Research Program / Claims / alternate-focus-10

The inner self is an inward focus, the outer self an outward focus; the two form two sides of an action sphere.

内自我是向内的焦点，外自我是向外的焦点，二者构成一个行动球体的两面

Concept alternate focus · 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)

early-sessions-4 §153

Adjudicating experiment

Approximately 180 adults in the same task orthogonally manipulate attentional source (internal imagery/external perception) and content attribution (self/other), with difficulty and emotion controlled; each person 2 sessions of fMRI combined with experience sampling, project 12 months. Pre-register comparison of a single continuous axis, two competing states, and multidimensional network models, using held-out participant prediction and cross-task generalization; this can test the functional structure of 'inner/outer focus' but cannot confirm the ontology of the action sphere.

Suggested paper title

Internal and External Attention in Self-Related Cognition: Testing Continuous and Multidimensional Network Models

What it would overturn

If a single complementary axis sufficiently explains all internal/external attention and self-processing in independent data, it would challenge models positing 'partially independent neural dimensions for attentional source and self-relevance.'

Candidate labs / funders

[R. Nathan Spreng：Laboratory of Brain and Cognition](https://lbc-spreng.netlify.app/); Michael D. Fox：脑网络与网络定位研究; Daniel L. Schacter：自传记忆、未来模拟与自我相关认知研究

Specificity of Seth's formulation

As a metaphor, it is compatible with modern internal/external attention distinctions but does not define the sphere's structure, dynamics, or unique predictions; calling the default network directly the inner self is over-mapping.

Note

For network anticorrelation tests, pre-processing schemes such as global signal regression should be pre-registered because correlation direction and magnitude are influenced by analysis choices; inward attention does not necessarily involve self.

Evidence (2, DOI-verified via Crossref)

The human brain is intrinsically organized into dynamic, anticorrelated functional networks — Michael D. Fox；Abraham Z. Snyder；Justin L. Vincent；Maurizio Corbetta；David C. Van Essen；Marcus E. Raichle (2005), Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
描述大尺度网络的相关与反相关组织，为内外注意区分提供背景，但不是内自我与外自我两实体的证据。[论文](https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0504136102)
Default network activity, coupled with the frontoparietal control network, supports goal-directed cognition — R. Nathan Spreng；W. Dale Stevens；Jon P. Chamberlain；Adrian W. Gilmore；Daniel L. Schacter (2010), NeuroImage
默认网络可与控制网络协作支持目标导向认知，说明内外加工关系不宜简化为两个互斥系统。[论文](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2010.06.016)

Cite: Future Mind Institute, Seth Material Research Agenda, claim alternate-focus-10, https://www.seth.org.cn/en/research/claims/alternate-focus-10