Journal
CONSCIOUSNESS AND COGNITION
Volume 20, Issue 2, Pages 257-268Publisher
ACADEMIC PRESS INC ELSEVIER SCIENCE
DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2010.08.003
Keywords
Consciousness; Specific and nonspecific thalamocortical; functional connectivity; Information and integration; Resting-state functional magnetic; resonance imaging (fMRI); Vegetative state (VS)
Categories
Funding
- NIA NIH HHS [R01 AG020279-08, R01 AG020279, R01 AG020279-07, AG20279] Funding Source: Medline
- NIGMS NIH HHS [R01 GM056398] Funding Source: Medline
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Recent theoretical advances describing consciousness from information and integration have highlighted the unique role of the thalamocortical system in leading to integrated information and thus, consciousness. Here, we examined the differential distributions of specific and nonspecific thalamocortical functional connections using resting-state fMRI in a group of healthy subjects and vegetative-state patients. We found that both thalamic systems were widely distributed, but they exhibited different patterns. Nonspecific connections were preferentially associated with brain regions involved in higher-order cognitive processing, self-awareness and introspective mentalizing (e.g., the dorsal prefrontal and anterior cingulate cortices). In contrast, specific connections were prevalent in the ventral and posterior part of the prefrontal and precuneus, known involved in representing externally-directed attentions. Significant reductions of functional connectivity in both systems, especially the nonspecific system, were observed in VS. These data suggest that brain networks sustaining information and integration may be differentiated by the nature of their thalamic functional connectivity. (C) 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available