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Modal Structure and Altered States of Consciousness

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Progresses in Artificial Intelligence and Neural Systems

Part of the book series: Smart Innovation, Systems and Technologies ((SIST,volume 184))

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Abstract

Although it is a familiar experience for everyone, in the vast majority of cases we discover the importance of consciousness only when in front of someone who no longer appears to possess it: someone ‘absent’, with their eyes fixed in the void, while the heart beats vigorously and their muscle tone is intact; or a patient with a psycho-organic syndrome or brain trauma, who is awake, even alert, but no longer in contact with the surrounding environment. Despite the fact that millions of people around the world enter and leave the state of consciousness every day, neurophysiological and clinical knowledge about consciousness is still far from forming a coherent scientific corpus. In fact, nowadays, there is no general shared definition of an altered state of consciousness. In this paper we propose a structured model of the phenomenon of consciousness, viewed as a multivariate combination of independent factors, which includes the variations and transitions of consciousness from a normal state of wakefulness to a psychopathological condition (with discrete deviations in subjective experience), and to severe clinical-neurological pictures.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neuroscience and Reproductive and Odontostomatological Sciences, University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy

    Nelson Mauro Maldonato & Mario Bottone

  2. Intradepartmental Program of Clinical Psychology, AOU, University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy

    Benedetta Muzii

  3. Department of Sport Sciences, Kore University, Enna, Italy

    Donatella di Corrado

  4. DiSU—Department of Humanities, University of Basilicata, Potenza, Italy

    Raffaele Sperandeo

  5. Graduate Member Within British Psychological Society, London, UK

    Simone D’Andrea

  6. Department of Psychology, University of Campania “L. Vanvitelli”, and IIASS, Naples, Italy

    Anna Esposito

Authors
  1. Nelson Mauro Maldonato
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  2. Mario Bottone
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  3. Benedetta Muzii
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  4. Donatella di Corrado
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  5. Raffaele Sperandeo
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  6. Simone D’Andrea
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  7. Anna Esposito
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nelson Mauro Maldonato .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Psicologia and IIASS, Università della Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, Caserta, Italy

    Anna Esposito

  2. Fundació Tecnocampus, Pompeu Fabra University, Mataró, Barcelona, Spain

    Marcos Faundez-Zanuy

  3. Department of Civil, Environmental, Energy, and Material Engineering, University Mediterranea of Reggio Calabria, Reggio Calabria, Italy

    Francesco Carlo Morabito

  4. Laboratorio di Neuronica, Dipartimento Elettronica e Telecomunicazioni , Politecnico di Torino, Torino, Italy

    Eros Pasero

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Maldonato, N.M. et al. (2021). Modal Structure and Altered States of Consciousness. In: Esposito, A., Faundez-Zanuy, M., Morabito, F., Pasero, E. (eds) Progresses in Artificial Intelligence and Neural Systems. Smart Innovation, Systems and Technologies, vol 184. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-5093-5_51

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