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25The Selfhood-Components Dynamics in the Spectrum of Discrete Normotypical and Pathological Modes (2nd ed.)Journal of Neurophilosophy 2 (2): 402-431. 2023.In this first-of-its-kind neurophenomenological study we investigated the dynamic configuration and the levels of variability of the “Self”-, “Me”-, and “I”- components that comprise a complex experiential Selfhood across 16 distinct modes covering a range of healthy-normal, altered, and pathological brain states. The phenomenology was addressed by examining the mental structures of subjective self-experience, and for the neurophysiological counterpart, we used electroencephalogram analysis to g…Read more
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Patients with Disorders of Consciousness: Are They Nonconscious, Unconscious, or Subconscious? Expanding the DiscussionBrain Sciences 13 (5): 814. 2023.Unprecedented advancements in the diagnosis and treatment of patients with disorders of consciousness (DoC) have given rise to ethical questions about how to recognize and respect autonomy and a sense of agency of the personhood when those capacities are themselves disordered, as they typically are in patients with DoC. At the intersection of these questions rests the distinction between consciousness and unconsciousness. Indeed, evaluations of consciousness levels and capacity for recovery have…Read more
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Contemplating on the Nature of Selfhood in DoC Patients: Neurophenomenological PerspectiveJournal of Integrative Neuroscience 22 (1): 23. 2023.Medical well-regarded policy recommendations for patients with disorders of consciousness (DoC) are almost exclusively relied on behavioural examination and evaluation of higher-order cognition, and largely disregard the patients’ self. This is so because practically establishing the presence of self-awareness or Selfhood is even more challenging than evaluating the presence of consciousness. At the same time, establishing the potential (actual physical possibility) of Selfhood in DoC patients i…Read more
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18Attentional State : From Automatic Detection to Willful Focused ConcentrationIn Giorgio Marchetti, Giulio Benedetti & Ahlam Alharbi (eds.), Attention and Meaning. The Attentional Basis of Meaning, Nova Science Publishers. pp. 133-150. 2015.Despite the fact that attention is a core property of all perceptual and cognitive operations, our understanding of its neurophysiological mechanisms is far from complete. There are many theoretical models that try to fill this gap in knowledge, though practically all of them concentrate only on either involuntary (bottom-up) or voluntarily (top-down) aspect of attention. At the same time, both aspects of attention are rather integrated in the living brain. In this chapter we attempt to conceptu…Read more
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43Depersonalization Puzzle: A New View from the Neurophenomenological Selfhood PerspectiveJournal of Neurophilosophy 1 (2): 181-202. 2022.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 clas…Read more
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77Self, Me and I in the repertoire of spontaneously occurring altered states of Selfhood: eight neurophenomenological case study reportsCognitive Neurodynamics 16. 2022.This study investigates eight case reports of spontaneously emerging, brief episodes of vivid altered states of Selfhood (ASoSs) that occurred during mental exercise in six long-term meditators by using a neurophenomenological electroencephalography (EEG) approach. In agreement with the neurophenomenological methodology, first-person reports were used to identify such spontaneous ASoSs and to guide the neural analysis, which involved the estimation of three operational modules of the brain self-…Read more
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69Selfhood triumvirate: From phenomenology to brain activity and back againConsciousness and Cognition 86 103031. 2020.Recently, a three-dimensional construct model for complex experiential Selfhood has been proposed (Fingelkurts et al., 2016b,c). According to this model, three specific subnets (or modules) of the brain self-referential network (SRN) are responsible for the manifestation of three aspects/features of the subjective sense of Selfhood. Follow up multiple studies established a tight relation between alterations in the functional integrity of the triad of SRN modules and related to them three aspects…Read more
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40Brain-mind operational architectonics: At the boundary between quantum physics and Eastern metaphysicsPhysics of Life Reviews 31 122-133. 2019.The Operational Architectonics (OA) of brain-mind functioning is a theory that unifies brain and mind through nested and dynamic hierarchy of electromagnetic brain fields. Recently, it has been enriched by concepts from physics like time, space, entropy, and self-organized criticality. This review paper advances OA theory further by delving into the foundations of quantum physics and Eastern metaphysics in relation to mind function. We aim to show that the brain-mind OA is the boundary between a…Read more
