Journal information

Psychology of Consciousness: Theory, Research, and Practice^® is a cross-disciplinary journal centered on the study of consciousness and encompassing all areas within psychology, as well as cognitive science, neuroscience, and other relevant disciplines. It publishes papers on theory, research, methodology, and clinical applications related to the psychology of consciousness.

The journal covers topics that span the traditional rubrics of states of consciousness and techniques that might induce them (e.g., hypnosis, meditation), sensory/perception processes, nonconscious processes (and their potential interaction with consciousness), and various aspects of self-consciousness including metacognition. It also includes clinical approaches to modifying attention and consciousness.

Manuscripts of interest extend across, but are not limited to, the following topics:

Sensory/perceptual processes

• sensations, qualia, the phenomenal field, pain, pleasure, and other sensations
• psychophysical relations, perception, attention
• sensory memory, sensory information processing

Nonconscious processes

• levels of consciousness
• unconscious information processing, implicit associations, and
• partial conscious perception, and fringe consciousness
• hypnotic and dissociative amnesia, metacognition, and levels of awareness
• blindsight, deaf-hearing, hemifield neglect, and the neuropsychology of subconsciousness

Self-consciousness

• types of self-experience
• self as subject, déjà vu, out-of-body experiences
• self as object, depersonalization, multiple dissociated identities
• self as agent, hypnotic and psychopathological loss of self-control, suggestibility, automaticity
• lucid dreams, the neuropsychology of self-consciousness

States of consciousness and related techniques

• basic and applied research on hypnosis, meditation, psychedelics, etc.
• anomalous experiences such as NDEs, mystical experiences, etc.
• fantasy and mind-wandering, mental imagery
• sleep, dreaming
• coma and similar states

The journal will not review submissions dealing exclusively with biological processes.

Psychology of Consciousness welcomes theoretical papers, critical analyses, and literature and historical reviews; however, the journal’s emphasis is on empirical papers, including scoping and meta-analyses and studies that describe the development of psychometrically sound measures of consciousness variables.

The journal welcomes methodologically rigorous clinical and other case studies (e.g., single-case time series studies) and groundbreaking pilot studies.

The editor will consider proposals for special issues on theoretical controversies, research topics, or clinical applications.

Psychology of Consciousness is now accepting Registered Reports via a partnership with the Peer Community in Registered Reportsopens in new window (PCI RR). PCI RR performs peer review of Stage 1 (proposal) and Stage 2 (completed study) preprints and then offers authors the opportunity to publish their approved manuscript without further peer review in a range of journals (including Psychology of Consciousness). Further guidance concerning the PCI RR platform may be found on the community’s websiteopens in new window, where you can also submit research proposals to PCI RRopens in new window.

Disclaimer: APA and the editors of Psychology of Consciousness assume no responsibility for statements and opinions advanced by the authors of its articles.