12 papers in the library · 25 citations · publishing 2013-2026
Cambridge University Press eBooks April 23, 2026 Michael H Herzog, Aaron Schurger, Adrien Doerig
All theories up to now relate consciousness to neural processes, circuits, etc. Quantum theories, such as orchestrated objective reduction (OrchOR), propose that proto-conscious events occur in the entire universe and full consciousness occurs only at the subcellular level in the microtubules of neurons. We outline challenges with this approach.
April 23, 2026 Michael H. Herzog, Aaron Schurger, Adrien Doerig
The scientific study of consciousness features a vast array of conflicting theories, but cross-disciplinary exchange between researchers from different camps is not always prevalent. This book seeks to address these complexities by providing a thorough introduction to the field while remaining accessible to those new to the topic. By exploring empirical methods, surveying a variety of competing...
Neuroscience of Consciousness 2026 Vikas N O'Reilly-Shah, Alessandro Maria Selvitella, Aaron Schurger
The unfolding argument in the neuroscience of consciousness posits that causal structure cannot account for consciousness because any recurrent neural network (RNN) can be "unfolded" into a functionally equivalent feedforward neural network (FNN) with identical input-output behavior. Subsequent debate has focused on dynamical properties and philosophy of science critiques. We examine a boundary...
Trends in Cognitive Sciences December 17, 2025 Liad Mudrik, Nathan Faivre, Michael Pitts et al. 5 citations
Progress in the scientific study of consciousness has been impeded by several fundamental controversies. One pertains to a major divide between theories: sensory versus cognitive. Here, we argue that the key to resolving this controversy is to reevaluate the conceptual distinction proposed by Block in 1995 between phenomenal consciousness (P) and access consciousness (A). We propose that P and...
The Behavioral and brain sciences July 22, 2025 François Stockart, Maor Schreiber, Pietro Amerio et al. 20 citations
The scope of unconscious processing has long been, and still remains, a hotly debated issue. This is driven in part by the current diversity of methods to manipulate and measure perceptual consciousness. Here, we provide ten recommendations and nine outstanding issues about designing experimental paradigms, analyzing data, and reporting the results of studies on unconscious processing. These...
Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews December 1, 2023 T. Dominik, Alfred Mele, Aaron Schurger et al.
The neuroscience of volition is an emerging subfield of the brain sciences, with hundreds of papers on the role of consciousness in action formation published each year. This makes the state-of-the-art in the discipline poorly accessible to newcomers and difficult to follow even for experts in the field. Here we provide a comprehensive summary of research in this field since its inception that...
Consciousness and Cognition February 1, 2022 Michael H Herzog, Aaron Schurger, Adrien Doerig
We recently put forward an argument, the Unfolding Argument (UA), that integrated information theory (IIT) and other causal structure theories are either already falsified or unfalsifiable, which provoked significant criticism. It seems that we and the critics agree that the main question in this debate is whether first-person experience, independent of third-person data, is a sufficient...
Neuroscience of Consciousness January 21, 2022 Aaron Schurger, M. Graziano
Abstract Consciousness is an unusual phenomenon to study scientifically. It is defined as a subjective, first-person phenomenon, and science is an objective, third-person endeavor. This misalignment between the means—science—and the end—explaining consciousness—gave rise to what has become a productive workaround: the search for ‘neural correlates of consciousness’ (NCCs). Science can sidestep...
Cognitive Neuroscience July 14, 2020 Adrien Doerig, Aaron Schurger, Michael H Herzog
ABSTRACT Consciousness is now a well-established field of empirical research. A large body of experimental results has been accumulated and is steadily growing. In parallel, many Theories of Consciousness (ToCs) have been proposed. These theories are diverse in nature, ranging from computational to neurophysiological and quantum theoretical approaches. This contrasts with other fields of...
Consciousness and Cognition July 1, 2019 Adrien Doerig, Aaron Schurger, K. Hess et al.
How can we explain consciousness? This question has become a vibrant topic of neuroscience research in recent decades. A large body of empirical results has been accumulated, and many theories have been proposed. Certain theories suggest that consciousness should be explained in terms of brain functions, such as accessing information in a global workspace, applying higher order to lower order...
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America April 21, 2015 Aaron Schurger, Ioannis Sarigiannidis, Lionel Naccache et al.
According to recent evidence, stimulus-tuned neurons in the cerebral cortex exhibit reduced variability in firing rate across trials, after the onset of a stimulus. However, in order for a reduction in variability to be directly relevant to perception and behavior, it must be realized within trial--the pattern of activity must be relatively stable. Stability is characteristic of decision states...
Neuroimage December 1, 2013 J R King, F Faugeras, A Gramfort et al.
Detecting residual consciousness in unresponsive patients is a major clinical concern and a challenge for theoretical neuroscience. To tackle this issue, we recently designed a paradigm that dissociates two electro-encephalographic (EEG) responses to auditory novelty. Whereas a local change in pitch automatically elicits a mismatch negativity (MMN), a change in global sound sequence leads to a...