: The development of the interdisciplinary areas of cognitive, affective and action neurosciences contributes to the identification of neurobiological bases of conscious experience. The structure of consciousness was philosophically conceived a century ago as consisting of a subjective pole, the bearer of experiences, and an objective pole composed of experienced contents. In more recent formulations, Nagel refers to a “point of view”, in which qualitative experiences are anchored, while Velmans understands that phenomenal content is composed of mental representations “projected” to (...) the space external to the brains that construct them. In Freudian psychology, the conscious mind contains a tension between the Id and the Ego. How to relate this bipolar structure with the results of neuroscience? I propose the notion of projection [also used by Williford et al. ] as a bridge principle connecting the neurobiological systems of knowing, feeling and acting with the bipolar structure. The projective process is considered responsible for the generation of the sense of self and the sense of the world, composing an informational phenomenal field generated by the nervous system and experienced in the first-person perspective. After presenting the projective hypothesis, I discuss its philosophical status, relating it to the phenomenal and high-order thought approaches, and a mathematical model of projection. Eight ways of testing the status of the projective hypothesis are briefly mentioned. Resumo: O desenvolvimento de áreas interdisciplinares das neurociências, contribui para a identificação das bases neurobiológicas da experiência consciente. A estrutura intrínseca da experiência consciente foi filosoficamente concebida há um século como consistindo de um pólo subjetivo, o portador de experiências, e um pólo objetivo, composto dos conteúdos experimentados. Em formulações mais recentes, Thomas Nagel refere-se a um “ponto de vista”, no qual experiências qualitativas são ancoradas, enquanto Max Velmans entende que o conteúdo fenomenal é composto de representações mentais “projetadas” para o espaço externo ao cérebro que as constrói. Na psicologia freudiana, a mente consciente contém uma tensão entre o Id e o Ego. Como relacionar esta estrutura bipolar com os resultados da neurociência? Proponho a noção de projeção como princípio-ponte, conectando os sistemas neurobiológicos do saber, sentir e agir com a estrutura bipolar. O processo projetivo é considerado responsável pela geração do sentido do eu e do sentido do mundo, compondo um campo fenomenal informacional gerado pelo sistema nervoso e vivenciado na perspectiva da primeira pessoa. Após apresentar a hipótese projetiva, discuto seu status filosófico, relacionando-o às abordagens fenomenológicas, à teoria do pensamento de ordem superior e ao modelo matemático da projeção. Oito maneiras de testar o status da hipótese projetiva são brevemente mencionadas. (shrink)

Contemporary theories of consciousness are based on widely different concepts of its nature, most or all of which probably embody aspects of the truth about it. Starting with a concept of consciousness indicated by the phrase “the feeling of what happens” (the title of a book by Antonio Damásio), we attempt to build a framework capable of supporting and resolving divergent views. We picture consciousness in terms of Reality experiencing itself from the perspective of cognitive agents. Each conscious experience is (...) regarded as composed of momentary feeling events that are combined by recognition and evaluation into extended conscious episodes that bind cognitive contents with a wide range of apparent durations (0.1 secs to 2 or more secs, for us humans, depending on circumstances and context). Three necessary conditions for the existence of consciousness are identified: a) a ground of Reality, envisaged as an universal field of potentiality encompassing all possible manifestations, whether material or 'mental'; b) a transitional zone, leading to; c) a manifest world with its fundamental divisions into material, 'informational' and quale-endowed aspects. We explore ideas about the nature of these necessary conditions, how they may relate to one another and whether our suggestions have empirical implications. (shrink)

