Bulletin - Alius

The ALIUS Bulletin is an annual open-access publication of the ALIUS research group, an international and interdisciplinary collective whose Latin name reflects its commitment to the systematic study of the diversity of consciousness. The Bulletin presents current research on non-ordinary and understudied conscious states, traditionally classified as altered states of consciousness, across neuroscience, psychology, philosophy of mind, psychiatry, and anthropology, with an emphasis on empirical work and a naturalistic orientation that distances such states from parapsychological and pseudoscientific framings. Its interviews have covered psychedelics, the default-mode network, ego dissolution, the free-energy principle, predictive processing, voice-hearing, dissociation, dreaming, mind-wandering, hypnosis, meditation, near-death experiences, the mind-body divide, weightlessness, free will, and irruption theory, alongside methodological discussions on phenomenology and the comparative study of altered states. The Bulletin presents this work in the words of the researchers themselves, aiming to make rigorous inquiry on non-ordinary states accessible to a wider audience.

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Author or interviewee

41 entries shown

Issue 72 entries - full issue PDF

Abstract

In this interview, Tom Froese and Matthieu Koroma address the irruption theory, an account of how mental actions manifest themselves as unexplained variability in brain and bodily activity. We discuss how this approach can be applied to trace back consciousness in (neuro)physiological signatures such as scale free activity and informational complexity. We highlight the study of altered states of consciousness as an opportunity to disentangle the physiological correlates of consciousness from agency. We conclude by addressing how irruption theory provides insights into the therapeutic effects of psychedelics and the importance of crafting an appropriate context to consciously shape agency and behavior.

DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.13907364

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Issue 67 entries - full issue PDF

DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.7457394

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Abstract

In this episode, Steven Jillings reviews the recent progress on the scientific study of conscious experiences in weightlessness.

DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.7457656

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In this episode, Matthieu Koroma reviews the recent progress on the scientific study of conscious experiences during sleep.

DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.7419360

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DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.7674054

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DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.7394901

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Abstract

In this interview, Manoj Doss addresses the "Cinco Sins of Psychedelic Research," highlighting methodological concerns and biases, including those stemming from self-experimentation and researchers' personal drug experiences. Advocating for a closer integration of cognitive psychology and neuropharmacology, he calls for empirical approaches to study psychedelics' effects on cognition and memory. Doss's critique underscores the importance of behavioral measures to advance a scientific understanding of psychedelic substances.

DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.10797875

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Abstract

This interview explores the intimate relationship between language and consciousness, drawing insights from aphasia phenomenology, psychedelic experiences, and neuroscientific theories. Jeremy I. Skipper, a cognitive neuroscientist, argues that language is not merely a tool for reporting conscious experiences but plays a generative role in shaping and sustaining consciousness itself. He critiques localizationist models of language processing, emphasizing the context-dependence and dynamic recruitment of brain regions. Parallels are drawn between the experiences of aphasic patients, who report a loss of self-narrative and increased connectedness, and the phenomenology of psychedelic states, which often involve a dissolution of linguistic categories and a sense of ineffability. Skipper outlines potential neural mechanisms linking language disruption to psychedelic experiences and discusses the UNITy Project, aimed in part at studying post-acute meaning-making processes and predicting changes in language and well-being after psychedelic sessions.

DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.11091861

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Issue 55 entries - full issue PDF

Abstract

On January 6th 2021, Netflix released a new docu-series called "Surviving Death", whose first episode is dedicated to near-death experiences (NDEs). We asked ALIUS member and NDE expert Charlotte Martial (neuropsychologist and post-doctoral researcher at the Coma Science Group) to share her perspective about this episode. She watched it with great interest and shares her enthusiasm that popular media addresses this fascinating and growing area of research, which has not received the scientific and medical attention it deserves. She would like to raise several concerns about some statements and comments and address further points to move the debate about NDEs forward.

