A common neural code for similar conscious experiences in different individuals
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences September 15, 2014 Lorina Naci, Rhodri Cusack, Mimma Anello et al. 239 citations
A common neural code underpins similar conscious experiences across people, allowing the decoding of experience without behavior. Brain activity synchronized across healthy participants' frontal and parietal cortices while watching an engaging movie, and the timing of this activity matched their shared qualitative experience of the movie's moment-to-moment executive demands. A neural index based on executive function reliably predicted each healthy individual's similar conscious experience. This approach provided strong evidence for the conscious experience of a brain-injured patient who had been entirely behaviorally nonresponsive for 16 years, showing highly similar executive engagement and moment-to-moment perception of the movie content.