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37After HumanFutura 4 60-74. 2018.Human beings are in the midst of very powerful shifts in our understanding of what it means to be a human. There is a non-trivial chance that sometime in the future humanity will transform itself, leading to an emergence of posthumans with God-like qualities – Homo Deificatio. Such a transformation has great potential for both good and bad. Posthumanism seeks to improve human nature, increase the human life- and health-span, extend its cognitive and physical capacities, and broaden its mastery o…Read more
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48Placing Pure Experience of Eastern Tradition into the Neurophysiology of Western TraditionCognitive Neurodynamics 13 (1): 121-123. 2019.While the presence or absence of consciousness plays the central role in the moral/ethical decisions when dealing with patients with disorders of consciousness (DOC), recently it is criticized as not adequate due to number of reasons, among which are the lack of the uniform definition of consciousness and consequently uncertainty of diagnostic criteria for it, as well as irrelevance of some forms of consciousness for determining a patient’s interests and wishes. In her article, Dr. Specker Sulli…Read more
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115Editorial: Brain, Mind and Language Functional ArchitecturesOpen Neuroimaging Journal 4 26-29. 2010.The interaction between brain and language has been investigated by a vast amount of research and different approaches, which however do not offer a comprehensive and unified theoretical framework to analyze how brain functioning performs the mental processes we use in producing language and in understanding speech. This Special Issue addresses the need to develop such a general theoretical framework, by fostering an interaction among the various scientific disciplines and methodologies, which c…Read more
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105Mind Operational Semantics and Brain Operational Architectonics: A Putative CorrespondenceOpen Neuroimaging Journal 4 53-69. 2010.Despite allowing for the unprecedented visualization of brain functional activity, modern neurobio-logical techniques have not yet been able to provide satisfactory answers to important questions about the relationship between brain and mind. The aim of this paper is to show how two different but complementary approaches, Mind Operational Semantics (OS) and Brain Operational Architectonics (OA), can help bridge the gap between a specific kind of mental activity—the higher-order reflective though…Read more
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42Brain space and time in mental disorders: Paradigm shift in biological psychiatryInternational Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine 54 (1): 53-63. 2019.Contemporary psychiatry faces serious challenges because it has failed to incorporate accumulated knowledge from basic neuroscience, neurophilosophy, and brain–mind relation studies. As a consequence, it has limited explanatory power, and effective treatment options are hard to come by. A new conceptual framework for understanding mental health based on underlying neurobiological spatial-temporal mechanisms of mental disorders (already gained by the experimental studies) is beginning to emerge.
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49Syntax meets semantics during brain logical computationsProgress in Biophysics and Molecular Biology 140 133-141. 2018.The discrepancy between syntax and semantics is a painstaking issue that hinders a better comprehension of the underlying neuronal processes in the human brain. In order to tackle the issue, we at first describe a striking correlation between Wittgenstein's Tractatus, that assesses the syntactic relationships between language and world, and Perlovsky's joint language-cognitive computational model, that assesses the semantic relationships between emotions and “knowledge instinct”. Once establishe…Read more
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55Alterations in the three components of selfhood in persons with post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms: A pilot qEEG neuroimaging studyOpen Neuroimaging Journal 12 42-54. 2018.Background and Objective: Understanding how trauma impacts the self-structure of individuals suffering from the Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptoms is a complex matter and despite several attempts to explain the relationship between trauma and the “Self”, this issue still lacks clarity. Therefore, adopting a new theoretical perspective may help understand PTSD deeper and to shed light on the underlying psychophysiological mechanisms. Methods: In this study, we employed the “thre…Read more
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55Mind the physics: Physics of mindPhysics of Life Reviews 25 75-77. 2018.The target paper of Schoeller, Perlovsky, and Arseniev is an essential and timely contribution to a current shift of focus in neuroscience aiming to merge neurophysiological, psychological and physical principles in order to build the foundation for the physics of mind. Extending on previous work of Perlovsky et al. and Badre, the authors of the target paper present interesting mathematical models of several basic principles of the physics of mind, such as perception and cognition, concepts and …Read more
