Are There Islands of Awareness?
Tim Bayne, Anil K. Seth, Marcello Massimini
Trends in Neurosciences December 10, 2019 DOI: 10.1016/j.tins.2019.11.003 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Keywords | Cognitive psychology Communication |
| Citations | 146 |
| Key points | Argues that consciousness may occur in 'islands of awareness'—states causally isolated from sensory input and motor output—and proposes ex cranio brains, hemispherotomy, and cerebral organoids as candidate conditions in which such islands might arise. The authors contend that detecting these states raises ethical questions and challenges assumptions about the nature of consciousness. |
Abstract
Ordinary human experience is embedded in a web of causal relations that link the brain to the body and the wider environment. However, there might be conditions in which brain activity supports consciousness even when that activity is fully causally isolated from the body and its environment. Such cases would involve what we call islands of awareness: conscious states that are neither shaped by sensory input nor able to be expressed by motor output. This Opinion paper considers conditions in which such islands might occur, including ex cranio brains, hemispherotomy, and in cerebral organoids. We examine possible methods for detecting islands of awareness, and consider their implications for ethics and for the nature of consciousness.
Citations in the library
Cited by 48
- Theories of consciousness. Nature Reviews Neuroscience July 1, 2022
- Consciousness and complexity: a consilience of evidence Neuroscience of Consciousness 2021
- Predictive processing as a systematic basis for identifying the neural correlates of consciousness Philosophy and the Mind Sciences December 30, 2020
- A synergistic workspace for human consciousness revealed by Integrated Information Decomposition. Elife July 18, 2024
- Are we really unconscious in "unconscious" states? Common assumptions revisited. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 2022
and 43 more in the library
Cites 21
- Detecting Awareness in the Vegetative State Science September 7, 2006
- A Theoretically Based Index of Consciousness Independent of Sensory Processing and Behavior Science Translational Medicine August 14, 2013
- Human consciousness is supported by dynamic complex patterns of brain signal coordination Science Advances February 1, 2019
- Taming the Ketamine Tiger Anesthesiology August 6, 2010
- Stratification of unresponsive patients by an independently validated index of brain complexity Annals of Neurology September 22, 2016
and 16 more in the library