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Neurophenomenological (NP) methods integrate objective and subjective data in ways that retain the statistical power of established disciplines (like cognitive science) while embracing the value of first-person reports of experience. The present paper positions neurophenomenology as an approach that pulls from traditions of cognitive science but includes techniques that are challenging for cognitive science in some ways. A baseline study is reviewed for “lessons learned,” that is, the potential methodological improvements that will support advancements in understanding consciousness and cognition using neurophenomenology. These improvements, we suggest, include (1) addressing issues of interdisciplinarity by purposefully and systematically creating and maintaining shared mental models among research team members; (2) making sure that NP experiments include high standards of experimental design and execution to achieve variable control, reliability, generalizability, and replication of results; and (3) conceiving of phenomenological interview techniques as placing the impetus on the interviewer in interaction with the experimental subject.
The tension of scientific exploration involves both push and pull; it launches outward, across seas or solar systems, and yet draws us inward, into the depths of Earth and of our own minds. The topics presented in this article balance on that tension, with reference to a study of the inner experience of the mind as it faces outward toward the expanse of space. More specifically, the aim is to critically evaluate neurophenomenological (NP) methods for studying first-person experiences. We describe the techniques used in a baseline study and highlight areas for methodological improvement that may be helpful in future NP research. The baseline study acts as a reference point from which recommendations for methodological improvements may be extrapolated, contributing to the refinement of neurophenomenology as an approach for studying human experience.
After reviewing some of the context of the broader NP tradition, emphasizing its relationship to (and contrast from) other cognitive science methods (see Neurophenomenological Methodology), we present an overview of the baseline study (see Overview of the Baseline Experiment). The final section includes an outline of the key “lessons learned” about NP methodology in the baseline study.
While the nature of human experience has been questioned since the time of Aristotle, there is still no consensus in the scientific community regarding methods to approach such inquiries. Neurophenomenology is one promising approach, as its core purpose is to connect research in the various fields that study experience in a manner that fully integrates first-person experiential accounts with third-person neuroscientific measurements. To achieve this goal neurophenomenology uses techniques from cognitive science, neuroscience, and philosophical phenomenology in an attempt to piece together a dynamic and inclusive picture.
As its name implies, neurophenomenology blends data collection methods from neuroscience and phenomenology. Phenomenology is a diversified philosophical approach initiated in the twentieth century by Edmund Husserl. It was conceived as a descriptive and analytic study of consciousness, including aspects of intentionality (the directedness or “aboutness” feature of consciousness) and phenomenality (the qualitative feel of what it is like to experience something). Philosophers in this philosophical tradition, like
One of the objectives of experimental neurophenomenology is to bridge first-person experience and neurophysiological data (
The phenomenological methods employed in NP studies derive from and simplify the methodology explicated by
Subjects (as well as experimenters) suspend their beliefs or theories about experience;
Subjects gain intimacy with the domain of investigation by reflectively focusing on how they are experiencing the stimulus;
Subjects offer descriptions that are then intersubjectively validated.
One important aspect of NP method is the avoidance of pre-defined categories. This correlates with the emphasis on first-person report and the suspension of theories. It reflects the attempt to stay with the subject’s experience without imposing external criteria or concepts, or assuming that we already know what such experience is like. In
On the one hand, in contrast to DRC, in many cognitive scientific studies first-person data will be collected in the form of pre-defined scales and surveys. Less typically, participants may be interviewed, but every participant would be exposed to identical questions. Of course, these are legitimate scientific practices, as cognitive science attempts to attribute any variation in behavior to either experimental manipulations or individual differences. Researchers seek to control the parameters to draw strong conclusions about the influence of external factors on individuals. Such studies analyze data over identical conditions applied to diverse participants, but in so doing, they risk overlooking important aspects of experience such as attentive states, emergent distractive thoughts, or individual cognitive strategies.
On the other hand, the particular NP paradigm proposed by Varela and used in the
In this same spirit of widening the scope of neurophenomenology,
First-person data inevitably pose large philosophical problems for empirical science, and these problems are manifest in two philosophical challenges to NP. One challenge involves reductionism, which is the proposition that explanations of consciousness and cognition can be reduced to purely physiological explanations, thereby eliminating the need to talk about first-person experience. The other challenge concerns sufficiency; it questions the capability of neurophenomenology to deliver on its promises to reveal anything that traditional scientific methods cannot capture.
One might respond to the reductionist challenge by arguing that science must strive “to explain what there is” (
The second challenge hinges on a narrow view of the problem to be solved.
The
The
The
Whether, as neurophenomenology matures, it can address all of these issues remains to be seen. The present work focuses on the methodological issue, but it would be erroneous to assume that any of these challenges function in isolation.
