19 papers in the library · 699 citations · publishing 1995-2023
February 7, 2023 Jaan Aru, Talis Bachmann, Mototaka Suzuki et al. 7 citations preprint
This primer aims to provide a concise description of the Dendritic Integration Theory (DIT) of consciousness. We consider the motivation for DIT, the evidence for it, and how it fits with other theories of consciousness.
Consciousness and Cognition February 1, 2023 Talis Bachmann, Jaan Aru
Progress in the science of consciousness depends on the experimental paradigms and varieties of contrastive analysis available to researchers. Here we highlight paradigms where the object is represented in consciousness as a set of its features but the interpretation of this set alternates in consciousness. We group experimental paradigms with this property under the label "conscious...
Neuroscience of Consciousness 2021 Tomáš Marvan, Michal Polák, Talis Bachmann et al.
We present a theoretical view of the cellular foundations for network-level processes involved in producing our conscious experience. Inputs to apical synapses in layer 1 of a large subset of neocortical cells are summed at an integration zone near the top of their apical trunk. These inputs come from diverse sources and provide a context within which the transmission of information abstracted...
Neuroscience of Consciousness 2021 Talis Bachmann
Theories of consciousness using neurobiological data or being influenced by these data have been focused either on states of consciousness or contents of consciousness. These theories have occasionally used evidence from psychophysical phenomena where conscious experience is a dependent experimental variable. However, systematic catalog of many such relevant phenomena has not been offered in...
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...
Frontiers in Neural Circuits 2018 William A Phillips, Talis Bachmann, Johan F. Storm
It has been argued that general anesthetics suppress the level of consciousness, or the contents of consciousness, or both. The distinction between level and content is important because, in addition to clarifying the mechanisms of anesthesia, it may help clarify the neural bases of consciousness. We assess these arguments in the light of evidence that both the level and the content of...
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...
Consciousness and Cognition August 1, 2017 Jaan Aru, Talis Bachmann 42 citations
Conscious experience is modulated by attention and expectation, yet is believed to be independent of attention. The experiments on iconic memory (IM) are usually taken as support for this claim. However, a recent experiment demonstrated that when attention is diverted away from the IM letter display subjects fail to see the absence of IM letters. Here we contribute to the ongoing debate by...
Frontiers in Psychology February 2, 2017 Jaan Aru, Talis Bachmann
Mental information processing includes both unconscious and conscious modes and there are transitions between these two. The content of subjective experience can emerge from preconscious content, but an opposite process of loss of conscious content or its decay from subjective experience is an inevitable reality as well. Both ways of transition on the border between unconscious and conscious...
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...
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...
Frontiers in Psychology 2015 Talis Bachmann
Perceptual phenomena such as spatio-temporal illusions and masking are typically explained by psychological (cognitive) processing theories or large-scale neural theories involving inter-areal connectivity and neural circuits comprising of hundreds or more interconnected single cells. Subcellular mechanisms are hardly used for such purpose. Here, a mechanistic theoretical view is presented on...
Consciousness and Cognition March 2013 Toomas Kirt, Talis Bachmann
We introduce a new version of the perceptual retouch model. This model was used for explaining properties of temporal interaction of successive objects in reaching conscious representation. The new model incorporates two interactive binding operations - binding features for objects and binding the bound feature-objects with a large scale oscillatory system that corresponds to perceptual...
Frontiers in Psychology March 21, 2012 Talis Bachmann
Recently, a welcome trend has emerged - in addition to the traditional studies on contents and states of consciousness, levels of consciousness have become a matter of research. However, there are some conceptual and methodological difficulties with this research - the labels used for empirical measurement of levels are ambiguous and underspecified while the research on neural correlates of...
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...
Frontiers in Psychology 2011 Talis Bachmann 35 citations
Equivalence of attention and consciousness is disputed and necessity of attentional effects for conscious experience has become questioned. However, the conceptual landscape and interpretations of empirical evidence as related to this issue have remained controversial. Here I present some conceptual distinctions and research strategies potentially useful for moving forward when tackling this...
Neuroscience Letters February 6, 2009 Jaan Aru, Talis Bachmann
Boost up gamma-band neuronal oscillations have been interpreted as a correlate of pertinent stimulus awareness. The validity of this observation-based conclusion can be rigorously tested if the basic methodological rule of investigating neural correlates of consciousness (NCC) is followed: the varying contents of consciousness should be contrasted with invariant stimulation. We asked whether...
Behavioral and Brain Sciences June 1, 1995 Talis Bachmann 3 citations
Abstract Additional experiments show that P-consciousness and A consciousness can be empirically dissociated for the theoretically so phisticated observer. Phenomenal consciousness can have several degrees that are indirectly measurable.