A recent research finds the brain's network cores that have robust
bidirectional connectivity.
The location of consciousness in the brain may be becoming more clear to
science. A recent research demonstrates the significance of certain brain
connections in defining consciousness.
Jun Kitazono, a corresponding author and project researcher in the
Department of General Systems Studies at the University of Tokyo, directed
the study, which was published in Cerebral Cortex.
The study's corresponding author and leader of the lab that conducted the
research, Associate Professor Masafumi Oizumi, stated that "where in the
brain consciousness lives has been one of the largest puzzles in science."
Even if we haven't come to a definitive conclusion, there is a lot of
empirical data that has been gathered in the process of looking for the
brain correlates of consciousness or the bare minimum processes required for
conscious experience.
With this research, the scientists made a first step in pinpointing the
brain regions that are bare-bones enough to allow conscious
experience.
The researchers searched for a particular characteristic of consciousness
inside the neural networks of the brain: bidirectional pathways, in order to
pinpoint the regions of the brain where awareness dwells. Our brains process
information when we see something or feel a sense. This is referred to as a
feed-forward signal, although being aware of such signals alone does not
constitute awareness. Additionally, our brains must provide feedback, or
information that is sent back. Not all brain regions are capable of
receiving feed-forward information and providing feedback in return. These
connections in both directions, according to researchers, are a crucial
characteristic of the regions of the brain involved in awareness.
"For participants to consciously perceive stimuli, feed-forward processing
is inadequate; feedback is also required, demonstrating the necessity for
bidirectional processing. The feedback component vanishes not only when
particular conscious contents are lost in awake states, but also in
unconscious states like general anesthesia, sleep, and vegetative states,
when conscious experiences are often lost "Kitazono added. He also added
that the bidirectionality of processing is crucial whether you are looking
at a person, a monkey, a mouse, a bird, or a fly.
To test this hypothesis, researchers employed computational methods and a
mouse connectome. The connections in the brain are shown in great detail in
a connectome. They first created an effective method to extract the
complexes, or regions of the brain with strong bidirectional connections.
The mouse connectome was then subjected to the algorithm.
The retrieved complexes with the greatest degree of bidirectionality,
according to Kitazono's research, are concentrated in the cortical and
thalamic regions rather than being distributed equally throughout all main
brain areas. "On the other hand, there is little bidirectionality in the
other main locations. Particularly, there is substantially less
bidirectionality in the cerebellum."
These findings support the location in the brain where scientists have long
hypothesized consciousness to dwell. The cerebral cortex, which is found on
the outside of the brain, has sensory, motor, and association regions that
are considered to be crucial for experiencing consciousness. The thalamus,
which is situated in the center of the brain, has also been linked to
consciousness. In particular, the thalamo-cortical loop, which is the
connection between the thalamus and cortical areas, is regarded to be
crucial for consciousness. These findings lend credence to the notion that
locating the location of consciousness requires understanding the brain
network's bidirectionality.
Researchers stressed that they are still trying to pinpoint where awareness
is located.
"Only "static" anatomical connections between neurons or brain regions are
the subject of this investigation. However, awareness is "dynamic," shifting
based on neuronal activity from one moment to the next ""Oizumi" remarked.
We need to actively analyze the dynamics of neuronal activity to determine
the location of awareness at any particular time, even though physical
connections explain how neural activity would spread and how different brain
regions would interact.
He stated that as a subsequent step, the group is now reviewing
activity-based networks of the brain in various kinds of neural
recordings.
Finding the mathematical connection between awareness and the brain is the
ultimate objective of our work, according to Oizumi. "In this study, we
tried to link the location of awareness to the network features of the
brain. In order to achieve our ultimate objective, we will continue to
research the connection between consciousness and the brain."
Story Source:
Materials provided by University of Tokyo. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