Notwithstanding these broader issues, there is reason to believe that NP methods can accomplish something important. For example, studies using phenomenological techniques in the evaluation and therapies of epilepsy and other neurophysical conditions indicate validity for the broader category of NP approaches (see, e.g.,
The preceding sections have outlined the philosophical and theoretical position of neurophenomenology, positioning it as both complementary to some, but divergent from other practices of cognitive science. In this section we introduce a baseline experiment conducted using NP methods. We reflect on a number of methodological problems that became apparent in the post-experimental evaluations, problems that have concrete methodological solutions. The baseline experiment thus provides a good opportunity to reflect on some potential issues that may arise as experimenters attempt to employ NP methods. Some of these issues may be specific to this particular kind of study; others may apply generally to NP investigations.
This baseline experiment focuses on experiences undergone by astronauts during space flights, recorded in their in-space journals and in subsequent interviews. These experiences are described variably as deeply esthetic, spiritual, or religious, and they involve affective states of awe, wonder, curiosity, and humility (AWCH). The baseline study attempted to replicate and understand these experiences by placing subjects in simulated space-travel environments, recording neurological data (using EEG and functional near-infrared spectroscopy, fNIR) and physiological data (using ECG), and correlated first-person experiences (using phenomenological interviews and psychological surveys).
For the purpose of the baseline study, the researchers examined the constructs of AWCH. AWCH recur in the experiential accounts collected from astronauts’ (including cosmonauts’) journals and interviews. The astronauts’ narratives carry a unique power for many reasons. First, their demographics consist largely of scientists. Some significant number of them return from the experience of spaceflight changed, and some of their reports indicate that these changes are spiritual in nature. They report being moved affectively in a manner they describe as eliciting an internal change. They return to earth with a sense of
In the past decade, scientists have promoted the cultivation of awe as a beneficial characteristic for clinical psychology and other areas of patient care. This perspective comes out of a larger movement that embraces an interdisciplinary approach to studying religious and spiritual experience more broadly. The larger project, as
To explore the interdisciplinary challenges inherent to NP examinations of spiritual and esthetic experiences in any useful way, it is essential to narrow the focus and establish a shared nomenclature. In the research examined herein, awe and wonder provide construct exemplars. Awe, as a component of spiritual and religious experience, has been discussed in historic philosophical traditions. In the eighteenth century, Edmund Burke’s philosophical treatises struggle with the sublime and beautiful, binding these constructs conceptually with awe-filled emotions. These emotions do not imply pleasure, in its most obvious sense, but
For purposes of our study,
The baseline experiment was part of a collaborative interdisciplinary project entitled
Both the baseline study and other experiments in this project used simulation technologies to generate controlled conditions. Varying degrees of realistic experiences are possible within virtual reality simulators and they can allow for NP research to be conducted with high levels of control (
Aspects of context were incorporated into the simulation design and were crucial in the experimental strategy. All participants experienced identical “launch” context narratives and were placed in the same physical environment. Although the contextual cues for all participants were objectively identical, the experienced context varied due to a variety of factors, including the participant’s background and their current bodily state. In all research, contextual circumstances, both objective and subjective, contribute to the experience. Context consists of any information or factor that can be used to characterize the circumstances or situation of the participant. Multiple factors might be relevant to the interaction between a participant and the simulation and may or may not be manifest within the simulation itself; in this regard, the participant determines the perception and experience of relevancy. In basic NP research, this means that control of contextual variables within the experimental environment is of utmost importance.
The baseline study applied these principles of simulation context design in the development of the mixed-reality simulator and the conditions presented therein. The experimenters presented the study to participants in terms of simulated space travel and worked to support the narrative that reinforced the idea that the participant had been selected to have the unique opportunity for virtual space travel. The experimenters worked to maintain the story narrative of an impending launch, even while placing neurophysiological sensors on the participant.
Researchers collected real-time physiological and neurophysiological measurements using EEG, ECG, and fNIR while the participants were immersed in the mixed-reality environment and observed the space scenes. The experimenter sat unseen by the participant, outside of the space vehicle and could only be contacted through radio control.
After “suiting up” with the various physiological and neurophysiological monitors, the participant was in the mixed-reality environment which resembled the interior of a space vehicle (based on images of the interior of the International Space Station). The participant then, after a short delay, experienced a launch sequence (countdown and a convincing audio experience, as the chair and space vehicle were stationary), followed by silence. Once the participant was “in space” large computer monitors embedded in the walls of the space vehicle opened virtual portals revealing dynamic images of space, including views of Earth, Moon, the International Space Station, and expanses of stars. After the participant viewed the images, the space vehicle “returned to earth” (relayed to the participant through radio control) and the participant answered brief questionnaires, repeating some of the questions that had been asked previously and introducing questions of workload. Experimenters removed all sensors and then brought the participant to meet an interviewer. The interviewers were philosophy graduate students trained in phenomenological interview techniques. Interviewers escorted participants to another area for interviewing, with the succinct goal of exploring the participant’s experience during the simulated space flight.
