Consciousness and Cognition
August 1, 2020
Jesse J Winters
A new theoretical framework called the Temporally-Integrated Causality Landscape (TICL) proposes that consciousness emerges from the functional integration of the thalamocortical system. Unlike other frameworks such as Integrated Information Theory (IIT), TICL emphasizes that conscious experiences are temporally continuous rather than discrete. It establishes a thalamocortical basis for the point-of-view, arguing that consciousness consists of contents arising from neuronal subsystems that derive meaning from their relationship to the larger integrated system. These meaningful contents emerge because subsystems exhibit a level of temporally-integrated causality distinguishable from the larger system.
Consciousness and Cognition
August 1, 2020
Adam Haar Horowitz, Tony J. Cunningham, Pattie Maes et al.
A new wearable device called Dormio automatically delivers auditory dream incubations during the hypnagogic period at sleep onset, enabling targeted information to be incorporated directly into dream content through a process termed targeted dream incubation (TDI). The protocol demonstrates that dream content can be experimentally manipulated, and the authors discuss how TDI can serve as a tool for controlled research on the role of dreams in memory consolidation. The work opens the black box of dreaming by providing a method to engineer dream content and study its relationship to overnight memory transformation.
Consciousness and Cognition
July 1, 2020
Adrienne Prettyman
Targetless thought—where a subject represents herself as being in a mental state she does not actually have—poses a challenge for higher-order theories of consciousness. Some proponents of the higher-order view argue that such cases are possible and have offered empirical evidence for them. This paper provides an alternative explanation of that evidence that does not require positing targetless thoughts. The argument shows that the empirical evidence does not distinguish between first-order and higher-order theories of consciousness, thereby undermining the empirical case for the higher-order view.
Consciousness and Cognition
May 1, 2020
Emma Chabani, Marie Charlotte Vionnet, Romy Beauté et al.
Patients with idiopathic hypersomnia more often report a night blackout—an absence of experiences or recall from sleep onset to offset—than patients with narcolepsy or healthy controls. In a questionnaire study of 133 idiopathic hypersomnia patients, 108 narcolepsy patients, and 128 controls, those with idiopathic hypersomnia and frequent night amnesia had lower dream recall, felt sleep as deeper and mind as blank, and showed a higher proportion of slow wave sleep on retrospectively collected recordings. The night blackout offers a model for studying loss of consciousness during sleep, experienced as contentless, selfless, and timeless upon awakening.
Consciousness and Cognition
February 1, 2020
Hamed Haque, Muriel Lobier, J Matias Palva et al.
Partial consciousness—where the presence but not identity of an object can be reported—and full consciousness have distinct neural signatures. Recording brain activity with magnetoencephalography during a visual task, partial consciousness was linked to an early increase in evoked activity and theta/low-alpha-band oscillations. Full consciousness additionally involved late evoked activity and beta-band oscillations. Stronger evoked activity and a late increase in theta oscillations in higher-order visual regions, posterior parietal, and prefrontal cortices dissociated full from partial consciousness. The findings indicate that both evoked activity and theta oscillations differentiate these levels of conscious perception.
Consciousness and Cognition
September 1, 2019
Daniel Pillersdorf, A. Scoboria
Chronic cannabis users show a reduced fading affect bias for unpleasant memories and less detailed recall of autobiographical events compared to non-users. The fading affect bias is a normal emotional regulation process in which the intensity of negative memories fades faster than that of positive ones. In this study, 47 cannabis users and 52 non-users recalled and rated positive and negative events and completed a memory specificity task. Cannabis users exhibited less fading of negative affect over time and lower memory specificity, suggesting cannabis use may interfere with adaptive emotional processing and memory detail.
