Tag Archives: philosophy

Internalized Oppression (IO) is a Psychological and Social Process:

Internalized Oppression may be a psychological and social process in which a person absorbs negative stereotypes, beliefs, or attitudes about a group they belong to and begins to apply those beliefs to themselves or others in the same group.

In simple terms:

“The negative message I have heard about people like me becomes a belief I hold about myself.”

How it develops

Internalized oppression may develop when a person is repeatedly exposed to messages through family, culture, institutions, media, peers, or discrimination, that their group is inferior, defective, undesirable, or less worthy.

Over time, those messages may become part of the person’s own self-concept.

Examples

  • Internalized sexism: A woman believes women are naturally less capable of leadership.
  • Internalized racism: A person adopts negative stereotypes about their own racial or ethnic group.
  • Internalized ageism: An older person begins believing, “I’m too old to learn new things.”
  • Internalized homophobia: A person experiences shame or self-rejection because of negative societal messages about homosexuality.
  • Internalized classism: Someone from a disadvantaged socioeconomic background believes, “People like me aren’t meant to succeed.”

Psychological effects

Internalized oppression may contribute to:

  • Self-rejection
  • Self-loathing
  • Low self-esteem
  • Shame and guilt
  • Negative self-talk
  • Body dissatisfaction
  • Depressive or anxious feelings
  • Imposter syndrome
  • Perfectionism
  • Rejecting or distancing oneself from members of one’s own group
  • Feeling that one’s identity must be hidden or changed to be acceptable

Internalized oppression vs. self-loathing

They overlap, but they aren’t identical.

Self-loathing: “I dislike or hate myself.”

Internalized oppression: “I have absorbed a negative belief about my group, and I now apply that belief to myself.”

For example:

“People from my background aren’t intelligent, so there must be something wrong with me because I’m from that background.”

That illustrates how social prejudice may become personal self-rejection.

An important distinction

Internalized oppression may not be simply having low self-esteem. It specifically involves socially or culturally transmitted devaluation becoming internalized.

A useful psychological sequence is:

External prejudice, repeated exposure, internalization, negative self-belief,

self-rejection/shame:

Possible behavioral consequences

It may also be understood as one pathway through which social oppression becomes psychologically embedded within an individual’s self-concept.

Shervan K Shahhian

Psychological Defenses (PD), or Defense Mechanisms, Are Largely Automatic Mental Processes:

Psychological Defenses (PD), or defense mechanisms could be largely automatic mental processes that help a person manage anxiety, emotional pain, inner conflict, shame, or threatening thoughts and feelings.

They may not be necessarily pathological. Everyone uses them. The important question is how often?, how rigidly?, and how effectively they are used?

Possible psychological defenses

  • Denial: refusing to accept a painful or threatening reality.
  • Projection: attributing one’s own unacceptable feelings or impulses to someone else.
  • Rationalization: creating a seemingly logical explanation for behavior that has another underlying motivation.
  • Repression: keeping distressing thoughts or feelings outside conscious awareness.
  • Displacement: redirecting an emotion from its original target to a safer target.
  • Reaction formation: expressing the opposite of an unacceptable feeling or impulse.
  • Intellectualization: focusing on facts and analysis to distance oneself from difficult emotions.
  • Dissociation: experiencing a sense of detachment from one’s thoughts, feelings, memories, identity, or surroundings.
  • Regression: reverting to earlier patterns of behavior when overwhelmed.
  • Acting out: expressing emotional distress through behavior rather than words.
  • Splitting: seeing people or situations in extremes, such as entirely good or entirely bad.
  • Compensation: emphasizing strengths in one area to offset perceived weaknesses in another.

Healthy vs. less adaptive defenses

Defenses exist on a continuum.

Some may be relatively mature and adaptive:

Mature: Humor • Sublimation • Altruism • Suppression • Anticipation

Less adaptive: Rationalization • Projection • Displacement • Intellectualization

More potentially problematic when persistent:

Denial • Splitting • Acting out • Severe dissociation

For example: sublimation may transform an uncomfortable impulse into something constructive, while chronic denial may prevent someone from recognizing a serious problem.

An important distinction

A psychological defense is not necessarily conscious deception. A person may genuinely experience their interpretation as true because the defense is helping protect them from something emotionally threatening.