From the beginning to the end, the baseline experiment was executed much like a relay race, with researchers passing the baton from one stage of the experiment to the next. The analysis of the collected data required a division of labor by the various contributing disciplines. Human factors psychology and neuroscience experts examined the data from the psychological and neurophysiological measurements. Phenomenologists reviewed the transcripts and recordings of the interviews and conducted linguistic and hermeneutical analyses. The latter was informed by a previous analysis of the astronaut journals that provided 37 categories reflecting AWCH experiences. That starting point was leveraged for a comparative evaluation of the participant interviews. The results showed promise. For example, in preliminary analyses, the results of the neurophysiological data indicated engagement of frontal lobes during the feeling of wonder and parietal lobes during physical affect. Participants who reported experiencing awe, wonder, religiousness, or spirituality were compared to those who did not indicate such experiences. Neural activity varied significantly between experiencers and non-experiencers and was greater for the Earth view than the Deep Space view. In addition, participants who reported higher levels of religiousness (as indicated in the questionnaires) were more likely to report awe and wonder when viewing the Earth (as opposed to only stars).
The results did not lack merit. To the contrary, the results provided information about human phenomena that otherwise have garnered little empirical exploration to date. The results of the baseline experiment contribute to a compelling case in favor of further exploration using neurophenomenology. The work supports the application of open-ended interviews for a broader range of basic-research contexts. However, the experiment provides “lessons learned” for improving NP methods in hopes of generating more conclusive results.
Neurophenomenological research must embrace systematic and thorough creation of SMMs as part of the neurophenomenology as applied philosophy in the research world. Its intrinsically interdisciplinary nature demands that contributing domain experts avoid the “passing the baton” approach that can result in a mere collection of data in a non-contextualized way (
In the complexities of carrying out an interdisciplinary study with multiple parts, problems can arise. In the baseline study, there were many possible variables that could have explained components of the experience (e.g., launch narrative, the mixed-reality components of the simulator, and changes in setting between experience and interview). It was therefore impossible to conclusively determine which manipulations generated the various aspects of the experiences. In part, this problem in the baseline study was the result of inadequate SMMs mentioned above. Team members, working within the confines of their own specialized disciplines were not always able to see the whole picture, and this had an effect on the overall design of the experiment. This, of course, is not inevitable, or necessarily a characteristic of other NP experiments, but that this problem did characterize the baseline study suggests that adopting different practices is something that needs to be made explicit. Accordingly, the second methodological lesson is a reminder that psychology and the cognitive sciences already have a time-tested tradition of precision in experimentation and that neurophenomenology can benefit from attending to many of the practices involved in this tradition.
As researchers design a NP experiment, they should consider many of the questions that their counterparts in traditional cognitive science might ask. For example, does it make sense to generalize first-person data? Cognitive scientists, with a firm footing in psychology, consider the extent to which any finding can be generalized to the population at large, and that consideration may affect the manner in which the data is both collected and handled. Neurophenomenologists need to grapple with that question as well, and avoid oversimplification of the factors that contribute to the results.
In addition to generalizability, cognitive psychology also considers verification. A well-formed NP study needs to consider procedures for the verification of subjective experience. The baseline study, due to the length of experimental sessions and the uniqueness of using the NP approach, only included one aspect from each field that compose neurophenomenology. In other words, neurological and physiological measures from neuroscience were used to assess one part of the participants’ experience (physical response), questionnaires from psychology were used to assess another part of the participants’ experience (demographic information, traits, and cognitive response to the immersive environment), and phenomenological interviews from philosophy assess participants’ linguistic attribution of their experience in the environment as though they were reliving the experience. There was no overlap; no checks and balances. Strictly, this was a neurophenomenology study, but not an optimal application of NP methods, which thereby limit the power of the interpretation of the results. Again, to iterate, the data attained from the baseline experiment is useful and informative to the phenomenon under investigation as seen from each discipline, but perhaps short of the ideal of neurophenomenology.
Depending on the study, other disciplines can provide complementary tools for verification. On its own, a Likert scale of self-reported affect (a tool from psychology) will not capture lived experience. However, it can provide correlations and comparisons that can provide verification when interpreting the findings from the phenomenological interviews. When designing the experiment, researchers can incorporate established methods from psychology, taking care to avoid influencing the phenomenological interview. For example, a sliding qualitative scale of affect can be given after the phenomenological interview. The information from the scale can provide support to the textual analyses of the interviews. The scale cannot, on its own, capture unique lived experience, but it can add credence to the basic findings in neurophenomenology.