DOI: 10.34700/0bzc-fc94

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Abstract

In this interview, anthropologists Maddalena Canna and Rebecca Seligman explain their recent research agenda investigating how culture shapes the relationship between the body and mind. After having studied trance, they shift their focus to Functional Neurological Disorder (FND), an illness in which sensory or motor symptoms do not match any identified physiological causes. Their approach relies on a mix of anthropological and psychophysiological methods to unravel the mechanisms by which cultural expectations influence the perception and meaning of bodily sensations, a phenomenon that they call "interoceptive affordance". The cultural contextualization of psychophysiological processes puts into question our conceptions of the body and mind divide, and what we consider as normal or pathological. By emphasizing how social factors such as gender, race and medical categorization impact the symptomatology of FND, they highlight how anthropological research can lead to a more encompassing and humanized vision of treatment and care that replaces the category of patient with a participatory actor of the scientific investigation of conscious states and their modification.

DOI: 10.34700/mfzk-ve81

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Abstract

In this interview, we engage in a cross-cultural discussion about the diversity of consciousness. Indian philosophy can seem quite cryptic and difficult to follow because it is a primary oral tradition. However, Monima Chadha has developed a series of work aiming at introducing the rich insights of Indian philosophy of mind into Western literature. Indeed, the translation of concepts and practices from the Indian to the Western context requires a solid knowledge of the Indian philosophical tradition in which they form an integrated whole primarily guided by the aim to attain enlightenment or liberation. Despite a careful comparative work of the notions of consciousness developed in both philosophical traditions is still largely lacking, Monima Chadha shares in this interview key insights highlighting how altered states of consciousness can be considered as transformative experiences and meditative practice as an additional resource in the Indian philosophical tradition to gain insight into the nature of consciousness.

DOI: 10.34700/rn10-az29

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Abstract

ALIUS recently invited Dr. David E. Olson and Dr. David B. Yaden to discuss whether or not the subjective effects of psychedelics are necessary for their enduring therapeutic benefit in an interactive online discussion. The aim of this discussion is to examine their most recent back-to-back publication wherein Yaden & Griffiths (2021) emphasized the subjective effects of psychedelics, such as mystical experiences, in relation to their long-lasting therapeutic effects, whereas Olson (2021) emphasized that there are certain therapeutic benefits related to the psychoplastogenic properties of these substances that are unrelated to their subjective effects. We invited the authors to clarify the fine points of their arguments and to tease out any point of disagreement between these two perspectives. What follows is an edited transcript of their discussion.

DOI: 10.34700/0v21-5n82

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Abstract

In this interview, Timo Torsten Schmidt provides details about his efforts to compile a comprehensive database of all psychometric measures gathered from controlled experiments investigating altered states of consciousness (ASCs) induced by pharmacological and non-pharmacological methods. He also introduces the paradigm of Phenomenoconnectomics which aims to systematically investigate the phenomenology and functional connectivity of ASCs to identify commonalities and differences, to ultimately identify the necessary neuronal correlates of specific experiences as they occur during ASCs. He explains some key findings of his own neuroscientific research on the neural correlates of consciousness under the influence of non-pharmacological manipulations, such as Ganzfeld exposure and flicker light stimulation-induced visual illusory percepts. Finally, we touch upon the current limitations of psychometric methods in their ability to capture the full diversity of the phenomenal space and future plans to overcome these caveats through Open Science initiatives that support harm reduction efforts.

DOI: 10.34700/wb76-w666

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Issue 48 entries - full issue PDF

Abstract

Martin Fortier has been a wonderful friend and a brilliant colleague, gone far too soon to realize his extraordinary potential despite his many precocious achievements. More than anyone, he embodied the spirit of interdisciplinarity. His passion for the scientific study of consciousness was inspiring, altering the trajectory of many researchers in our network and beyond. This text is intended to provide a faithful, up-to-date, and accurate representation of Martin's wide-ranging research by adapting in large part from Martin's own summary of his work written about a year before his passing.

DOI: 10.34700/aqmn-r841

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Abstract

Recently, a publication from Dean et al. reported that N,N-dimethyl tryptamine (DMT) is synthesized in the rat brain cortex, present at levels similar to other monoamine neurotransmitters, and significantly increases in concentration at death. They further promoted the theory that DMT may serve as the causative agent for "near death experiences", which have been compared to peak psychedelic experiences. The publication certainly is interesting and suggests additional directions to explore scientifically but does not meet the bar for either claim that DMT is at functional levels in the cortex comparable to serotonin or is the "near death" neurotransmitter.

