Generality and content-specificity in the study of the neural correlates of perceptual consciousness

Tomáš Marvan; Michal Polák

doi:10.33735/phimisci.2020.ii.61

Generality and content-specificity in the study of the neural correlates of perceptual consciousness

Philosophy and the Mind Sciences ◽

10.33735/phimisci.2020.ii.61 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 1 (II) ◽

Author(s):

Tomáš Marvan ◽

Michal Polák

Keyword(s):

Neural Correlates ◽

Perceptual Consciousness ◽

Neural Substrate ◽

Content Specificity

The present paper was written as a contribution to ongoing methodological debates within the NCC project. We focus on the neural correlates of conscious perceptual episodes. Our claim is that the NCC notion, as applied to conscious perceptual episodes, needs to be reconceptualized. It mixes together the processing related to the perceived contents and the neural substrate of consciousness proper, i.e. mechanisms making the perceptual contents conscious. We thus propose that the perceptual NCC be divided into two constitutive subnotions. The paper elaborates the distinction, marshals some initial arguments in its favour, and sketches advantages of the proposed reconceptualization.

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The Phenomenal Contents and Neural Correlates of Spontaneous Thoughts across Wakefulness, NREM Sleep, and REM Sleep

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience ◽

10.1162/jocn_a_01155 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 29 (10) ◽

pp. 1766-1777 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

Lampros Perogamvros ◽

Benjamin Baird ◽

Mitja Seibold ◽

Brady Riedner ◽

Melanie Boly ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Eye Movement ◽

Rem Sleep ◽

Nrem Sleep ◽

Neural Correlates ◽

Behavioral State ◽

Rapid Eye Movement ◽

Social Content ◽

Midcingulate Cortex ◽

Neural Substrate ◽

Prefrontal Region

Thoughts occur during wake as well as during dreaming sleep. Using experience sampling combined with high-density EEG, we investigated the phenomenal qualities and neural correlates of spontaneously occurring thoughts across wakefulness, non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep, and REM sleep. Across all states, thoughts were associated with activation of a region of the midcingulate cortex. Thoughts during wakefulness additionally involved a medial prefrontal region, which was associated with metacognitive thoughts during wake. Phenomenologically, waking thoughts had more metacognitive content than thoughts during both NREM and REM sleep, whereas thoughts during REM sleep had a more social content. Together, these results point to a core neural substrate for thoughts, regardless of behavioral state, within the midcingulate cortex, and suggest that medial prefrontal regions may contribute to metacognitive content in waking thoughts.

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Dietary Restraint Violations Influence Reward Responses in Nucleus Accumbens and Amygdala

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience ◽

10.1162/jocn.2010.21568 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 23 (8) ◽

pp. 1952-1963 ◽

Cited By ~ 50

Author(s):

Kathryn E. Demos ◽

William M. Kelley ◽

Todd F. Heatherton

Keyword(s):

Nucleus Accumbens ◽

Water Consumption ◽

Cold Water ◽

Dietary Restraint ◽

Neural Correlates ◽

Behavioral Patterns ◽

Food Items ◽

Neural Substrate ◽

Amygdala Activity ◽

High Calorie

Numerous studies have demonstrated that consuming high-calorie food leads to subsequent overeating by chronic dieters. The present study investigates the neural correlates of such self-regulatory failures using fMRI. Chronic dieters (n = 50) and non-dieters (n = 50) consumed either a 15-oz glass of cold water or a 15-oz milkshake and were subsequently imaged while viewing pictures of animals, environmental scenes, people, and appetizing food items. Results revealed a functional dissociation in nucleus accumbens and amygdala activity that paralleled well-established behavioral patterns of eating observed in dieters and non-dieters. Whereas non-dieters showed the greatest nucleus accumbens activity in response to food items after water consumption, dieters showed the greatest activity after consuming the milkshake. Activity in the left amygdala demonstrated the reverse interaction. Considered together with previously reported behavioral findings, the present results offer a suggested neural substrate for diet failure.

