Subjective Experience

Subjective experience can differ significantly from objective brain and mind reality. Current methods for understanding the mind depend on subjective experience, inferred mental states, and language. Felt experience often diverges from actual brain and mind processes. Subjective experience resists being translated into objective quantitative frameworks. The disconnect between subjective feeling and objective processes shows the limitations of current explanations. fMRI can sometimes detect conscious responses in patients who cannot speak or move. People differ substantially in how they experience memory, narrative, imagery, inner speech, and synesthesia. Some people with aphantasia cannot voluntarily generate mental images but may function normally. Synesthesia can link sensory or cognitive domains such as taste, color, letters, and vision. The article claims there is a persistent disconnect between felt experience and underlying reality.