DOI: 10.34700/a5hm-fs14

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Abstract

Certain conscious states such as dreaming reveal that conscious activity can be to a large extent internally generated rather than being driven by sensory stimuli. In this interview, psychologist and neuroscientist Benjamin Baird discusses the developments of scientific research on these conscious phenomena including dreaming, mind-wandering and meditation and how they interrelate. Lucid dreaming, the ability to become aware that one is dreaming while in a dream, is highlighted as a unique way to gain experimental control over internally generated conscious activity during sleep.

DOI: 10.34700/h9bs-xs28

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Abstract

In this interview, the psychologist and neuroscientist Olivia Carter (University of Melbourne, Australia) explains how she became interested in the field of consciousness. We discuss how her work on visual perception has led her to study the effect of psychedelics and how this has inspired a multidimensional model of consciousness. We discuss the potential contents of "higher" states of consciousness and argue that the existence of those is an unresolved question. We finish the exchange on the challenges for successful demonstration of artificial intelligence and by discussing the most important questions that the field needs to ask and answer in order to move forward.

DOI: 10.34700/mtdv-hb39

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Abstract

In this interview, we discuss the use of psychedelic drugs as a promising treatment in disorders of consciousness. Psilocybin, a classic psychedelic, is currently undergoing substantial clinical investigations in healthy volunteers, but also in clinical populations. Recently, experts in the field of psychedelics have addressed the attractive possibility to use such psychedelics on patients suffering from disorders of consciousness. Building on her empirical and theoretical research on disorders of consciousness, Olivia Gosseries gives us her opinion. Implementing rigorous clinical trials with psychedelics on patients with disorders of consciousness will allow their clinical efficacy to be tested. We finish the interview by briefly addressing the ethical and legal challenges and discussing other related non-pathological modified states of consciousness.

DOI: 10.34700/gv0w-y052

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Abstract

In this interview, Professor Tim Hanks discusses topics related to neuroscience, decision making, philosophy, and science as a career. Hanks explores how ideas from computational neuroscience have helped him set his own research agenda and also navigate everyday situations. The way the brain makes decisions is deeply intertwined with topics such as free will, conscious awareness, and mental health. In order to productively study such diverse topics related to decision making, Hanks recommends an integrative approach that draws on multiple types of experiments and model systems, with an eye towards clinical deployment. His approach builds on various scientific frameworks, while also reminding us to stay open-minded about what the future of neuroscience may look like or bring.

DOI: 10.34700/8pg4-0h12

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Abstract

In this interview, Bigna Lenggenhager discusses her groundbreaking empirical work on bodily self-consciousness, bodily disorders and bodily illusions. The conversation explores issues related to the interpretation of the rubber hand illusion and the full-body illusion, the nature of the relationship between self-consciousness and bodily awareness, syndromes of disembodiment, as well as the use of virtual reality as a therapeutic tool for bodily disorders.

DOI: 10.34700/2vez-qq65

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Abstract

In this interview, Fr?d?rique de Vignemont discusses her wide-ranging and influential research program on philosophical issues related to bodily awareness. The conversation explores core questions of this research program, such as the existence of a sense of body ownership, the nature of pain and touch, and the role of the peripersonal space, as well as methodological questions regarding the role of empirical evidence in philosophical investigation and the value of arguments from phenomenal contrast in philosophy of mind. In the course of this discussion, Vignemont defends her interpretation of pathological conditions such as somatoparaphrenia, depersonalization disorder, and peripheral deafferentation, as well as experimental bodily illusions such as the rubber hand illusion.

DOI: 10.34700/gza7-yy49

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Issue 35 entries - full issue PDF

Abstract

The field of the scientific study of consciousness has seen a flourishing of methodologies and theories. The debate over what defines consciousness and how we should study it is, however, yet to be settled. Philosopher Tim Bayne has proposed the "natural kind" approach, suggesting that consciousness properties should be empirically informed rather than defined a priori. Relying on the cross-talk between philosophy and empirical science, he proposes a cautious and integrative outlook that takes into account the diversity of the conscious phenomenon, defending a multidimensional model of conscious states.

