The Neural Basis of Consciousness and Self-Consciousness

A special issue of Brain Sciences (ISSN 2076-3425). This special issue belongs to the section "Neurotechnology and Neuroimaging".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2021) | Viewed by 2805

Special Issue Editors

Physiology of Cognition, GIGA Consciousness Research Unit, GIGA Institute, University of Liège, Belgium
Interests: consciousness, brain connectivity, embodiment, self-subjectivity, neuroimaging
Northeastern University Biomedical Imaging Center (NUBIC), Northeastern University Interdisciplinary Science & Engineering Complex (ISEC), USA
Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Brain-Mind Institute, Station 15, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland

Special Issue Information

Consciousness is the subjective experience of us living in the world. The study of human consciousness has traditionally occupied philosophers and scholars throughout the centuries. For the past 30 years, though, neurotechnologies have kept giving us the chance to trace and map the neural underpinnings of this experience of ourselves. Based on this research, what do we currently know about the minimum prerequisites of our brain function which is linked to conscious experience? Can there be consciousness without a self? What is the role of the body? Does the rest of the world contribute to it and how? This issue is dedicated to the neuroscientific quest of human consciousness and subjectivity as realized by brain–body–environmental interactions. We therefore welcome novel research findings from cognitive, clinical, computational, and social neuroscience which will enrich our understanding of how the human brain is able to support the profound experience of being someone.  

Dr. Athena Demertzi
Prof. Dr. Susan Whitfield-Gabrieli
Prof. Dr. Bigna Lenggenhager
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • consciousness
  • subjectivity
  • brain connectivity
  • bodily self-consciousness
  • neuroimaging
  • electrophysiology
  • brain stimulation

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

18 pages, 4161 KiB  
Article
Increase in Low-Frequency Oscillations in fNIRS as Cerebral Response to Auditory Stimulation with Familiar Music
by Giulio Bicciato, Emanuela Keller, Martin Wolf, Giovanna Brandi, Sven Schulthess, Susanne Gabriele Friedl, Jan Folkard Willms and Gagan Narula
Brain Sci. 2022, 12(1), 42; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci12010042 - 29 Dec 2021
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2274
Abstract
Recognition of typical patterns of brain response to external stimuli using near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) may become a gateway to detecting covert consciousness in clinically unresponsive patients. This is the first fNIRS study on the cortical hemodynamic response to favorite music using a frequency [...] Read more.
Recognition of typical patterns of brain response to external stimuli using near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) may become a gateway to detecting covert consciousness in clinically unresponsive patients. This is the first fNIRS study on the cortical hemodynamic response to favorite music using a frequency domain approach. The aim of this study was to identify a possible marker of cognitive response in healthy subjects by investigating variations in the oscillatory signal of fNIRS in the spectral regions of low-frequency (LFO) and very-low-frequency oscillations (VLFO). The experiment consisted of two periods of exposure to preferred music, preceded and followed by a resting phase. Spectral power in the LFO region increased in all the subjects after the first exposure to music and decreased again in the subsequent resting phase. After the second music exposure, the increase in LFO spectral power was less distinct. Changes in LFO spectral power were more after first music exposure and the repetition-related habituation effect strongly suggest a cerebral origin of the fNIRS signal. Recognition of typical patterns of brain response to specific environmental stimulation is a required step for the concrete validation of a fNIRS-based diagnostic tool. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Neural Basis of Consciousness and Self-Consciousness)
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