Empathy bodyssence: temporal dynamics of sensorimotor and physiological responses and the subjective experience in synchrony with the other's suffering.

Background: Empathy is foundational in our intersubjective interactions, connecting with others across bodily, emotional, and cognitive dimensions. Previous evidence suggests that observing individuals in painful situations elicits whole bodily responses, unveiling the interdependence of the body and empathy. Although the role of the body has been extensively described, the temporal structure of bodily responses and its association with the comprehension of subjective experiences remain unclear. Objective: Building upon the enactive approach, our study introduces and examines "bodyssence," a neologism formed from "body" and "essence." Our primary goal is to analyze the temporal dynamics, physiological, and phenomenological elements in synchrony with the experiences of sportspersons suffering physical accidents. Methods: Using the empirical 5E approach, a refinement of Varela's neurophenomenological program, we integrated both objective third-person measurements (postural sway, electrodermal response, and heart rate) and first-person descriptions (phenomenological data). Thirty-five participants watched videos of sportspersons experiencing physical accidents during extreme sports practice, as well as neutral videos, while standing on a force platform and wearing electrodermal and heart electrodes. Subsequently, micro-phenomenological interviews were conducted. Results: Bodyssence is composed of three distinct temporal dynamics. Forefeel marks the commencement phase, encapsulating the body's pre-reflective consciousness as participants anticipate impending physical accidents involving extreme sportspersons, manifested through minimal postural movement and high heart rate. Fullfeel, capturing the zenith of empathetic engagement, is defined by profound negative emotions, and significant bodily and kinesthetic sensations, with this stage notably featuring an increase in postural movement alongside a reduction in heart rate. In the Reliefeel phase, participants report a decrease in emotional intensity, feeling a sense of relief, as their postural control starts to reach a state of equilibrium, and heart rate remaining low. Throughout these phases, the level of electrodermal activity consistently remains high. Conclusion: This study through an enactive approach elucidates the temporal attunement of bodily experience to the pain experienced by others. The integration of both first and third-person perspectives through an empirical 5E approach reveals the intricate nature of bodyssence, offering an innovative approach to understanding the dynamic nature of empathy.

Moving beyond the lab: investigating empathy through the Empirical 5E approach.

Empathy is a complex and multifaceted phenomenon that plays a crucial role in human social interactions. Recent developments in social neuroscience have provided valuable insights into the neural underpinnings and bodily mechanisms underlying empathy. This methodology often prioritizes precision, replicability, internal validity, and confound control. However, fully understanding the complexity of empathy seems unattainable by solely relying on artificial and controlled laboratory settings, while overlooking a comprehensive view of empathy through an ecological experimental approach. In this article, we propose articulating an integrative theoretical and methodological framework based on the 5E approach (the "E"s stand for embodied, embedded, enacted, emotional, and extended perspectives of empathy), highlighting the relevance of studying empathy as an active interaction between embodied agents, embedded in a shared real-world environment. In addition, we illustrate how a novel multimodal approach including mobile brain and body imaging (MoBi) combined with phenomenological methods, and the implementation of interactive paradigms in a natural context, are adequate procedures to study empathy from the 5E approach. In doing so, we present the Empirical 5E approach (E5E) as an integrative scientific framework to bridge brain/body and phenomenological attributes in an interbody interactive setting. Progressing toward an E5E approach can be crucial to understanding empathy in accordance with the complexity of how it is experienced in the real world.

The limitations and challenges in the assessment of executive dysfunction associated with real-world functioning: The opportunity of serious games.