DOI: 10.34700/jwm7-9t64

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Abstract

Throughout his long career, Professor Daniel Dennett has been notable for bringing together the ideas of academic philosophy, workbench scientists, artificial intelligence pioneers, and even "cultish" intellectual figures like Julian Jaynes and J.J. Gibson. In this interview, Dennett discusses his philosophical roots, as well as his thoughts on Freud, predictive processing, psychedelics, consciousness, and ancient Athens. Dennett believes that philosophers have the ability to criticize and contribute to the science of the mind, and speaks to the virtues of cross-disciplinary glances and "hybrid vigor." He believes that psychoactive drugs have potential scientific and therapeutic value. Experimenting with psychoactive substances, however, should be done within the proper settings, and not left to rogue agents.

DOI: 10.34700/7gkw-zh08

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Abstract

In this interview, Zoltan Dienes (Brighton, UK), specialist in consciousness studies, answers questions related to hypnosis and meditation: Why are hypnosis and mindfulness interesting topics for the study of consciousness? Is the notion of altered state of consciousness a useful notion in the context of hypnosis and mindfulness? What do we know about the neurocognitive mechanisms sustaining the action of hypnosis and mindfulness? There is a long tradition of using hypnosis clinically, particularly as an analgesic method; might mindfulness and hypnosis work in the same way? Building on his empirical and theoretical research on hypnosis and meditation, Zoltan Dienes gives us his answers. Hypnosis and meditation are postulated to engage metacognitive processes, though in opposite ways.

DOI: 10.34700/jpsp-3121

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Abstract

In this interview, we discuss how beyond the tremendous therapeutic opportunities offered by psychedelics, they also provide a unique opportunity to investigate social cognition in a causal way and thus increase our mechanistic understanding of it. We argue this basic research is necessary to understand the underlying mechanisms and assure their clinical efficacy. However, revealing this potential requires a great deal of education for clinicians and researchers. This includes scientific rigor both in terms of how administration of psychedelic substances is completed and how psychedelic-assisted therapy is conducted. We also argue that important synergies of recent tools (VR, hyperscanning) in lab experiments can bring more naturalistic settings and thus increase relevance for real-world applications. We finally review recent results demonstrating how altered state of consciousness induced by psychedelics can result from thalamic gating deficits and alterations in information processing of internal and external stimuli within cortico-striato-thalamo-cortical (CSTC) feedback loops. We finish the exchange on the most important challenges for future research, including funding, sample size, and ethics.

DOI: 10.34700/88st-vc41

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Abstract

In this interview, Michael Winkelman and Martin Fortier discuss the extent to which consciousness is grounded in deep evolutionary mechanisms and can be enculturated. First, the main tenets of two neuroanthropological approaches to consciousness and culture are outlined. Next, the upsides and downsides of evolutionary psychology are examined; the fruitfulness of this approach in the study of cultural phenomena such as shamanism is debated. The authors then discuss the promises of the "big data" approach to the study of religion as well as evolutionary puzzles about religion. Turning to issues bearing on the taxonomy of consciousness, the interview explores how consciousness should be individuated and especially how many "modes" of consciousness should be identified based on what we know of the biology and phenomenology of altered consciousness. Winkelman's concepts of the "integrative mode of consciousness" and "psychointegrators" are subsequently examined. Next, the interview addresses both how alterations of consciousness are universally similar (the perennialist view) and can also be enculturated (the constructivist view). Finally, the authors discuss issues around the cultural use of hallucinogens (a.k.a. visionary plants): what is the best method to study them? And for how long have humans used them?

DOI: 10.34700/krg3-zk35

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Issue 28 entries - full issue PDF

Abstract

About half of our conscious activity is not related to our direct sensory environment. Such spontaneous thinking has nevertheless long been neglected due to the difficulty to tackle it experimentally. Neuroscientific Kieran Fox discusses recent efforts to understand and conceptualize the diversity of spontaneous activity within a single framework. The relation of mind-wandering to other phenomena such as dreaming and mediation is highlighted. Far from being a distracting nuisance, the role of spontaneous thoughts in diverse mental functions, e.g., creativity, and their dysfunction in mental illnesses point towards the importance of spontaneous thinking for mental life and well-being.

