ArticleNeuroscience of consciousness2026
Awareness of being: a computational neurophenomenological model of mindfulness, mind-wandering, and meta-attentional control.
Article in Neuroscience of consciousness, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
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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.
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Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Beyond the reducing valve: towards a computational neurophenomenology of altered states via deep neural networks.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Modeling autonomous shifts between focus state and mind-wandering using a predictive-coding-inspired variational recurrent neural network.Frontiers in computational neuroscience · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
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Abstract
Mindfulness has established psychological benefits, such as stress reduction and emotional regulation; however, the underlying computational mechanisms, particularly in relation to mind-wandering, remain unclear. This study aimed to present a hierarchical recurrent neural network-based agent model grounded in the free energy principle to explore these processes within the framework of allostasis. The model integrates interoceptive, proprioceptive, and exteroceptive predictive processing, which minimizes the variational free energy throughout past and future contexts. Simulations of the resting state showed that inferred (mentally simulated) homeostatic context modulated attentional shifts between a 'being' mode (focused on present interoceptive perception) and a 'doing' mode (involving mentally simulated proprioceptive and exteroceptive sensorimotor behaviors). Further, we identified a meta-attentional parameter that controls these shifts by influencing cognitive attitudes toward internally generated beliefs across network modules spanning from the past to the future. By manipulating this parameter, we replicated mindfulness states ('deep-being' mode) in which attention remained focused on the present interoceptive state, despite minimal sensory prediction errors. This study offers insights into the computational dynamics of mindfulness and mind-wandering, laying the groundwork for the future exploration of consciousness and pure awareness, which is a state of consciousness devoid of content.
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Registered trials
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.