Characterizing Consciousness: From Cognition to the Clinic? PDF
Preview Characterizing Consciousness: From Cognition to the Clinic?
Research and Perspectives in Neurosciences For furthervolumes: http://www.springer.com/series/2357 . Stanislas Dehaene Yves Christen l Editors Characterizing Consciousness: From Cognition to the Clinic? Editors StanislasDehaene,PhD YvesChristen,PhD ProfessoratColle`gedeFrance FondationIPSENpourla INSERM-CEA RechercheTherapeutique CognitiveNeuroimagingUnit 65quaiGeorgeGorse 91191GifsurYvette 92650BoulogneBillancourtCedex France France [email protected] [email protected] ISSN0945-6082 ISBN978-3-642-18014-9 e-ISBN978-3-642-18015-6 DOI10.1007/978-3-642-18015-6 SpringerHeidelbergDordrechtLondonNewYork LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2011929691 # Springer-VerlagBerlinHeidelberg2011 Thisworkissubjecttocopyright.Allrightsarereserved,whetherthewholeorpartofthematerialis concerned,specificallytherightsoftranslation,reprinting,reuseofillustrations,recitation,broadcasting, reproductiononmicrofilmorinanyotherway,andstorageindatabanks.Duplicationofthispublication orpartsthereofispermittedonlyundertheprovisionsoftheGermanCopyrightLawofSeptember9, 1965,initscurrentversion,andpermissionforusemustalwaysbeobtainedfromSpringer.Violations areliabletoprosecutionundertheGermanCopyrightLaw. Theuseofgeneraldescriptivenames,registerednames,trademarks,etc.inthispublicationdoesnotimply, evenintheabsenceofaspecificstatement,thatsuchnamesareexemptfromtherelevantprotective lawsandregulationsandthereforefreeforgeneraluse. Coverdesign:WMXDesignGmbH,Heidelberg,Germany Printedonacid-freepaper SpringerispartofSpringerScience+BusinessMedia(www.springer.com) Introduction: Recent Advances in Consciousness Research Consciousnesswaslongconsideredasthe“holygrail”ofcognitivepsychologyand neuroscience:avagueanduncertaingoal,soremoteastoseemalmostentirelyout ofreach.Today,however,theperspectivehaschanged.Characterizingthecompu- tational architecture and neurobiological mechanisms underlying consciousness remains a major unsolved problem in cognitive neuroscience, but it has become anareaofintenseresearch.Thankstonewadvancesinstimulationparadigms,brain imaging techniques, and neuronal theorizing, the issue now appears to be empiri- cally addressable. Yet a major challenge still confronts these novel empirical and theoreticalproposals:willtheybeabletohelpcliniciansconfrontedwithpatientsin comaorvegetativestate?Cantheyhelpdefinenoveldiagnosticoreventherapeutic tools? In the present book, which is the outcome of a Fondation Ipsen meeting held in Paris on May 3rd 2010, 13 renowned neuroscientists and clinicians examine whetherconsciousnessresearchisripeforapplications,fromcognitiontotheclinic. Thediversityofempiricalresearchisimpressive,andthetheoreticalconvergenceis quickly growing. At the cognitive level, paradigms such as backward masking, binocular rivalry or change blindness, together with quantitative probing of the subject’sintrospectivestateofmind,arehelpingunderstandtheextentofsublimi- nal processing and the point where conscious processing starts. Brain imaging techniques,combinedwithnovelanalysistoolssuchasthenewmethodknownas multi-voxel pattern analysis, provides a window into the underlying brain state. A coordinated state of synchronized activity, emerging relatively late after the stimulus was presented and involving cardinal nodes in ‘associative’ cortical areas including prefrontal and parietal cortices, is frequently associated with con- scious-level perception. Similar long-distance networks emerge spontaneously in the awake resting state, although whether they are necessarily associated with conscious experience remains debated. Many of these results appear compatible with the theoryofa global neuronalworkspace, which proposesthatadistributed set of neurons with long-distance axons are involved in the global information broadcastingunderlyingreportabilityandwhatisexperiencedasaconsciousstate. Most novel perhaps is the possibility to study consciousness in non-human primates. The ability of global networks to enhance their communication through phasesynchronizationisincreasinglyunderstoodattheelectrophysiologicallevel. v vi Introduction:RecentAdvancesinConsciousnessResearch Furthermore, new paradigms now ask whether animals possess meta-cognitive abilities, such as a self-monitoring of their competence in a task, and electrophy- siologistsnowexaminetheunderlyingneuronalnetworks. Turningtoclinicalapplications,brainimagingintherestingstateorincarefully crafted stimulation paradigms holds the potential to address three questions of central importance: Is a given patient conscious? Will he ever recover conscious- ness?Andwhatwillbehiscognitivestateifhedoes?Brainstimulationparadigms, whether cortical or in deep-brain nuclei, can alter the state of consciousness and mayimprovecommunicationinsome‘minimallyconscious’patients. In summary, consciousness research appears to be on the verge of concrete clinical applications. We hope that the present book will serve as an up-to-date surveyofthisexcitingfield. GifsurYvette,France StanislasDehaene Boulogne-Billancourt,France YvesChristen Acknowledgments TheeditorswishtothankSoniaLeCornecfortheorganizationofthemeetingand MaryLynnGagefortheeditingofthebook. vii . Contents MissingLinksintheEvolutionofLanguage ................................. 1 H.S.Terrace ConsciousnessasaDecisiontoEngage ...................................... 27 MichaelN.ShadlenandRoozbehKiani ThinkingAboutBrainandConsciousness .................................. 47 AntonioDamasio TheGlobalNeuronalWorkspaceModelofConsciousAccess: FromNeuronalArchitecturestoClinicalApplications .................... 55 StanislasDehaene,Jean-PierreChangeux,andLionelNaccache DisordersofConsciousness:WhatDoWeKnow? ......................... 85 CamilleChatelle,StevenLaureys,andCarolineSchnakers WhenThoughtsBecomeActions:ImagingDisorders ofConsciousness ............................................................... 99 AdrianM.Owen RhythmicNeuronalSynchronizationSubservesSelective AttentionalProcessing ...................................................... 109 ThiloWomelsdorfandPascalFries StudyingConsciousnessUsingDirectRecordingfromSingleNeurons intheHumanBrain ......................................................... 133 MoranCerfandMichaelMackay IntrinsicActivityandConsciousness ...................................... 147 MarcusE.Raichle BeyondLibet:Long-TermPredictionofFreeChoices fromNeuroimagingSignals ................................................ 161 John-DylanHaynes ix
The list of books you might like