A current issue in psycholinguistic research is whether the language difficulties exhibited by children with developmental language disorder [DLD, previously labeled specific language impairment ] are due to deficits in their abilities to pick up patterns in the sensory environment, an ability known as statistical learning, and the extent to which explicit learning mechanisms can be used to compensate for those deficits. Studies designed to test the compensatory role of explicit learning mechanisms in children with DLD are, however, scarce, and (...) the few conducted so far have led to inconsistent results. This work aimed to provide new insights into the role that explicit learning mechanisms might play on implicit learning deficits in children with DLD by resorting to a new approach. This approach involved not only the collection of event-related potentials, while preschool children with DLD [relative to typical language developmental controls] were exposed to a continuous auditory stream made of the repetition of three-syllable nonsense words but, importantly, the collection of ERPs when the same children performed analogous versions of the same auditory SL task first under incidental and afterward under intentional conditions. In each of these tasks, the level of predictability of the three-syllable nonsense words embedded in the speech streams was also manipulated to mimic natural languages closely. At the end of both tasks’ exposure phase, children performed a two-alternative forced-choice task from which behavioral evidence of SL was obtained. Results from the 2-AFC tasks failed to show reliable signs of SL in both groups of children. The ERPs data showed, however, significant modulations in the N100 and N400 components, taken as neural signatures of word segmentation in the brain, even though a detailed analysis of the neural responses revealed that only children from the TLD group seem to have taken advantage of the previous knowledge to enhance SL functioning. These results suggest that children with DLD showed deficits both in implicit and explicit learning mechanisms, casting doubts on the efficiency of the interventions relying on explicit instructions to help children with DLD to overcome their language difficulties. (shrink)

There is little or no general agreement about what researchers should focus on when studying consciousness. The most active scientific studies often use the methods of Cognitive Neuroscience and focus mainly on vision. Other aspects and contents of consciousness, namely thoughts and emotions, are much less studied, possibly leading to a biased view of what consciousness is and how it works. In this essay we describe what we call a referential nucleus, implicit in much of consciousness research. In this context, (...) 'consciousness' refers to reportable content experienced by living individuals. We then discuss the philosophical concept of a phenomenal world and another contemporary view that conscious experience involves, besides integration of information in the brain, participation in action-perception cycles in a natural, social and cultural environment. These views imply a need to reconceptualize 'qualia'as the con-scious aspect of subjective experiences, thus stating properties of consciousness that pose serious challenges to an exclusive approach via Cognitive Neuroscience, because experimental settings oversim-plify conscious experiences, narrowing them to fragments correlated with measured brain activity and behaviour. In conclusion we argue that a science of consciousness requires a broad interdisciplinary range of research, including qualitative methods from the Human Sciences. (shrink)

Following the trend of sharing, and associating being on-line with being 'on-life', many people are now demanding the ownership and control of their data across all processing phases, including the erasure of their presence on the web. In Europe, recent proposals for regulation include an explicit 'Right to be Forgotten'; this right stated in the European Commission Proposal for Regulation COM 2011/12 does not emerge without controversy. It is being criticised on several grounds, including clashing with other rights, such as (...) freedom of expression, as well as setting the terrain for censorship. Besides the purely legal aspects of the proposed provisions, the chapters of this volume discuss how those legal provisions correspond in practice to worldviews and how individual and collective memory must be governed. They look into the deeper consequences of such provisions to construction of identity, culture and community formation, and how such a right affects how, what and why individuals, groups and societies remember and forget. (shrink)

The causes and underlying natures of common mental disorders are, for the most part, quite mysterious. Our best taxonomies acknowledge this poverty of causal knowledge about minds, brains, society, and whatever else, to instead classify psychopathology based on clusters of detectable signs and symptoms: what it is to be, say, depressed, is simply to exhibit the minimum number of typical features for the right amount of time. Nothing in this approach references what causes and maintains a characteristic set of symptoms, (...) and so by conceptualizing disorders as syndromes psychiatry stands in stark contrast to somatic medicine, its close cousin, and other successful sciences that classify... (shrink)

Benefits and costs on prospective memory performance, of enactment at encoding and a semantic association between a cue-action word pair, were investigated in two experiments. Findings revealed superior performance for both younger and older adults following enactment, in contrast to verbal encoding, and when cue-action semantic relatedness was high. Although younger adults outperformed older adults, age did not moderate benefits of cue-action relatedness or enactment. Findings from a second experiment revealed that the inclusion of an instruction to perform a prospective (...) memory task led to increments in response latency to items from the ongoing activity in which that task was embedded, relative to latencies when the ongoing task only was performed. However, this task interference ‘cost’ did not differ as a function of either cue-action relatedness or enactment. We argue that the high number of cue-action pairs employed here influenced meta-cognitive consciousness, hence determining attention allocation, in all experimental conditions. (shrink)

