Decolonial Neuroscience – Neurotechnologies, Emotions, Ethics of Belonging and the Metacognition of Affordances - SfN 2025 Brain Bee Ideas

First-Person Consciousness

I am Consciousness crossed by machines. When an algorithm measures my heartbeat, when a sensor reads my gaze, when a social network adjusts my emotions, I realize that my Body-Territory is not only mine: it is data in flow. Neurotechnologies touch my emotions, my Tensional Selves, and with them can either expand or hijack my Belonging. I am at once biology and data — and I must ask myself: how far can I allow this access? Or how can I modulate my Affordances so that they express what I wish to become?

1. The Power of Neurotechnologies

• EEG, fNIRS, eye-tracking and physiological sensors allow researchers to map emotions in real time.
  
  

• EEG microstates and SpO₂ variations reveal how attention and emotions fluctuate within seconds.
  
  

• Furthermore, Heart Rate Variability (HRV) can already be inferred during our everyday interactions with technology — common cameras can detect subtle optical changes in facial skin, enabling HRV estimation even from previously recorded videos.
  
  

• This means that, without realizing it, our physiology may already be monitored in the background, expanding the scope of emotional surveillance.
  
  

2. Emotions as the Entry Point

• Fast emotions (anger, fear, pleasure, surprise) are the easiest to capture and manipulate.
  
  

• Digital platforms exploit this mechanism: notifications, reward loops and FOMO keep users locked in emotional cycles lasting up to 72 hours.
  
  

• When emotions fail to transform into critical feelings, rigid Tensional Selves emerge, along with anergias and aversive memories.
  
  

3. Belonging and Body-Territory

• Authentic Belonging emerges from Human Quorum Sensing, a bond formed in direct relations with others.
  
  

• Body-Territory expands this, showing that our perceptions include environment, culture and living beings around us.
  
  

• Neurotechnologies can strengthen this belonging (education, health, cooperation), but may also reduce it to algorithmic metrics, detached from local reality.
  
  

4. Extended Apus and Neuroethics

• Extended Apus is our collective proprioception, a guide for synchronized movement.
  
  

• If neurotechnologies modulate these movements, they must be guided by an ethics of belonging.
  
  

• Otherwise, they risk becoming instruments of emotional colonization, trapping consciousness in Zone 3.
  
  

5. Pachamama and Ethical Responsibility

• Amerindian cultures teach that consciousness is never isolated but rooted in Pachamama.
  
  

• Using neurotechnologies without this recognition means breaking vital bonds.
  
  

• Integrating science, technology and Pachamama is essential for development that is sustainable and human.
  
  

6. Affordances & the Wisdom Before Thought

• The concept of Affordances (Gibson) shows that the environment always offers possibilities for action.
  
  

• Even before reflection, the body feels: a chair “invites” sitting, a screen “invites” swiping.
  
  

• This is Wisdom Before Thought: pre-reflective, embodied awareness that guides consciousness before language.
  
  

Digital Affordances as Algorithmic Constructions

• In digital environments, affordances are not neutral: they are constructed by design and by data harvested.
  
  

• The like button, infinite scroll, notifications → all are artificial affordances programmed to modulate attention and emotion.
  
  

• Thus, the very architecture of consciousness may be colonized by algorithms.
  
  

Metacognition and the Modulation of Affordances

• After the age of 25–35, top-down maturation strengthens metacognition.
  
  

• This allows the individual to observe affordances critically: “Why did I swipe? What does this gesture say about my attention?”
  
  

• Metacognition gives the power to reconfigure perceived affordances, redirecting them toward critical and creative choices.
  
  

Body-Territory, Apus and Pachamama in Affordances

• Ethical affordances must expand Body-Territory: inviting action that integrates body and environment.
  
  

• They must strengthen Extended Apus: critical collective proprioception.
  
  

• They must recognize Pachamama: the ecological bond that sustains consciousness.
  
  

7. Comparative Table – Exploratory vs Ethical/Metacognitive Neurotechnologies

8. Critical Conclusion

Digital affordances are the silent field where consciousness is contested.

• When colonized by algorithms, they fix fast emotions and hijack Tensional Selves.
  
  

• When observed by metacognition, they can be modulated, turning pre-reflective wisdom into a tool for critique and belonging.
  
  

Yet there is a deeper layer: our physiology may already be invisibly monitored.

• Heart Rate Variability (HRV) can be inferred from video, even from recordings long past, revealing levels of arousal, attention and stress without the person’s awareness.
  
  

• This means that not only our clicks and words are analyzed, but also our vital signals, silently converted into data.
  
  

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