Consciousness and Cognition
September 1, 2019
Jussi Jylkkä, Henry Railo
The standard empirical approach to consciousness assumes that scientists can only observe neural correlates of experiences, not the experiences themselves. This paper argues that experiences are concrete physical phenomena that causally interact with other phenomena, including observers, and therefore can be observed and scientifically modeled. The epistemic gap between an experience and a scientific model of its neural mechanisms stems from the fact that the model is a theoretical construct distinct from the concrete phenomenon it models—a gap that exists between any natural phenomenon and its scientific model. On this view, a neuroscientific theory of the constitutive mechanisms of an experience is literally a model of the subjective experience itself, providing a solid basis for the empirical study of consciousness.
Consciousness and Cognition
August 1, 2019
Monika Derda, Marcin Koculak, Bert Windey et al.
Electrophysiological signatures of visual awareness can be distinguished from other task-related processes by manipulating the level of processing of visual stimuli. In an EEG experiment, 36 subjects performed either color (low-level) or magnitude (high-level) evaluations of masked digits and rated their subjective visibility. Mean amplitude in the VAN component time window (140-240 ms) correlated with visibility ratings in both conditions. Mean amplitude in the LP time window (380-480 ms) correlated with visibility ratings only in the high-level condition. These results support a temporal unfolding of ERP markers of conscious processing: an early component reflects initial perceptual experience, while a late component correlates with conscious experience of non-perceptual information.
Consciousness and Cognition
August 1, 2019
Jakob Kaminski, Philipp Sterzer, A. Mishara
A schizophrenia patient who reported 'seeing rain' along with bodily sensations that isolated him from his surroundings is examined to understand how visual and multimodal hallucinations contribute to self-disturbances (Ichstörungen). Self-disturbances, as described by the early Heidelberg School, involve the self experiencing its own automatic mental processes as alien (a split-off 'doubled-I') or, in 'I-paralysis,' attributing disruptions to external omnipotent agents. These disturbances reflect an impaired ability to predict moment-to-moment experiences in the perception-action cycle. The phenomenological analysis complements computational models of psychosis based on hierarchical predictive coding. Self-disturbances appear to play an adaptive, compensatory role following the uncoupling of perception and action.
Consciousness and Cognition
July 1, 2019
Adrien Doerig, Aaron Schurger, K. Hess et al.
Theories that identify consciousness with specific causal structures in the brain, such as those requiring feedback loops, are either false or unscientific. Using theorems from computation theory, the authors demonstrate that causal structure theories—including Information Integration Theory (IIT) and Recurrent Processing Theory (RPT)—cannot be empirically tested because any causal structure can be realized by systems that lack consciousness. This undermines the claim that feedforward systems are never conscious and feedback systems always are. The argument suggests that consciousness research should focus instead on functional explanations, such as global workspace or higher-order theories, which are compatible with diverse neural implementations.
Consciousness and Cognition
April 1, 2019
Anupama Nair, David Brang
After about five minutes of visual deprivation, sounds can evoke vivid colors and geometric patterns—hallucinations resembling synesthesia—in roughly half of people without synesthesia. This suggests that synesthesia may be a latent feature in all individuals, emerging when the sensory balance is altered, rather than requiring years to develop abnormal neural connections as the cross-activation model proposes.
Consciousness and Cognition
January 1, 2019
Dominique Makowski, Marco Sperduti, Samantha Lavallée et al.
Emotional images can automatically capture attention and slow detection of subsequent targets. Dispositional mindfulness, especially the Non-reacting facet, relates to faster disengagement of attention from negative emotional stimuli. Participants viewed rapid sequences of pictures where targets were sometimes preceded by negative, neutral, or scrambled distractors. Those higher in the Non-reacting facet of mindfulness showed quicker recovery of attention after emotional distractors. This suggests mindfulness is linked to faster emotional recovery rather than a reduced initial emotional response, with potential implications for anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorders where attentional bias toward emotional stimuli is exaggerated.