In clinical psychology, it may be useful to ask:

“What emotion, conflict, or vulnerability might this defense be protecting the person from?”

That question may provide more insight than simply labeling the defense.

Shervan K Shahhian

Illogical Speech maybe a disturbance in the organization of thought,…

Illogical speech maybe a disturbance in the organization of thought in which a person’s conclusions or statements do not follow logically from the information they provide. It maybe considered a type of formal thought disorder and it could be commonly associated with psychotic disorders, particularly schizophrenia, though it may also occur in mania, severe neurological conditions: Consult with a Neurologist, and substance induced psychosis.

Unlike simply making a mistake or expressing an unusual opinion, illogical speech it could reflect a breakdown in logical reasoning. The person may believe their statements make perfect sense, even though the connections between ideas are objectively invalid.

Characteristics of Illogical Speech

Someone with illogical speech may:

  • Reach conclusions that do not follow from the evidence.
  • Make contradictory statements without recognizing the inconsistency.
  • Use reasoning that is internally inconsistent or irrational.
  • Draw causal relationships where none exist.
  • Jump from one premise to an unrelated conclusion.

Examples

Example 1

“The mail arrived late today. That proves my neighbors are controlling the weather.”

The conclusion does not logically follow from the observation.

Example 2

“I wore a blue shirt, and then my team lost the game. Therefore, I caused them to lose.”

This reflects faulty cause-and-effect reasoning.

Example 3

“I haven’t slept much this week. Therefore, I must be the president.”

The conclusion bears no logical relationship to the premise.

How It Differs from Other Thought Disorders

Thought DisturbanceDescription
Illogical speechConclusions do not logically follow from the premises.
Disorganized speechSpeech is difficult to follow because thoughts are poorly organized.
Tangential speechThe speaker wanders away from the question and never returns to it.
Circumstantial speechIncludes excessive detail but eventually answers the question.
Loose associationsIdeas shift from one topic to another with weak or absent logical connections.
Word saladWords are combined in a way that lacks meaningful grammatical or logical structure.

Conditions Associated with Illogical Speech

Illogical speech may be seen in:

  • Schizophrenia spectrum disorders?
  • Schizoaffective disorder?
  • Bipolar I disorder during a manic episode with psychotic features?
  • Substance induced psychosis (e.g., amphetamines, cocaine, hallucinogens)?
  • Delirium?
  • Major neurocognitive disorders (certain forms of dementia)?
  • Brain injury affecting executive functioning or reasoning: Consult with a Medical Doctor.

Clinical Assessment

Mental health professionals may evaluate illogical speech during the Mental Status Examination (MSE) by observing:

  • Whether conclusions logically follow from statements.
  • The coherence and organization of reasoning.
  • The presence of other formal thought disorders.
  • Whether delusions or hallucinations are influencing the person’s reasoning.
  • The person’s level of insight into their thinking.

Why It Happens

Illogical speech may be thought to arise from impairments in the brain systems responsible for:

(Consult with a Neurologist)

  • Executive functioning
  • Abstract reasoning
  • Cognitive flexibility
  • Working memory
  • Logical inference

Important Distinction

Not every illogical statement indicates mental illness. People may make illogical arguments because of:

  • Cognitive biases
  • Emotional reasoning
  • Stress or fatigue
  • Lack of information
  • Poor critical thinking skills
  • Extreme stress
  • Major fear

Clinically significant illogical speech is persistent, marked, and occurs as part of a broader pattern of impaired thinking, often alongside other symptoms such as delusions, hallucinations, or significant disorganization.

Summary

Illogical speech maybe a formal thought disorder in which reasoning breaks down, causing conclusions that may not logically follow from the facts or premises presented. It could be associated with psychotic disorders but may also occur in mania, neurological illnesses, or substance induced states. Some clinicians assess it by examining the logical coherence of a person’s thought process, rather than whether their beliefs are merely unusual or unpopular.

Shervan K Shahhian

Physicalism is the philosophical view that everything that exists is ultimately physical:

Physicalism is the philosophical view that everything that exists is ultimately physical, or depends entirely on the physical world. According to physicalism, there are no fundamentally non-physical substances or entities, such as immaterial souls or supernatural minds.