In regard to using methods from cognitive science, researchers designing NP experiments must also consider the replicability of their experiments. For example, neurophenomenology has been used to explore experience in epileptic preictal states (
To do this, the experimental design might include the embracing of simulation technology. Simulation test beds allow for high variable control and precise stimulus/response recordings, consequently increasing successful replication. Simulations can be shared between institutions, permitting more diverse population testing (and bringing the results higher generalizability as well). For example, future experiments in our project will use a portable simulation environment. This form of immersive simulation allows the presentation to be packed up and taken to another location, so that other locales can benefit from the technique. It also is a straightforward, and relatively cost-effective form of simulation presentation, so that laboratories with limited simulator resources can erect similar systems. A digitally controlled presentation of experimental stimuli allows for improved generalizability, replicability, and verification, and can thereby give more credence and credibility to the NP findings. Interplay between the phenomenological project and some techniques of cognitive science can generate a unique integrative methodology. As such, neurophenomenology should take the best of the practices of cognitive science, while contributing its unique techniques that have not been a common part of the cognitive science toolbox.
The third lesson to extract from the baseline study is that the real question of phenomenological training should shift from focusing on the participant to the interviewer.
Though Lesson #2 argued for the importance of adopting specific practices from cognitive science, Lesson #3 involves the aspect of neurophenomenology that stands in contrast to cognitive science. To work through the argument, it is essential to first describe the role of training in the interview. The “training trade-off” depicts how the line between the interviewer and interviewee can dissolve, so that the interviewer actually
As discussed above, much NP research has been based on the idea that only a person trained in introspective or phenomenological techniques can provide details with the degree of precision required for meaningful results (cf.
The impact on methodology is that the emphasis shifts from a question about the degree of training a participant does or does not receive. This degree of self-awareness cannot be controlled in participants with the interview approach. Instead, the onus for training is directed toward the interviewer. The training trade-off is compensatory, in that the interviewer’s skill will improve the chances of the untrained participant’s successful articulation of her experience. If the interviewer is working with Buddhist monks, she may not need to receive a great deal of training and may be able to simply tell the participant the focus of the study. Conversely, if the same interviewer is working with undergrads at any given university in the West, she may need to pull from a collection of tools and techniques to give the participant the capacity to access the thoughts and feelings experienced.
It should be noted that, while the training trade-off is presented, primarily as a methodological lesson, it has important theoretical weight as well. This dynamic between interviewer and participant has value for the debate regarding phenomenological experimentation. The dynamic interaction demanded by the NP interview method is not part of traditional cognitive science. In the NP interview, there is a cognitive off-loading by the participant onto the interviewer that traditional psychology does not always recognize. The phenomenological interviewer has the power, if executed in the manner described herein, to do some of the cognitive work of focusing the participant precisely on the participant’s lived experience, a task that may be otherwise impossible for the untrained participant. This is not one of the tools of traditional cognitive psychology. When psychologists employ the similar technique of introspection (perhaps in therapeutic sessions like hypnosis), they involve actually training the participant to look inward. The goal, in such cases, is not to extrapolate a description of an experience itself. Rather, interview questions are tools used, perhaps by applied psychologists/therapists, but certainly not typically by basic researchers. When neurophenomenology employs the interview, it is a core method that is fundamentally part of the experimental approach, and as such it changes the way the first-person experiential data is captured and handled.
This does not degrade the first-person experience, treating it as third-person data (as
Consequently, the third lesson involves a “training trade-off” in integration of the interview into experimental design and execution. NP methods can work with this adjustment in focus from the participant to the interviewer, and the re-evaluation needed for each unique experiment. The interviewers can pull from multiple tools and techniques with the aim of eliciting the necessary acts of reflection and articulation.
Reflecting on our own experiences in conducting a baseline study employing NP methods, we have explicated a number of problems that we encountered and made suggestions for addressing such problems. The first involves improving communication practices among research team members and establishing a shared understanding of the methods and goals of neurophenomenology. This is especially important since neurophenomenology involves certain ways of rethinking received scientific procedures and is not the standard approach in which many of the researchers have been trained. The second involves the importance of incorporating some of the best scientific practices into NP methods, especially those that involve control, reliability, generalizability, and replication. The third suggestion involves the use of a phenomenological interview technique and the question of who gets trained, and how. Each of these suggestions should be considered in the variable contexts of NP research.
The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
This research was supported by the