When perception meets grief: how the brain reconstructs person networks in response to absence

Although widely experienced within the grieving community, the sense of presence (SOP) remains an inconsistently defined phenomenon in the literature, frequently categorized alongside anomalous or supernatural experiences. Existing research often centres on subjective interpretations, and few studies approach the phenomenon through a neuropsychological lens, leaving the underlying mechanisms and preceding events largely unexplored. To address these gaps, we propose a neurocognitive framework for understanding grief-related SOP and introduce 'person networks' as a core driver for the experience. The current model consists of three stages: initiation of perception, identity attribution, and meaning attribution. We aim for this theory to provoke meaningful discussion within the field, prompting reconceptualization of existing models and integration between disciplines to advance understanding of this phenomenon.