Contemplative Neuroscience and Neurophenomenology Lab

Books

Authored books

Berkovich-Ohana, A., Raphael, O., Shulman, E., Rudrauf, D., & Segev, I. (Eds.). (2025). Perspectives on Consciousness: Inquiries into Subjective Experience across Disciplines. MIT Press

https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262547062/perspectives-on-consciousness/

A scientific exploration of consciousness through the lens of subjective experience by leading interdisciplinary scholars.

This volume brings together international scholars from neuroscience, mathematics, physics, neurophenomenology, psychology, cognitive sciences, philosophy, and the study of Indian and Buddhist contemplative traditions.

The book explores fundamental questions such as: Is subjective experience crucial to understanding consciousness and in what ways? What is the significance of first-person perspectives, and how should they be integrated into scientific practices and methods? How do modern physics and neuroscience contribute to the quest for understanding consciousness? What are the ethical and political implications of the science of consciousness? Which practices assist the practitioner entering into altered states of consciousness, and what are the related benefits? What can the study of experience contribute to the study of consciousness? Can personal attitudes and reflections have a positive effect on the science of consciousness?

Almost all the contributions result from shared experiences, explored by participants in at least one of two consecutive workshops, where scientific discourse was integrated with experiential sessions.

Publications

Glicksohn, J., Berkovich-Ohana, A., Balaban-Dotan, T., Goldstein, A., & Donchin, O. (2009). Time production and EEG alpha revisited. NeuroQuantology, 7: 138-151.
Glicksohn, J. & Berkovich-Ohana, A. (2011). From trance to transcendence: A neurocognitive approach. Journal of Mind and Behavior, 32, 49-62.
Berkovich-Ohana, A., Glicksohn, J., & Goldstein, A. (2012). Mindfulness-induced changes in gamma band activity – implications for the default mode network, self-reference and attention. Clinical Neurophysiology, 123: 700-710.
Balaban Dotan Ben Soussan, T. Glicksohn, J. Goldstein, A. Berkovich-Ohana A. & O. Donchin (2013). Into the square and out of the box: Effects of Quadrato Motor Training on creativity and EEG coherence. Plos ONE, 8: e55023.
Berkovich-Ohana, A., Glicksohn, J., & Goldstein, A. (2013). Studying the default mode and its Mindfulness-induced changes using EEG functional connectivity. Social, Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 1–9. doi:10.1093/scan/nst153
Gilaie-Dotan, S., Hahamy-Dubossarsky, A., Nir, Y., Berkovich-Ohana, A., Bentin, S., & Malach, R. (2013). Resting state functional connectivity reflects abnormal task-activated patterns in a developmental object agnostic. NeuroImage, 70: 189-198.
Dor-Ziderman, Y., Berkovich-Ohana, A., Glicksohn, J., & Goldstein, A. (2013). Mindfulness-induced selflessness: a MEG neurophenomenological study. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 7, 582. Doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2013.00582.
Berkovich-Ohana, A., Dor-Ziderman, Y., Glicksohn, J., & Goldstein, A. (2013). Alterations in the sense of time, space and body in the Mindfulness-trained brain: A neurophenomenologically-guided MEG study. Frontiers in Psychology, 4, 912. Doi: 10.3389 /fpsyg.2013.00912.
Balaban Dotan Ben Soussan, T., Berkovich-Ohana A., Glicksohn, J. & Goldstein, A. (2014). A suspended act: increased reflectivity and gender-dependent electrophysiological change following Quadrato Motor Training. Frontiers in Psychology 5, 55. Doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00055
Berkovich-Ohana, A. & Glicksohn, J. (2014). The consciousness state space (CSS) – a unifying model for consciousness and self. Frontiers in Psychology. Doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00341. 1-19.
Yellin, D., Berkovich-Ohana, A. & Malach, A. (2015). Coupling between pupil fluctuations and resting-state fMRI uncovers a slow build-up of antagonistic responses in the human cortex. NeuroImage, 106: 414–427.