Research has demonstrated that policing is a stressful occupation and has a negative impact on police officers’ mental and physical health, performance, and interactions with citizens. Mental health at the workplace has become a concern due to the costs of depression, anxiety, burnout, and even suicide, which is high among police officers.To ameliorate occupational health, it is crucial therefore to identify stress and burnout levels on a regular basis. However, the instruments frequently used to measure stress have not valorized the (...) specificity of policing tasks. This study aims: i) conducting a literature review, to identify questionnaires used to assess occupational stress and burnout among police officers; ii) to analyze the psychometric characteristics of a Portuguese version of Operational Police Stress Questionnaire (PSQ-Op); and, using the PSQ-op and other questionnaires, iii) to identify operational stress, burnout, and distress levels among Portuguese police officers. The literature review identified 108 studies, which use a multiplicity of questionnaires to measure burnout or occupational stress among police officers, but few studies use specific police stress questionnaires. Sample sizes were mostly below 500 participants and studies were mainly developed in the last decade in the USA and Brazil, but also in another 24 countries, showing the extent of the interest in this topic. This study applied to 2057 police officers from National Portuguese Police, a force policing urban centers, the PSQ-Op, as well the Spanish Burnout Inventory and the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale.The results show that the psychometric properties of the Portuguese version of PSQ-Op are adequate. Factorial analysis revealed two dimensions defined as social and work issues, which were associated with measures of distress and burnout.Fit indices suggested a second-order solution called operational police stress. Overall, and considering the scale range of each questionnaire, the results showed moderate values of operational stress, distress, and burnout. However, considering their cut-off points, 85% of the sample presented high operational stress levels, 11% critical values for burnout, and 28% high distress levels, with 55% of the sample at risk of psychological disorder. These results reinforce the need to prevent stress and to invest in police officers’ occupational health. (shrink)

Nature Network Groups hosted an invited workshop on 'Theories of Consciousness' during the second semester of 2009. There were presentations by each of 15 authors active in the field, followed by debate with other presenters and invitees. A week was allocated to each of the theories proposed; general discussion threads were also opened from time to time, as seemed appropriate. We offer here an account of the principal outcomes. It can be regarded as a contemporary, 'state of the art' snapshot (...) of thinking in this field. (shrink)

The field of affective neuroscience has emerged from the efforts of Jaak Panksepp in the 1990s and reinforced by the work of, among others, Joseph LeDoux in the 2000s. It is based on the ideas that affective processes are supported by brain structures that appeared earlier in the phylogenetic scale (as the periaqueductal gray area), they run in parallel with cognitive processes, and can influence behaviour independently of cognitive judgements. This kind of approach contrasts with the hegemonic concept of conscious (...) processing in cognitive neurosciences, which is based on the identification of brain circuits responsible for the processing of (cognitive) representations. Within cognitive neurosciences, the frontal lobes are assigned the role of coordinators in maintaining affective states and their emotional expressions under cognitive control. An intermediary view is the Damasio-Bechara Somatic Marker model, which puts cognition under partial somatic-affective control. We present here our efforts to make a synthesis of these views, by proposing the existence of two interacting brain circuits; the first one in charge of cognitive processes and the second mediating feelings about cognitive contents. The coupling of the two circuits promotes an endogenous feedback that supports conscious processes. Within this framework, we present the defence that detailed study of both affective and cognitive processes, their interactions, as well of their respective brain networks, is necessary for a science of consciousness. (shrink)

De Sousa's comprehensive two-part review of a diversity of contemporary approaches to the study of consciousness is highly welcome. He makes us aware of a proliferation of theoretical and empirical approaches targeting a common theme, but diverging in many ways. He skilfully accomplishes a classification of kinds of approach, identification of the main representatives, their contributions, and respective limitations. However, he does not show how the desired integration could be accomplished. Besides summarising De Sousa's efficient analytical work, I make critical (...) comments and briefly report my contribution for the integration project. (shrink)

