Fynn-Mathis Trautwein: Neurophenomenology of the Embodied Self: The Case of Self-Boundary Dissolution in Meditation

Abstract

 The research program of neurophenomenology aims to address the “hard problem of consciousness” by systematically investigating conscious experience – in dialogue with neuroscientific research. This talk will provide an overview of work within this ongoing dialogue, focusing on the experiential and neurophysiological manifestations of the embodied self (i.e., the sense of being a bounded and agentic bodily entity). This “subject” is approached through the study of meditative states of self-boundary dissolution, using EEG and MEG to monitor brain activity and phenomenological interviews to characterize the experiential structure of these states.

 Moreover, we developed a neurofeedback protocol that allows the study of neuro-experiential correspondences in a “closed loop”. The results highlight broadband power reductions and neural complexity increases in frontal and parietal regions as markers of self-boundary dissolution. Vice versa, on a phenomenological level, active bodily, agentic and attentional engagement emerged as constitutive processes of embodied selfhood.  

 About the speaker and his research

 Hosted by Carsten Mehring