Day2 S4-1 Satoshi Nishida

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Title: How the Brain Performs Phenomenology: Neural Correlates of Phenomenological Attitude toward Conscious Experience
Authors: Satoshi Nishida, Hiro Taiyo Hamada, Takuya Niikawa, Katsunori Miyahara

Abstract: Phenomenology is considered one of the most promising approaches to studying conscious experience. It posits that a rigorous study of conscious experience requires a transition from the “natural attitude” (NA) to the “phenomenological attitude” (PA). NA is our ordinary stance, in which our attention is focused on external objects and events, whereas PA is a distinctive, reflective stance in which our attention is focused on our conscious experience itself. Despite its theoretical importance in both philosophy and science of consciousness, the neural mechanisms underlying PA remain unknown. This uncertainty undermines the scientific credibility of phenomenological approaches to consciousness research. To address this, our study investigated these neural mechanisms using fMRI experiments with a novel behavioral task. This task required participants to switch between NA and PA in relation to their stimulus-evoked subjective experiences. Participants were presented with two sentences designed to induce either NA or PA and were asked to select the one that best captured their experience. We found that activation patterns in action-related brain regions—the premotor cortex, posterior parietal cortex, supplementary motor area, and cerebellum—successfully discriminated between NA and PA. Furthermore, the activation strength in these regions was lower in PA, suggesting that PA involves the suppression of action-related neural processes. These findings provide the first empirical evidence of the neural correlates of PA, establishing valuable guidelines for future research in consciousness, grounded in an integrative framework of neuroscience and phenomenology.