A neurophenomenological study of epileptic seizure anticipation
pp. 471-499
in: Shaun Gallagher, Daniel Schmicking (eds), Handbook of phenomenology and cognitive science, Berlin, Springer, 2010Abstract
This article sets out to retrace the course of a neurophenomenological project initiated by Francisco Varela, the purpose of which is the anticipation of epileptic seizure, and to evaluate the relevance of the neurophenomenological approach from the methodological, therapeutic and epistemological viewpoints. New mathematical methods for analysing the neuro-electric activity of the brain have recently enabled researchers to detect subtle modifications of the cerebral activity a few minutes before the onset of an epileptic seizure. Do these neuro-electric changes correspond to modifications in the patients' subjective experience, and if that is the case, what are they? In a first part, after having recalled the context of the project, I will describe the methods I used for trying to detect the dynamic micro-structure of preictal experience, the difficulties I met and the results I obtained. Then I will show how the "pheno-dynamic" and neuro-dynamic analyses have guided, determined and mutually enriched each other throughout this project. In a third part, I will show that this genetic approach to epileptic seizure opens a new line of research into a cognitive and non-pharmacological therapy for epilepsy. Finally, I will argue through this example that neurophenomenological co-determination could shed new light on the difficult problem of the "gap" which supposedly separates subjective experience from neurophysiological activity.