DOI: 10.34700/m6kp-c494

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Abstract

Prof. Karl J. Friston is a scientist who has made fundamental contributions to areas such as functional brain imaging, statistical techniques for dynamical systems, and the Free Energy Principle (FEP). Here, various topics are formally and informally explored. First there are personal, scientific, and mathematical accounts related to the (origins of the) FEP, and how the FEP diverges from the Predictive coding and Bayesian brain hypotheses. Next, there is a discussion of how the FEP addresses and encompasses the philosophical ideas of David Marr (multiple levels of systems analysis) and Karl Popper (classical statistical inference and hypothesis falsification). The following segment of the interview provides a FEP perspective on human phenomenology, psychopathologies such as schizophrenia and psychosis, and psychology in general. This discussion leads to a clarification of how Active Inference undermines classical ideas related to internal neural representations and clear action-perception dichotomies. The interview closes with an expansion of Prof. Friston's perspective on self-awareness in non-human systems such as computers and ant colonies.

DOI: 10.34700/h460-nz89

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Abstract

These personal notes by Karl Friston look back at the childhood and adolescent moments that, in retrospect, trace a clear path to the free energy principle. Friston identifies distinctly autistic traits in himself, recalls moving through six schools by the age of ten as his father built motorways, and finds in perfectionist immersion the source of his self-esteem. The piece moves through a sequence of vignettes: the woodlice scurrying in a 1960s British summer that crystallised into biotic self-organization; hours of furious thinking in a bedroom overlooking cherry blossoms in pursuit of a singular explanation for the shape of things; a Christmas-break realisation by a coal fire that anything interesting must occupy a compact domain of phase-space; and a Saturday at Blackwell's bookshop in Oxford ending with the ambivalent discovery that Donald Hebb had got there first.

Keywords: free energy principle, autovitiation, attracting set, statistical invariance, intellectual biography

DOI: 10.34700/q2qt-2y52

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Abstract

In this interview, Thomas Metzinger discusses the value of empirical evidence for philosophy of mind, the indeterminacy of the sense of self, the notion of phenomenal transparency, the disagreement between competing theories of mental representation, ethical issues regarding the development of artificial consciousness, and the relevance of so-called 'first-person methods' in cognitive science.

DOI: 10.34700/epgh-at59

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Abstract

This interview with David Nichols moves from the medicinal chemistry of psychedelics to their pharmacology, mechanisms, and place in current research. Nichols argues that brain imaging combined with existing knowledge of neurotransmitter systems will be central to correlating subjective effects with brain activity, and that brain science is still at an early stage. He explains why tryptamines and phenethylamines, though both serotonin 2A agonists, produce different effects through functional selectivity and ligand bias, recruiting different intracellular signalling pathways. He describes his work designing analogues to define the conformations of side chains and methoxy groups, and discusses the most selective 5-HT2A agonists synthesised to date. The conversation turns to the crystal structure work of Daniel Wacker and colleagues, which shows that extracellular loop 2 traps LSD in the receptor and that prolonged occupancy yields time-dependent beta-arrestin recruitment. Further sections take up the hydrogen-bond proposal of Solomon Snyder, which Nichols regards as no longer tenable, the differences between classic psychedelics and ketamine, salvinorin A, and scopolamine, and endogenous DMT, where Nichols disagrees with Rick Strassman's account of spontaneous experiences and argues that tissue concentrations are below the threshold for receptor activation. He sets the active and passive coping framework of Robin Carhart-Harris and David Nutt aside as insufficient to account for the diversity of serotonin receptor subtypes, raises concerns about methodological standards in the psychedelic renaissance, and argues against microdosing on dose-response grounds and the cardiac valvulopathy risk from 5-HT2B stimulation.