Nowadays, there is a broad range of methods for detecting and evaluating executive dysfunction ranging from clinical interview to neuropsychological evaluation. Nevertheless, a critical issue of these assessments is the lack of correspondence of the neuropsychological test's results with real-world functioning. This paper proposes serious games as a new framework to improve the neuropsychological assessment of real-world functioning. We briefly discuss the contribution and limitations of current methods of evaluation of executive dysfunction (paper-and-pencil tests, naturalistic observation methods, and Information and Communications Technologies) to inform on daily life functioning. Then, we analyze what are the limitations of these methods to predict real-world performance: (1) A lack of appropriate instruments to investigate the complexity of real-world functioning, (2) the vast majority of neuropsychological tests assess well-structured tasks, and (3) measurement of behaviors are based on simplistic data collection and statistical analysis. This work shows how serious games offer an opportunity to develop more efficient tools to detect executive dysfunction in everyday life contexts. Serious games provide meaningful narrative stories and virtual or real environments that immerse the user in natural and social environments with social interactions. In those highly interactive game environments, the player needs to adapt his/her behavioral performance to novel and ill-structured tasks which are suited for collecting user interaction evidence. Serious games offer a novel opportunity to develop better tools to improve diagnosis of the executive dysfunction in everyday life contexts. However, more research is still needed to implement serious games in everyday clinical practice.

Standardization and diagnostic utility of the Frontal Assessment Battery for healthy people and patients with dementia in the Chilean population.

The Frontal Assessment Battery (FAB) is a screening test that measures executive functions. Although this instrument has been validated in several countries, its diagnostic utility in a Chilean population has not been studied yet. Objectives: This study aimed to (1) adapt FAB in a Chilean population; (2) study the psychometric properties of the FAB in a Chilean population; (3) assess the sociodemographic influence in the performance of the FAB in a sample of healthy controls (HC); and (4) develop normative data for this healthy group. Methods: A HC (n=344) and a group of patients with dementia (n=156) were assessed with the Chilean version of FAB. Results: FAB showed good internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha=0.79) and acceptable validity based on the relationship with other variables. Factor analysis showed the unidimensionality of the instrument. Significant differences were found in the total FAB value between the HC and dementia groups. With the matched sample, the established cutoff point was 13.5, showing a sensitivity of 80.8% and a specificity of 90.4%. Regression analysis showed that education and age significantly predicted FAB performance in the healthy group. Finally, normative data are provided. Conclusions: This study shows that FAB is a useful tool to discriminate between healthy people and people with dementia. However, further studies are needed to explore the capacity of the instrument to characterize the dysexecutive syndrome in people with dementia in the Chilean population.

A Bateria de Avaliação Frontal (FAB) é um teste de rastreio que mede as funções executivas. Embora esse instrumento tenha sido validado em vários países, sua utilidade diagnóstica em uma população chilena ainda não foi estudada. Objetivos: (1) Adaptar a FAB para uma população chilena; (2) estudar as propriedades psicométricas da FAB em uma população chilena; (3) avaliar a influência sociodemográfica no desempenho da FAB em uma amostra de controles saudáveis; e (4) desenvolver dados normativos para este último grupo. Métodos: Um grupo controle saudável (n=344) e um grupo de pacientes com demência (n=156) foram avaliados com a versão chilena da FAB. Resultados: A FAB apresentou boa consistência interna (alfa de Cronbach=0,79) e validade aceitável com base na relação com outras variáveis. A análise fatorial mostrou a unidimensionalidade do instrumento. Diferenças significativas foram encontradas no valor total da FAB entre os grupos controle saudável e demência. Com a amostra pareada, o ponto de corte estabelecido foi de 13,5, que apresentou sensibilidade de 80,8% e especificidade de 90,4%. A análise de regressão mostrou que a escolaridade e a idade predisseram significativamente o desempenho da FAB no grupo saudável. Finalmente, os dados normativos são fornecidos. Conclusões: O presente estudo mostrou que a FAB é uma ferramenta útil para discriminar entre pessoas saudáveis e aquelas com demência. No entanto, mais estudos são necessários para explorar a capacidade do instrumento para caracterizar a síndrome disexecutiva em pessoas com demência na população chilena.

"I am feeling tension in my whole body": An experimental phenomenological study of empathy for pain.

