Posterior and anterior cortex—where is the difference that makes the difference?
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A substrate of maximum phi is hypothesized to reside primarily in the posterior cerebral cortex, including parietal, occipital and lateral temporal lobes, referred to as the posterior hot zone.
“Based on theoretical and neuroanatomical considerations, a substrate of maximum ϕ is hypothesized to reside primarily [although possibly not exclusively; 30] in the posterior cerebral cortex, characterized by ‘pyramid-of-grids’-like connectivity. These regions, including the parietal, occipital and lateral temporal lobes, are referred to as the posterior “hot zone” [30].”
From An adversarial collaboration protocol for testing contrasting predictions of global neuronal workspace and integrated information theory (2023) · cites this paper as [30]
In the main text (page unavailable), the paper calls the posterior ‘hot zone’ the likely substrate of many aspects of phenomenal experience and describes a physical substrate of consciousness as a maximum of intrinsic cause–effect power. It does not explicitly locate that maximum in the posterior cortex or specify parietal, occipital and lateral temporal lobes or ‘pyramid-of-grids’ connectivity. It also cautions that the hot zone is not necessarily the full neural correlate of consciousness. (LLM, conf=0.84)
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- Authors
- Koch, C., Massimini, M., Boly, M., & Tononi, G.
- Affiliations
- University of Milan (IT)
- University of Wisconsin–Madison (US)
- Corresponding author
- Tononi, Giulio
- Venue
- Nature Reviews Neuroscience
- Published
- 2016-07-28
- Volume
- 17
- Issue
- 10
- Pages
- 666-666
- ISSN
- 1471-003X (ISSN-L)
- 1471-0048
- OpenAlex
- W2485538883
- Cited by
- 68
- References
- 9
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 14 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 5
- FWCI
- 6.17
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Nature reviews. Neuroscience (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- INFM-OAR (INFN Catania) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Philosophy and Theoretical Science
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural dynamics and brain function
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Functional Brain Connectivity Studies
- Keywords
- neural correlates of consciousness, integrated information theory, posterior cortex, anterior cortex, consciousness, brain regions
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