New open-access paper out in Trends in Cognitive Sciences:
Explanation, scope, and perspective: sources of schismogenesis in consciousness science
Francesco Ellia & Naotsugu Tsuchiya
A thread 1/n🧵
www.cell.com/trends/cogni...
Sure, I will send it to you via email
A new preprint t.co/YtK1A9asrJ Beyond the Reducing Valve: Towards a Computational Neurophenomenology of Altered States via Deep Neural Networks
Braitenberg's vehicle (Type 42)
Tasting HUMMUS in Auckland now.
Finally out! @flowlifeox.bsky.social used coupled haptic devices to study joint action between humans and human and AI agents.
Keisuke @ksks.bsky.social and I have been using coupled haptic devices to develop a platform for comparing the experience of embodied interactions with AI agents and with other humans.
We have just published our first paper from this project!
www.frontiersin.org/journals/psy...
This idea was first empirically validated in Suzuki (@ksks.bsky.social) et al. (2017) with the Hallucination Machine:
panoramic DeepDream videos presented in VR reliably induced altered states with similarities to psilocybin experiences.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
@naotsuchiya.bsky.social CHAINのクラウドファンディングです。土谷さんも応援してください！https://readyfor.jp/projects/chain2025
New preprint with super @manuelbaltieri.bsky.social !
Mathematical approaches to the study of agents
osf.io/preprints/ps...
New paper! Investigating the role of sensorimotor spatial dependencies in shaping conscious access to virtual 3D objects, w/ Paweł Moytka, DavidSchwartzman, me, and @ksks.bsky.social. Link below. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
In short, the beautiful complexity of our perception might be born from a delicate dance on the edge of chaos. This suggests our brain's "variability" isn't a bug, but a core feature of how we make sense of the world. 💡
Read the full paper here: doi.org/10.1016/j.ne...
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This chaos-based model explains why illusions work and perception fluctuates—all without adding external noise. It even predicts how visual blur increases variability by making the network itself more chaotic.
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😵💫 But when your senses conflict (like seeing a touch on a rubber hand while feeling it on your hidden hand), the network is pushed into a more chaotic state. This internal chaos creates the fluctuations we experience, making our perception unstable.
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Here’s the core concept:
✅ When your senses agree (e.g., you see a touch exactly where you feel it), our model shows the brain network "calms down" and becomes stable. You get a clear, unified perception.
4/7
Our new paper in Neural Networks suggests our brains operate on the "edge of chaos." This isn't random noise, but a highly sensitive sweet spot between order and unpredictability, creating a rich state that's perfect for complex perception. ✨
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Scientists have been puzzled: even when we see and feel the exact same thing multiple times, our perception can fluctuate wildly. Why do we sometimes feel an illusion strongly, and other times not at all? Is it just random noise? Or is something deeper going on? 🤯
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Ever wonder why a ventriloquist's dummy seems to talk, or why a rubber hand can feel like your own? 🤔 Our brains perform an amazing trick, merging what we see, hear, and feel into a single reality. But this process isn't always stable.
A new theory on why. 🧵
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7/7 And there's more! We've also created and released a program to easily administer the PCS-J in online or lab experiments, handling instruction presentation (audio/text) and response recording! 💻 Researchers, please feel free to use it! 🔗 github.com/ksk-S/PhenoC... #OpenScience
6/7 These findings suggest that the PCS-J indeed correlates with related psychological traits (positive schizotypy – indicating convergent validity) and does not correlate with less related traits (negative schizotypy – indicating discriminant validity), supporting the scale's validity.
5/7 We also examined the construct validity of the PCS-J (i.e., does it accurately measure what it's intended to measure?). Scores correlated with SPQ-B "positive schizotypy" (cognitive-perceptual), but NOT "negative schizotypy" (interpersonal). A new finding not in the original PCS! 🙌
4/7 We have now developed the Japanese version of the PCS, the "PCS-J"! ✨ In a pre-registered online study, we confirmed both test-retest reliability (consistency of results over time) and internal consistency (consistency of items within the scale) were good (even higher than original!).
3/7 To objectively measure the degree of this "Phenomenological Control," Lush et al. (2021) developed the self-report "Phenomenological Control Scale (PCS)." This scale was specifically designed to measure an individual's PC ability without using the term "hypnosis". doi.org/10.1525/coll...
2/7 Crucially, the term "Phenomenological Control" was proposed by Lush et al. to capture this ability more directly and neutrally, avoiding the specific theoretical implications and common misconceptions associated with "hypnosis" (e.g., needing a special trance state).
1/7 First, what is "Phenomenological Control" (PC)? 🤔 It's a broad concept referring to the ability to alter subjective sensations or experiences (e.g., hearing a sound that isn't there) in response to suggestions, whether intentional or not. Think experiences in hypnosis or imaginative suggestion.
Imaizumi, S., & Suzuki, K. (2025). DOI: doi.org/10.1093/nc/n... (Explaining in this thread 👇) #Psychology #PhenomenologicalControl
🎉 Paper Published! 🎉 Our paper, "The Japanese version of the Phenomenological Control Scale," has been published in Neuroscience of Consciousness! If you're interested in individual differences in phenomenological control, please check it out!