Introduction: Traditionally, empathy has been studied from two main perspectives: the theory-theory approach and the simulation theory approach. These theories claim that social emotions are fundamentally constituted by mind states in the brain. In contrast, classical phenomenology and recent research based on the enactive theories consider empathy as the basic process of contacting others' emotional experiences through direct bodily perception and sensation. Objective: This study aims to enrich the knowledge of the empathic experience of pain using an experimental phenomenological method. Materials and methods: Implementing an experimental paradigm used in affective neuroscience, we exposed 28 healthy adults to a video of sportspersons suffering physical accidents while practicing extreme sports. Immediately after watching the video, each participant underwent a phenomenological interview to gather data on embodied, multi-layered dimensions (bodily sensations, emotions, and motivations) and temporal aspects of empathic experience. We also performed quantitative analyses of the phenomenological categories. Results: Experiential access to the other person's painful experience involves four main themes. Bodily resonance: participants felt a multiplicity of bodily, affective, and kinesthetic sensations in coordination with the sportsperson's bodily actions. Attentional focus: some participants centered their attention more on their own personal discomfort and sensations of rejection, while others on the pain and suffering experienced by the sportspersons. Kinesthetic motivation: some participants experienced the feeling in their bodies to avoid or escape from watching the video, while others experienced the need to help the sportspersons avoid suffering any injury while practicing extreme sports. The temporality of experience: participants witnessed temporal fluctuations in their experiences, bringing intensity changes in their bodily resonance, attentional focus, and kinesthetic motivation. Finally, two experiential structures were found: one structure is self-centered empathic experience, characterized by bodily resonance, attentional focus centered on the participant's own experience of seeing the sportsperson suffering, and self-protective kinesthetic motivation; the other structure is other-centered empathic experience, characterized by bodily resonance, attentional focus centered on the sportsperson, and prosocial kinesthetic motivation to help them. Discussion: We show how phenomenological data may contribute to comprehending empathy for pain in social neuroscience. In addition, we address the phenomenological aspect of the enactive approach to the three dimensions of an embodiment of human consciousness, especially the intersubjective dimension. Also, based on our results, we suggest an extension of the enactive theory of non-interactive social experience.

In your phase: neural phase synchronisation underlies visual imagery of faces.

Mental imagery is the process through which we retrieve and recombine information from our memory to elicit the subjective impression of "seeing with the mind's eye". In the social domain, we imagine other individuals while recalling our encounters with them or modelling alternative social interactions in future. Many studies using imaging and neurophysiological techniques have shown several similarities in brain activity between visual imagery and visual perception, and have identified frontoparietal, occipital and temporal neural components of visual imagery. However, the neural connectivity between these regions during visual imagery of socially relevant stimuli has not been studied. Here we used electroencephalography to investigate neural connectivity and its dynamics between frontal, parietal, occipital and temporal electrodes during visual imagery of faces. We found that voluntary visual imagery of faces is associated with long-range phase synchronisation in the gamma frequency range between frontoparietal electrode pairs and between occipitoparietal electrode pairs. In contrast, no effect of imagery was observed in the connectivity between occipitotemporal electrode pairs. Gamma range synchronisation between occipitoparietal electrode pairs predicted subjective ratings of the contour definition of imagined faces. Furthermore, we found that visual imagery of faces is associated with an increase of short-range frontal synchronisation in the theta frequency range, which temporally preceded the long-range increase in the gamma synchronisation. We speculate that the local frontal synchrony in the theta frequency range might be associated with an effortful top-down mnemonic reactivation of faces. In contrast, the long-range connectivity in the gamma frequency range along the fronto-parieto-occipital axis might be related to the endogenous binding and subjective clarity of facial visual features.

Multidimensional Clinical Assessment in Frontotemporal Dementia and Its Spectrum in Latin America and the Caribbean: A Narrative Review and a Glance at Future Challenges.

Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is the third most common form of dementia across all age groups and is a leading cause of early-onset dementia. The Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) includes a spectrum of diseases that are classified according to their clinical presentation and patterns of neurodegeneration. There are two main types of FTD: behavioral FTD variant (bvFTD), characterized by a deterioration in social function, behavior, and personality; and primary progressive aphasias (PPA), characterized by a deficit in language skills. There are other types of FTD-related disorders that present motor impairment and/or parkinsonism, including FTD with motor neuron disease (FTD-MND), progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), and corticobasal syndrome (CBS). The FTD and its associated disorders present great clinical heterogeneity. The diagnosis of FTD is based on the identification through clinical assessments of a specific clinical phenotype of impairments in different domains, complemented by an evaluation through instruments, i.e., tests and questionnaires, validated for the population under study, thus, achieving timely detection and treatment. While the prevalence of dementia in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) is increasing rapidly, there is still a lack of standardized instruments and consensus for FTD diagnosis. In this context, it is important to review the published tests and questionnaires adapted and/or validated in LAC for the assessment of cognition, behavior, functionality, and gait in FTD and its spectrum. Therefore, our paper has three main goals. First, to present a narrative review of the main tests and questionnaires published in LAC for the assessment of FTD and its spectrum in six dimensions: (i) Cognitive screening; (ii) Neuropsychological assessment divided by cognitive domain; (iii) Gait assessment; (iv) Behavioral and neuropsychiatric symptoms; (v) Functional assessment; and (vi) Global Rating Scale. Second, to propose a multidimensional clinical assessment of FTD in LAC identifying the main gaps. Lastly, it is proposed to create a LAC consortium that will discuss strategies to address the current challenges in the field.

GERO Cohort Protocol, Chile, 2017-2022: Community-based Cohort of Functional Decline in Subjective Cognitive Complaint elderly.

BACKGROUND: With the global population aging and life expectancy increasing, dementia has turned a priority in the health care system. In Chile, dementia is one of the most important causes of disability in the elderly and the most rapidly growing cause of death in the last 20 years. Cognitive complaint is considered a predictor for cognitive and functional decline, incident mild cognitive impairment, and incident dementia. The GERO cohort is the Chilean core clinical project of the Geroscience Center for Brain Health and Metabolism (GERO). The objective of the GERO cohort is to analyze the rate of functional decline and progression to clinical dementia and their associated risk factors in a community-dwelling elderly with subjective cognitive complaint, through a population-based study. We also aim to undertake clinical research on brain ageing and dementia disorders, to create data and biobanks with the appropriate infrastructure to conduct other studies and facilitate to the national and international scientific community access to the data and samples for research. METHODS: The GERO cohort aims the recruitment of 300 elderly subjects (> 70 years) from Santiago (Chile), following them up for at least 3 years. Eligible people are adults not diagnosed with dementia with subjective cognitive complaint, which are reported either by the participant, a proxy or both. Participants are identified through a household census. The protocol for evaluation is based on a multidimensional approach including socio-demographic, biomedical, psychosocial, neuropsychological, neuropsychiatric and motor assessments. Neuroimaging, blood and stool samples are also obtained. This multidimensional evaluation is carried out in a baseline and 2 follow-ups assessments, at 18 and 36 months. In addition, in months 6, 12, 24, and 30, a telephone interview is performed in order to keep contact with the participants and to assess general well-being. DISCUSSION: Our work will allow us to determine multidimensional risks factors associated with functional decline and conversion to dementia in elderly with subjective cognitive complain. The aim of our GERO group is to establish the capacity to foster cutting edge and multidisciplinary research on aging in Chile including basic and clinical research. TRIAL REGISTRATION: NCT04265482 in ClinicalTrials.gov. Registration Date: February 11, 2020. Retrospectively Registered.

