Cerebral Cortex
December 15, 2011
Tim Gard, Britta K. Hölzel, Alexander T. Sack et al.
275 citations
Pain can be modulated by mindfulness, but the underlying brain mechanisms differ from those of other cognitive techniques. Mindfulness practitioners reduced pain unpleasantness by 22% and anticipatory anxiety by 29% during a mindful state, while controls did not. In the brain, this reduction was associated with decreased activation in the lateral prefrontal cortex and increased activation in the right posterior insula during stimulation, and increased rostral anterior cingulate cortex activation during pain anticipation. These findings indicate a unique mechanism of pain modulation involving increased sensory processing and decreased cognitive control, contrasting with established mechanisms.
Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews
June 5, 2011
Tom A. de Graaf, Po‐jang Hsieh, Alexander T. Sack
273 citations
The concept of 'consciousness' in the search for neural correlates of consciousness (NCC) is problematic, and the term 'correlates' is also confused. Brain events that covary with conscious experience can be neural substrates of the experience, but they can also be neural prerequisites or neural consequences. This work disentangles these different sorts of brain processes conceptually and proposes a concrete multi-pronged research program to distinguish them empirically in near-future consciousness research.
Frontiers in Psychology
June 30, 2016
Marasha De Jong, Sara W. Lazar, Kiran Hug et al.
200 citations
Chronic pain and depression are linked to reduced body awareness. Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) increased certain aspects of body awareness—specifically self-regulation and not distracting from bodily sensations—more than treatment as usual in 31 patients with chronic pain and active depression. The improvement in depression severity was partly explained by the increased ability to not distract from bodily sensations. These results offer preliminary support for the idea that mindfulness interventions can enhance body awareness in this population and highlight its clinical importance.
Frontiers in Psychiatry
January 1, 2021
Georgios Mikellides, Panayiota Michael, Lilia Psalta et al.
17 citations
Both intramuscular ketamine and repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) effectively reduced depressive and anxiety symptoms in patients with treatment-resistant depression. In a naturalistic clinical setting, 24 patients received either eight sessions of ketamine or 30 sessions of left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex intermittent theta-burst stimulation. Both groups showed significant improvement from pre- to post-treatment on three clinical assessments, with no significant differences between the therapies in symptom reduction, remission, or response rates, indicating they were equally effective in this limited sample.
Frontiers in Psychology
January 1, 2017
Stefano Gallotto, Alexander T. Sack, Teresa Schuhmann et al.
Conscious experiences are linked to brain activity, known as the neural correlates of consciousness (NCC). This review focuses on spontaneous brain oscillations—rhythmic fluctuations of neuronal activity characterized by frequency, amplitude, and phase. It surveys oscillatory measures that correlate with conscious perception and discusses techniques like entrainment for studying their causal role. Findings suggest that alpha-band activity (7-13 Hz) may index or causally support conscious perception. However, results highlight a challenge in NCC research: separating neural activity that is a prerequisite for consciousness from the substrate or consequences of conscious experience.
Advances in Consciousness Research
June 17, 2015
Tom A. de Graaf, Alexander T. Sack
Neural correlates of consciousness (NCCs) include three distinct components: neural substrates that directly represent conscious experience, neural prerequisites that must occur before an experience, and neural consequences that follow it. In standard correlative studies, these three types are indistinguishable. A multi-pronged research approach could help separate them. The authors integrate their ideas with other recent work on NCC components and propose strategies to address the empirical-epistemological challenges posed by the problem of three NCCs. They conclude that while the problem is important and difficult, it is not destructive, and the NCC research program still has much to contribute.
Brain Sciences
November 27, 2012
Christianne Jacobs, Alexander T. Sack
Subliminal priming—behavioral changes caused by an unseen stimulus—is a form of unconscious visual processing. Theories of recurrent processing propose that consciousness arises from non-hierarchical feedback loops in the brain, while unconscious subliminal priming relies on the initial feedforward sweep of visual information. Evidence increasingly supports the necessity of recurrent connectivity for visual awareness, though whether global or local recurrence is required remains unclear. Recurrent processing alone is not sufficient for consciousness. The neural correlates of subliminal priming deserve more attention because understanding them can explain why people exhibit certain behaviors, even without awareness.