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54Actual physical potentiality for consciousnessAmerican Journal of Bioethics Neuroscience 9 (1): 24-25. 2018.Dr. Vukov analyzing patients with disorders of consciousness, proposed that medical well-regarded policy recommendations cannot be justified by looking solely to patients’ actual levels of consciousness (minimally conscious state – MCS versus vegetative state – VS), but that they can be justified by looking to patients’ potential for consciousness. One objective way to estimate this potential (actual physical possibility) is to consider a neurophysiologically informed strategy. Ideally such stra…Read more
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58Brain Projective Reality: Novel Clothes for the EmperorPhysics of Life Reviews 21 46-55. 2017.First of all, we would like to gratefully thank all commentators for the attention and effort they have put into reading and responding to our review paper [this issue] and for useful observations that suggest novel applications for our framework. We understand and accept that some of our claims might appear controversial and raise skepticism, because the overall neural framework we have proposed is difficult to frame in established categories, given its strong multidisciplinary character. To ma…Read more
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59Topodynamics of metastable brainsPhysics of Life Reviews 21 1-20. 2017.The brain displays both the anatomical features of a vast amount of interconnected topological mappings as well as the functional features of a nonlinear, metastable system at the edge of chaos, equipped with a phase space where mental random walks tend towards lower energetic basins. Nevertheless, with the exception of some advanced neuro-anatomic descriptions and present-day connectomic research, very few studies have been addressing the topological path of a brain embedded or embodied in its …Read more
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92Mind as a nested operational architectonics of the brainPhysics of Life Reviews 9 (1): 49-50. 2012.The target paper of Dr. Feinberg is a testimony to an admirable scholarship and deep thoughtfulness. This paper develops a general theoretical framework of nested hierarchy in the brain that allows production of mind with consciousness. The difference between non-nested and nested hierarchies is the following. In a non-nested hierarchy the entities at higher levels of the hierarchy are physically independent from the entities at lower levels and there is strong constraint of higher upon lower le…Read more
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97DMN operational synchrony relates to self-consciousness: Evidence from patients in vegetative and minimally conscious statesOpen Neuroimaging Journal 6 55-68. 2012.The default mode network (DMN) has been consistently activated across a wide variety of self-related tasks, leading to a proposal of the DMN’s role in self-related processing. Indeed, there is limited fMRI evidence that the functional connectivity within the DMN may underlie a phenomenon referred to as self-awareness. At the same time, none of the known studies have explicitly investigated neuronal functional interactions among brain areas that comprise the DMN as a function of self-consciousnes…Read more
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132Prognostic Value of Resting-State EEG Structure in Disentangling Vegetative and Minimally Conscious States: A Preliminary StudyNeurorehabilitation and Neural Repair 27 (4): 345-354. 2013.Background: Patients in a vegetative state pose problems in diagnosis, prognosis and treatment. Currently, no prognostic markers predict the chance of recovery, which has serious consequences, especially in end-of-life decision-making. Objective: We aimed to assess an objective measurement of prognosis using advanced electroencephalography (EEG). Methods: EEG data (19 channels) were collected in 14 patients who were diagnosed to be persistently vegetative based on repeated clinical evaluation…Read more
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140Consciousness as a phenomenon in the operational architectonics of brain organization: Criticality and self-organization considerationsChaos, Solitons and Fractals 55 13-31. 2013.In this paper we aim to show that phenomenal consciousness is realized by a particular level of brain operational organization and that understanding human consciousness requires a description of the laws of the immediately underlying neural collective phenomena, the nested hierarchy of electromagnetic fields of brain activity – operational architectonics. We argue that the subjective mental reality and the objective neurobiological reality, although seemingly worlds apart, are intimately connec…Read more
