Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42445270›Full record

ArticleFrontiers in psychology2026

Qualities, subjectivity and spatial extension: is there a common factor?

Bruno Forti

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Frontiers in psychology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

1 author.

Bruno FortiDepartment of Mental Health, Azienda ULSS 1 Dolomiti, Belluno, Italy.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

According to the Extended Information Theory, conscious vision allows us to know how objects extend into the space they belong to. In this way, consciousness compensates for some of the limitations of Neuro-Computational systems, which handle Point-Like Information. The aim of this paper is to explore the potential links between spatial extension and two other properties of phenomenal experience: subjectivity and the qualitative aspect. One way to investigate these aspects and develop a coherent model for explaining subjectivity, qualities and spatial extension is to identify a property that underlies them. I have identified this property in an aspect of appearance: thingness. Thingness consists in the materialization of something that extends into space. The other properties are derived from it. Through spatial extension, we gain immediate knowledge of how an object is made. Subjectivity implies a structure in which a third-person world forms within a first-person world. Consequently, egocentric knowledge is formed that encompasses the subject itself. With quality, we know how something materializes based on its degree of differentiation from other qualities. The way in which it materializes in feature qualities can explain both their relational and categorical phenomenal character. The knowledge conveyed by qualities transforms existing unconscious knowledge into conscious knowledge. It is an accessory function of consciousness and is linked to the extended nature of objectual contents. I propose a hypothesis about how these qualities may originate from physical processes in the brain.

Indexed as

extended information theoryfeature qualitiesphenomenal analysisphenomenal consciousnessspatial extensionthingness

Identifiers

PMID42445270
PMCPMC13357185

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.