bioRxiv
May 5, 2026
Aleksandra Lipińska, Kinga Ciupińska, Renate Rutiku
preprint
Visual working memory (vWM) is often linked to conscious experience and visual imagery, but it is typically described as a system that stores separate, independent items. These assumptions are difficult to reconcile, given the unified nature of conscious experience. Here, we test the hypothesis that vWM relies on at least two distinct representations: an underlying, unconscious memory trace and...
bioRxiv
May 21, 2025
Mariana Pereira, Paola Galdi, Ting Mei et al.
preprint
Dreaming represents a complex and universal aspect of human sleep, yet it remains an intriguing phenomenon, with the neural mechanisms underlying dream experiences and their frequency not fully understood. This study employs a multimodal neuroimaging approach, integrating quantitative multi-parameter mapping, diffusion tensor imaging, and resting-state functional MRI, to investigate the neural...
bioRxiv
July 3, 2024
Mariana Pereira, Noëlle Terpstra, Renate Rutiku et al.
preprint
Study Objectives: Nightmares are linked to daytime distress and psychiatric and neurological disorders. However, knowledge about the brain regions involved in nightmare production is sparse. This study aimed to examine the relationship between nightmare frequency and the functional connectivity of the amygdala with the prefrontal cortex, which is central to emotional regulation. Additionally,...
Neuroscience of Consciousness
April 12, 2021
Zuzanna Skóra, Simon Hviid Del Pin, Monika Derda et al.
Michel (The mismeasure of consciousness: a problem of coordination for the perceptual awareness scale. Philos Sci 2019;86:1239-49) claims that the Perceptual Awareness Scale (PAS) faces the problem of coordination (also known as validity). We argue that his claim holds only under certain theoretical assumptions which need to be made explicit as these are likely not in line with the PAS...
Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience
August 30, 2019
Jaan Aru, Mototaka Suzuki, Renate Rutiku et al.
One fundamental feature of consciousness is that the contents of consciousness depend on the state of consciousness. Here, we propose an answer to why this is so: both the state and the contents of consciousness depend on the activity of cortical layer 5 pyramidal (L5p) neurons. These neurons affect both cortical and thalamic processing, hence coupling the cortico-cortical and thalamo-cortical...
Consciousness and Cognition
September 1, 2017
Renate Rutiku, Talis Bachmann
Electroencephalographic (EEG) potentials have remained a valuable source of data and theories concerning neural correlates of consciousness (NCC). The EEG based methods are far from being exhausted and are continually valuable in the quest for the markers of NCC. To set the background for the research presented in this issue, we review the published work on EEG-based markers of NCC. The article...
Neuroscience of Consciousness
2016
Jaan Aru, Renate Rutiku, Michael Wibral et al.
Constructive theories of brain function such as predictive coding posit that prior knowledge affects our experience of the world quickly and directly. However, it is yet unknown how swiftly prior knowledge impacts the neural processes giving rise to conscious experience. Here we used an experimental paradigm where prior knowledge augmented perception and measured the timing of this effect with...
Consciousness and Cognition
September 2015
Mihkel Stamm, Jaan Aru, Renate Rutiku et al.
Neural correlates of conscious vs unconscious states can be studied by contrasting EEG markers of brain activity between those two states. Here, a task-free experimental setup was used to study the state dependent effects of occipital transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). EEG responses to single and paired pulse TMS with an inter-stimulus-interval (ISI) of 100 ms were investigated under...
Neuroscience
July 9, 2015
Renate Rutiku, M Martin, Talis Bachmann et al.
A common scientific strategy toward understanding consciousness is to study neural correlates of consciousness (NCC) for a particular conscious percept. This can be done by contrasting conditions in which subjects are aware and unaware of a particular visual stimulus. However, recent findings have been contradictory and this approach appears not to reveal only the NCC, but also the...