TY - JOUR
T1 - Consciousness in humans and non-human animals
T2 - Recent advances and future directions
AU - Boly, Melanie
AU - Seth, Anil K.
AU - Wilke, Melanie
AU - Ingmundson, Paul
AU - Baars, Bernard
AU - Laureys, Steven
AU - Edelman, David B.
AU - Tsuchiya, Naotsugu
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2013 Boly, Seth, Wilke, Ingmundson, Baars, Laureys, Edelman and Tsuchiya.
Copyright:
Copyright 2018 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2013
Y1 - 2013
N2 - This joint article reflects the authors' personal views regarding noteworthy advances in the neuroscience of consciousness in the last 10 years, and suggests what we feel may be promising future directions. It is based on a small conference at the Samoset Resort in Rockport, Maine, USA, in July of 2012, organized by the Mind Science Foundation of San Antonio, Texas. Here, we summarize recent advances in our understanding of subjectivity in humans and other animals, including empirical, applied, technical, and conceptual insights. These include the evidence for the importance of fronto-parietal connectivity and of "top-down" processes, both of which enable information to travel across distant cortical areas effectively, as well as numerous dissociations between consciousness and cognitive functions, such as attention, in humans. In addition, we describe the development of mental imagery paradigms, which made it possible to identify covert awareness in non-responsive subjects. Non-human animal consciousness research has also witnessed substantial advances on the specific role of cortical areas and higher order thalamus for consciousness, thanks to important technological enhancements. In addition, much progress has been made in the understanding of non-vertebrate cognition relevant to possible conscious states. Finally, major advances have been made in theories of consciousness, and also in their comparison with the available evidence. Along with reviewing these findings, each author suggests future avenues for research in their field of investigation.
AB - This joint article reflects the authors' personal views regarding noteworthy advances in the neuroscience of consciousness in the last 10 years, and suggests what we feel may be promising future directions. It is based on a small conference at the Samoset Resort in Rockport, Maine, USA, in July of 2012, organized by the Mind Science Foundation of San Antonio, Texas. Here, we summarize recent advances in our understanding of subjectivity in humans and other animals, including empirical, applied, technical, and conceptual insights. These include the evidence for the importance of fronto-parietal connectivity and of "top-down" processes, both of which enable information to travel across distant cortical areas effectively, as well as numerous dissociations between consciousness and cognitive functions, such as attention, in humans. In addition, we describe the development of mental imagery paradigms, which made it possible to identify covert awareness in non-responsive subjects. Non-human animal consciousness research has also witnessed substantial advances on the specific role of cortical areas and higher order thalamus for consciousness, thanks to important technological enhancements. In addition, much progress has been made in the understanding of non-vertebrate cognition relevant to possible conscious states. Finally, major advances have been made in theories of consciousness, and also in their comparison with the available evidence. Along with reviewing these findings, each author suggests future avenues for research in their field of investigation.
KW - Animals
KW - Biotechnology
KW - Consciousness
KW - Human cognition
KW - Neuroimaging
KW - Theoretical neuroscience
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U2 - 10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00625
DO - 10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00625
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:84888785300
VL - 4
SP - 1
EP - 20
JO - Frontiers in Psychology
JF - Frontiers in Psychology
SN - 1664-1078
IS - OCT
M1 - 625
ER -