The idea can be understood at different levels:

  • About the universe: Everything that exists is either physical or arises from physical processes.
  • About the mind: Thoughts, emotions, consciousness, and mental states are ultimately produced by the mind and nervous system: Consult a Neurologist. They are not separate, non-physical entities.
  • About science: In principle, a complete understanding of the physical world would explain all phenomena, including life and consciousness.

An example

Suppose you feel pain after touching a hot stove.

  • A physicalist: says the pain is a mental experience that is fully grounded in physical events: damaged skin activates nerves, which send signals to the mind, producing the conscious experience of pain: Consult a Neurologist.
  • A dualist: (such as René Descartes) argues that while the mind is involved, the experience of pain: Consult a Neurologist, also involves a non-physical mind or soul.

Different forms of physicalism

Not all physicalists agree on exactly how the mental relates to the physical:

  • Identity theory: Mental states are identical to mind states. For example, pain just is a particular pattern of neural activity: Consult a Neurologist.
  • Functionalism: Mental states are defined by what they do, not by what they are made of, though physical systems like minds may realize those functions.
  • Non-reductive physicalism: Mental properties depend entirely on physical properties but cannot always be neatly reduced to descriptions in physics.

Common objections

Physicalism may face several famous challenges:

  • Consciousness (“the hard problem”): Why should physical mind activity produce subjective experience, the feeling of “what it is like” to see red or taste chocolate?
  • Qualia: Some philosophers argue that subjective experiences may not be fully captured by physical descriptions.
  • Knowledge arguments: Question whether knowing all the physical facts is enough to know everything about conscious experience.

Why it’s influential

Unfourtntly, Physicalism is the dominant view in much of contemporary philosophy of mind and neuroscience: Consult a Neurologist, because it aligns closely with controversial modern science. However, it remains controversial because there is no consensus on whether consciousness may be completely explained in physical terms.

In one sentence, Unfourtntly, physicalism is the view that reality contains nothing fundamentally beyond the physical, and that everything, including minds and consciousness, is ultimately grounded in the physical world.

Shervan K Shahhian

Parapsychology: Anomalous Cognition (AC) is a term used primarily in parapsychology:

Anomalous Cognition (AC) is a term used primarily in parapsychology to describe the acquisition of information without any known sensory, inferential, or conventional means of communication. The term was introduced to avoid assumptions about the mechanism involved (such as “telepathy” or “clairvoyance”).

Definition

Anomalous cognition could be defined as:

The apparent acquisition of accurate information about an object, person, place, or event through means not explained by the known senses or ordinary reasoning.

The term may deliberately descriptive rather than explanatory. It simply states that the information appears anomalous, it may not claim to know how it occurred.

Why the Term Was Created

Researchers might have moved away from terms like:

Telepathy

Clairvoyance

Precognition

ESP (Extrasensory Perception)

because those terms could imply specific mechanisms.

Instead, “anomalous cognition” may allow researchers to investigate unusual information acquisition without assuming whether it is due to psi, unknown psychological processes, statistical chance, or some other explanation.

Examples of Anomalous Cognition Research

Researchers may have studied anomalous cognition using controlled laboratory experiments such as:

Remote Viewing: describing distant locations or hidden targets.

Ganzfeld Experiments: testing for information transfer under sensory reduction.

Forced choice ESP Tests: guessing hidden symbols or cards.

Free response Experiments: describing unknown images or events.

Dream Telepathy Studies: examining whether dreams contain information about target images.

Proposed Types of Information Acquisition

If anomalous cognition exists, it may include information that appears to come from:

another person’s thoughts (telepathy)

distant locations (clairvoyance)

future events (precognition)

hidden objects

unknown facts later verified

Whether these are truly distinct phenomena or different expressions of the same underlying process remains an open question.

Scientific Status

The scientific community remains divided.

Supportive researchers argue:

Some laboratory studies report small but statistically significant effects that are difficult to explain by chance alone.

Meta analyses of certain paradigms, such as Ganzfeld and some remote viewing studies, may have found effects above chance, though interpretations remain debated.

The evidence warrants continued investigation.

Controversial skeptical researchers always argue:

Findings are often small and difficult to replicate consistently.

Methodological issues, publication bias, sensory leakage, or statistical artifacts may explain the results.