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226Operational architectonics of the human brain biopotential field: Toward solving the mind-brain problemBrain and Mind 2 (3): 261-296. 2001.The understanding of the interrelationship between brain and mind remains far from clear. It is well established that the brain's capacity to integrate information from numerous sources forms the basis for cognitive abilities. However, the core unresolved question is how information about the "objective" physical entities of the external world can be integrated, and how unifiedand coherent mental states (or Gestalts) can be established in the internal entities of distributed neuronal systems. Th…Read more
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191EEG oscillatory states as neuro-phenomenology of consciousness as revealed from patients in vegetative and minimally conscious statesConsciousness and Cognition 21 (1): 149-169. 2012.The value of resting electroencephalogram (EEG) in revealing neural constitutes of consciousness (NCC) was examined. We quantified the dynamic repertoire, duration and oscillatory type of EEG microstates in eyes-closed rest in relation to the degree of expression of clinical self-consciousness. For NCC a model was suggested that contrasted normal, severely disturbed state of consciousness and state without consciousness. Patients with disorders of consciousness were used. Results suggested that …Read more
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79The value of spontaneous EEG oscillations in distinguishing patients in vegetative and minimally conscious statesIn Eror Basar & et all (eds.), Application of Brain Oscillations in Neuropsychiatric Diseases. Supplements to Clinical Neurophysiology, Elsevier. pp. 81-99. 2013.Objective: The value of spontaneous EEG oscillations in distinguishing patients in vegetative and minimally conscious states was studied. Methods: We quantified dynamic repertoire of EEG oscillations in resting condition with closed eyes in patients in vegetative and minimally conscious states (VS and MCS). The exact composition of EEG oscillations was assessed by the probability-classification analysis of short-term EEG spectral patterns. Results: The probability of delta, theta and slow-alpha …Read more
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70Long-term meditation training induced changes in the operational synchrony of default mode network modules during a resting state.Cognitive Processing 17 (1): 27-37. 2016.Using theoretical analysis of self-consciousness concept and experimental evidence on the brain default mode network (DMN) that constitutes the neural signature of self-referential processes, we hypothesized that the anterior and posterior subnets comprising the DMN should show differences in their integrity as a function of meditation training. Functional connectivity within DMN and its subnets (measured by operational synchrony) has been measured in ten novice meditators using an electroenceph…Read more
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69Long-lasting coma.Functional Neurology 29 (3): 201-205. 2014.In this report, we describe the case of a patient who has remained in a comatose state for more than one year after a traumatic and hypoxic brain injury. This state, which we refer to as long-lasting coma (LLC), may be a disorder of consciousness with significantly different features from those of conventional coma, the vegetative state, or brain death. On the basis of clinical, neurophysiological and neuroimaging data, we hypothesize that a multilevel involvement of the ascending reticular acti…Read more
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108Toward operational architectonics of consciousness: basic evidence from patients with severe cerebral injuriesCognitive Processing 13 (2): 111-131. 2012.Although several studies propose that the integrity of neuronal assemblies may underlie a phenomenon referred to as awareness, none of the known studies have explicitly investigated dynamics and functional interactions among neuronal assemblies as a function of consciousness expression. In order to address this question EEG operational architectonics analysis (Fingelkurts and Fingelkurts, 2001, 2008) was conducted in patients in minimally conscious (MCS) and vegetative states (VS) to study the d…Read more
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127“Machine” Consciousness and “Artificial” Thought: An Operational Architectonics Model Guided ApproachBrain Research 1428 80-92. 2012.Instead of using low-level neurophysiology mimicking and exploratory programming methods commonly used in the machine consciousness field, the hierarchical Operational Architectonics (OA) framework of brain and mind functioning proposes an alternative conceptual-theoretical framework as a new direction in the area of model-driven machine (robot) consciousness engineering. The unified brain-mind theoretical OA model explicitly captures (though in an informal way) the basic essence of brain functi…Read more
Andrew And Alexander Fingelkurts
BM-Science - Brain and Mind Technologies Research Centre
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BM-Science - Brain and Mind Technologies Research CentreOther
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