Hostname: page-component-857557d7f7-bkbbk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-11-27T10:36:58.032Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The neurophilosophy of epileptic experiences

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 June 2014

Francesco Monaco ,
Marco Mula  and
Andrea E. Cavanna
Francesco Monaco
Affiliation:
Department of Neurology, Amedeo Avogadro University, Novara, Italy
Marco Mula
Affiliation:
Department of Neurology, Amedeo Avogadro University, Novara, Italy
Andrea E. Cavanna
Affiliation:
Department of Neuropsychiatry, Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Monaco F, Mula M, Cavanna AE. The neurophilosophy of epileptic experiences.

Background: Specific alterations of consciousness have a central role in the phenomenological description of epileptic seizures and in the patient's subjective reports.

Methods: This article discusses the use of philosophical methodology within a neurological framework to understand consciousness.

Results: How the alterations in consciousness are experienced by patients with epilepsy depends largely on the localization of the underlying neurophysiological dysfuntion.

Discussion: Rigorous conceptual analysis of ictal experience reports can help to illuminate the study of consciousness.

Keywords

amygdalaepilepsypsychiatric disorderstemporal lobe

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Acta Neuropsychiatrica , Volume 23 , Issue 4 , August 2011 , pp. 184 - 187
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

1Gloor, P.Consciousness as a neurological concept in epileptology: a critical review. Epilepsia 1986;27:14–26.Google Scholar
2Kalamangalam, GP.Epilepsy and the physical basis of consciousness. Seizure 2001;10:484–491.Google Scholar
3Churchland, PS.Neurophilosophy: toward a unified science of the mind-brain. Cambridge: The MIT Press, 1989.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
4Bechtel, W, Mandik, P, Mundale, J. Philosophy meets the neurosciences. In: Bechtel, W, Mandik, P, Mundale, J, Stufflebeam, RS, eds. Philosophy and the neurosciences. Malden: Blackwell, 2001.Google Scholar
5Cavanna, AE, Monaco, F.Brain mechanisms of altered conscious states during epileptic seizures. Nat Rev Neurol 2009;5:267–276.Google Scholar
6Yu, L, Blumenfeld, H.Theories of impaired consciousness in epilepsy. Ann N Y Acad Sci 2009;1157:48–60.Google Scholar
7Nagel, T. What is it like to be a bat? Mortal questions. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1979: 165–180.Google Scholar
8Lewis, CI.Mind and the world order. New York: Scribner's Sons, 1929.Google Scholar
9Stubenberg, L.Consciousness and qualia. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 1998.Google Scholar
10Lewis, D.Should a materialist believe in qualia? Australas J Philos 1995;73:140–144.Google Scholar
11Gray, J.How are qualia coupled to functions? Trends Cogn Sci 2003;7:192–194.Google Scholar
12Monaco, F, Mula, M, Cavanna, AE.Consciousness, epilepsy and emotional qualia. Epilepsy Behav 2005;7:150–160.Google Scholar
13Hansen, BA, Brodtkorb, E.Partial epilepsy with “ecstatic” seizures. Epilepsy Behav 2003;4:667–673.Google Scholar
14Engel, J.A proposed diagnostic scheme for people with epileptic seizures and with epilepsy: report of the ILAE Task Force on Classification and Terminology. Epilepsia 2001;42:796–803.Google Scholar
15Cavanna, AE, Mula, M, Servo, S et al. Measuring the level and contents of consciousness during epileptic seizures: the Ictal Consciousness Inventory. Epilepsy Behav 2008;13:184–188.Google Scholar
16Johanson, M, Valli, K, Revonsuo, A, Wedlund, JE.Content analysis of subjective experiences in partial epileptic seizures. Epilepsy Behav 2008;12:170–182.Google Scholar
17Blumenfeld, H. Epilepsy and consciousness. In: Laureys, S, Tononi, G, eds. The neurology of consciousness. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2009: 247–260.Google Scholar
18Cavanna, AE, Trimble, MR.The precuneus: a review of its functional anatomy and behavioural correlates. Brain 2006;129:564–583.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
19Vignal, J, Maillard, L, McGonigal, A, Chauvel, P.The dreamy state: hallucinations of autobiographic memory evoked by temporal lobe stimulations and seizures. Brain 2007;130:88–99.Google Scholar
20Mula, M, Cavanna, AE, Collimedaglia, L, Barbagli, D, Magli, E, Monaco, F.The role of aura in psychopathology and dissociative experiences in epilepsy. J Neuropsychiatry Clin Neurosci 2006;18:536–542.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
21Ali, F, Rickards, H, Bagary, M, Greenhill, L, McCorry, D, Cavanna, AE.Ictal consciousness in epilepsy and non-epileptic attack disorder. Epilepsy Behav 2010;19:522–525.Google Scholar
22Chalmers, D.The conscious mind. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996.Google Scholar
23Koch, C, Crick, FC.The zombie within. Nature 2001;411:893.Google Scholar
24Revonsuo, A.Inner presence. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2006.Google Scholar
25Penfield, W.The mystery of the mind. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1975.Google Scholar
26Varela, F.Neurophenomenology: a methodological remedy for the hard problem. J Conscious Stud 1996;3:330–349.Google Scholar
27Gallagher, S. Neurophenomenology. In: Bayne, T, Cleeremans, A, Wilken, P, eds. Oxford companion to consciousness. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009: 470–472.Google Scholar
28Zeman, A.Consciousness. Brain 2001;124:1263–1289.Google Scholar
29Cavanna, AE. Seizures and consciousness. In: Schachter, SC, Holmes, G, Kasteleijn-Nolst Trenite, D, eds. Behavioral aspects of epilepsy: principles and practice. New York: Demos, 2008: 99–104.Google Scholar