METHODS article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Consciousness Research
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1558453
This article is part of the Research TopicDeepening Consciousness: What Phenomenology, Yogic, and Buddhist Meditation Can Contribute From a Psychological PerspectiveView all 7 articles
Consciousness, mindfulness, and introspection: Integrating first-and second-person phenomenological inquiry with experimental and EEG data to study the mind
Provisionally accepted
Anita Milicevic1*
Angela Blazely2Anatol Bragin3Ross W.J. Dunseath4
Nicholas J. Matiasz1Mauricio Watanabe Ribeiro5
Camila Sardeto Deolindo6
Elisa H. Kozasa7B. Alan Wallace1,8- 1Center for Contemplative Research, Crestone, United States
- 2South Western Sydney Local Health District, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
- 3Brain Research Institute, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, United States
- 4Division of Perceptual Studies, School of Medicine, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, United States
- 5Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States
- 6Vestas (Denmark), Aarhus, Denmark
- 7Instituto do Cérebro, Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein, São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
- 8Santa Barbara Institute for Consciousness Studies, Santa Barbara, California, United States
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Studies on consciousness need to develop further a mixed methods research design that effectively integrates first-, second-and third-person research approaches. Mixed methods research has not fully explored the methodological potential of the participant-observer role and the interdependence of knowledge across disciplines to gain a deeper understanding of such inquiries. This paper describes a theoretical and methodological framework that integrates phenomenological, psychological, and electrophysiological methods for the study of consciousness and the mind. This methodological 1 Consciousness, mindfulness, and introspection approach includes the purposive sampling of contemplative practitioners extensively trained to observe their mental states and processes with sustained attention, mindfulness, and introspection. By reporting the theoretical and methodological framework here, it is anticipated that the authors' experience of having used this in a small pilot study will offer valuable guidance to fellow researchers seeking to maximize the rigor of their in-depth studies on consciousness and the mind.
Keywords: mixed methods research design 1, first- second- and third-person inquiry2, purposive sampling3, participant observer4, consciousness and introspection study5
Received: 10 Jan 2025; Accepted: 11 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Milicevic, Blazely, Bragin, Dunseath, Matiasz, Ribeiro, Sardeto Deolindo, H. Kozasa and Wallace. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Anita Milicevic, Center for Contemplative Research, Crestone, United States
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