Frontiers in Psychology | Consciousness Research and Mindfulness section | New and Recent Articles

Altered states of consciousness, including hallucinations, psychedelic experiences, and ego dissolution, differ qualitatively, yet no unified computational framework describes what varies and along which dimensions. Computational phenomenology (CP) has emerged as a promising bridge between first-person experience and computational models, yet current formalisations rely predominantly on the free …

This paper introduces Dialogical Inner Voice Personification (DIVP): a formless, persistent inner dialogue partner that emerges spontaneously in childhood, operates through linguistic turn-taking, and is experienced as part of the self. Drawing on eight autoethnographic interview sessions conducted with an AI research assistant and corroborated by parental accounts, the author — a 14-year-old gif…

Folk attributions of consciousness to non-human systems often reveal what may be termed double bias. Within the standard distinction between phenomenal and access consciousness, non-human animals often receive low attributions of consciousness despite convergent behavioral and neurobiological evidence treated as relevant to subjective experience. By contrast, disembodied artificial intelligence (…

What consciousness is, and how it relates to the body and nature at large, are among the most enduring questions in human history. Notable thinkers have long grappled with its definition, mechanisms, and purpose. In this review, we examine both historical and contemporary perspectives on consciousness across philosophy, science, medicine, and practice. By integrating diverse perspectives and line…

This article presents a framework for identifying the neural correlates of a low-level component of visual consciousness, base experience, defined as the spatial arrangement of colors experienced across the visual field. We propose a content-matching method that compares the content of base experience with that represented by candidate neural systems, treating content matches and mismatches as ev…

BackgroundClinical trials of brief mindfulness interventions (BMIs) for chronic pain frequently report small average effect sizes, which may mask substantial heterogeneity in treatment responses. Rather than testing general efficacy, this exploratory study investigated whether a BMI is associated with concurrently coupled psychological and sensory improvements within individuals, potentially refl…

Explaining subjective experience (the “hard problem”) remains a central challenge in consciousness science. Research on “quantum consciousness” has grown rapidly in recent years, yet a substantial subset merely links terms such as collapse, superposition, and entanglement to qualia in verbal maneuvers that lack testable mechanistic commitments. This article adopts a theory-first critical-review f…

Meditation research has focused primarily on secular forms of mindfulness meditation rather than spiritual forms of meditation, and rarely on devotion in meditation. This study sought to gain broader understanding of the psychological characteristics (mindfulness, mysticism, self-actualization, positive affect and negative affect) and practice characteristics (minutes per day and years of practic…

BackgroundThe human body radiates multiple biological fields which can be measured with sensors directly on or off the body. These electromagnetic fields are hypothesized to be altered by mind and body practices. The primary goal of the current study was to evaluate the feasibility of continuous multi-sensor monitoring during meditation and breathwork practices. It also explored methods to invest…

Scientific studies of consciousness derive their legitimacy from individuals’ intuitions about the degree to which measured functions can be associated with consciousness. However, intuitions about consciousness are often regarded as inherently inaccurate and unreliable, as evidenced by cases that appear to reveal counterintuitive dissociations between consciousness and functions. Recent findings…

The origin of consciousness remains one of the oldest problems in both science and philosophy. Several emerging theories provide new perspectives on the origin and evolution of consciousness, including Cellular Basis of Consciousness (CBC) theory and the Cognition-Based Evolution (CBE) theory. Moreover, declarations such as the New York Declaration on animal consciousness further underscore the n…

Reports of near-death experiences (NDEs), end-of-life visions (ELVs), and culturally embedded afterlife narratives frequently describe profoundly positive or distressing states. Traditional interpretations treat these phenomena as evidence of external metaphysical realms. The Dying-Moment Dream Hypothesis proposes an alternative, neurobiologically grounded explanation: that culturally conditioned…

This article aims to explain how emotions arise and operate within the framework of my attention-based theory of consciousness, referred to here as the AME theory of consciousness (Attentional Modulation of Energy). According to the AME theory of consciousness, the phenomenal aspect of consciousness is produced by the modulation of the energy level of the area of the organ of attention (aOA) that…

The drive to find one unifying theory, one overarching universal principle that would subsume and explain all, has been a common theme of human striving for knowledge for many centuries. It reflects, perhaps, a deep intuition that within every experience there is such a unifying singular essence, present yet ordinarily hidden, which when discovered would restore one to the wholeness of authentic …

BackgroundPhase–amplitude coupling (PAC) between low- and high-frequency oscillations provides a candidate mechanism for integrating information across cortical networks. While PAC alterations have been reported in disorders of consciousness (DOC), the frequency specificity and task dependence of these changes remain poorly characterized.ObjectiveTo systematically examine cross-frequency coupling…

IntroductionPrevious studies have demonstrated acute changes in brain activity that occur during shamanic journeying—an ancient spiritual practice used for physical, psychological, and spiritual healing. However, the effect of shamanic journeying on other physiological measures, such as heart rate variability, remains unknown. We investigated changes in heart rate variability (HRV) during session…

This study investigates links between synesthesia and lucid dreaming via perceptual presence and counterfactual-richness (abundant possible sensorimotor contingencies). We hypothesized that synesthetes would report more frequent lucid dreams because enhanced counterfactual-richness facilitates dream control and clarity. We surveyed 616 adults using a synesthesia self-report, the Lucidity and Cons…