The DOI matches its Crossref record; 128 of the 128 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
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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“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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“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
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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
Cites
The precuneus: a review of its functional anatomy and behavioural correlates
Cavanna, A. E., & Trimble, M. R. (2006) · Brain · doi:10.1093/brain/awl004 · Cited by 5,128
Brain stem reticular formation and activation of the EEG
Moruzzi, G., & Magoun, H. W. (1949) · Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology · doi:10.1016/0013-4694(49)90219-9 · Cited by 4,307
EPILEPSY AND THE FUNCTIONAL ANATOMY OF THE HUMAN BRAIN
Penfield, W., & Jasper, H. (1954) · Southern Medical Journal · doi:10.1097/00007611-195407000-00024 · Cited by 4,092
Large-scale automated synthesis of human functional neuroimaging data.
Yarkoni, T., Poldrack, R. A., Nichols, T. E., Van Essen, D. C., & Wager, T. D. (2011) · Nature Methods · doi:10.1038/nmeth.1635 · Cited by 3,686 · cited 1×
“org) (Yarkoni et al., 2011) combines an automated tool to extract activation coordinates with a taxonomy of cognitive processes that includes a few entries for consciousness.”
MethodExperimental and theoretical approaches to conscious processing
Dehaene, S., & Changeux, J.-P. (2011) · Neuron · doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2011.03.018 · Cited by 2,573
Can cognitive processes be inferred from neuroimaging data?
POLDRACK, R. (2006) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2005.12.004 · Cited by 2,249
Integrated information theory: from consciousness to its physical substrate
Tononi, G., Boly, M., Massimini, M., & Koch, C. (2016) · Nature Reviews Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nrn.2016.44 · Cited by 1,727
Self-citation(1990) · CaltechAUTHORS (California Institute of Technology) · Cited by 1,661
Neural correlates of consciousness: progress and problems
Koch, C., Massimini, M., Boly, M., & Tononi, G. (2016) · Nature Reviews Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nrn.2016.22 · Cited by 1,600
Self-citationDamage to the prefrontal cortex increases utilitarian moral judgements
Koenigs, M., Young, L., Adolphs, R., Tranel, D., Cushman, F., Hauser, M., & Damasio, A. (2007) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature05631 · Cited by 1,545
Research works printed but not linked: 1
- 10.1038/nn.4545 · DOI · Paper page
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Conscious Processing and the Global Neuronal Workspace Hypothesis
Mashour, G. A., Roelfsema, P., Changeux, J.-P., & Dehaene, S. (2020) · Neuron · doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2020.01.026 · Cited by 1,164
Seth, A. K., & Bayne, T. (2022) · Nature Reviews Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/s41583-022-00587-4 · Cited by 880
Therapeutic interventions in patients with prolonged disorders of consciousness
Thibaut, A., Schiff, N. D., Giacino, J. T., Laureys, S., & Gosseries, O. (2019) · The Lancet Neurology · doi:10.1016/s1474-4422(19)30031-6 · Cited by 433
Albantakis, L., Barbosa, L., Findlay, G., Grasso, M., Haun, A. M., Marshall, W., Mayner, W. G. P., Zaeemzadeh, A., Boly, M., Juel, B. E., et al. (2023) · PLoS Computational Biology · doi:10.1371/journal.pcbi.1011465 · Cited by 292
“In the brain, many portions of posterior cortex appear to constitute similarly organized lattices of specialized units, which makes the posterior cortex and similarly organized areas a plausible candidate for the substrate of human consciousness [7, 14,61,62].”
Self-citationTowards a comprehensive understanding of anesthetic mechanisms of action: a decade of discovery
Hemmings, H. C., Riegelhaupt, P. M., Kelz, M. B., Solt, K., Eckenhoff, R. G., Orser, B. A., & Goldstein, P. A. (2019) · Trends in Pharmacological Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tips.2019.05.001 · Cited by 244
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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