The minimal self hypothesis

For millennia self has been conjectured to be necessary for consciousness. But scant empirical evidence has been adduced to support this hypothesis. Inconsistent explications of “self” and failure to design apt experiments have impeded progress. Advocates of phenomenological psychiatry, however, have helped explicate “self,” and employed it to explain some psychopathological symptoms. In those studies, “self” is understood in a minimalist sense, sheer “for-me-ness.” Unfortunately, explication of the “minimal self” (MS) has relied on conceptual analysis, and applications to psychopathology have been hermeneutic, allowing for many degrees of interpretive latitude. The result is that MS’s current scientific status is analogous to that of the “atom,” at the time when “atom” was just beginning to undergo transformation from a philosophical to a scientific concept. Fortunately, there is now an opportunity to promote a similar transformation for “MS.” Discovery of the brain’s Default Mode Network (DMN) opened the door to neuroimaging investigations of self. Taking the DMN and other forms of intrinsic activity as a starting point, an empirical foothold can be established, one that spurs experimental research and that enables extension of research into multiple phenomena. New experimental protocols that posit “MS” can help explain phenomena hitherto not thought to be related to self, thereby hastening development of a mature science of self. In particular, targeting phenomena wherein consciousness is lost and recovered, as in some cases of Unresponsive Wakefulness Syndrome (UWS), allow for design of neuroimaging probes that enable detection of MS during non-conscious states. These probes, as well as other experimental protocols applied to NREM Sleep, General Anesthesia (GA), and the waking state, provide some evidence to suggest that not only can self and consciousness dissociate, MS might be a necessary precondition for conscious experience. Finally, these findings have implications for the science of consciousness: it has been suggested that “levels of consciousness” (LoC) is not a legitimate concept for the science of consciousness. But because we have the conceptual and methodological tools with which to refine investigations of MS, we have the means to identify a possible foundation—a bifurcation point—for consciousness, as well as the means by which to measure degrees of distance from that foundation. These neuroimaging investigations of MS position us to better assess whether LoC has a role to play in a mature science of consciousness.     

The Dr. John Hall story: a case study in putative “Haunted People Syndrome”

ABSTRACT

Research suggests a “Haunted People Syndrome (HP-S)” defined by recurrent and systematic perceptions of anomalous subjective and objective anomalies. Such signs or symptoms are traditionally attributed to “spirits and the supernatural,” but these themes are hypothesised to morph to “surveillance and stalking” in reports of “group-(or gang) stalking,” We tested this premise with a quali-quantitative exercise that mapped group-stalking experiences from a published first-hand account to a Rasch measure of haunt-type anomalies. This comparison found significant agreement in the specific “signs or symptoms” of both phenomena. Meta-patterns likewise showed clear conceptual similarities between the phenomenology of haunts and group-stalking. Findings are consistent with the idea that both anomalous episodes involve the same, or similar, attentional or perceptual processes and thereby support the viability of the HP-S construct.     

Transcranial parenchymal sonography in patients with Chronic Disorders of Consciousness: Association with neuroimaging data,and beyond

Differential diagnosis of patients with Chronic Disorders of Consciousness (DoC) is rather challenging, owing to the lack of objective approaches highlighting residual awareness. Sophisticated functional neuroimaging have provided high diagnostic value, but their application in the clinical setting is limited due to their relative complexity, cost, availability and poor collaboration of persons with DoC. By using a specific ultrasound-based methodology, namely Transcranial B-mode Parenchymal Sonography (TCS), it is possible to obtain images of the main parenchymal brain structures. We assessed the TCS abnormalities in three patients with DoC, demonstrating widespread alterations of brain parenchyma morphology that matched to MRI findings and were associated with the degree of consciousness disorders. Thus, TCS might represent a valuable tool for routine assessment and follow-up of brain structures functioning of patients with DoC, potentially helping in differential diagnosis and prognosis.     

Exploring inhibitory deficits in female premutation carriers of fragile X syndrome: Through eye movements

There is evidence which demonstrates that a subset of males with a premutation CGG repeat expansion (between 55 and 200 repeats) of the fragile X mental retardation 1 gene exhibit subtle deficits of executive function that progressively deteriorate with increasing age and CGG repeat length. However, it remains unclear whether similar deficits, which may indicate the onset of more severe degeneration, are evident in female PM-carriers. In the present study we explore whether female PM-carriers exhibit deficits of executive function which parallel those of male PM-carriers. Fourteen female fragile X premutation carriers without fragile X-associated tremor/ataxia syndrome and fourteen age, sex, and IQ matched controls underwent ocular motor and neuropsychological tests of select executive processes, specifically of response inhibition and working memory. Group comparisons revealed poorer inhibitory control for female premutation carriers on ocular motor tasks, in addition to demonstrating some difficulties in behaviour self-regulation, when compared to controls. A negative correlation between CGG repeat length and antisaccade error rates for premutation carriers was also found. Our preliminary findings indicate that impaired inhibitory control may represent a phenotype characteristic which may be a sensitive risk biomarker within this female fragile X premutation population.