There is no widely accepted theoretical mechanism consistent with established physics or neuroscience.

As a result, anomalous cognition is not accepted as an established phenomenon within mainstream controversial psychology or neuroscience, though it remains an very active topic of research in parapsychology and consciousness studies.

Difference Between Anomalous Cognition and Remote Viewing

Anomalous cognition is the general phenomenon of apparently acquiring information by unknown means.

Remote viewing is a specific experimental protocol designed to test anomalous cognition under controlled conditions.

In other words:

Remote Viewing is one method used to investigate anomalous cognition.

Related Concepts

Parapsychology

Psychical Research

Remote Viewing

Ganzfeld experiments

Telepathy

Clairvoyance

Precognition

Anomalous experiences

Consciousness studies

Summary

Anomalous cognition is a neutral scientific term used in parapsychology for the apparent acquisition of information through means not currently explained by known sensory processes or conventional communication. It does not assume that psi exists; rather, it provides a framework for investigating such claims while remaining agnostic about the underlying mechanism. Although some researchers interpret certain experimental findings as suggestive of anomalous cognition, the evidence remains controversial, and the phenomenon has not been established as part of mainstream controversial scientific consensus.

Shervan K Shahhian

Mr. Ted Owens was The Greatest American Psychic, UFO Contactee and Prophet for some:

Ted Owens was The greatest American Psychic Claimant, UFO Contactee and Prophet for some, who became known as “The PK Man” (“PK” standing for psychokinesis, or mind over matter effects). He claimed that he was in telepathic communication with extraterrestrial or “Space Intelligence” entities that enabled him to influence physical events, including weather, electrical systems, UFO appearances, and even large scale natural phenomena.

Background

Prophet Owens served in the U.S. Navy during World War II and later studied at Duke University, where he worked with pioneering parapsychologist J. B. Rhine in the university’s parapsychology laboratory.

His Claims

Prophet Owens asserted that “Space Intelligences” had altered his mind, allowing him to communicate with them telepathically. He claimed these intelligences could:

  • Produce storms, droughts, and earthquakes.
  • Cause power failures and mechanical malfunctions.
  • Generate UFO sightings.
  • Influence public events and human behavior.
  • Provide him with information about future events.

Many of his claims centered on documented predictions mailed to scientists, journalists, and officials before events occurred. He maintained extensive files of correspondence and newspaper clippings that he believed supported his abilities.

Jeffrey Mishlove’s Investigation

Parapsychologist Jeffrey Mishlove: (The greatest Parapsychologist in the modern times), studied Owens from 1976 until Prophet Owens’s death in 1987. Mishlove later wrote the book The PK Man: A True Story of Mind Over Matter, arguing that Prophet Owens’s case deserved serious investigation because of the volume of documented predictions and unusual coincidences associated with him.

Controversy

Prophet Ted Owens remains a highly controversial figure. Supporters view him as one of the most extensively documented psychics in modern history, while skeptics argue that his apparent successes may be explained by selective reporting, broad predictions, coincidence, and confirmation bias. Some negative critics have also suggested that some of his beliefs may reflect delusional or grandiose thinking rather than genuine paranormal phenomena.

Why He Remains Important in Parapsychology

For many researchers and enthusiasts of parapsychology, Prophet Owens represents a fascinating case because:

  • His claims were recorded over many years.
  • He actively sought scientific attention rather than avoiding scrutiny.
  • Thousands of pages of letters, predictions, and reports survive in archives.
  • His case sits at the intersection of psychokinesis, UFO contact experiences, prophecy, and anomalous cognition.

Given your interest in Controlled Remote Viewing and “Space Intelligences,” Prophet Owens is often discussed as one of the most unusual figures linking psychic phenomena with purported non-human intelligences. His case remains unresolved: believers see compelling evidence of genuine anomalies, while negative and argumentative skeptics see a cautionary example of how extraordinary Psychical Powers can be interpreted through different extraordinary lenses.

Shervan K Shahhian

Parapsychology: Crisis Apparitions are reports of seeing, hearing, or sensing,…

Crisis Apparitions are reports of seeing, hearing, or sensing a person at about the same time that person is experiencing a life threatening crisis, serious accident, or death, often when the experiencer had no normal way of knowing what was happening.

