Consciousness and Cognition最新文献

{"title":"Three propositions about conscious experience and their implications for theories of consciousness","authors":"Peter A. White","doi":"10.1016/j.concog.2026.103994","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.concog.2026.103994","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The aim of this paper is to make and defend three simple propositions about what can and cannot be conscious in the human brain and to elucidate their implications for research and theory on consciousness. The first proposition is that the fact that some information is conscious should be, but often is not, distinguished from the information itself. The second proposition is that, treating the brain as an information processing system, information can be conscious (or not) but processes that operate on information cannot be conscious. This is illustrated with analysis of voluntary action generation, such as making a verbal report. The third proposition is that access consciousness is just access. Adding the word “consciousness” to it makes no difference to how it operates. An information processing system exactly like the human brain but in which no information was conscious would function in exactly the same way as human brains in which some information is conscious. Conscious experience must be explained by means of a generative mechanism; no such mechanism has yet been proposed.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51358,"journal":{"name":"Consciousness and Cognition","volume":"139 ","pages":"Article 103994"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145963385","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Computational and neural correlates of Gain-loss differences in intertemporal choice","authors":"Yongcong Shao ,&nbsp;Xiao Zhong ,&nbsp;Letong Wang ,&nbsp;Lin Xu ,&nbsp;Lijun Li","doi":"10.1016/j.concog.2026.104005","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.concog.2026.104005","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Intertemporal choice exhibits systematic differences between gain and loss contexts; however, the computational mechanisms underlying these differences and their neural correlates remain incompletely understood. In the present study, fifty-three healthy adults completed a delay discounting task involving both gain and loss contexts while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). At the behavioral level, the proportion of choosing smaller–sooner options in the gain context was significantly higher than the proportion of choosing larger–later options in the loss context. Drift diffusion model (DDM) analyses revealed that gain–loss context was significantly associated with multiple components of decision dynamics, including higher drift rates, stronger starting-point biases, and longer non-decision times in the gain context, whereas no significant contextual differences were observed in decision boundary. At the neural level, intertemporal choices in the gain context were accompanied by increased activation in the bilateral hippocampus and right insula. Together, these findings provide converging computational and neural evidence for gain–loss asymmetries in intertemporal decision making.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51358,"journal":{"name":"Consciousness and Cognition","volume":"139 ","pages":"Article 104005"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146137938","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Poetry of coordinated motion: The beauty of dance lies in the physics of the movement","authors":"Michael Chang ,&nbsp;Nicholas O’Dwyer ,&nbsp;Stephen Cobley ,&nbsp;Roger Adams ,&nbsp;Mark Halaki","doi":"10.1016/j.concog.2026.103997","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.concog.2026.103997","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>What is perceived as beautiful movement in dance? We investigated quantitative relations between the subjective experience of observing dance and objective physical variables. By integrating datasets from perceptual psychophysics and movement biomechanics, we explored how the control, coordination and energetics of dance movements, which represent dance skill, related to perceptual judgements of a naïve audience. Multidimensional perceptual ratings of dance were found to distil statistically into a single Gestalt, ‘aesthetic value’ (or beauty), which was systematically related to multiple physical variables. Higher aesthetic value was attributed to more-skilled dancers demonstrating greater amplitude and speed of motion, with coordinated and economical execution. These findings thus are consistent with the Romantic conception of beauty being related to vitality. Moreover, the enhanced coordination and economy of these skilled movements align with the Classical conception, endorsed by Plato, Aristotle and Leibniz, that beauty is measurable (quantifiable), proportionate (mathematical) and encompasses harmony and symmetry. Historically, the lack of technology to measure the dynamic qualities of dance movement in three-dimensional space meant that it was not possible to corroborate empirically this classical perspective, which is substantiated here for the first time. Overall, the findings support an evolutionary framework, whereby a dancer’s aesthetic value to observers reflects the quality of their vigour and neuromuscular function, the dominant perceptual factor influencing mate selection thus being the beauty of dance performance, driven by dancer skill.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51358,"journal":{"name":"Consciousness and Cognition","volume":"139 ","pages":"Article 103997"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146031509","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The phenomenal binding problem for neural networks","authors":"Chris Percy ,&nbsp;Gautam Agarwal","doi":"10.1016/j.concog.2026.104003","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.concog.2026.104003","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Our aim is to explore neural network mechanisms for phenomenal binding, i.e. combining micro-units of information into the macro-scale conscious experience common in human phenomenology. Such experiential complexity is a key feature that aspiring theories of phenomenal consciousness must account for. We motivate phenomenal binding in a way that aids translation to computational neuroscience, connecting it to related but distinct topics: functional binding, the hard problem of consciousness, and unity of consciousness.