The Neural Correlates of Consciousness
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences March 1, 2008 DOI: 10.1196/annals.1440.004 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Review Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Keywords | Consciousness Cognitive science Cognitive psychology Neural activity Cognition Perception |
| Citations | 615 |
| Key findings | Recent advances in studying brain correlates of consciousness reveal roles for specific brain regions and dynamic neural processes, with theoretical analysis complementing neurobiological findings. |
Abstract
This review examines recent advances in the study of brain correlates of consciousness. First, we briefly discuss some useful distinctions between consciousness and other brain functions. We then examine what has been learned by studying global changes in the level of consciousness, such as sleep, anesthesia, and seizures. Next we consider some of the most common paradigms used to study the neural correlates for specific conscious percepts and examine what recent findings say about the role of different brain regions in giving rise to consciousness for that percept. Then we discuss dynamic aspects of neural activity, such as sustained versus phasic activity, feedforward versus reentrant activity, and the role of neural synchronization. Finally, we briefly consider how a theoretical analysis of the fundamental properties of consciousness can usefully complement neurobiological studies.