Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Afrasiabi, Mohsen
• Redinbaugh, Michelle J.
• Phillips, Jessica M.
• Kambi, Niranjan A.
• Mohanta, Sounak
• Raz, Aeyal
• Haun, Andrew M.
• Saalmann, Yuri B.

Titel

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

Ist Teil von

• Cell systems, 2021-04, Vol.12 (4), p.363-373.e11

Ort / Verlag

United States: Elsevier Inc

Erscheinungsjahr

2021

Quelle

Free E-Journal (出版社公開部分のみ）

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• 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∗) robustly correlated with changes in consciousness. Machine learning approaches show parietal cortex, striatum, and thalamus contributed more than frontal cortex to decoding differences in consciousness. These findings highlight the importance of integration between parietal and subcortical structures and challenge a key role for frontal cortex in consciousness. [Display omitted] •Measures of integration, not just complexity, best detect changes in consciousness•Parietal/subcortical areas contribute more than frontal to decoding consciousness•Integration of parietal and subcortical areas is a hallmark of conscious states•Integration of frontal and subcortical areas occurs during unconscious states Consciousness theories diverge over whether the front or back of the brain is vital for consciousness, and theories tend to ignore deep brain regions. Using neural activity in these different regions and a computational approach, Afrasiabi et al. show that complex interactions between posterior parietal and deep brain areas are crucial for supporting consciousness. Posterior parietal and deep brain areas consistently signal the difference between wakefulness, sleep, and anesthesia and can even signal small changes in consciousness induced by deep brain stimulation.