Keywords: 5-HT2A receptor, ligand bias, LSD binding kinetics, endogenous DMT, psychedelic renaissance

DOI: 10.34700/ezb7-sq10

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Abstract

This interview with Kevin O'Regan presents the sensorimotor theory of consciousness as a way of dissolving the hard problem by redefining experience. O'Regan lays out the theory in two layers: a top layer of being conscious of something, which requires cognitive capacities and corresponds to the easy problem, and a bottom layer in which the feel of perceptual experience is constituted by how an animal interacts with the world according to lawful sensorimotor contingencies. He recounts moving from physics into experimental psychology and seeing a logical flaw in the assumption that perception involves an internal representation. The conversation contrasts the sensorimotor theory with the ecological approach of James Gibson, embodied artificial intelligence, autonomous systems, and enactivism, arguing that the latter invoke action but keep a mystery around qualia that need not be there. O'Regan describes the colour work with David Philipona, where the sensorimotor account predicted which colour names appear most frequently in human languages, and reviews sensory substitution research on seeing with the ears, hearing through the skin, and a magnetic sixth sense, with the adult brain proving less flexible than anticipated. Further sections argue that machines will be conscious to the degree they interact with the world, set consciousness aside as a criterion for ethical decision-making in favour of social agreement, and apply the theory to dreams and hallucinations by holding that the brain enables but does not generate experience, drawing an analogy with the replacement of vital spirits in biology. The interview closes with O'Regan's interest in what it is for humans to understand.

Keywords: sensorimotor contingencies, hard problem, qualia, sensory substitution, machine consciousness

DOI: 10.34700/zam3-yk89

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Abstract

This interview with Matthew Ratcliffe explores verbal hallucinations, intentionality, and interpersonal experience, building on earlier work on existential feeling and the phenomenology of depression. Ratcliffe situates Real Hallucinations within a project on the structure of feeling and interpersonal experience, and treats hallucination as a case study for how human experience depends on relations with others. He distinguishes real hallucinations from the philosophers' hallucinations of analytic philosophy of perception, arguing that auditory verbal hallucinations are often unlike veridical auditory experiences and show how the content of an experience and the sense of being in a particular intentional state can come apart. The conversation turns to phenomenological psychopathology in the work of Louis Sass, Josef Parnas, and Dan Zahavi, and to Ratcliffe's critique of the minimal-self construal of schizophrenia: he proposes that minimal self be identified with the modal structure of intentionality, a pre-reflective sense of the various types of intentional state as distinct from one another. He argues that this structure is inextricable from interpersonal experience, rests on a bodily, felt anticipation drawing on Edmund Husserl, Karl Jaspers, and Ludwig Wittgenstein, and is interpersonally sustained throughout adult life. Further sections recast certain verbal hallucinations as a partial sense of perceiving attached to a content of inner speech, memory, or imagining, with overlap with thought insertion. The interview closes on the planned project on the phenomenology of grief, bereavement hallucinations, and continuing bonds with the dead as an opening for social cognition research that includes relations with the deceased.

Keywords: verbal hallucinations, minimal self, modal structure of intentionality, bereavement hallucinations, interpersonal experience

DOI: 10.34700/913r-wa92

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Abstract

Cognitive Sciences of Religion scholar Ann Taves is the proponent of a ground-breaking building block approach (BBA) to religious experience. According to Taves, religious experience can be disaggregated into fundamental, constitutive components. Philosopher Martin Fortier and anthropologist Maddalena Canna explore the conceptual, anthropological and cognitive aspects of the foundations of religion, as disaggregated by Taves. In her analyses of the cognitive underpinnings of religion, Taves adopts a Predictive Coding Framework (PCF). The compatibility between PCF and BBA is discussed at the light of the debate opposing inherentist and attributionist theories of religion. Particular attention is given to the role of paradox and non-ordinary experiences (NOE) in the emergence of belief. Finally, other fundamental components of religion are explored, such as the relation between perception (e.g. the vividness of a spiritual vision) and attribution of reality, as well as the interplay between religious processes (e.g. spiritual paths, trajectories) and events (e.g. enlightenment, epiphanies, mystical insights). Empirical examples include case studies from Tantric Buddhism, Kashmir Shivaism, Caribbean Spirit Possession, Amazonian Animism and Ayahuasca ritual.