Effects of spatial working memory in balance during dual tasking in traumatic brain injury and healthy controls.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this research was to assess cognitive-motor interactions though dual tasks of working memory in patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI) and control subjects. Methods: Twenty patients with chronic TBI with good functional level and 19 matched healthy controls performed dual working memory tasks (1-back numeric and 1-back spatial (S)) while sitting, standing, and walking. The center of pressure (COP) displacement amplitude, cadence, and error percentage (PER) were recorded as dependent variables. Results: The results revealed main effects of Group (TBI, controls) (p = .011) and Task factors (Single, Dual Standing 1-back, Dual Standing 1-back (S); p = .0001) for the COP. Patients showed greater displacement than controls (p = .011), and an analysis of the Task factor showed a minor displacement for the dual 1-back (S) task compared with the 1-back and single task (p = .002 and p = .001, respectively). Conclusions: Postural control during both standing and walking improved during performance of the spatial working memory task. In the dual task, both patients and controls showed a postural prioritization as an adaptive response to the increase in cognitive demand.

Experiential Neurorehabilitation: A Neurological Therapy Based on the Enactive Paradigm.

With the arrival of the cognitive paradigm during the latter half of the last century, the theoretical and scientific bases of neurorehabilitation have been linked to the knowledge developed in cognitive neuropsychology and cognitive neuroscience. Although the knowledge generated by these disciplines has made relevant contributions to neurological therapy, their theoretical premises may create limitations in therapeutic processes. The present manuscript has two main objectives: first, to explicitly set forth the theoretical bases of cognitive neurorehabilitation and critically analyze the repercussions that these premises have produced in clinical practice; and second, to propose the enactive paradigm to reinterpret perspectives on people with brain damage and their therapy (assessment and treatment). This analysis will show that (1) neurorehabilitation as a therapy underutilizes body-originated resources that aid in recovery from neurological sequelae (embrained therapy); (2) the therapeutic process is based exclusively on subpersonal explanation models (subpersonal therapy); and (3), neurorehabilitation does not take subjectivity of each person in their own recovery processes into account (anti-subjective therapy). Subsequently, and in order to attenuate or resolve the conception of embrained, subpersonal and anti-subjective therapy, I argue in support of incorporating the enactive paradigm in rehabilitation of neurological damage. It is proposed here under a new term, "experiential neurorehabilitation." This proposal approaches neurological disease and its sequelae as alterations in dynamic interaction between the body structure and the environment in which the meaning of the experience is also altered. Therefore, when a person is not able to walk, remember the past, communicate a thought, or maintain efficient self-care, their impairments are not only a product of an alteration in a specific cerebral area or within information processing; rather, the sequelae of their condition stem from alterations in the whole living system and its dynamics with the environment. The objective of experiential neurorehabilitation is the recovery of the singular and concrete experience of the person, composed of physical and subjective life attributes.

The effects of a relaxation program featuring aquatic therapy and autogenic training among people with cervical dystonia (a pilot study).

Classic physical interventions for cervical dystonia (CD) have focused on treating motor components or, on motor components and relaxation programs. However, no CD treatment study has focused on a relaxation program alone. We developed a pilot study to assess whether a therapy completely based on a relaxation program could improve the physical and mental symptomatologies of patients with CD. Fifteen persons were included in the experimental group, which received individual sessions of aquatic (Watsu) therapy (WT) and autogenic training (AT). In addition, 12 persons were included in passive control group. We administered different questionnaires related to quality of life (SF-36), pain (Toronto Western Spasmodic Torticollis Rating Scale (TWSTRS) and Visual Analog Scale (VAS)) and mood (Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II) and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI)). A significant interaction was observed between treatment and time with regard to the SF-36, VAS, and TWSTRS within the experimental group (p < 0.01). The BDI-II showed depression decrease as a simple effect (p < 0.05), and the STAI did not change. No effects were found with regard to the control group. In this exploratory study, we found that a therapy based on whole body relaxation improved the symptoms of patients with CD. This knowledge enables a disease-management strategy that uses a holistic perspective and moves beyond the dystonic focus.

Using game authoring platforms to develop screen-based simulated functional assessments in persons with executive dysfunction following traumatic brain injury.

