Neuron, Cell Press's prestigious neuroscience journal, is publishing a special issue on consciousness research on May 15, 2024. The collection of reviews, commentaries, and interviews reflect the progress made in understanding consciousness and the potential for further advancements in how it's studied. The articles highlight both the topic's complexity and its ethical implications, such as detecting consciousness in patients under anesthesia or in a coma, as well as in non-human animals, infants, and artificial systems.
"While this special issue can only showcase some of the fascinating areas of consciousness research, we hope that it inspires reflection, new ideas, experimental paradigms, and collaborative scrutiny," says Neuron Editor-in-Chief Mariela Zirlinger. "We agree that much progress has been made over the past few decades and that the future looks bright for resolving some of the mysteries surrounding the neuroscience of consciousness."
Included in the Neuron special issue:
An integrative, multiscale view on neural theories of consciousness (perspective)
https://www.cell.com/neuron/fulltext/S0896-6273(24)00088-6 (online)
This perspective by Johan Storm (@jfs_johan) of the University of Oslo and colleagues explores the connections between how we experience consciousness and the processes physically occurring in the brain. The authors discuss five prominent and seemingly contradictory theories of consciousnessand show instead how they can be reconciled and used to address different aspects of consciousness.
Consciousness and sleep (review)
https://www.cell.com/neuron/abstract/S0896-6273(24)00272-1 (online)
Neuroscientists Giulio Tononi, Melanie Boly (@melanieboly), and Chiara Cirelli from the University of Wisconsin-Madison show that by comparing what is happening in the brain during dreamless and dreaming sleep, we can understand why consciousness disappears but returns during dreams, when the brain is disconnected from its environment.
Anesthesia and the neurobiology of consciousness (review)
https://www.cell.com/neuron/abstract/S0896-6273(24)00156-9 (online)
George Mashour, an anesthesiologist and neuroscientist at the University of Michigan Medical School, reviews anesthesia's role as a tool for studying consciousness and traces its history back to its first introduction in the 19th century. Mashour describes various aspects of the interface between anesthesia and consciousness, including sleep-wake mechanisms, sensory processing, and emergence from anesthesia.
Toward an interventional science of recovery after coma (review)
Weill Cornell Medicine neuroscientist Nicholas Schiff presents recent developments in the recovery of consciousness after coma and the promise of using different technologies for potential treatment options. He discusses a range of interventions, such as revealing hidden cognitive reserves in individuals in a coma, and the circuits necessary to restore responsiveness and communication, with a goal of offering personalized solutions.
An integrative view of the role of prefrontal cortex in consciousness (review)
Neuroscientist Theofanis Panagiotaropoulos (@fanispa) discusses the role of the prefrontal cortex in consciousness and notes the observation of neural activity corresponding to conscious experiences in the prefrontal cortex as well as experiments showing the role of the prefrontal cortex in controlling the levels of consciousness during anesthesia.
Thalamic contributions to consciousness (review)
Christopher Whyte (@chrisjackwhyte) of The University of Sydney and colleagues review the influence of the thalamus, known to relay information between the senses and the rest of the body, on not only the state but also the content of consciousness. The authors argue that the thalamus, which acts in concert with the prefrontal cortex, doesn't just work in the background but shapes the neural landscape and contributes to the continuous nature of experience.
Taking consciousness for real: Increasing ecological validity in the study of conscious vs. unconscious processes (perspective)
https://www.cell.com/neuron/fulltext/S0896-6273(24)00238-1 (online)
Tel Aviv University psychologists and neuroscientists Liad Mudrik (@Liad_Mudrik), Rony Hirschhorn, and Uri Korisky (@urikorisky) advocate for introducing more "real-life" experiments into the lab to facilitate the generalization of findings. They highlight the potential of artificial intelligence and virtual reality for the exploration of consciousness as well as the limitations of these tools.
Can we detect consciousness in newborn infants? (NeuroView)
Claudia Maria Passos Ferreira (@cpassosf) of New York University's Center for Bioethics tackles the topic of newborn consciousness by reviewing behavioral and neuroimaging studies in newborns. Although experimental paradigms and verbal reports are limited in infants, she argues that newborn infants are indeed conscious.
Interviews with Stanislas Dahaene and Christof Koch (Q&As)
Two pioneers of modern theories of consciousness, Stanislas Dehaene (@StanDehaene) of the Collège de France and Christof Koch of the Allen Institute, share their opinions on the current state of the consciousness field, past developments, and potential future directions.
