Coherence in consciousness: paralimbic gamma synchrony of self-reference links conscious experiences
Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
Standard
Coherence in consciousness: paralimbic gamma synchrony of self-reference links conscious experiences. / Lou, Hans C; Gross, Joachim; Biermann-Ruben, Katja; Kjaer, Troels W; Schnitzler, Alfons.
In: Human Brain Mapping, Vol. 31, No. 2, 2010, p. 185-92.Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
Harvard
APA
Vancouver
Author
Bibtex
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
T1 - Coherence in consciousness: paralimbic gamma synchrony of self-reference links conscious experiences
AU - Lou, Hans C
AU - Gross, Joachim
AU - Biermann-Ruben, Katja
AU - Kjaer, Troels W
AU - Schnitzler, Alfons
N1 - Keywords: Analysis of Variance; Brain; Consciousness; Cortical Synchronization; Humans; Magnetoencephalography; Models, Neurological; Neural Pathways; Neuropsychological Tests; Perception; Periodicity; Self Concept; Time Factors
PY - 2010
Y1 - 2010
N2 - A coherent and meaningful percept of the world is essential for human nature. Consequently, much speculation has focused on how this is achieved in the brain. It is thought that all conscious experiences have reference to the self. Self-reference may either be minimal or extended, i.e., autonoetic. In minimal self-reference subjective experiences are self-aware in the weak sense that there is something it feels like for the subject to experience something. In autonoetic consciousness, consciousness emerges, by definition, by retrieval of memories of personally experienced events (episodic memory). It has been shown with transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) that a medial paralimbic circuitry is critical for self-reference. This circuitry includes anterior cingulate/medial prefrontal and posterior cingulate/medial parietal cortices, connected directly and via thalamus. We here hypothesized that interaction in the circuitry may bind conscious experiences with widely different degrees of self-reference through synchrony of high frequency oscillations as a common neural event. This hypothesis was confirmed with magneto-encephalography (MEG). The observed coupling between the neural events in conscious experience may explain the sense of unity of consciousness and the severe symptoms associated with paralimbic dysfunction.
AB - A coherent and meaningful percept of the world is essential for human nature. Consequently, much speculation has focused on how this is achieved in the brain. It is thought that all conscious experiences have reference to the self. Self-reference may either be minimal or extended, i.e., autonoetic. In minimal self-reference subjective experiences are self-aware in the weak sense that there is something it feels like for the subject to experience something. In autonoetic consciousness, consciousness emerges, by definition, by retrieval of memories of personally experienced events (episodic memory). It has been shown with transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) that a medial paralimbic circuitry is critical for self-reference. This circuitry includes anterior cingulate/medial prefrontal and posterior cingulate/medial parietal cortices, connected directly and via thalamus. We here hypothesized that interaction in the circuitry may bind conscious experiences with widely different degrees of self-reference through synchrony of high frequency oscillations as a common neural event. This hypothesis was confirmed with magneto-encephalography (MEG). The observed coupling between the neural events in conscious experience may explain the sense of unity of consciousness and the severe symptoms associated with paralimbic dysfunction.
U2 - 10.1002/hbm.20855
DO - 10.1002/hbm.20855
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 19621368
VL - 31
SP - 185
EP - 192
JO - Human Brain Mapping
JF - Human Brain Mapping
SN - 1065-9471
IS - 2
ER -
ID: 19977985