PHENOMENOLOGICAL DIMENSION OF PRESENCE
How is this presence experienced?
Before being an object of study for neuroscience or psychology, presence is an experience.
We can immediately tell the difference between being alone and being silent with someone. Some presences are calming, others keep the nervous system alert. Some encourage thought, others scatter it.
Sometimes without a word, without a gesture, sometimes without even being fully aware of the other person—something has already changed. But this immediate certainty isn't always there. More often than not, we don't really know: a sound, an impression, the feeling of being watched without being able to verify it. This hesitation itself is an experience—that of not knowing if one is alone, and of experiencing it in the body before one can even put it into words.
These phenomena are universal. Yet they resist classical scientific language. They lie at the intersection of attention, body, emotion, and perception—where lived experience always slightly precedes the category that attempts to grasp it. This is precisely what phenomenology allows us to explore: not what presence does to the brain, but what presence is for the one who experiences it.
The phenomenological dimension of The Presence Brain explores this experience in all its variety—feeling seen, accompanied, observed, ignored, alone in a crowded room, or even inhabited by the presence of someone who is no longer there. It examines how the presence of others contributes to the organization of our attention, our emotions, and our sense of security, and why understanding this lived experience is as essential as understanding its underlying brain mechanisms.
Articles in this series
Presence before the relationship ✅
Long before any interaction, the mere presence of another person already alters our attention, behavior, and experience. This article explores the first scientific observations of this phenomenon and their implications.
Feeling seen — and feeling invisible (in preparation)
Why do some people change the atmosphere of a room? What happens neurologically when we feel recognized — or ignored? The feeling of being seen plays a fundamental role in psychological balance, and its absence is one of the most destabilizing experiences imaginable.
→ Read the article (in preparation)
The absence that continues to have an effect (in preparation)
Presence doesn't always disappear when others leave. Certain absences—of a loved one who has passed away, a lost relationship, a presence never received—continue to shape our experience long afterward. How does the brain carry what is no longer there?
→ Read the article (in preparation)
Why do certain presences soothe the nervous system? (in preparation)
Some presences reduce our vigilance, facilitate thought, make the world more habitable—sometimes without a word. Others, on the contrary, keep the nervous system on high alert without us being able to identify the reason. What do we know today about these phenomena?
→ Read the article (in preparation)