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Author & Title:
Giorgio Marchetti,
The Self
and Conscious Experience,
published in
Frontiers in Psychology, 2024,
15:1340943, doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1340943
Abstract:
The
primary determinant of the self (S) is the conscious experience (CE)
we have of it. Therefore, it does not come as a surprise that empirical
research on S mainly resorts to the CE (or lack of CE) that subjects
have of their S. What comes as a surprise is that empirical research on
S does not tackle the problem of how CE contributes to building S.
Empirical research investigates how S either biases the cognitive
processing of stimuli or is altered through a wide range of means
(meditation, hypnosis, etc.). In either case, even for different
reasons, considerations of how CE contributes to building S are left
unspecified in empirical research. This article analyzes these reasons
and proposes a theoretical model of how CE contributes to building S.
According to the proposed model, the phenomenal aspect of consciousness
is produced by the modulation—engendered by attentional activity—of the
energy level of the neural substrate (that is, the organ of attention)
that underpins attentional activity. The phenomenal aspect of
consciousness supplies the agent with a sense of S and informs the agent
on how its S is affected by the agent’s own operations. The phenomenal
aspect of consciousness performs its functions through its five main
dimensions: qualitative, quantitative, hedonic, temporal, and spatial.
Each dimension of the phenomenal aspect of consciousness can be
explained by a specific aspect of the modulation of the energy level of
the organ of attention. Among other advantages, the model explains the
various forms of S as outcomes resulting from the operations of a single
mechanism and provides a unifying framework for empirical research on
the neural underpinnings of S.
Keywords:
conscious experience (CE), self (S), self/non-self distinction,
attention, organ of attention
Link to Frontiers
in Psychology:
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1340943/full
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