Consciousness depends on integration between parietal cortex, striatum, and thalamus.

ABSTRACT: The neural substrates of consciousness remain elusive. Competing theories that attempt to explain consciousness disagree on the contribution of frontal versus posterior cortex and omit subcortical influences. This lack of understanding impedes the ability to monitor consciousness, which can lead to adverse clinical consequences. To test substrates and measures of consciousness, we recorded simultaneously from frontal cortex, parietal cortex, and subcortical structures, the striatum and thalamus, in awake, sleeping, and anesthetized macaques. We manipulated consciousness on a finer scale using thalamic stimulation, rousing macaques from continuously administered anesthesia. Our results show that, unlike measures targeting complexity, a measure additionally capturing neural integration (Φ

SUBMITTER: Afrasiabi M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8084606 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature