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

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…

Consciousness in Zen meditation has garnered considerable interest in psychology and neuroscience, particularly in relation to its association with enhanced self-awareness. Zen meditation fosters social harmony by addressing mental and social conflicts, linking individuals to various societal aspects through the practice. This meditation, rooted in Buddhism, aims to perceive thoughts without judg…

IntroductionMirror therapy has demonstrated functional benefits for patients recovering from hemiparetic stroke, with its effectiveness primarily attributed to the induction of a compelling visual illusion that engages sensorimotor networks. Although previous research has identified various intervention parameters influencing therapeutic outcomes, a comprehensive understanding of their effects on…

Many theories of consciousness propose that consciousness arises from neural computation in the brain. All information in a neural computer is physically encoded, but consciousness contains un-encoded information about local space. The information required for decoding does not reside in the brain. So consciousness cannot arise from encoded neural information; but it could arise from un-encoded i…

Scientific scepticism, as an epistemic orientation, remains under-researched. This study investigated the interplay between belief in science, supernatural credence, and cognitive processing styles in a sample of 300 participants (Mage = 45.95, SD = 14.32). Traditional (TPB) and New Age (NAP) paranormal beliefs correlated positively with intuitive-experiential measures and negatively with analyti…

Historically, scientists and philosophers have tended to assume that animals lack consciousness until evidence shows otherwise. Recently, however, some researchers have proposed reversing this assumption. Other options are available as well; for example, in addition to assuming that all animals are conscious, we can assume that all living beings are conscious, that all beings with nervous systems…