The assessment of functional status is a critical component of clinical neuropsychological evaluations used for both diagnostic and therapeutic purposes in patients with cognitive brain disorders. There are, however, no widely adopted neuropsychological tests that are both ecologically valid and easily administered in daily clinical practice. This discrepancy is a roadblock to the widespread adoption of functional assessments. In this paper, we propose a novel approach using a serious game authoring platform (eAdventure) for creating screen-based simulated functional assessments. We created a naturalistic functional task that consisted of preparing a cup of tea (SBS-COT) and applied the assessment in a convenience sample of eight dyads of therapists/patients with mild executive dysfunction after traumatic brain injury. We had three main aims. First, we performed a comprehensive review of executive function assessment in activities of daily living. Second, we were interested in measuring the feasibility of this technology with respect to staffing, economic and technical requirements. Third, a serious game was administered to patients to study the feasibility of this technology in the clinical context (pre-screening test). In addition, quantitative (Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) questionnaires) and qualitative (semistructured interviews) evaluations were applied to obtain user input. Our results suggest that the staffing, economic and technical requirements of the SBS-COT are feasible. The outcomes of the pre-screening test provide evidence that this technology is useful in the functional assessment of patients with executive dysfunction. In relation to subjective data, the TAM questionnaire showed good user acceptability from a professional perspective. Interview analyses with professionals and patients showed positive experiences related to the use of the SBS-COT. Our work indicates that the use of these types of authoring platforms could have positive long-term implications for neuropsychological research, opening the door to more reproducible, cooperative and efficient research by allowing the facilitated production, reuse and sharing of neuropsychological assessment tools.

From ancient Greece to the cognitive revolution: A comprehensive view of physical rehabilitation sciences.

The development of rehabilitation has traditionally focused on measurements of motor disorders and measurements of the improvements produced during the therapeutic process; however, physical rehabilitation sciences have not focused on understanding the philosophical and scientific principles in clinical intervention and how they are interrelated. The main aim of this paper is to explain the foundation stones of the disciplines of physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech/language therapy in recovery from motor disorder. To reach our goals, the mechanistic view and how it is integrated into physical rehabilitation will first be explained. Next, a classification into mechanistic therapy based on an old version (automaton model) and a technological version (cyborg model) will be shown. Then, it will be shown how physical rehabilitation sciences found a new perspective in motor recovery, which is based on functionalism, during the cognitive revolution in the 1960s. Through this cognitive theory, physical rehabilitation incorporated into motor recovery of those therapeutic strategies that solicit the activation of the brain and/or symbolic processing; aspects that were not taken into account in mechanistic therapy. In addition, a classification into functionalist rehabilitation based on a computational therapy and a brain therapy will be shown. At the end of the article, the methodological principles in physical rehabilitation sciences will be explained. It will allow us to go deeper into the differences and similarities between therapeutic mechanism and therapeutic functionalism.

Enactive Approach and Dual-Tasks for the Treatment of Severe Behavioral and Cognitive Impairment in a Person with Acquired Brain Injury: A Case Study.

One of the most important sequela in persons who suffer from acquired brain injury is a behavioral disorder. To date, the primary approaches for the rehabilitation of this sequela are Applied Behavior Analysis, Cognitive-Behavior Therapy, and Comprehensive-Holistic Rehabilitation Programs. Despite this theoretical plurality, none of these approaches focuses on rehabilitating behavioral disorders considering the relation between affordance and environmental adaptation. To introduce this therapeutic view to neurorehabilitation, we apply the theoretical tenets of the enactive paradigm to the rehabilitation of a woman with severe behavioral and cognitive impairment. Over seventeen sessions, her behavioral and cognitive performance was assessed in relation to two seated affordances (seated on a chair and seated on a ball 65 cm in diameter) and the environmental adaptation while she was working on various cognitive tasks. These two seated affordances allowed to incorporate the theoretical assumptions of the enactive approach and to know how the behavior and the cognition were modified based on these two postural settings and the environmental adaptation. The findings indicate that the subject exhibited better behavioral (physical and verbal) and cognitive (matching success and complex task) performances when the woman worked on the therapeutic ball than when the woman was on the chair. The enactive paradigm applied in neurorehabilitation introduces a level of treatment that precedes behavior and cognition. This theoretical consideration allowed the discovery of a better relation between a seated affordance and the environmental adaptation for the improvement behavioral and cognitive performance in our case study.