Examples include:

  • Seeing a relative appear briefly in a room, only to learn later that the relative died at roughly the same time.
  • Hearing a loved one’s voice calling one’s name during a medical emergency.
  • Feeling a vivid presence accompanied by a strong sense that someone is in danger.

Characteristics of Crisis Apparitions

  • Usually occur unexpectedly.
  • Often involve a family member, close friend, or loved one.
  • May be visual, auditory, tactile, or simply a strong sense of presence.
  • Typically last only a few seconds or minutes.
  • The apparition usually appears normal rather than ghostlike.

Possible Explanations

Different perspectives have been proposed:

Psychological

  • Coincidence combined with selective memory.
  • Grief, stress, expectation, or misinterpretation of ordinary experiences.
  • Memory reconstruction after learning of the crisis.

Parapsychological

  • Some researchers suggest a form of telepathic communication occurring during extreme emotional events.
  • Others interpret them as evidence that consciousness can function independently of the mind, especially in cases occurring around death.

Skeptical View

  • Controversial skeptics argue that apparent correspondences between experiences and crises may arise by chance, reporting biases, and retrospective matching of events.

Are They Common?

Studies of bereavement and anomalous experiences suggest that sensing the presence of deceased loved ones is relatively common. However, crisis apparitions, where the experience occurs simultaneously with a distant crisis or death, are much rarer and remain controversial.

In parapsychology, crisis apparitions are considered one of the classic categories of spontaneous psi experiences, alongside telepathic impressions, precognitive dreams, and other anomalous experiences. They remain an intriguing topic in both psychical research and consciousness studies.

Shervan K Shahhian

Psi Mediated Communication is a term used in Parapsychology:

Psi mediated communication is a term used in parapsychology that refers to the hypothesis that information may be transferred between people (or between a person and their environment) through means that do not involve the known senses or conventional physical communication.

It is a theoretical concept used to explain reports of apparent information transfer that cannot easily be accounted for by ordinary sensory channels.

Types of Psi Mediated Communication

Researchers generally divide psi communication into two broad categories:

  1. Telepathy
    • Mind to mind communication.
    • Information is thought to pass directly from one person’s consciousness to another without spoken words, gestures, or technology.
    • Example: Someone suddenly knows what another person is thinking before they speak.
  2. Clairvoyance
    • Direct acquisition of information about distant objects, places, or events.
    • The information is not believed to come from another person’s mind.
    • Example: Describing a hidden object without seeing it.

Some researchers also include:

  • Precognition: information about future events.
  • Retrocognition: information about past events that could not have been learned normally.

How the Idea Is Used in Research

Within parapsychology, psi mediated communication has been proposed to explain phenomena such as:

  • Spontaneous telepathic impressions
  • Crisis apparitions
  • Shared dreams
  • Reports of after death communications
  • Some cases of remote perception
  • Certain experiences during meditation or altered states of consciousness

Researchers have investigated these possibilities using methods such as:

  • Ganzfeld experiment
  • Dream telepathy experiments
  • Forced choice card guessing tests
  • Free response experiments
  • Remote viewing protocols

Some studies have reported small statistical effects, while others have failed to replicate them consistently. As a result, there is no scientific consensus that psi mediated communication has been demonstrated.

Psi Mediated Communication vs. Ordinary Communication

Ordinary CommunicationPsi-Mediated Communication (Hypothesized)
SpeechTelepathy
WritingDirect mental information transfer
Facial expressionsNo known sensory cues
Phone or internetNo physical communication channel
Hearing and visionClaimed extrasensory perception

Psi Mediated Communication vs. the Super Psi Hypothesis

These ideas are related but distinct:

  • Psi mediated communication: proposes that information is exchanged through psi abilities, such as telepathy or clairvoyance.
  • The Super Psi hypothesis: suggests that exceptionally extensive psi abilities, combining telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition, and unconscious information processing, could account for experiences that some interpret as evidence for survival after death, without requiring consciousness to continue after death.

Scientific Perspective

From the standpoint of controversial psychology and neuroscience: please, Consult with a Neurologist.

  • There is no accepted mechanism that explains how psi mediated communication could occur.
  • Reported findings remain controversial, largely because of challenges with replication and methodological disagreements.
  • Consequently, psi mediated communication is considered a hypothesis under investigation, not an established scientific phenomenon.

