Coherence in consciousness: paralimbic gamma synchrony of self-reference links conscious experiences.
Human Brain Mapping February 1, 2010 Hans C Lou, Joachim Gross, Katja Biermann-Ruben et al.
A coherent perception of the world is essential for human nature, and all conscious experiences reference the self, either minimally (basic self-awareness) or extended (autonoetic, involving episodic memory). Transcranial magnetic stimulation has shown that a medial paralimbic circuitry—including anterior cingulate/medial prefrontal and posterior cingulate/medial parietal cortices, connected directly and via thalamus—is critical for self-reference. The authors hypothesized that interaction in this circuitry binds conscious experiences with varying degrees of self-reference through synchrony of high-frequency oscillations. This hypothesis was confirmed with magneto-encephalography. The observed neural coupling may explain the sense of unity of consciousness and severe symptoms associated with paralimbic dysfunction.