Decidim es una plataforma digital de democracia participativa desarrollada por el Ajuntament de Barcelona. Decidim es, además, un proyecto tecnopolítico que implica multitud de códigos más allá del informático. Distinguimos tres planos analíticos que sirven para conceptualizar de forma holística y sistemática el proyecto Decidim: un plano político, uno tecnopolítico, y un plano técnico. Decidim emerge como ejemplo de lo que denominamos “redes políticas” caracterizadas, frente a las “redes sociales”, por hacer del vínculo político y la construcción de inteligencia y (...) voluntad colectivas el centro de su diseño y estructura. A su vez, la comunidad y los espacios “Metadecidim” operan como dispositivos para la democratización del software de Decidim y de la democracia en red en un sentido más amplio, constituyendo “redes tecnopolíticas”. Estas redes de nueva generación hacen de la plataforma una infraestructura público-común (financiada con dinero público y co-diseñada con la ciudadanía), abierta y libre para la democracia participativa, un proyecto que aspira a servir de dispositivo y modelo para la transformación política en un periodo de crisis de la hegemonía neoliberal. (shrink)

Este trabalho apresenta uma tradução, do grego, do capítulo primeiro da carta de Paulo, aos romanos, a partir do texto crítico de Westcott e Hort, de 1885, com uma significativa divergência, em relação às versões, em inglês, King James e NIV1, em português, ACRF2, ARIB3, Católica, NVI4 e Bíblia de Estudo de Genebra, e, em alemão, Luther. As razões dessa tradução estão comentadas em diversos temas, agrupados em quatro partes: Romanos 1:1-7, Romanos 1:8-14, Romanos 1:15-23 e Romanos 1:24-32. Esse comentário (...) é baseado numa breve contribuição do pensamento grego, do contexto de Habacuque, e numa interpretação tematicamente mais coesa que a apresentada pelo comentário de William Hendriksen. Esses temas, por sua vez, envolvem desde questões tradicionais, já bem conhecidas, como o serviço apostólico de Paulo, o nascimento de Jesus, bem como seu senhorio e filiação divina “em poder”, após a ressurreição, assim como a ideia do justo que vive pela fé, a justiça, a ira e a glória de Deus, assim como “novos” temas envolvendo a etnia cristã, o “batismo” final de Jesus, o conhecimento comum, a capacidade eterna, a atividade divina e a concessão de Deus, entre outros. (shrink)

A crisis looms over the scientific enterprise. Not a day passes without news of retractions, failed replications, fraudulent peer reviews, or misinformed science-based policies. The social implications are enormous, yet this crisis has remained largely uncharted-until now. In Science on the Verge, luminaries in the field of post-normal science and scientific governance focus attention on worrying fault-lines in the use of science for policymaking, and the dramatic crisis within science itself. This provocative new volume in The Rightful Place of Science (...) also explores the concepts that need to be unlearned, and the skills that must be relearned and enhanced, if we are to restore the legitimacy and integrity of science. (shrink)

Serious mental health disorders are increasing among college students and university counseling services are often overburdened. Mobile applications for mental health have been growing exponentially in the last decade and they are emerging in university settings as a promising tool to promote and intervene in college students' mental health. Additionally, considering the recent covid-19 pandemic, mHealth interventions, due to its nature and possibilities, may play an important role in these institutions. Our main objectives are to explore mhealth interventions in universities, (...) regarding its conceptual framework, acceptability and efficacy outcomes and understand its impact and contributions to address treatment delivery and psychological difficulties resulting from covid-19 pandemic. The literature search was conducted in scientific databases, namely, Web of Science, Pubmed, and Scopus. A search in app stores was not conducted, thus regarding commercially available apps, only those found in our database search were included in our review. We selected studies with mobile applications addressing psychological interventions for college students. A total of 2,158 participants were included in the 8 selected studies and most interventions were delivered through mobile apps only and based in cognitive behavioral therapy. Results suggested that college students accept and adhere to these interventions and preliminary evidence of efficacy was demonstrated in different disorders, such as stress, anxiety, depression and risky behaviors such as alcohol and tobacco abuse and sexual knowledge. We conclude that universities, particularly college counseling services, may benefit from mhealth interventions, not only to address college students' mental health but to decrease some of its difficulties related to lack of human resources. Specifically in covid-19 pandemic context, these interventions may contribute significantly by promoting and delivering psychological interventions at a safe distance. (shrink)

