Research Program / Claims / a-1-5
A-1 can serve as the first step in a series leading to deeper consciousness states or adjacent layers; the adjacent layer A-1-a is for rehearsing alternative decisions, A-1-b deals with group probability, and A-1-c has greater freedom of action.
A-1可用作通向更深意识状态或相邻意识层次的系列第一步;相邻层A-1-a用于试演替代决定,A-1-b处理群体概率,A-1-c有更大行动自由。
Concept A-1 state · Domain Consciousness States and Attentional Dynamics · ontological claim · interface 3/3 · testability 3/3 · status untested · ★ fundable
This program treats the Seth Material as a source of hypotheses, not as doctrine to be validated. Lead dossiers are AI-compiled from the corpus with a book-and-session citation after every statement; literature reviews are AI web-search summaries whose references were all DOI-verified against Crossref; the agenda draft is an AI synthesis. None of it is Seth's original text, and none of it represents scientific consensus. English fields are machine-translated; the Chinese text is authoritative.
Seth sources (book §session)
Adjudicating experiment
About 180 people receive 8 weeks of training, with an equal-duration relaxation control; personal decision simulation, group prediction, and free imagery tasks are orthogonally randomized with respect to 'layer names and order'; some participants are not exposed to the layer narrative. Use experience interviews, behavior, and EEG/fMRI to compare a pre-registered discrete-layer model against a continuous-dimension model, replicating with about 180 people at a second center, total period 24 months. Predictive metrics include test–retest consistency of state order, cross-task stability, and state effects when tasks are identical; avoid letting different task contents automatically create different layers.
Suggested paper title
Discrete Stages or Continuous Dimensions? A Pre-registered Multimodal Study of Guided Absorption
What it would overturn
If a fixed progression and functional division appear after controlling instructions, tasks, and expectation, this would revise the hypothesis that 'these experiential differences arise from continuous cognitive dimensions and task content.'
Candidate labs / funders
Devin B. Terhune,伦敦国王学院,研究意识体验及暗示调节:[学者主页](https://www.kcl.ac.uk/people/devin-terhune); Daniel L. Schacter,哈佛大学 Schacter Memory Lab,研究决策相关情景模拟:[实验室研究](https://sites.harvard.edu/schacter-memory/home/research/)
Specificity of Seth's formulation
The naming system is more detailed than general absorption experiences, but lacks reproducible boundaries, necessary entry order, and failure conditions; 'group probability' and 'greater freedom' need to be converted into concrete task indicators.
Note
No peer-reviewed paper directly testing the A-1-a/b/c hierarchy was found; more category names do not automatically mean more precise prediction.
Cite: Future Mind Institute, Seth Material Research Agenda, claim a-1-5, https://www.seth.org.cn/en/research/claims/a-1-5