Neural correlates of consciousness
Florian Mormann, Christof Koch
Scholarpedia 2007 DOI: 10.4249/scholarpedia.1740 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Review Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Keywords | Consciousness Cognitive psychology Cognitive science Cognition |
| Citations | 154 |
| Key findings | The article reviews empirical approaches to understanding the neural basis of consciousness and summarizes current knowledge. |
Abstract
Consciousness is a puzzling, state-dependent property of certain types of complex, biological, adaptive, and highly interconnected systems. A science of consciousness must strive to explain the exact relationship between phenomenal, mental states and brain states. This is the heart of the classical mind-body problem: What is the nature of the relationship between the immaterial, conscious mind and its physical basis in the electrochemical interactions in the body? Brain scientists are exploiting a number of empirical approaches to shed light on the neural basis of consciousness. This article reviews these approaches and summarizes what has been learnt.