The projection of conscious content is a central feature of Max Velmans' theory of consciousness, implying that conscious experiences are built within a conversation of minds and worlds in which they form a 'reflexive' unity – as stated in his reflexive monism theory. What are the neurobiological structures and functions that underpin the experience of conscious contents being located in a spatio-temporal frame outside the nervous system that instantiates them? In this paper I offer informed speculation about these neurobiological structures (...) on the basis of the concept of projection within the psychophysical 'egocentric space', having the central nervous system at the origin of coordinates and the interface with the environment as the horizon. The reasoning is based on the work of several neuroscientists on feedback signals from the motor to sensory neuron systems, building a picture of how they support the projective process. I also call attention to the integrative role of glial cells in the generation of localized sensations and other conscious contents. (shrink)

Este artigo, um recorte de pesquisa de Doutorado, objetiva desvelar as percepções de 208 professores de filosofia do Paraná no sentido de buscar evidenciar quais seriam as especificidades da disciplina de filosofia em relação a outras disciplinas do currículo. Inicialmente, disserta-se sobre a intermitência da disciplina de Filosofia no currículo da Educação Básica, com base em Deleuze e Guattari (2010), os quais demarcam o entendimento da filosofia como criação de conceitos. Em seguida, fundamentado em Rodrigues e Gelamo (2019), entre outros (...) autores, reflete-se sobre o modo de compreender a filosofia, que pode oscilar entre uma compreensão enciclopédica com base na memorização dos sistemas filosóficos e experiência filosófica. Por fim, por meio da análise de conteúdo de Bardin (2016), a seguinte questão de um questionário que envolvia outras dez foi analisada: “Você acredita que a filosofia proporciona espaços ou momentos diferenciados em relação aos das outras disciplinas? Se sim, no que ela se diferencia?”. Das respostas dos 208 docentes, emergiram as seguintes categorias: criar conceitos, espaço para o debate/reflexão de ideias, possibilidade da experiência filosófica e superar o senso comum. Os resultados apontam, assim, em um sentido de que a disciplina de filosofia não deve limitar-se a um conhecimento enciclopédico, mas, sim, trata-se de um conhecimento que se relaciona com o cotidiano de seus interlocutores. Faz-se necessário, porém, um saber valorizar adequadamente a história da filosofia, pois, ao valorizar demais a história da filosofia, pode-se incorrer a um ensino meramente descritivista; contudo, ao não valorizar a história da filosofia, pode-se debruçar em discussões sem conteúdo filosófico. (shrink)

A presente proposta busca sistematizar a importância da valorização do docente através do período extraclasse, prevista pela Lei do Piso Salarial Profissional Nacional docente (PSPN), observando a proposta de formação continuada, e, também, formação permanente, desenvolvida no Centro de Formação Carolina Garcia (CFCG), localizado no município de Macaé/RJ. A discussão aprofundada por meio da monografia de pedagogia da extinta Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Macaé – FAFIMA, tem como base os relatos apresentados nos questionários semiestruturados respondido pelas coordenadoras (...) do local, no ano de 2019. Nesse sentido, buscamos perceber o processo de elaboração da proposta do CFCG, que marca todo um movimento de formação pioneira em diálogo com o PSPN. Concluímos ao longo da pesquisa, que existem várias experiências que priorizam o fazer docente em diálogo com o período extraclasse, mas historicamente o CFCG propõe a ampliação do conhecimento de dentro da profissão e do seu entorno. (shrink)

Esse estudo consiste numa reflexão sobre uma intervenção pedagógica com docentes que atuam na EJA em prisões, trazendo à tona problematizações das questões étnico-raciais, suas percepções, e saberes e realidades da comunidade negra. Discute-se como os docentes da Penitenciária de Serrinha (BA) percebem a questão racial e a própria efetivação da Lei 10.639/03 na sua prática pedagógica. Assim, partimos da execução de uma proposta formativa dialógica dos direitos raciais, da reparação histórica e da inclusão da história da África e da (...) cultura afro-brasileira nos currículos. Os resultados demonstraram a existencialidade do silenciamento étnico-racial e que as concepções hegemônicas construídas ideologicamente sobre a questão racial permanecem vivazes nas memórias e atitudes dos sujeitos de forma camuflada. Os achados relativos aos efeitos da intervenção evidenciaram que os professores passaram a compreender os desdobramentos de práticas racistas e buscaram conhecer mais as políticas afirmativas, concomitantemente realizando recriação das oficinas didáticas para a sala de aula, com a finalidade de empoderamento dos discentes a ponto de contrariar as violações de direitos e injustiças raciais. (shrink)

