Methodological Issues In Consciousness Research Volume Ii
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Methodological Issues in Consciousness Research, volume II
Author: Axel Cleeremans
language: en
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
Release Date: 2025-04-16
This Research Topic is the second volume of the Research Topic "Methodological Issues in Consciousness Research". Please see the first volume here. The simplest and perhaps the first notion of consciousness in the West as a “sentience or awareness of internal or external existence” was introduced in the Seventeenth century by the English physician Robert Fludd, though similar and even more refined notions of consciousness were developed centuries before in Indian philosophy and contemplative wisdom traditions. Because it permeates human existence in so many different ways, the study of consciousness is a profoundly interdisciplinary endeavour and engages disciplines such as philosophy (including Eastern philosophy), cognitive neuroscience, anthropology, psychiatry and psychopathology, and even physics. The study of consciousness may involve domains as diverse as perceptual awareness, cognition and metacognition, reasoning, executive control, theory of mind, self, sleep and dreaming, emotional competence, and empathy. It concerns both healthy (e.g., aging, meditation, spiritual experiences) and pathological conditions (e.g., epilepsy, neglect, and locked-in syndromes, minimally conscious states, anesthesia), and involves considerations operating at different time scales (e.g., evolution, development, expertise). Today, however, and despite almost thirty years of concerted interdisciplinary efforts, the nature and mechanisms of consciousness remain as elusive as ever. Theoretically, different conceptual frameworks aimed at characterizing both its functional and phenomenal aspects take sometimes radically different assumptions as their starting point but often fail to make sufficiently precise differential predictions to be falsifiable. While most recent views generally consider methods investigating human higher-order (reflective or access) consciousness, the theoretical and experimental foundations of primary (proto-) consciousness often remain vague and ignore evolutionary considerations. Influential distinctions, such as the distinction between phenomenal and access consciousness, between pre-reflective (minimal) and the reflective (narrative) self, between graded and all-or-none processing, or even between conscious and unconscious processing all remain unsettled or controversial. The field is also rife with methodological challenges and controversies, some of which remain largely unsolved. Questions such as how to best measure awareness or to how establish its absence; issues such as what kind of neuroscientific data would convincingly make it possible to isolate the neural correlates of consciousness or what types of confounds contaminate extant findings; challenges such as how to imagine crucial experiments that are sufficiently sensitive to falsify some theoretical proposals all need to be addressed in open, interdisciplinary dialogue. This Frontiers Research Topic is aimed at stimulating discussion about current methodological issues and trends in consciousness research. We welcome theoretical and empirical contributions as well as empirical articles from both experts and young scientists who work in the field of consciousness research. Submissions of related hypotheses, original research articles, case reports, perspectives, reviews, opinions, and commentaries are welcome. We very much hope that this Frontiers Research Topic will contribute to enhancing our characterization and understanding of the methodological and conceptual challenges associated with the study of human consciousness.
Insights in Consciousness Research, volume II
Author: Xerxes D. Arsiwalla
language: en
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
Release Date: 2025-05-27
This Research Topic is the second volume of the Research Topic "Insights in Consciousness Research 2021". Please see the first volume here. We are now entering the third decade of the 21st Century, and, especially in the last years, the achievements made by scientists have been exceptional, leading to major advancements in the fast-growing field of Psychology. Frontiers has organized a series of Research Topics to highlight the latest advancements in science in order to be at the forefront of science in different fields of research. This editorial initiative of particular relevance, led by Antonino Raffone, Specialty Chief Editor of the section Consciousness Research, as well as Luca Simione and Xerxes D. Arsiwalla is focused on new insights, novel developments, current challenges, latest discoveries, and recent advances of internationally recognized researchers at various stages of their careers. High-quality original research manuscripts on novel concepts, problems, and approaches are welcomed. This Research Topic solicits brief, forward-looking contributions from the editorial board members that describe the state of the art, outlining, recent developments and major accomplishments that have been achieved and that need to occur to move the field forward. Authors are encouraged to identify the greatest challenges in the sub-disciplines, and how to address those challenges. The goal of this special edition Research Topic is to shed light on the progress made in the past decade in the Consciousness Research field and on its future challenges to provide a thorough overview of the state of the art in this area of research. This article collection will inspire, inform, and provide direction and guidance to researchers in the field. Please note that submissions to this collection are by invitation only. Please inform the Editorial Office when you wish to submit a manuscript.
Parapsychology
Many people have experienced such unusual phenomena as dreams that later seem to correspond with unforeseeable events, thinking of a long-lost friend just before he or she unexpectedly calls, or the ability to "feel" the presence of deceased loved ones. What many do not realize is that these types of experiences have been researched for more than a century by eminent scientists, including Nobel laureates. Most of these researchers have concluded that some of these phenomena do occur, although we are far from explaining them to everyone's satisfaction. This book is the first in almost 40 years to provide a comprehensive scientific overview of research in the field of parapsychology, explaining what we know and don't know about so-called psi phenomena, such as "telepathy," "precognition" or "psychokinesis." Contributors evaluate the evidence for these phenomena, accounting for factors such as selective memory, wish fulfillment and incorrect methods or analyses, in some cases offering psychological, physical and biological theories. Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.