only meaningless languages used in the communication among lives in an awakened brain. 3. Life is the only meaning of all those memories and languages. Ontologically, life may even be the only meaning of all matter and energy. -/- (A version of this article was published by the Journal of NeuroPhilosophy on 26.10.2022). (shrink)