The experiential self state as affective salience: A dual-self states framework for consciousness and self-transcendence.

The article focuses on a proposed dual-self states framework in psychological sciences, distinguishing between reflective and experiential modes of consciousness as dynamic points along a processing continuum. The reflective self state involves narrative and self-referential awareness linked to default mode network activity, while the experiential self state is characterized by affective-salience awareness anchored in salience network hubs, integrating bodily and external signals into a non-propositional sense of presence. Within a predictive processing model, the experiential self state features reduced precision-weighting of self-referential priors and is influenced by dopaminergic, noradrenergic, and serotonergic systems. This framework has implications for understanding traits like mindfulness and absorption, as well as conditions involving dysregulated salience processing, and it conceptualizes self-transcendent experiences such as meditation and awe as expressions of the experiential self state. The findings are based on a preprint that has not yet undergone peer review. [Extracted from the article]