European Journal of Neuroscience
May 1, 2025
Wolf Singer
2 citations
Several areas of cognitive neuroscience tackle traditional philosophical questions. Among the range of problems, two closely related issues will be addressed in more detail from both neurobiological and philosophical perspectives: the relationship between mind and matter and the nature of perception. Neuropsychological and neurophysiological studies are reviewed that examine the connection...
Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience
October 25, 2019
Wolf Singer
Following a brief review of current efforts to identify the neuronal correlates of conscious processing (NCCP) an attempt is made to bridge the gap between the material neuronal processes and the immaterial dimensions of subjective experience. It is argued that this “hard problem” of consciousness research cannot be solved by only considering the neuronal underpinnings of cognition. The...
Brain
August 1, 2018
Tineke Grent-'t-Jong, Davide Rivolta, Joachim Gross et al.
Hypofunction of the N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) has been implicated as a possible mechanism underlying cognitive deficits and aberrant neuronal dynamics in schizophrenia. To test this hypothesis, we first administered a sub-anaesthetic dose of S-ketamine (0.006 mg/kg/min) or saline in a single-blind crossover design in 14 participants while magnetoencephalographic data were recorded...
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...
Advances in Consciousness Research
June 17, 2015
Jaan Aru, Talis Bachmann, Wolf Singer et al.
It has been proposed that one key step for solving the mystery of consciousness is to locate the neural correlates of consciousness (NCC). The experimental paradigms for revealing the NCC have commonly applied the contrast between conditions with and without conscious perception. However, such contrast does not exclusively reveal the neural processes directly related to conscious experience of...
Journal of Neuroscience
October 24, 2012
Jaan Aru, Nikolai Axmacher, Anne T A Do Lam et al.
Which neural processes underlie our conscious experience? One theoretical view argues that the neural correlates of consciousness (NCC) reside in local activity in sensory cortices. Accordingly, local category-specific gamma band responses in visual cortex correlate with conscious perception. However, as most studies manipulated conscious perception by altering the amount of sensory evidence,...
Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews
December 17, 2011
Jaan Aru, Talis Bachmann, Wolf Singer et al.
612 citations
Solving the problem of consciousness remains one of the biggest challenges in modern science. One key step towards understanding consciousness is to empirically narrow down neural processes associated with the subjective experience of a particular content. To unravel these neural correlates of consciousness (NCC) a common scientific strategy is to compare perceptual conditions in which...
Journal of Neuroscience
January 26, 2011
Lucia Melloni, Caspar M Schwiedrzik, Notger G Müller et al.
Previous experience allows the brain to predict what comes next. How these expectations affect conscious experience is poorly understood. In particular, it is unknown whether and when expectations interact with sensory evidence in granting access to conscious perception, and how this is reflected electrophysiologically. Here, we parametrically manipulate sensory evidence and expectations while...