ObjectiveThis study aims to analyze sociohistorically how the normative patterns of hegemonic masculinity produced impacts on men’s health/mental health in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.MethodsA qualitative study from a socio-historical perspective was conducted with 50 men based on an online survey. A semistructured form was applied. The data were analyzed by the Collective Subject Discourse method, interpreted in the light of the context of epidemic disease and hegemonic masculinity.ResultsThe experience of the pandemic exposed the normative patterns of masculinities from (...) the consummation of acts representative of the pandemic context, which incited men to deny the existence of COVID-19 disease and to delay the understanding and adoption of measures to protect and control COVID-19. As a repercussion, men presented conflicts in the regulation of emotions; presented emotional suppression; were more reactive; felt threatened regarding the loss of the role of family provider, virility; and revealed a sense of invulnerability, added to the weakening of self-care.ConclusionThe discourse revealed that the men’s behaviors are consistent with the characteristics of hegemonic masculinity, but express signs of recognition that this behavior causes harm to themselves and their health. (shrink)

The Global Workspace Theory (GWT) proposed by Bernard Baars (1988) along with Daniel Dennett’s (1991) Multiple Drafts Model (MDM) of consciousness are renowned cognitive theories of consciousness bearing similarities and differences. Although Dennett displays sympathy for GWT, his own MDM does not seem to be fully compatible with it. This work discusses this compatibility, by asking if GWT suffers from Daniel Dennett’s criticism of what he calls a “Cartesian Theater”. We identified in Dennett 10 requirements for avoiding the Cartesian Theater. (...) We believe that some of these requirements are violated by GWT, but not all, hence there is partial incompatibility with MDM, and it is nonsense to answer if GWT is or is not a Cartesian Theater. However, by asking such question we conclude that the issues around this discussion involve fuzzy claims about degrees of consciousness and we show how the Neuro-Astroglial Interaction Model (NAIM) is fit for solving such conceptual issues. (shrink)

Decidim es una plataforma digital de democracia participativa desarrollada por el Ajuntament de Barcelona. Decidim es, además, un proyecto tecnopolítico que implica multitud de códigos más allá del informático. Distinguimos tres planos analíticos que sirven para conceptualizar de forma holística y sistemática el proyecto Decidim: un plano político, uno tecnopolítico, y un plano técnico. Decidim emerge como ejemplo de lo que denominamos “redes políticas” caracterizadas, frente a las “redes sociales”, por hacer del vínculo político y la construcción de inteligencia y (...) voluntad colectivas el centro de su diseño y estructura. A su vez, la comunidad y los espacios “Metadecidim” operan como dispositivos para la democratización del software de Decidim y de la democracia en red en un sentido más amplio, constituyendo “redes tecnopolíticas”. Estas redes de nueva generación hacen de la plataforma una infraestructura público-común, abierta y libre para la democracia participativa, un proyecto que aspira a servir de dispositivo y modelo para la transformación política en un periodo de crisis de la hegemonía neoliberal. (shrink)

The growth of urban violence in Brazil, as in other countries, has led citizens to demand more severe and punitive measures to solve the problem of juvenile crime. One motion submitted to the Brazilian parliament, for instance, proposes to reduce the age of penal majority from 18 to 16 years. Our hypothesis is that popular opinions about this proposal are largely constrained by construal levels and psychological distance. Accordingly, we expect that the knowledge and proximity to the circumstances associated with (...) juvenile transgression will influence opinions about the proposal. To test this hypothesis, we evaluated how opinion against or for the proposal can be explained by psychological distance and moral development theory. We studied two samples, composed of people who do not have a deep experience with the subject and workers from a juvenile justice court. After collecting socio-demographic information from the subjects and their answer to moral dilemmas, the data was subjected to a multivariate analysis by multimodal logistic regression for socio-demographic characteristics, Kohlberg moral stages, and opinion on the reduction of APM as dependent variables. Our findings suggest that 1) opinion about the APM depends on psychological distance and 2) socioeconomic variables may influence the average construal level of adolescent transgressors in the public’s perspective. (shrink)