Berkovich-Ohana, A., Wilf, M., Arieli, A., Kahana, R. & Malach, R. (2015). Repetitive speech elicits widespread deactivation in the human cortex: the “Mantra” effect?. Brain and Behavior. Doi: 10.1002/brb3.346.
Dotan Ben-Soussan T., Glicksohn, J. & Berkovich-Ohana, A. (2015). From cerebellar activation and connectivity to cognition: a review of the Quadrato Motor Training. BioMed Research International. doi.org/10.1155/2015/954901, 1-11.
Berkovich-Ohana, A. (2015). A case study of a meditation-induced altered state: increased overall gamma synchronization. Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences. 10.1007/s11097-015-9435, 1-16.
Dotan Ben-Soussan T., Berkovich-Ohana, A. Piervincenzi, C., Joseph Glicksohn, J. & Filippo Carducci (2015). Embodied cognitive flexibility and neuroplasticity following Quadrato Motor Training. Frontiers in Psychology. 6: 1021. Doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01021
Ataria, Y., # Dor-Ziderman, Y. & Berkovich-Ohana, A. (2015). How does it feel to lack a sense of boundaries? A case study of a long-term mindfulness meditator. Consciousness and Cognition, 37: 133-147.
Berkovich-Ohana, A. & Glicksohn, J. (2016). Meditation, absorption, transcendent experience and affect - tying it all together via the Consciousness State Space (CSS) model. Mindfulness. DOI: 10.1007/s12671-015-0481-9. pp: 1-10.
Dotan Ben-Soussan T., Glicksohn, J., & Berkovich-Ohana, A. (2016). Attentional Effort, Mindfulness, and Altered States of Consciousness Experiences Following Quadrato Motor Training. Mindfulness. Doi: 10.1007/s12671-015-0469-5. pp: 1-9.
Berkovich-Ohana, A., Harel, M., Hahami-Dubossarsky A., Arieli, A., & Malach, R. (2016). Alterations in task-induced activity and resting-state fluctuations in visual and DMN areas revealed in long-term meditators. NeuroImage, 135: 125–134.
Berkovich-Ohana, A., Harel, M., Hahami-Dubossarsky A., Arieli, A., & Malach, R. (2016). Data for default network reduced functional connectivity in meditators, negatively correlated with meditation expertise. Data in Brief, 8: 910–914.
Dor-Ziderman, Y, Ataria, Y., Fulder, S., Goldstein, A. & Berkovich-Ohana, A. (2016). Self-specific processing in the meditating brain: a MEG neurophenomenology study. Neuroscience of Consciousness, 1: 1-13.
Berkovich-Ohana, A., Glicksohn, J. Dotan Ben-Soussan T. & Goldstein, A. (2016). Creativity is enhanced by long-term mindfulness training and is negatively correlated with trait default-mode-related low-gamma inter-hemispheric connectivity. Mindfulness. Doi:10.1007/s12671-016-0649-y. pp: 1-11.
Berkovich-Ohana, A. & Wittmann, M. (2017). A typology of altered states according to the consciousness state space (CSS) model: A special reference to subjective time. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 24: 37-61.
Berkovich-Ohana, A. (2017). Radical Neurophenomenology: We Cannot Solve the Problems Using the Same Kind of Thinking We Used When We Created Them. Constructivist Foundations, 118-121.
Ergas, O. & Berkovich-Ohana, A. (2017). The Self-Generative Mind in Education: Review and Future Directions. Mind, Brain and Education, 1-14.
Glicksohn, J., Berkovich-Ohana, A., # Mauro, F. & Dotan Ben-Soussan T. (2017). Time Perception and the Experience of Time when Immersed in an Altered Sensory Environment. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, Vol. 11: 1-11. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2017.00487
Berkovich-Ohana, A. (2018). What Is the Exact Directional Causality Between Affect, Action and Time-Consciousness? Constructivist Foundations, 13: 105-107.
Millière, R., Carhart-Harris, R., Roseman, L. # Trautwein, M. & Berkovich-Ohana, A. (2018) Psychedelics, Meditation, and Self-Consciousness. Frontiers in Psychology, 9: 1475. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01475
Glicksohn, J. & Berkovich-Ohana, A. (2019). When meditators avoid counting during time production things get interesting. PsyCh Journal 8: 17-
Dotan Ben-Soussan, T., Mauro F., Lasaponara S., Glicksohn J., Marson F. and Berkovich-Ohana A. (2019). Fully immersed: state absorption and electrophysiological effects of the OVO Whole-Body Perceptual Deprivation chamber. Progress in Brain Research, 244.
