-
1Selfless Minds, Unlimited Bodies?: Homeostatic Bodily Self-Regulation in Meditative ExperiencesJournal of Consciousness Studies 31 (5): 104-126. 2024.In this paper I focus on somatosensory attenuation of bodily signals as a core mechanism underlying the phenomenon of 'losing' one's sense of self in meditation. Specifically, I argue that somatosensory attenuation of bodily signals does not make the bodily self 'disappear' experientially. Rather, during the subjectively reported phenomena of 'self-loss', bodily sensory signals are self-attenuated, physiologically, and experientially processed in the background. Hence the term 'losing' the self …Read more
-
47Whatever Next and Close to My Self—The Transparent Senses and the “Second Skin”: Implications for the Case of DepersonalizationFrontiers in Psychology 12 613587. 2021.In his paper “Whatever next? Predictive brains, situated agents, and the future of cognitive science,” Andy Clark seminally proposed that the brain's job is to predict whatever information is coming “next” on the basis of prior inputs and experiences. Perception fundamentally subserves survival and self-preservation in biological agents, such as humans. Survival however crucially depends on rapid and accurate information processing of what is happening in the here and now. Hence, the term “next”…Read more
-
28The first prior: From co-embodiment to co-homeostasis in early lifeConsciousness and Cognition 91 (C): 103117. 2021.
-
32The multisensory base of bodily coupling in face-to-face social interactions: Contrasting the case of autism with the Möbius syndromePhilosophical Psychology 31 (8): 1162-1187. 2018.
-
69The Scientific Study of Consciousness Cannot and Should Not Be Morally NeutralPerspectives on Psychological Science 18 (3): 535-543. 2023.A target question for the scientific study of consciousness is how dimensions of consciousness, such as the ability to feel pain and pleasure or reflect on one’s own experience, vary in different states and animal species. Considering the tight link between consciousness and moral status, answers to these questions have implications for law and ethics. Here we point out that given this link, the scientific community studying consciousness may face implicit pressure to carry out certain research …Read more
-
10The map, the territory, and the cartographer: Linking the “pure” formal models to the “murky” material worldBehavioral and Brain Sciences 45. 2022.Assigning to Pearl blankets an instrumental, a “pure” formal role, tacitly delegates the thorny question of mapping the “murky” territory to empirical sciences. But this move side-lines the problem, and does not offer a solution to the question: How do we relate the formal properties of an agent's model of the world to the real properties of the world itself?
-
34I overthink—Therefore I am not: An active inference account of altered sense of self and agency in depersonalisation disorderConsciousness and Cognition 101 103320. 2022.
-
34Exploration of self- and world-experiences in depersonalization traitsPhilosophical Psychology 36 (2): 380-412. 2023.This paper proposes a qualitative study exploring anomalous self and world-experiences in individuals with high levels of depersonalization experiences. Depersonalization (DP) is a condition characterized by distressing feelings of being a detached, neutral and disembodied onlooker of one’s mental and bodily processes. Our findings indicate the presence of a wide range of anomalous experiences traditionally understood to be core features of DP, such as disembodiment and disrupted self-awareness.…Read more
-
91When the Window Cracks: Transparency and the Fractured Self in DepersonalisationPhenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences 20 (1): 1-19. 2020.There has recently been a resurgence of philosophical and scientific interest in the foundations of self-consciousness, with particular focus on its altered, anomalous forms. This paper looks at the altered forms of self-awareness in Depersonalization Disorder (DPD), a condition in which people feel detached from their self, their body and the world (Derealisation). Building upon the phenomenological distinction between reflective and pre-reflective self-consciousness, we argue that DPD may alte…Read more
-
110Minimal Self-Awareness: from Within A Developmental PerspectiveJournal of Consciousness Studies 26 (3-4): 207-226. 2019.This article focuses on the question of how we perceive and represent ourselves at the most minimal, pre-reflective level. We first review recent work emphasizing the multisensory basis of our perceptual experiences and the embodied nature of self-awareness. We then focus on interoceptive and tactile signals, as key components of bodily self-consciousness, and discuss one crucial yet overlooked aspect of our embodiment, namely the fact that bodily self-consciousness emerges from the outset withi…Read more
-
23The functions of imitative behaviour in humansMind and Language 33 (4): 378-396. 2018.This article focuses on the question of the function of imitation and whether current accounts of imitative function are consistent with our knowledge about imitation's origins. We first review theories of imitative origin concluding that empirical evidence suggests that imitation arises from domain‐general learning mechanisms. Next, we lay out a selective account of function that allows normative functions to be ascribed to learned behaviours. We then describe and review four accounts of the fu…Read more
-
72The ‘Meeting of Bodies’: Empathy and Basic Forms of Shared ExperiencesTopoi 38 (1): 185-195. 2019.In recent years there has been an increasing focus on a crucial aspect of the ‘meeting of minds’ problem :160–165, 2013), namely the ability that human beings have for sharing different types of mental states such as emotions, intentions, and perceptual experiences. In this paper I examine what counts as basic forms of ‘shared experiences’ and focus on a relatively overlooked aspect of human embodiment, namely the fact that we start our journey into our experiential life within the experiencing …Read more
-
46Under Pressure: Processing Representational Decoupling in False-Belief TasksReview of Philosophy and Psychology 5 (4): 527-542. 2014.Several studies demonstrated that children younger than 3 years of age, who consistently fail the standard verbal false-belief task, can anticipate others’ actions based on their attributed false beliefs. This gave rise to the so-called “Developmental Paradox”. De Bruin and Kästner recently suggested that the Developmental Paradox is best addressed in terms of the relation between coupled and decoupled processes and argued that if enactivism is to be a genuine alternative to classic cognitivism,…Read more
-
29Modelling Subjectivity and Uncertainty in “Real World” SettingsConstructivist Foundations 12 (2): 184-185. 2017.Open peer commentary on the article “Modeling Subjects’ Experience While Modeling the Experimental Design: A Mild-Neurophenomenology-Inspired Approach in the Piloting Phase” by Constanza Baquedano & Catalina Fabar. Upshot: The authors show in their pilots how open it is to participants not to obey the instructions during an experiment. Their findings leave us to choose between two options: either we accept that subjective confounds are inevitable and stronger than we think, but in this case, why…Read more
-
13Putting Phenomenology to Work “Seriously”- Deep Brain Stimulation and Mental DisordersConstructivist Foundations 10 (1): 105-106. 2014.Open peer commentary on the article “The Uroboros of Consciousness: Between the Naturalisation of Phenomenology and the Phenomenologisation of Nature” by Sebastjan Vörös. Upshot: I present a concrete example of how phenomenology might “seriously” contribute to our understanding of certain aspects of the human mind, by drawing on recent research in psychopathology