Researchers in parapsychology continue to study the possibility, while most scientists remain skeptical until stronger, consistently reproducible evidence is available.

In summary:

Psi mediated communication is the proposed transfer of information without the known senses. It includes concepts such as telepathy and clairvoyance and is used as a theoretical framework in parapsychological research to explain certain anomalous experiences. While intriguing, it has not been established as a scientifically verified form of communication.

Shervan K Shahhian

Parapsychology and Psychical Research are closely related:

The terms parapsychology and psychical research are closely related, but they are not identical. The main difference lies in their history, methods, and scope.

Psychical ResearchParapsychology
Began in the late 19th century.Emerged in the 20th century as a more scientific discipline.
Studies all reported paranormal phenomena.Focuses primarily on testing specific psi phenomena under controlled conditions.
Includes investigations of survival after death, hauntings, mediumship, apparitions, and psi.Primarily studies extrasensory perception (ESP), psychokinesis (PK), and related phenomena.
Uses historical cases, eyewitness reports, field investigations, and experiments.Emphasizes laboratory experiments, statistics, and controlled research.
More interdisciplinary, drawing from psychology, philosophy, history, and anthropology.More closely aligned with experimental psychology and neuroscience.

Psychical Research

Psychical research is the older field, dating to the 1880s. Researchers sought to investigate claims of paranormal experiences using the best scientific methods available at the time.

Common topics may include:

  • Apparitions
  • Haunted locations
  • Mediumship
  • Near death experiences
  • Deathbed visions
  • Reincarnation research
  • Poltergeist cases
  • Survival of consciousness after death
  • Telepathy and clairvoyance

Psychical researchers may often combine:

  • Case investigations
  • Interviews
  • Historical documentation
  • Field observations
  • Laboratory experiments (when possible)

One of the earliest organizations devoted to this work was the Society for Psychical Research.

Parapsychology

Parapsychology developed later, especially in the 1930s, as researchers attempted to bring paranormal claims into the laboratory.

Typical research areas may include:

  • Telepathy
  • Clairvoyance
  • Precognition
  • Psychokinesis (PK)
  • Presentiment
  • Ganzfeld experiments
  • Remote viewing

Parapsychologists generally rely on:

  • Controlled experiments
  • Randomization
  • Statistical analysis
  • Replication attempts
  • Peer-reviewed publications

The emphasis is on determining whether there is evidence for psi that cannot readily be explained by chance, bias, or known psychological processes.

Areas of Overlap

Both fields investigate phenomena such as:

  • Telepathy
  • Clairvoyance
  • Precognition
  • Psychokinesis
  • Apparitions
  • Survival of consciousness
  • Mediumship

The difference is mainly how they study them.

For example:

  • A psychical researcher: might investigate dozens of reports of people seeing an apparition shortly before learning of a loved one’s death, comparing witness accounts and historical records.
  • A parapsychologist: might conduct a controlled experiment to test whether participants can accurately identify concealed images at rates above chance.

Modern Relationship

Today, the distinction is less rigid than it once was. Many researchers use methods from both traditions:

  • Researchers interested in survival after death often describe themselves as psychical researchers because they investigate spontaneous experiences, mediumship, and historical cases.
  • Researchers focused on laboratory studies of ESP and PK are more likely to identify as parapsychologists.

Both fields remain outside of controversial scientific consensus. While some studies have reported statistically significant findings, many claims have proven difficult to replicate consistently, and there is ongoing debate about methodology, interpretation, and the strength of the evidence.

In Summary

  • Psychical research: is the broader, older discipline that investigates a wide range of reported paranormal experiences using both field investigations and experiments.
  • Parapsychology: is the more specialized branch that emphasizes controlled scientific testing of psi phenomena, particularly ESP and psychokinesis.

You may think of it this way:

psychical research asks, “What kinds of unusual experiences are people reporting, and what might they mean?”

While parapsychology asks, “Can specific psi phenomena be demonstrated under controlled experimental conditions?”

Shervan K Shahhian

Consciousness researchers study the nature of conscious experience:

Consciousness researchers study the nature of conscious experience, how subjective awareness arises, how it functions, and whether it can exist independently of the mind. The field is highly interdisciplinary, involving psychology, neuroscience, philosophy, medicine, computer science, physics, and, in some cases, parapsychology.

