Methodological aspects of studying the mechanisms of consciousness.
Behavioural Brain Research February 15, 2022 Vassiliy Tsytsarev
Two approaches to defining consciousness exist: one treats qualia as inaccessible to third-person science, tying it to the 'hard problem' of why subjective experience arises from physical changes; the other imposes no a priori limits, including first-person experience as an empirical subject. Historically, biology distinguishes proximate from ultimate causation, but this may be insufficient for studying consciousness-brain interaction. Current neuroscience assumes consciousness emerges from neural networks, particularly cortical and thalamocortical circuits, linking directly to clinical research on disorders of consciousness. This review generalizes and systematizes accumulated experimental data in this area.