The DOI matches its Crossref record; 54 of the 54 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Returning from Oblivion: Imaging the Neural Core of Consciousness
Open accessAbstract
One of the greatest challenges of modern neuroscience is to discover the neural mechanisms of consciousness and to explain how they produce the conscious state. We sought the underlying neural substrate of human consciousness by manipulating the level of consciousness in volunteers with anesthetic agents and visualizing the resultant changes in brain activity using regional cerebral blood flow imaging with positron emission tomography. Study design and methodology were chosen to dissociate the state-related changes in consciousness from the effects of the anesthetic drugs. We found the emergence of consciousness, as assessed with a motor response to a spoken command, to be associated with the activation of a core network involving subcortical and limbic regions that become functionally coupled with parts of frontal and inferior parietal cortices upon awakening from unconsciousness. The neural core of consciousness thus involves forebrain arousal acting to link motor intentions originating in posterior sensory integration regions with motor action control arising in more anterior brain regions. These findings reveal the clearest picture yet of the minimal neural correlates required for a conscious state to emerge.
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“the thalamus has also been found to be activated during both spontaneous [133] and pharmacologically induced [134] emergence from anesthesia.”
From The Biology of General Anesthesia from Paramecium to Primate (2019) · cites this paper as [133]
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Experimental 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
An information integration theory of consciousness
Tononi, G. (2004) · BMC Neuroscience · doi:10.1186/1471-2202-5-42 · Cited by 1,958 · cited 3×
“…(Schiff and Plum, 2000; Lydic and Baghdoyan, 2005) and the contents of consciousness (Baars et al., 2003) likely arises from the interactions between cortical and subcortical mechanisms working through specific network connectivity within the brain (Baars, 1995; Tononi, 2004; Xie et al., 2011).”
BackgroundPrimate anterior cingulate cortex: Where motor control, drive and cognition interface
Paus, T. (2001) · Nature Reviews Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/35077500 · Cited by 1,722
Breakdown of cortical effective connectivity during sleep
Massimini, M., Ferrarelli, F., Huber, R., Esser, S. K., Singh, H., & Tononi, G. (2005) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1117256 · Cited by 1,534
Crick, F., & Koch, C. (2003) · Nature Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nn0203-119 · Cited by 1,492
General Anesthesia, Sleep, and Coma
Brown, E. N., Lydic, R., & Schiff, N. D. (2010) · New England Journal of Medicine · doi:10.1056/nejmra0808281 · Cited by 1,413
General anaesthesia: from molecular targets to neuronal pathways of sleep and arousal
Franks, N. P. (2008) · Nature Reviews Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nrn2372 · Cited by 1,295
Alkire, M. T., Hudetz, A. G., & Tononi, G. (2008) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1149213 · Cited by 1,245
Self-citationPHARMACOKINETIC MODEL DRIVEN INFUSION OF PROPOFOL IN CHILDREN
Marsh, B., White, M., Morton, N. S., & Kenny, G. N. C. (1991) · British Journal of Anaesthesia · doi:10.1093/bja/67.1.41 · Cited by 1,168
Towards a true neural stance on consciousness
Lamme, V. A. F. (2006) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2006.09.001 · Cited by 1,149 · cited 1×
“Whereas theories on the particular contents of consciousness, such as visual consciousness, argue for the importance of cortical structures (Lamme, 2006), theories focusing on consciousness as a state stress the importance of subcortical (Baars, 1995; Fuller et al., 2011) or thalamocortical…”
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Items 201–205 of 205
Vedanta as a Foundation Model of Mind Learning Patterns: An IntroductionPreprint
JARALI, S. S. (2024) · doi:10.31234/osf.io/47sdk
Dahaba, A. A. (2025) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-88260-9_3
Anaesthesia and PET of the Brain
Absalom, A. R., & Adapa, R. (2014) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-642-54307-4_48
Berger, J. I., Banks, M. I., Dappen, E. R., Górska, U., Mueller, R. N., Kawasaki, H., Amlong, C. A., Boly, M., Lake, W. B., Shew, W. L., et al. (2026) · bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · doi:10.64898/2026.05.22.727285
Ajay, A., Dogra, N., & Aggarwal, A. (2026) · Journal of Anaesthesiology Clinical Pharmacology · doi:10.4103/joacp.joacp_44_26
Metadata
- Authors
- Långsjö, J. W., Alkire, M. T., Kaskinoro, K., Hayama, H., Maksimow, A., Kaisti, K. K., Aalto, S., Aantaa, R., Jääskeläinen, S. K., Revonsuo, A., & Scheinin, H.
- Affiliations
- University of Turku (FI)
- University of California, Irvine (US)
- Corresponding author
- Scheinin, Harry
- Venue
- The Journal of Neuroscience
- Publisher
- Society for Neuroscience
- Published
- 2012-04-04
- Volume
- 32
- Issue
- 14
- Pages
- 4935-4943
- ISSN
- 0270-6474 (ISSN-L)
- 1529-2401
- PMC
- PMC6620928
- OpenAlex
- W2107508491
- Cited by
- 205
- References
- 54
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 13 · 2020: 12 · 2019: 20 · 2018: 19 · 2017: 14 · 2016: 14 · 2015: 19 · 2014: 32 · 2013: 21 · 2012: 9
- FWCI
- 34.72
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Journal of Neuroscience (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- KTH Publication Database DiVA (KTH Royal Institute of Technology) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Funders
- Suomen Lääketieteen Säätiö
- Academy of Finland (8111818)
- Turun Yliopistollinen Keskussairaala (13323)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Philosophy › Philosophy and Theoretical Science
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Functional Brain Connectivity Studies
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural dynamics and brain function
- Keywords
- neural correlates of consciousness, anesthetic-induced unconsciousness, regional cerebral blood flow, emergence of consciousness, inferior parietal cortex, frontal cortex, arousal, motor response, sensory integration
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Anesthesia, General, Brain, Brain Mapping, Consciousness, Frontal Lobe, Humans, Male, Nerve Net, Neurons, Parietal Lobe, Wakefulness, Young Adult
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