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Cited by 262Neural dynamics and brain functionPhilosophy and Theoretical ScienceFunctional Brain Connectivity Studies

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 209 of the 209 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

The neurophysics of consciousness

John, E.Roy·2002·Brain Research Reviews
DOI 10.1016/s0165-0173(02)00142-x
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Abstract

Consciousness combines information about attributes of the present multimodal sensory environment with relevant elements of the past. Information from each modality is continuously fractionated into distinct features, processed locally by different brain regions relatively specialized for extracting these disparate components and globally by interactions among these regions. Information is represented by levels of synchronization within neuronal populations and of coherence among multiple brain regions that deviate from random fluctuations. Significant deviations constitute local and global negative entropy, or information. Local field potentials reflect the degree of synchronization among the neurons of the local ensembles. Large-scale integration, or 'binding', is proposed to involve oscillations of local field potentials that play an important role in facilitating synchronization and coherence, assessed by neuronal coincidence detectors, and parsed into perceptual frames by cortico-thalamo-cortical loops. The most probable baseline levels of local synchrony, coherent interactions among brain regions, and frame durations have been quantitatively described in large studies of their age-appropriate normative distributions and are considered as an approximation to a conscious 'ground state'. The level of consciousness during anesthesia can be accurately predicted by the magnitude and direction of reversible multivariate deviations from this ground state. An invariant set of changes takes place during anesthesia, independent of the particular anesthetic agent. Evidence from a variety of neuroscience areas supporting these propositions, together with the invariant reversible electrophysiological changes observed with loss and return of consciousness, are used to provide a foundation for this theory of consciousness. This paper illustrates the increasingly recognized need to consider global as well as local processes in the search for better explanations of how the brain accomplishes the transformation from synchronous and distributed neuronal discharges to seamless global subjective awareness.

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Citations

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Research works printed but not linked: 14

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Metadata

Authors
John, E. R.
Affiliations
Nathan Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research (US)
Corresponding author
John, E.Roy
Venue
Brain Research Reviews
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2002-06
Volume
39
Issue
1
Pages
1-28
ISSN
0165-0173 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1016/s0165-0173(02)00142-x
OpenAlex
W2139300351
Cited by
262
References
209
Citations by year
2026: 7 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 11 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 9 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 7 · 2016: 11 · 2015: 9 · 2014: 10 · 2013: 19 · 2012: 12
FWCI
1.20
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
www.elsevier.com/tdm/userlicense/1.0/ (tdm)
Locations
  • Brain Research Reviews (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural dynamics and brain function
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Philosophy › Philosophy and Theoretical Science
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Functional Brain Connectivity Studies
Keywords
consciousness, neuronal synchronization, local field potentials, negentropy, binding problem, anesthesia, global coherence, theory of consciousness
MeSH terms
Brain, Consciousness, Electroencephalography, Electrophysiology, Genes, Humans, Models, Neurological, Oscillometry, Perception, Quantum Theory

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