</div><div>We define a deliberately simple artificial neural network (ANN) model, in order to explore its full space of options for implementing phenomenal binding. We demonstrate that the model can implement <em>functional</em> binding but fails to implement <em>phenomenal</em> binding while also maintaining key distinctions between unconscious and conscious processing. We use this set-up to structure possible solutions to p-binding based on which parts of the model they elaborate or which parts of the problem they reject.</div><div>Several established theories of consciousness map onto our solution structure, such as the aggregation of nodes into complexes applied by Integrated Information Theory (IIT), entanglement collapse in Orch-OR, or the exploitation of field structures in Conscious Electromagnetic Information Theory (CEMI). We also discuss possible solutions open to other theories, such as Global Neuronal Workspace Theory (GNWT) and Dendritic Integration Theory (DIT). Nonetheless, at present, each solution route needs further work, identifying opportunities for researchers to enrich existing theories to account properly for phenomenal binding.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51358,"journal":{"name":"Consciousness and Cognition","volume":"139 ","pages":"Article 104003"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146121082","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Intimation as a potentially useful subjective human Experience: Insights from cognitive psychology 100 years following Wallas’s (1926) The Art of thought","authors":"Anne M. Cleary ,&nbsp;Jose Maria Francisco-Andres ,&nbsp;Sarah N. Horne ,&nbsp;Daniel Cuartas-Quiceno ,&nbsp;Bennett L. Schwartz","doi":"10.1016/j.concog.2026.104006","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.concog.2026.104006","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Intimation is a rarely used term for the feeling of being on the verge of arriving at a problem’s solution without yet identifying the solution. This use of the term can be traced back 100 years to Graham <span><span>Wallas’s (1926)</span></span> book <em>The Art of Thought</em>. In the present review, we link Wallas’s conceptualization of intimation with various theoretical constructs across multiple domains in cognitive psychology that may be converging on the same idea as Wallas had intended in his use of the term intimation. For example, theories of curiosity, such as the Region of Proximal Learning approach, posit that curiosity behaviors often arise from a feeling of <em>almost</em> knowing or discovering something. Also, the tip-of-the-tongue state—a feeling of being on the verge of accessing a word—can indicate the feeling of nearing a creative solution to a problem. We note that intimation is described by the French term <em>presque vu</em>, and in a rare study of presque vu, 98% of participants indicated experiencing it. We argue that intimation is a metacognitive experience that, even if not indicative of privileged near-access to an underlying problem solution, reflects a facet of human conscious experience that is worthy of study on its own. We further argue that intimation may serve as an important motivator to pursue problem solutions and that it is through this means that intimation likely plays an important role in human problem-solving ability, providing another reason why it should be considered an important focus of study within cognitive psychology.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51358,"journal":{"name":"Consciousness and Cognition","volume":"139 ","pages":"Article 104006"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146208258","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Dispositional factors affecting the analgesic response to imagery and mindfulness suggestions during hypnosis","authors":"Carolane Desmarteaux ,&nbsp;Émilie Giguère ,&nbsp;Mouni Amrane ,&nbsp;Mathieu Piché ,&nbsp;Arnaud Saj ,&nbsp;Pierre Rainville ,&nbsp;Ali Filali ,&nbsp;David Ogez","doi":"10.1016/j.concog.2026.103993","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.concog.2026.103993","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Medical hypnosis combined with mindfulness suggestions may improve pain management, but individual benefits are difficult to predict. This study compared the effects of hypnotic induction suggestions and different hypnotic suggestions for analgesia on acute experimental pain, considering hypnotic susceptibility (SHSS:A) and five mindfulness facets (FFMQ). Thirty-four healthy participants were administered phasic electrical stimulations during a Baseline condition, a Hypnotic induction alone condition, and experimental hypnosis conditions involving Imagery and Mindfulness-like suggestions of analgesia. Results showed significant pain reduction to all three hypnotic conditions compared to Baseline (<em>EMMs</em> = 18.98 to 23.76; <em>p</em> &lt; 0.0001) and highlighted the moderating role of dispositional factors. Imagery suggestions were more effective than Hypnotic induction (<em>EMMs</em> = 3.14, <em>p</em> &lt; 0.001) and Mindfulness (<em>EMMs</em> = 4.78, p &lt; 0.0001) but Mindfulness suggestions did not provide benefits over Hypnotic induction (<em>EMMs</em> = 1.64, <em>p</em> = 0.25). Individuals with higher hypnotic susceptibility (SHSS:A) and lower scores on the FFMQ’s non-reactivity subscale reported significantly more analgesia (<em>p</em>’s &lt; 0.01). FFMQ’s Non-judgement score positively predicted hypoanalgesia in Hypnotic induction suggestions (<em>p</em> &lt; 0.01), FFMQ’s Description score positively moderated Hypnotic induction and Mindfulness suggestions effects (<em>p</em>’s &lt; 0.01) and FFMQ’s Awareness score was a negative moderator of mindfulness’s