Consciousness and Cognition
November 1, 2018
Tobias Schlicht
Finding the neural correlate of consciousness (NCC)—the minimal brain activity sufficient for a specific percept—faces a methodological dilemma. Conceptual decisions about how consciousness relates to attention, cognitive access, report, and other functions determine how correlation data are interpreted. Relying on subjective reports likely confounds the NCC with neural mechanisms for cognitive functions, because reports presuppose cognitive access. No-report paradigms risk confounding the NCC with neural mechanisms underlying unconscious processes. There appears to be no way to be sure that the neural correlate of conscious experience has been isolated.
Consciousness and Cognition
September 1, 2018
B. Velichkovsky, O. Krotkova, A. Kotov et al.
The brain's resting-state interactions show a general rightward and top-down bias in excitatory connections among structures from different evolutionary layers (archicortex, paleocortex, neocortex), based on fMRI data from 25 healthy subjects. The right hippocampus uniquely exerts bottom-up excitatory influence reaching the frontopolar cortex, while the right ventrolateral cortex interacts with most nodes across evolutionary subdivisions. These findings suggest multiple levels of cognitive-affective organization in the human brain with profound lateralization.
Consciousness and Cognition
August 1, 2018
Matthias Forstmann, Pascal Burgmer
Lay people's beliefs about how minds relate to bodies are more complex than previously recognized, forming a multidimensional construct rather than a single dimension. Items once used to measure a unidimensional belief actually capture two distinct constructs: belief in substance dualism and reductive physicalism. These two constructs differently predict belief in free will and two types of determinism across two studies. Additionally, two fundamental personality traits—preference for experiential versus rational information processing—predict those metaphysical beliefs theorized to be based on subjective phenomenological experience and rational deliberation, respectively. Beliefs about mind-body relations thus have unique predictive abilities beyond a simple one-dimensional view.
Consciousness and Cognition
August 1, 2018
Gregory S. Sparrow, Ryan Hurd, Ralph Carlson et al.
A pre-sleep protocol combining the drug galantamine with middle-of-the-night meditation and imaginary reliving of a distressing dream while practicing new responses increased lucidity and constructive actions in dreams. Thirty-five participants completed eight nights comparing six conditions, including Wake-Back-to-Bed alone, with placebo, or with galantamine, and meditation and dream reliving alone, with placebo, or with galantamine. Self-ratings showed that the protocol enhanced reflectiveness, interactive behavior, role change, and reduced fear and threat. The findings support further study of this approach for lucid dream induction and nightmare or trauma resolution.
Consciousness and Cognition
July 10, 2018
Amirali Shirazibeheshti, J. Cooke, S. Chennu et al.
A multi-level oddball task reveals that local and global prediction-error responses interact, challenging the view that the global effect reflects a distinct processing mode beyond predictive coding. Sedation modulates this interaction, suggesting conscious awareness may not be confined solely to the global processing level.
Consciousness and Cognition
July 1, 2018
Marisa Przyrembel, Tania Singer
Micro-phenomenological interviews reveal distinct affective, bodily, and sensorial signatures for three meditation practices. Breathing meditation transcripts contain the most body-related vocabulary, especially sensations in the nose and abdomen. Observing-thought meditation transcripts contain the most cognition-related vocabulary and are experienced in the head and face. Loving-kindness meditation transcripts contain the most vocabulary related to socio-affective processes and are associated with love, sensations around the heart, and warmth. These findings were replicated with an independent set of interviews, supporting micro-phenomenological interviews as a reliable tool for gathering first-person data beyond questionnaires or rating scales.
Consciousness and Cognition
July 1, 2018
Thurston Lacalli
Gene expression studies have identified in amphioxus a brain region homologous to the combined caudal diencephalon and midbrain of vertebrates, areas involved in locomotory control and some forms of primary consciousness. Electron-microscope reconstructions of the larval amphioxus brain show that inputs for light and physical contact converge on the same synaptic zone. This neural circuitry offers a basis for understanding the evolution of locomotory control and arousal in vertebrates. The findings suggest that one early task of midbrain-based consciousness in vertebrates was to distinguish light from physical contact—likely sharp pain—by assigning different qualia to each. Further study of midbrain circuitry may clarify the neural basis of certain sensory experiences.
