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Are the Neural Correlates of Consciousness in the Front or in the Back of the Cerebral Cortex? Clinical and Neuroimaging Evidence
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Abstract
The role of the frontal cortex in consciousness remains a matter of debate. In this Perspective, we will critically review the clinical and neuroimaging evidence for the involvement of the front versus the back of the cortex in specifying conscious contents and discuss promising research avenues. Dual Perspectives Companion Paper: Should a Few Null Findings Falsify Prefrontal Theories of Conscious Perception?, by Brian Odegaard, Robert T. Knight, and Hakwan Lau
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“In the brain, a large part of the cerebral cortex, especially its posterior regions, is organized as a dense, divergent-convergent hierarchical 3D lattice of specialized units, which makes it a plausible candidate for the substrate of human consciousness [4, 11, 51, 52].”
From Integrated information theory (IIT) 4.0: Formulating the properties of phenomenal existence in physical terms (2023) · cites this paper as [51]
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe source backs part of the claim, not all of it — or backs it for a different population, condition or comparison.
In the citing paper
“In the brain, a large part of the cerebral cortex, especially its posterior regions, is organized as a dense, divergent-convergent hierarchical 3D lattice of specialized units, which makes it a plausible candidate for the substrate of human consciousness [4, 11, 51, 52].”
From Integrated information theory (IIT) 4.0: Formulating the properties of phenomenal existence in physical terms (2023) · cites this paper as [51]
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe source backs part of the claim, not all of it — or backs it for a different population, condition or comparison.
In the citing paper
“IIT holds that a maximal F value will be reached primarily in posterior cortex (''hot zone'') 78,95 when dense reentrant interactions occur between higher and lower visual areas.7”
From An integrative, multiscale view on neural theories of consciousness (2024) · cites this paper as [78]
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe source backs part of the claim, not all of it — or backs it for a different population, condition or comparison.
In the citing paper
“With respect to the neural substrates of consciousness, IIT identifies a “posterior hot zone” (Boly et al., 2017), which has been stipulated to represent a maximum of phi in the brain (Boly et al., 2017), and potentially also a source of spatial phenomenology, due to its organization as a hierarchy of 2D grids (Haun and Tononi, 2019).”
From An Integrated World Modeling Theory (IWMT) of Consciousness (2020) · cites this paper as Boly et al., 2017
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In the citing paper
“Whether or not the PFC plays an essential role in consciousness therefore remains intensely debated, and current methods in human neuroscience, which are almost exclusively correlational in nature, seem unable to resolve the controversy (Boly et al., 2017;Odegaard et al., 2017).”
From Does the Prefrontal Cortex Play an Essential Role in Consciousness? Insights from Intracranial Electrical Stimulation of the Human Brain (2021) · cites this paper as Boly et al., 2017
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In the citing paper
“the GNW is not a localizationist theory of conscious access, nor is conscious access posited to exist solely in a given node of the GNW”
From Conscious Processing and the Global Neuronal Workspace Hypothesis (2020) · cites this paper as Boly et al., 2017
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe check wasn’t confident either way, so it gives no verdict — never disputed.
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“the degree of bistability can be estimated by the features of sleep slow waves126–128.”
From Consciousness and sleep (2024) · cites this paper as [128]
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Citations
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Metadata
- Authors
- Boly, M., Massimini, M., Tsuchiya, N., Postle, B. R., Koch, C., & Tononi, G.
- Affiliations
- University of Milan (IT)
- Monash University (AU)
- University of Wisconsin–Madison (US)
- Corresponding author
- Tononi, Giulio
- Venue
- The Journal of Neuroscience
- Publisher
- Society for Neuroscience
- Published
- 2017-10-04
- Volume
- 37
- Issue
- 40
- Pages
- 9603-9613
- ISSN
- 0270-6474 (ISSN-L)
- 1529-2401
- PMC
- PMC5628406
- OpenAlex
- W2952447148
- Cited by
- 557
- References
- 127
- Citations by year
- 2026: 36 · 2025: 60 · 2024: 80 · 2023: 75 · 2022: 61 · 2021: 67 · 2020: 78 · 2019: 61 · 2018: 33 · 2017: 6
- FWCI
- 7.69
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Journal of Neuroscience (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) (acceptedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Archivio Istituzionale della Ricerca (Universita Degli Studi Di Milano) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Funders
- Tiny Blue Dot Foundation
- Templeton World Charity Foundation
- National Institutes of Health (H2020, MH095984)
- Horizon 2020 Framework Programme (686764, -2014-2015, H2020-FETOPEN-2014-2015- RIA)
- National Institute of Mental Health (R01MH064498, R01MH095984)
- National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (R03NS096379)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Philosophy › Philosophy and Theoretical Science
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Visual perception and processing mechanisms
- Keywords
- neural correlates of consciousness, frontal cortex, posterior cortex, prefrontal cortex, conscious perception, visual awareness
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Brain Mapping, Cerebral Cortex, Consciousness, Humans, Nerve Net, Neuroimaging
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