Berkovich-Ohana, A., Lavy, S. & Jennings, P. (2019). What could teachers learn from the neuroscience of meditation and self-experience? Progress in Brain Research, 244: 355-385.
Glicksohn, J., Dotan Ben-Soussan T., Berkovich-Ohana, A., & Mauro, F. (2019). Individual EEG alpha profiles indicate individual alpha experiences in whole-body perceptual deprivation. Neuropsychologia, 125: 81-92.
Berkovich-Ohana, A., Noy, N., Harel, M., Furman-Haran, E., Arieli, A. & Malach, R. (2020) Inter-participant consistency of language-processing networks during abstract thoughts. NeuroImage, 211: 116626.
Lavy, S. & Berkovich-Ohana, A. (2020) From Teachers' Mindfulness to Students' Thriving: The Mindful Self in School Relationships (MSSR) Model. Mindfulness. Mindfulness, 1-16; DOI 10.1007/s12671-020-01418-2.
Berkovich-Ohana, A., Lavy, S. & #Shanbour, K. (2020). A pilot study on mindfulness-based intervention in Arabic teachers. Frontiers in Psychology – Educational psychology, 1-9; https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.542986.
Berkovich-Ohana, A., #Dor-Ziderman, Y. #Trautwein, F-M., #Schweitzer, Y., Fulder, S., #Nave, O., & Ataria, Y. (2020). The hitchhiker's guide to neurophenomenology - Examples from studying self-boundaries with meditators. Frontiers in Psychology – Consciousness Studies, 1-19, doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01680.
Berkovich-Ohana, A. Furman, E., Malach, R. Arieli, A., & Gilae-Dotan, S. (2020). Studying the precuneus reveals structure-function-affect correlation in long-term meditators. Social, Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience. 1203–1216, doi-org.ezproxy.haifa.ac.il/10.1093/scan/nsaa137.
*#Nave, O., #Trautwein, F.-M., Ataria, Y., #Dor-Ziderman, Y., #Schweitzer, Y., Fulder, S. & Berkovich-Ohana, A. (2021). Self-Boundary Dissolution in Meditation: A Phenomenological Investigation. Brain Research, 11(6), 819; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci11060819.
*#David, A., Rubinstein, O. & Berkovich-Ohana, A. (2021). Math Anxiety, Self-Centeredness, and Dispositional Mindfulness. Journal of Educational Psychology 1-15. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/edu0000550.
*#Panitz, DY., Berkovich-Ohana, A. & Mendelshon, A. (2021). Age-related changes in functional connectivity along the hippocampal longitudinal axis. Hippocampus Journal 31(10):1115-1127. DOI: 10.1002/hipo.23377.
*#Shemesh, L., Mendelshon, A., #Panitz, DY., & Berkovich-Ohana, A. (2021). Mindfulness meditation enhances long-term declarative memory. Psychological Research, 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-022-01642-6.
*#Ben-Uriel, L., Lavy, S. & Berkovich-Ohana, A. (2023). The Effects of Mindfulness on Mother-Child Relationships and Maternal Well-Being During the First COVID-19 Lockdown in Israel. Child & Family Social Work, 28:4, 932-948 https://doi.org/10.1111/cfs.13013.
*Giommi, F1., Bauer, P.R.1, Berkovich-Ohana, A.1, Barendregt, H., Brown, K.W., Gallagher, S., Nyklíček, I., Ostafin, B., Raffone, A., Slagter, H.A., Trautwein, F-M., & Vago, D. (2023). The (In)flexible self: Psychopathology, mindfulness, and neuroscience. International Journal of Clinical and Health Psychology. 23(4), 100381.
*Gallagher, S., Raffone, A., Berkovich-Ohana, A., Barendregt, H., Bauer, P., Brown, K.W., Giommi, F., Nyklíček, I., Ostafin, B., Slagter, H.A., Trautwein, F-M., & Vago, D. (2023). The self-pattern and Buddhist psychology. Mindfulness. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-023-02118-3.
*#Górska, G., Berkovich-Ohana, A. & #Trautwein, F.-M. (2023) Socio-affective Video Task (SoVT) validation in an Israeli sample: SoVT as a predictor of prosocial attitudes. PLoS ONE 18(12):e0289465. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0289465.
46. David, J., Bouso, J. C., Kohek, M., Ona, G., Tadmor, N., Arnon, T., ... & Berkovich-Ohana, A. (2023). Ayahuasca-induced personal death experiences: prevalence, characteristics, and impact on attitudes toward death, life, and the environment. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 14, 1287961.. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1287961.
