Inner Experience and Neuroscience: Merging Both Perspectives

358 Pages·2012·9.743 MB·English

by  Donald D. Price, James J. Barrell

Inner Experience and Neuroscience

Inner Experience and Neuroscience
Merging Both Perspectives
Donald D. Price and James J. Barrell
A Bradford Book
The MIT Press
Cambridge, Massachusetts
London, England
© 2012 M assachusetts Institute of Technology
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Price, Donald D.
Inner experience and neuroscience : merging both perspectives / Donald D. Price
and James J. Barrell.
p. cm.
“ A Bradford Book.”
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-262-01765-7
1. Phenomenological psychology. 2. Experience— Psychological aspects.
3. Consciousness. 4. Neuropsychology. I. Barrell, James J. II. Title.
BF204.5.P75 2012
153 — dc23
2011048196

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Preface vii
1 Developing a Science of Human Meanings and Consciousness 1
2 Lessons Learned from Psychophysics 31
3 Psychophysical Methods and Human Meanings 59
4 Describing, Characterizing, and Understanding Phenomenal
Experience 71
5 Merging the Qualitative with the Quantitative: The Roles of Desire
and Expectation in Emotions 109
6 Choosing 137
7 Human Pain and Suffering 159
8 Second Pain: A Model for Explaining a Conscious Experience? 195
9 Mysterious and Not-So-Mysterious Mechanisms of Placebo
Responses 209
10 Hypnotic and Other Background States of Consciousness 243
11 Using Experiential Paradigms to Extend Science and Help Solve
Human Problems 269
Notes 303
References 311
Index 341

Preface
This book is the result of two careers that have been dedicated to the
development of a science of human experience and its integration with
neuroscience and psychology. The first career began with research in neu-
roscience. Early on, Don Price did research on spinal dorsal horn circuitry
and later incorporated the tools of psychophysics. Adding a psychophysi-
cal foundation to this line of research extended the insights gained by
recording from neurons — it became more obvious why certain experiments
were done and what they meant. It led to the idea of relating human
sensory experience to neural responses, an idea that has independently
arisen in the minds of many sensory neuroscientists. However, the realiza-
tion that pain is much more than just a sensory experience led him to
explore the dimensions of emotions and meanings as well as the sources
of variability in the pain experience. Then two major influences shaped
the remainder of his career. The first was a longstanding interest in both
the science and the philosophy of human experience, an interest fostered
by Jim Barrell, coauthor of this book. The second was an explosive growth
in neuroscience and its technologies (e.g., neural imaging).
The second career, that of Jim Barrell, focused more explicitly on the
development of a science of human experience and was based on several
disciplines, including phenomenology, cognitive psychology, Eastern phi-
losophy, psychophysiology, and neuroscience. The key ideas in this book
that are about developing a qualitative method for the study of human
experience are his. Jim successfully applied experiential methods for per-
formance enhancement of college and professional sports teams (San Fran-
cisco Giants, San Francisco Forty-niners, Orlando Magic, University of
Florida Gators, Virginia Commonwealth University Rams). Based on these
two careers and considerable dialogue and collaboration between the two
authors, this book represents a combined vision of how to merge a science
of human experience with neuroscience and the rest of psychology.
viii Preface
The organization of this book follows a natural progression. The first
chapter opens with questions. Why do we need a science of human experi-
ence? Can we construct a science of consciousness? Are there preexisting
foundations for a science of meaning and experience?
We then go on to explain that understanding human meanings is essen-
tial for explanations of human experience, behavior, and psychophysio-
logical responses and that even understanding results of neuroscience
research could greatly benefit from an experiential perspective and
methods. In particular, the accuracy of results of both sciences would be
improved. We briefly describe preexisting paradigms for investigating phe-
nomenal experience, including classic introspection, phenomenology, the
descriptive experiential sampling method (designed by Russell T. Hurlburt
and his colleagues), and the experiential– phenomenological method devel-
oped by us. The last part of this chapter focuses on issues of philosophy
and feasibility in applying experiential methods in neuroscience.
The second and third chapters are about lessons to be learned from
psychophysical methods. We think such methods are critical for integrat-
ing experiential and natural sciences. They also provide groundwork for
training and instructing participants in how to observe and report on
simple experiences. At this point in the book, specifically in chapter 3,
there is an exploratory exercise designed for the reader. We think that it is
critical that the reader participate in this exercise , which should be fairly easy
and enjoyable. This experiential exploration may be critical for appreciat-
ing a key theme of this book: Understanding interrelationships between
fundamental dimensions of human emotional feelings helps us to under-
stand how emotions, choosing, and motivation are related within experi-
ence. The exercise may help the reader see that these relationships can be
directly verified in his or her own experience. We provide several similar
opportunities throughout the book.
Chapter 4 describes and explains qualitative paradigms, some of which
can be merged with the quantitative methods described in preceding chap-
ters. Some paradigms, such as the descriptive experiential sampling method,
simply attempt to describe inner experience of people. This method
explores similarities and differences in how people experience moments of
everyday life. The results turn out to be very interesting and often surpris-
ing. Our experiential– phenomenological method, on the other hand, seeks
to arrive at the common factors of different types of experiences, particu-
larly emotions. These common factors then become the basis for hypoth-
eses that can be tested with quantitative methods, as discussed in chapters
5 and 6. As we explain, the results of this approach dovetail in interesting
Preface ix
ways with an existing neuroscience literature on emotions and choice
behavior.
Chapters 7 and 8 explain how an experiential perspective and some
experiential methods help provide a more accurate formulation of the
phenomenology of human pain and suffering.
A definition of pain that is directly based on how pain is experienced
has clear advantages over attempts to define pain in terms of stimuli that
evoke it or behavior that is observed from an external viewpoint. The
experiential definition is supported by vast numbers of studies that have
taken place in laboratories and health-care settings. As with other topics
of this book, many studies show that results from a first-person perspective
and from neuroscience can be integrated. This integration extends to rela-
tionships between the immediate unpleasantness of pain and emotions
based on extended meanings — suffering. In this sense, relationships
between immediate feelings and extended ones are like the organization
of consciousness itself, as suggested by Antonio Damasio’ s concepts of core
and extended consciousness.
Chapter 9 helps us understand how pain and suffering, as well as other
medical conditions, can be dynamically modified by what one is experi-
encing at the moment. This dynamic modulation occurs during placebo
responses (reduction of symptoms as a result of changes in desires and
expectations) as well as during nocebo responses. This modulation is
accompanied by corresponding changes in the brain, suggesting that
placebo responses are real psychological and biological events (as opposed
to statistical artifacts or regression to the mean).
Chapter 10 illustrates how characterization of a background state of
consciousness, such as a hypnotic state, can begin with a qualitative expe-
riential study, followed by a quantitative study, and finally neuroimaging
studies that are informed by results of experiential science. The hypnotic
state is comprised of several dimensions that support a background state
of consciousness. An interesting implication of this progression is that a
similar approach could be used to characterize any background state of
consciousness.
The final chapter is a discussion of how merging experiential science
with other sciences can extend the efforts of science to address and help
solve difficult issues and problems. It begins with an explanation of the
types of causation demonstrated by science and shows the necessity of
including mind – mind, mind– brain, and brain – mind causes. This necessity is
particularly relevant to the question of “ free will” or volition. We end with
a discussion of how experiential science can be applied to problems posed