A Framework for Subjective Experience

This paper presents a theoretical framework with which “subjective experience” may be described and operationalized. Despite being deeply relatable to people, accounts of subjective experience have struggled to establish investigative credibility owing to metaphysical misgivings and data quality concerns. The Subjective Experience (SE) Framework construes the phenomenon as a frame of reference and provides a novel approach to structuring conscious content – one that is expected to reveal short and long timescale sequences, cycles and other currently concealed patterns in both individual and intersubjective contexts. A review of existing techniques for the capture, analysis and interpretation of subjective experience reports is performed against SE Framework goals, to determine whether and how such methods may be leveraged to obtain relevant input data. Applications of the framework are considered, including the extent to which it may permit insights into notions such as thinking, mind wandering, and inner speech as well as other psychology concepts. The SE Framework is intended to offer a practical approach to a ubiquitous phenomenon for which general principles remain opaque, bringing it more fully into service for research in the cognitive sciences.