47. Trautwein, F. M., Schweitzer, Y., Dor-Ziderman, Y., Nave, O., Ataria, Y., Fulder, S., & Berkovich-Ohana, A. (2024). Suspending the embodied self in meditation attenuates beta oscillations in the posterior medial cortex. Journal of Neuroscience, 44(26). https://www.jneurosci.org/content/jneuro/44/26/e1182232024.full.pdf
48. Berkovich-Ohana, A., Brown, K. W., Gallagher, S., Barendregt, H., Bauer, P., Giommi, F., ... & Amaro, A. (2024). Pattern theory of selflessness: How meditation may transform the self-pattern. Mindfulness, 15(8), 2114-2140. https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s12671-024-02418-2.pdf
49. Schweitzer, Y., Trautwein, F. M., Dor-Ziderman, Y., Nave, O., David, J., Fulder, S., & Berkovich-Ohana, A. (2024). Meditation-Induced Self-Boundary Flexibility and Prosociality: A MEG and Behavioral Measures Study. Brain Sciences, 14(12), 1181. https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci14121181
50. Lutz, A., Abdoun, O., Dor-Ziderman, Y., Trautwein, F. M., & Berkovich-Ohana, A. (2024). An overview of neurophenomenological approaches to meditation and their relevance to clinical research. Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bpsc.2024.11.008
51. Panitz, D. Y., Mendelsohn, A., Cabral, J., & Berkovitch-Ohana, A. (2023). Long-term mindfulness meditators exhibit increased spontaneous occurrence of brain states involving sensory and attention networks.10.3389/fnhum.2024.1482353
52. David, J., Berkovich-Ohana, A., & Dor-Ziderman, Y. (2025). Embracing change: impermanence acceptance mediates differences in death processing between long-term ayahuasca users and non-users. Psychopharmacology, 1-18. https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/tmeb3
53. Dor-Ziderman, Y., Schweitzer, Y., Nave, O., Trautwein, F. M., Fulder, S., Lutz, A., ... & Berkovich-Ohana, A. (2025). Training the embodied self in its impermanence: meditators evidence neurophysiological markers of death acceptance. Neuroscience of consciousness, 2025(1), niaf002. https://doi.org/10.1093/nc/niaf002
54. Daniel A Atad, Pedro A.M Mediano, Fernando E Rosas, Aviva Berkovich-Ohana, Meditation and complexity: a review and synthesis of evidence, Neuroscience of Consciousness, Volume 2025, Issue 1, 2025, niaf013, https://doi.org/10.1093/nc/niaf013
55. Cardeña, E., Berkovich-Ohana, A., Valli, K., Barttfeld, P., Gomez-Marin, A., Greyson, B., ... & Yaden, D. (2025). A consensus taxonomy of altered (nonordinary) states of consciousness: Bringing order to disarray. Psychology of Consciousness: Theory, Research, and Practice. https://psycnet.apa.org/fulltext/2026-28269-001.pdf
56. Maoz, L. B.‐U., Lavy, S., & Berkovich‐Ohana, A. (2025). Teachers' dispositional mindfulness and well‐being and their connection to decentering and teacher–student relationships. Psychology in the Schools. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1002/pits.23546
57. Schweitzer, Y., Berkovich-Ohana, A., Dor-Ziderman, Y., Nave, O., Fulder, S., & Trautwein, F. M. (2026). Action without agent, but with awareness? meditation and the modulation of agency induced sensory suppression. Consciousness and Cognition, 137, 103960. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2025.103960

*Wittmann, M. Giersch, A. & Berkovich-Ohana, A. (2019). Altered states of consciousness: With special reference to time and the self. PsyCh Journal 8: 5–7.
*Dotan Ben-Soussan, T., Berkovich-Ohana, A., Besiau, J-Y., Carducci, F., Glicksohn, J. & Srinivasan, N. (Eds). Neurophysiology of Silence: Neuroscientific, Psychological, Educational and Contemplative Perspectives (2021). Frontiers in Psychology - Consciousness Research, https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.675614/full.
*Simione, L., Raffone, A., Kirov, R., Overgaard, M., Berkovich-Ohana, A., & Cleeremans, A. (2023). Emerging Trends on Methodological Issues in Consciousness Research. Frontiers in Psychology - Consciousness Research.

In the media

announcement of acceptance to the Tiny Blue Dot "Perception Box" funding project.

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