hypoalgesia suggestions (<em>p</em> &lt; 0.001). These findings confirm that mindfulness-like suggestions can be integrated to hypnotic interventions but indicate that they may not provide additional effect on acute pain responses, beyond standard hypnotic induction techniques. Importantly, different mindfulness dispositional characteristics may sustain or reduce the potential benefits of hypnosis interventions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51358,"journal":{"name":"Consciousness and Cognition","volume":"139 ","pages":"Article 103993"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145981140","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Corrigendum to “Dispositional factors affecting the analgesic response to imagery and mindfulness suggestions during hypnosis” [Conscious. Cogn. 139 (2026) 103993]","authors":"Carolane Desmarteaux ,&nbsp;Émilie Giguère ,&nbsp;Mouni Amrane ,&nbsp;Mathieu Piché ,&nbsp;Arnaud Saj ,&nbsp;David Ogez ,&nbsp;Ali Filali ,&nbsp;Pierre Rainville","doi":"10.1016/j.concog.2026.104007","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.concog.2026.104007","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":51358,"journal":{"name":"Consciousness and Cognition","volume":"139 ","pages":"Article 104007"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146183306","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Corrigendum to “Action without agent, but with awareness? Meditation and the modulation of agency induced sensory suppression”. [Conscious. Cogn. (2026) 103960]","authors":"Yoav Schweitzer ,&nbsp;Aviva Berkovich-Ohana ,&nbsp;Yair Dor-Ziderman ,&nbsp;Ohad Nave ,&nbsp;Stephen Fulder ,&nbsp;Fynn-Mathis Trautwein","doi":"10.1016/j.concog.2026.104008","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.concog.2026.104008","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":51358,"journal":{"name":"Consciousness and Cognition","volume":"139 ","pages":"Article 104008"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146196135","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Mind-Wandering Enhances Learning under Uncertainty: Insights from Iowa Gambling Task","authors":"Saba Siddiqi,&nbsp;Sathya Narayana Sharma","doi":"10.1016/j.concog.2026.104021","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.concog.2026.104021","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Mind-wandering refers to the shift of attention towards task-unrelated thoughts. The current study aims to explore the impact of mind-wandering on learning and decision-making under uncertain circumstances. This study investigated the interplay of trait (spontaneous and deliberate) and state mind-wandering on learning and decision making using the Iowa Gambling Task. Intermittent thought probes were used to measure state mind wandering, and a standardised 8-item mind-wandering questionnaire was used to measure trait mind wandering. Results revealed that participants demonstrated enhanced learning across task trials when engaged in task-unrelated thoughts (mind-wandering). Furthermore, an interaction effect emerged between trait spontaneous mind-wandering and state mind-wandering, significantly predicting learning under uncertainty. Specifically, the beneficial impact of state mind-wandering on learning was most pronounced in individuals with moderate to high levels of spontaneous mind-wandering traits. However, there was no significant effect of mind-wandering on the percentage of risky choices. These findings suggest that spontaneous mind-wandering facilitates cognitive adaptability under uncertain environments, highlighting its adaptive role in learning processes.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51358,"journal":{"name":"Consciousness and Cognition","volume":"139 ","pages":"Article 104021"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146214983","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Prioritization of self-associated voices is enhanced by positive prosodic valence: Roles of individual explicit self-esteem in self-bias and positive self-bias","authors":"Yifan Mou ,&nbsp;Hongwei Ding","doi":"10.1016/j.concog.2026.103995","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.concog.2026.103995","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The self-prioritization effect (SPE) refers to the preferential processing of self-relevant stimuli relative to those linked to others. Recent evidence suggests that even unfamiliar, external voices can elicit an auditory SPE once arbitrarily associated with the self, whereas it remains unclear whether this prioritization is modulated by stimulus valence. Across two experiments, the present study examined the prioritization of self-associated voices and the influence of prosodic valence on its magnitude. Experiment 1 adopted a voice-label matching task in which unfamiliar voices were associated with labels of the self, a friend, and a stranger. Self-associated voices were processed faster and more accurately, accompanied by faster evidence accumulation, relative to voices assigned to a friend or a stranger. Manipulating the prosodic valence of to-be-associated voices, Experiment 2 showed that positive prosodic valence enhanced the strength of auditory SPE. A larger self-prioritization was elicited in happy prosody than neutral prosody, and valence-related effects were confined to self-associated voices. Finally, explicit self-esteem was unrelated to self-bias, but positively associated with positive self-bias. Together, these findings demonstrate the robustness and flexibility of the auditory SPE, with its magnitude being amplified by positive valence. The dissociation between explicit self-esteem and self-bias highlights the multifaceted self-representations, while meaningful individual variation in positive self-bias underscores the important role of explicit self-esteem in self-positivity bias.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51358,"journal":{"name":"Consciousness and Cognition","volume":"139 ","pages":"Article 103995"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146013156","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}