Consciousness and Cognition
July 1, 2018
Melanie G. Rosen
A pluralist approach to dream content argues that dreams vary along a spectrum from bizarre and incoherent to wake-like and mundane, rather than being exclusively one or the other. Theorists disagree on defining dreams as primarily bizarre or convincing simulations partly because rating scales can over- or underestimate bizarreness depending on their variables and interpretation of contextual factors. Double-blind analysis of dream reports is considered the most accurate method, but only the dreamer can judge whether an event would be bizarre in their own life; dreamers may find elements bizarre after waking that seemed normal during the dream. Some dreams are too bizarre or incoherent to report accurately, while others are indistinguishable from waking life.
Consciousness and Cognition
May 1, 2018
Caroline Curwen
Music-colour synaesthesia, the experience of seeing colours when hearing music, may not be fully explained by the traditional theories of hyperconnectivity or disinhibited feedback that treat it as a purely perceptual phenomenon. A review of eight neuroimaging studies indicates that these explanations cannot be directly applied to music-colour synaesthesia. The concept of 'ideaesthesia' and the role of conceptual and semantic triggers challenge the idea of a single underlying mechanism, arguing against a purely sensory-to-sensory explanation. This form of synaesthesia also poses challenges for established philosophical theories, and its position is considered within the broader context of musical qualia.
Consciousness and Cognition
February 1, 2018
Elaine Van Rijn, Alexander M Reid, Christopher L Edwards et al.
Daydreams more often incorporate major concerns from the previous two days than from earlier days, supporting a role for daydreams in processing current personal issues. However, personally significant events do not show this day-residue effect in daydreams, and there is no delayed incorporation from 5 to 7 days earlier, unlike what has been found for REM dreams. The study also failed to replicate the previously observed dream-lag effect for REM dreams, possibly due to methodological differences.
Consciousness and Cognition
November 1, 2017
Edgar Altszyler, Sidarta Ribeiro, Mariano Sigman et al.
Word-embedding techniques, which quantify word associations in text, can identify patterns in dream reports even when the dataset is small. Latent Semantic Analysis (LSA) outperformed Skip-gram in extracting semantic associations from small corpora in two tests. LSA captured relevant word associations in dream collections, including cases with low-frequency words or few dreams. This approach offers a complementary method to traditional frequency-based dream content analysis and opens new avenues for dream interpretation and decoding.
Consciousness and Cognition
October 1, 2017
Johan Eriksson
Integration is often considered essential for generating conscious experiences, so brain activity linked to consciousness should increase when integration demands rise. Using fMRI and informational masking, researchers compared hearing simple repeating tones versus harmonic tone triplets to manipulate integration. The neural correlates of auditory consciousness included the superior temporal gyrus, lateral and medial frontal regions, cerebellum, and parietal cortex. Only left parietal cortex activity increased significantly with greater integration demands. Integration accounts for part of the neural activity underlying conscious experiences, but much of the associated brain activity likely reflects other processes.
Consciousness and Cognition
October 1, 2017
Marek Binder, Krzysztof Gociewicz, Bert Windey et al.
Transitions from unconscious to conscious perception may be more gradual for low-level visual features and more dichotomous for high-level features. In an fMRI study using backward masking, participants reported a target digit's magnitude (high-level) or its color (low-level) and rated visibility. Intermediate visibility was reported more often in the low-level task, supporting the levels-of-processing hypothesis. Visible targets activated insulo-fronto-parietal regions in both tasks, while visual areas showed higher activity in the low-level task across all visibility levels. The findings suggest that attentional modulation of feature-representing brain regions mediates how processing level shapes conscious perception.