Heart evoked potential triggers brain responses to natural affective scenes: A preliminary study.

The relationship between ongoing brain interoceptive signals and emotional processes has been addressed only indirectly through external stimulus-locked measures. In this study, an internal body trigger (heart evoked potential, HEP) was used to measure ongoing internally triggered signals during emotional states. We employed high-density electroencephalography (hd-EEG), source reconstruction analysis, and behavioral measures to assess healthy participants watching emotion-inducing video-clips (positive, negative, and neutral emotions). Results showed emotional modulation of the HEP at specific source-space nodes of the fronto-insulo-temporal networks related to affective-cognitive integration. This study is the first to assess the direct convergence among continuous triggers of viscerosensory cortical markers and emotion through dynamic stimuli presentation.

Neurophenomenology revisited: second-person methods for the study of human consciousness.

In the study of consciousness, neurophenomenology was originally established as a novel research program attempting to reconcile two apparently irreconcilable methodologies in psychology: qualitative and quantitative methods. Its potential relies on Francisco Varela's idea of reciprocal constraints, in which first-person accounts and neurophysiological data mutually inform each other. However, since its first conceptualization, neurophenomenology has encountered methodological problems. These problems have emerged mainly because of the difficulty of obtaining and analyzing subjective reports in a systematic manner. However, more recently, several interview techniques for describing subjective accounts have been developed, collectively known as "second-person methods." Second-person methods refer to interview techniques that solicit both verbal and non-verbal information from participants in order to obtain systematic and detailed subjective reports. Here, we examine the potential for employing second-person methodologies in the neurophenomenological study of consciousness and we propose three practical ideas for developing a second-person neurophenomenological method. Thus, we first describe second-person methodologies available in the literature for analyzing subjective reports, identifying specific constraints on the status of the first-, second- and third- person methods. Second, we analyze two experimental studies that explicitly incorporate second-person methods for traversing the "gap" between phenomenology and neuroscience. Third, we analyze the challenges that second-person accounts face in establishing an objective methodology for comparing results across different participants and interviewers: this is the "validation" problem. Finally, we synthesize the common aspects of the interview methods described above. In conclusion, our arguments emphasize that second-person methods represent a powerful approach for closing the gap between the experiential and the neurobiological levels of description in the study of human consciousness.

Introduction to a theoretical model based on embodied cognition: a pilot study of the diagnosis and treatment of hemiphobia.

PURPOSE: Neurorehabilitation programs have traditionally followed the mind-body dichotomy proposed by Descartes, which resulted in the creation of divergent theoretical frameworks. The purpose of this pilot study is to present a transdisciplinary proposal that integrates human experience via the embodied cognition concept, that is, to explore how the individual relates from their experiential totality. We illustrate this model with a case report: a woman with a physical imbalance caused by stroke, which we diagnose as an experiential disorder and we treat using a transdisciplinary approach. METHODS: The diagnosis is made in relation to the individual's intentionality when balancing; it is then subjected to an analysis based on embodied cognition. A transdisciplinary therapeutic approach consists of devising an intentionality that takes into consideration all intentional components of her balance. RESULTS: Through clinical practice based on embodied cognition, we identify an experiential disorder, which we name hemiphobia. This condition is characterized by avoidant motor behavior, hyperactivation of physiological tone, feelings of anxiety, and the suppression of reasoning during the motor task of balancing. We apply a transdisciplinary treatment incorporating intentionality as embodied cognition, body schema, body image, motor therapy, and metacognitive skills. This application improved her motricity skills in balancing and walking. CONCLUSIONS: The development of a theoretical model based on embodied cognition, in conjunction with the transdisciplinary treatment of hemiphobia, make a more profound and complex learning model possible to achieve the conscious integration of the motor function, the emotional variable, and the cognitive dimension as essential components of neurorehabilitation.