Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
August 17, 2006
Ron Kupers, Arnaud Fumal, Alain Maertens De Noordhout et al.
After loss of a particular sensory channel, the deprived cortex can be activated by inputs from other sensory modalities. It is not known whether activation of the rewired cortex evokes subjective experiences characteristic of that cortex or consistent with the rerouted sensory information. In a previous study, blind subjects were trained to perform visual tasks with a tongue display unit, a...
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
March 27, 2006
Marie L Smith, Frédéric Gosselin, Philippe G Schyns
Transient periods of synchronized oscillating neuronal discharges in the brain have been proposed to support the discrete perceptual moments underlying conscious visual experience. However, the information content of these perceptual moments remains a critical challenge to the understanding of consciousness. We uncovered this information content in four observers who consciously perceived each...
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
February 3, 2004
Attila Losonczy, Agota A Biró, Zoltan Nusser
Cortical information processing requires an orchestrated interaction between a large number of pyramidal cells and albeit fewer, but highly diverse GABAergic interneurons (INs). The diversity of INs is thought to reflect functional and structural specializations evolved to control distinct network operations. Consequently, specific cortical functions may be selectively modified by altering the...
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
July 31, 2001
Benjamin F Cravatt, K Demarest, M P Patricelli et al.
The medicinal properties of marijuana have been recognized for centuries, but clinical and societal acceptance of this drug of abuse as a potential therapeutic agent remains fiercely debated. An attractive alternative to marijuana-based therapeutics would be to target the molecular pathways that mediate the effects of this drug. To date, these neural signaling pathways have been shown to...
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
April 1, 1999
Derek Denton, Robert Shade, F Zamarippa et al.
There are defined hypothalamic functions in the genesis of thirst, but little is known of the cortical processes subserving consciousness of thirst notwithstanding the medical disorders that occur in psychiatric illness, addiction, and the attested decline of thirst with aging. In 10 adult males, positron emission tomography scans were made (i) during genesis of moderate thirst by infusion of...