Learning self-regulation skills is essential for proper neurobiological and psychosocial development in childhood. In this study, we investigated the role of breathing, considered a fundamental resource for many meditation practices, as a tool to promote self-regulation in preschool-aged children. Respiratory modulation has been used as a technique in promoting psychophysiological regulation, due to its beneficial effect on the functioning of the autonomic nervous system (ANS), to its important role in the regulation of metabolism, and for promoting the entrainment of all (...) the oscillatory systems in the body. The study has the goals of reviewing the psychophysiological basis of respiration, its relation to cognitive and affective processing, and to evaluate the capacity of preschool children to learn a breathing technique for self-regulation, supporting the development of educational strategies and health intervention programs that adopt meditation practices as a method to promote psychophysiological self-regulation in children. (shrink)

We briefly review and discuss symbolic expressions of the cognitive architecture of the human mind/brain, focusing on the Quaternion, the Axis Mundi and the Tree of Life, and elaborate on a quaternary diagram that expresses a contemporary worldview. While traditional symbols contain vertical and horizontal dimensions related to transcendence and immanence, respectively, in the contemporary interpretation the vertical axis refers to diachronic processes as biological evolution and cultural history, while the horizontal axis refers to synchronic relations as the interactions of (...) individuals in society. In spite of these differences, we claim that old and new symbols are similar, expressing the cognitive architecture of the human mind/brain in the world of experience. (shrink)

In this study I propose an epistemological discussion of multiple spatio-temporal scales in neuroscience. Are such scales merely convenient levels of description of structure and function, or do they correspond to irreducible levels of brain organization? What criteria should we employ in order to reduce one level to another, or to identify levels that are not reducible to others? Should we think of these criteria as based on empirical and/or theoretical reasons? Beginning with an empirical criterion – the necessity of (...) different experimental methodologies for the measurement of different phenomena in the same system – I summarize spatial and temporal scales currently used in neuroscience and discuss the possibility of a more general theoretical criterion. I conclude that multiscaling should be recognized as a central concept in the epistemology of neuroscience. (shrink)

We review the variety of meditation practices and discuss the non-dual view of the mind and the body, proposing the concept of a Feeling Self, which is empty of essence and constituted by the dynamics of experience. This concept is consistent with the principles advanced by Nagarjuna in the Buddist Mahayana tradition and the interdisciplinary ontology of Triple-Aspect Monism. The principles of co-origination and interdependence, advanced by Nagarjuna, suggest that the conscious Self is integrated in the whole of reality. The (...) Feeling Self results from habits developed during the life history of a person, anchors in brain functions (attention, learning, memory) and persists during a lifetime. (shrink)

Este trabalho vinculou-se numa abordagem hermenêutica, analisou os discursos sobre a Ciência da Motricidade Humana, com atenção ao seu método de pesquisa. A Motricidade tem seus pressupostos assentes na fenomenologia, no pensamento complexo e no materialismo histórico dialético. Efetua diálogos com diversas correntes do pensamento científico sugerindo para as pesquisas que decorrem da sua teoria o método integrativo. O método integrativo converge com a idéia de transgressão metodológica, sendo um espaço de aproveitamento de todas as vertentes metodológicas, mas pode revelarincoerência (...) de um dado pressuposto teórico.Palavras-chave: Motricidade Humana; Método Integrativo; Transgressão This work was engaged to a hermeneutic approach, analyzed the speeches contained in the texts on the Human Motricity Science, with attention to their research method. The Motricity has its assumptions based on phenomenology, in complex thinking and the historical and dialectical materialism. Perform dialogues with various currents of scientific thought to research suggesting that stem from its integrative theory method. The integrative method converges with the idea of methodological transgression, with an area of exploitation of all methodological approaches, but can prove inconsistency of a given theoretical assumption. (shrink)

Antropologicamente, toda a experiência humana é apenas e só uma experiência de vida. Nesta nossa dimensão humana comum, nenhum ser humano pode saber o que a morte é, por experiência, que necessariamente tem de ser uma experiência própria. E não há outra experiência qualquer que possa ser considerada «nossa». Não há, pois, uma «experiência de morte». Há uma experiência do «morrer», que pode ser relatada. Relato de uma «experiência de morte», na nossa consciência.