期刊
FRONTIERS IN SYSTEMS NEUROSCIENCE
卷 13, 期 -, 页码 -出版社
FRONTIERS MEDIA SA
DOI: 10.3389/fnsys.2019.00043
关键词
consciousness; thalamus; pyramidal neurons; dendrites; unconscious processing; state of consciousness
资金
- Estonian Ministry of Education and Research (Eesti Teadusagentuur) [IUT20-40, PUT1476]
- European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Grant [799411]
- German Research Foundation [EXC 257]
- European Union Horizon 2020 research and innovation program [670118]
- European Union Euratom research and training program 2014-2018 [670118]
- European Union [720270]
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft [LA 3442/3-1, LA 3442/5-1]
- European Research Council (ERC) [670118] Funding Source: European Research Council (ERC)
One fundamental feature of consciousness is that the contents of consciousness depend on the state of consciousness. Here, we propose an answer to why this is so: both the state and the contents of consciousness depend on the activity of cortical layer 5 pyramidal (L5p) neurons. These neurons affect both cortical and thalamic processing, hence coupling the cortico-cortical and thalamo-cortical loops with each other. Functionally this coupling corresponds to the coupling between the state and the contents of consciousness. Together the cortico-cortical and thalamocortical loops form a thalamo-cortical broadcasting system, where the L5p cells are the central elements. This perspective makes one quite specific prediction: cortical processing that does not include L5p neurons will be unconscious. More generally, the present perspective suggests that L5p neurons have a central role in the mechanisms underlying consciousness.
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