DOI: 10.34700/3qja-m432

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Issue 16 entries - full issue PDF

Abstract

This interview with Robin Carhart-Harris covers the conceptual and methodological terrain of contemporary neuroscientific research on psychedelics. Carhart-Harris discusses how his early dissatisfaction with the empirical limits of psychoanalysis led him to consider psychedelic drugs as a route for accessing deep mental structures, and to pursue neuroimaging studies of psilocybin and LSD. The conversation turns to the project of neuropsychoanalysis and the proposed mapping of the default-mode network, particularly its subcortical and paralimbic components, onto the Freudian ego and unconscious. Carhart-Harris then comments on the state of consciousness research, noting the imprecision of its core definitions and suggesting a shift in focus toward self-consciousness as the distinctive feature of the human mind. Further sections address methodological questions in psychedelic neurophenomenology, including the ambiguity of terms such as supernaturalness in subjective questionnaires, the debate over whether drug-induced ego dissolution is best understood as a disruption of the narrative self or the minimal self, and the interpretation of default-mode network and task-positive network decoupling as a neural signature of the collapse of dualities. The interview closes with a discussion of entropy, criticality, and altered states of consciousness, and of the relation between Karl Friston's free-energy principle and the older reducing valve model associated with Henri Bergson, Charlie Dunbar Broad, and Aldous Huxley.

Keywords: psychedelics, default-mode network, ego dissolution, neuropsychoanalysis, altered states of consciousness

DOI: 10.34700/m5ky-6w96

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Abstract

Is consciousness an all-or-none or graded phenomenon? Much research has been devoted to investigate this question for contents of consciousness (e.g. 'I see a red rose'), but far less for global states of consciousness (e.g. being awake or asleep). Philosopher and experimentalist Jabob Hohwy argues that global states of consciousness do not come in degrees or 'levels', but rather in modes, i.e., as different ways of being conscious. Capturing the diversity of conscious states requires thus multi-dimensional modelling to identify the relevant dimensions (e.g., attention) and their variations across conscious states.

DOI: 10.34700/8yq5-pv76

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Abstract

In this interview, Tanya Luhrmann discusses her position within the field of anthropology as well as her methodological commitments. She also addresses her view about the mechanisms governing the shift from experiential unreality (imagination-like mental representations) to experiential reality (perception-like mental representations) as well as the role of personal proclivity (in particular the trait of absorption) within religious practice and experience. Finally, the interview tackles the question of cognitive penetrability: can folk models of the mind influence what kinds of mental events are likely to take place, how they unfold, and how they are subjectively perceived?

DOI: 10.34700/7ppf-h459

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Abstract

The study of voice hearing has been traditionally kept within the limits of psychiatry field which, by reducing it to the pathological phenomenon of "auditory verbal hallucinations", mainly focused on its neurobiological origins. However new approaches of voice hearing, coming from the field of psychology as well as of politics, have emerged recently. Simon McCarthy-Jones contributes to this effort of renewing and enlarging our understanding of voice hearing, by apprehending this phenomenon through its diversity, from neuroscientific and psychological theories to the influence of historical contexts, shaped by stakes of politics, gender and religion.

DOI: 10.34700/pmnr-8325

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Abstract

In this interview, we discuss Rebecca Seligman's work on dissociative states and possession in Candombl? in the light of a biocultural approach. Normative dimension of ASC is emphasized, and bio-cultural dualism criticized. Possession itself cannot be reduced to a post hoc cultural explanation of a state but should rather be understood as the product of an embodiment - and bio-looping - process fundamentally shaped by sociocultural meanings and practices. Methods of ethnographic enquiry are also touched on, assessing costs and benefits of incorporating psychological and psychophysiological methods into fieldwork for studying possession.

DOI: 10.34700/x80s-k850

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Abstract

In this interview, Jennifer Windt discusses the importance of studying dreams to understand consciousness, how theories of dreaming have evolved over time, how neuroimaging has influenced the way in which we think about dreams, how we might redefine the taxonomy of conscious phenomena occurring during sleep, the role of first-person reports in dream research, her own Immersive Spatiotemporal Hallucination (ISTH) model of dreaming, as well as challenges for future research.

DOI: 10.34700/xhfg-wq83

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