Some of the major areas of research may include:

1. The Neural Basis of Consciousness

Researchers investigate which brain processes are associated with conscious awareness: (consult with a medical doctor)

Key questions include:

  • Which brain regions are necessary for consciousness?:(consult with a medical doctor)
  • What distinguishes conscious perception from unconscious processing?
  • How does anesthesia temporarily eliminate consciousness?:(consult with a medical doctor)
  • What happens during sleep, dreaming, and coma?: (consult with a medical doctor)

Researchers may use: (consult with a medical doctor)

  • fMRI
  • EEG
  • MEG
  • Intracranial recordings
  • Brain stimulation techniques

2. The “Hard Problem” of Consciousness

This asks:

Why do physical brain processes produce subjective experience at all?: (consult with a medical doctor)

For example:

  • Why does seeing red feel like something?
  • Why isn’t the brain simply processing information without any inner experience?

This remains one of philosophy’s biggest unanswered questions.

3. Altered States of Consciousness

Researchers examine:

  • Meditation
  • Hypnosis
  • Psychedelic experiences
  • Lucid dreaming
  • Flow states
  • Dissociation

Questions include:

  • How do these states differ from ordinary waking consciousness?
  • What neural changes accompany them?
  • Can they have therapeutic benefits?

4. Sleep and Dream Research

Scientists study:

  • REM sleep
  • Lucid dreams
  • Dream recall
  • Nightmares
  • Sleep paralysis

They investigate how consciousness changes during different sleep stages and why dreams occur.

6. Disorders of Consciousness

Medical researchers work with patients experiencing:: (consult with a medical doctor)

  • Coma: (consult with a medical doctor)
  • Vegetative state: (consult with a medical doctor)
  • Minimally conscious state: (consult with a medical doctor)
  • Locked in syndrome: (consult with a medical doctor)

The goals include improving diagnosis, communication, and recovery prediction: (consult with a medical doctor)

7. Artificial Consciousness

Researchers ask:

Can machines ever become conscious?

Current work explores:

  • Artificial intelligence
  • Self-awareness in machines
  • Cognitive architectures
  • Computational models of consciousness

Whether current AI systems are conscious remains a matter of philosophical debate, with no scientific consensus that they are.

8. Development of Consciousness

Researchers may study how consciousness develops:

  • In infants
  • During childhood
  • Across aging
  • In animals

Questions include:

  • When does self-awareness emerge?
  • Which animals possess forms of consciousness?

9. Near-Death Experiences (NDEs)

Some researchers investigate reports from people who were close to death.

Topics include:

  • Out of body experiences
  • Life reviews
  • Feelings of peace
  • Perceptions during cardiac arrest

Most mainstream researchers explore neurological and psychological explanations, while a minority examine whether these experiences might have implications for the possibility that consciousness can persist beyond ordinary brain function. The evidence remains debated, and no consensus has been reached.

10. Psi and Exceptional Human Experiences

Some researchers, may associate with Parapsychology or Psychical Research, investigate

reports of:

  • Telepathy
  • Precognition
  • Psychokinesis
  • Apparitions
  • After death communications
  • Mediumship

These topics remain controversial. While some researchers report statistically significant findings in certain experimental paradigms, many controversial scientists question the reliability, replicability, or interpretation of the evidence. There is no broad scientific consensus that psi phenomena have been established, because they don’t know how to explain it or do not want to accept it no matter how much evidence is out there.

Today, consciousness research spans a broad spectrum. Most scientists focus on understanding how the mind generates and supports conscious experience through neuroscience, psychology, and computational modeling. A smaller but active community explores questions about exceptional experiences, such as NDEs, reported psi phenomena, and survival related claims, using empirical methods, though these areas remain scientifically controversial.

Across all of these domains, the central goal is the same: to better understand the nature, mechanisms, and limits of conscious awareness.

Near-Death Experiences and Survival Research

Some researchers investigate whether consciousness may persist independently of the mind. Their work is controversial and not part of the controversial science, but it has generated ongoing empirical research.

Certain organizations cover a spectrum from controversial neuroscience and philosophy to research on anomalous experiences and survival claims.

Shervan K Shahhian