Neural Correlates of Consciousness Flashcards
Describe the binding problem
Different stimulus properties processed by different brain areas
Do not need to consciously unite properties into one concept
What is embodied cognition?
Sense of consciousness as own
What is Cartesian duality?
Sense of self as separate to physical body
What are qualia?
Subjective aspects of experience
What is the hard problem of consciousness?
Understanding how and why qualia occur
Define neural correlates of consciousness
Minimal set of neuronal mechanisms sufficient for conscious perception
Which factors affect conscious experiences?
Neural substances
Blood glucose and oxygen
Neural tone
Cortical excitability
Define the global neural correlates of consciousness
Neural substrates supporting conscious experiences in their entirety - regardless of specific contents
Define content-specific neural correlates of consciousness
Neural substrates determining qualia
What are the 2 proposed requirements for consciousness?
Mammalian neocortex
Common connective architecture - between sensory (multiple modalities) and cognitive regions
Which brain areas are active during wake?
Cortex
Thalamus
Which brain areas are active during minimally-conscious state?
Decreased cortical activity
No thalamic activity
Which brain areas are active during sleep (REM and NREM)?
Decreased cortical activity
Thalamus
How does anaesthesia affect brain activity?
Decreased excitatory tone in multiple brain areas - e.g. thalamus, cortex
Areas involved vary with different drugs
How does cortical TMS affect the spread of activity seen with EEG with ketamine?
Similar to wake
How does cortical TMS affect the spread of activity seen with EEG with propofol?
Decreased activity spread
How does cortical TMS affect the spread of activity seen with EEG with xenon?
Increased activity spread
Which brain area could be the seat of consciousness?
Claustrum
What is the evidence for the claustrum as the seat of consciousness?
Cytoarchitecture - widely branching cortex-wide projections - suggests uniformity of function
Strong reciprocal connections with cortex, hippocampus, amygdala, caudate nucleus
Activated by tasks requiring cross-modality sesnory comparisons
What is the evidence against the claustrum as the seat of consciousness?
In monkey - no projection from V1 to claustrum
In all mammals
Some conscious people - with no/damaged claustrum