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Dream experiences and the neural correlates of perceptual consciousness and cognitive access

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rstb.2017.0356 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 373 (1755) ◽

pp. 20170356 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Peter Fazekas ◽

Georgina Nemeth

Keyword(s):

Prefrontal Cortex ◽

Eye Movement ◽

Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex ◽

Neural Correlates ◽

Rapid Eye Movement Sleep ◽

Theme Issue ◽

Perceptual Consciousness ◽

Cognitive Access ◽

Dorsolateral Prefrontal ◽

Hot Zone

This paper approaches the debate whether perceptual consciousness requires cognitive access from the perspective of dream studies, and investigates what kind of findings could support the opposing views of this debate. Two kinds of arguments are discussed, one that claims that the hypoactivity of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in rapid eye movement sleep is directly relevant, and another that proposes that locating the neural correlates of dream experiences can indirectly inform the debate. It is argued that under closer reflection, neither the classical claim about dorsolateral prefrontal cortex hypoactivity nor the more recent emphasis on general posterior hot zone activity during dreaming stand up to scrutiny. White dreaming is identified as the phenomenon that, nevertheless, holds the most promise to have an impact on the debate. Going beyond the topic if studying dreams can contribute to this debate, it is argued that cognitive access is not a monolithic phenomenon, and its neural correlates are not well understood. There seems to be a relevant form of cognitive access that can operate in the absence of activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, and maybe also in the whole frontal region. If so, then exclusive posterior activation during conscious experiences might very well be compatible with the hypothesis that perceptual consciousness requires cognitive access. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Perceptual consciousness and cognitive access'.

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NCC research and the problem of consciousness

Philosophy and the Mind Sciences ◽

10.33735/phimisci.2021.9188 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 2 ◽

Author(s):

Michael Pauen

Keyword(s):

Philosophy Of Science ◽

Empirical Research ◽

Body Problem ◽

Neural Correlates ◽

Theoretical Development ◽

Hard Problem ◽

Empirical Level ◽

Neural Substrate ◽

The Hard Problem ◽

The Mind

One of the reasons why the Neural Correlates of Consciousness Program could appear attractive in the 1990s was that it seemed to disentangle theoretical and empirical problems. Theoretical disagreements could thus be sidestepped in order to focus on empirical research regarding the neural substrate of consciousness. One of the further consequences of this dissociation of empirical and theoretical questions was that fundamental questions regarding the Mind Body Problem or the “Hard Problem of Consciousness” could remain unresolved even if the search for the neural correlates had been successful.Drawing on historical examples, a widely held consensus in the philosophy of science, and actual NCC research we argue that there is no such independence. Moreover, as the dependence between the theoretical and the empirical level is mutual, empirical progress will go hand in hand with theoretical development. Thus, contrary to what the original NCC program suggested, we conclude that NCC research may significantly take advantage from and contribute to theoretical progress in our explanation and understanding of consciousness. Eventually, this might even contribute to a solution of the Hard Problem of Consciousness.

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Content-specificity of the neural correlates of recollection

Neuropsychologia ◽

10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2004.10.013 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 43 (7) ◽

pp. 1022-1032 ◽

Cited By ~ 110

Author(s):

C. Chad Woodruff ◽

Jeffrey D. Johnson ◽

Melina R. Uncapher ◽

Michael D. Rugg

Keyword(s):

Neural Correlates ◽

Content Specificity

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Multidimensional Anxiety and Content-specificity Effects in Preferential Processing of Threat

European Psychologist ◽

10.1027//1016-9040.8.4.252 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 8 (4) ◽

pp. 252-265 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Manuel G. Calvo ◽

P. Avero ◽

M. Dolores Castillo ◽

Juan J. Miguel-Tobal

Keyword(s):

Selective Attention ◽

Cognitive Biases ◽

Naming Task ◽

Color Naming ◽

Memory Bias ◽

Ego Threat ◽

Phobic Anxiety ◽

Relative Contribution ◽

Content Specificity ◽

Specificity Effects

We examined the relative contribution of specific components of multidimensional anxiety to cognitive biases in the processing of threat-related information in three experiments. Attentional bias was assessed by the emotional Stroop word color-naming task, interpretative bias by an on-line inference processing task, and explicit memory bias by sensitivity (d') and response criterion (β) from word-recognition scores. Multiple regression analyses revealed, first, that phobic anxiety and evaluative anxiety predicted selective attention to physical- and ego-threat information, respectively; cognitive anxiety predicted selective attention to both types of threat. Second, phobic anxiety predicted inhibition of inferences related to physically threatening outcomes of ambiguous situations. And, third, evaluative anxiety predicted a response bias, rather than a genuine memory bias, in the reporting of presented and nonpresented ego-threat information. Other anxiety components, such as motor and physiological anxiety, or interpersonal and daily-routines anxiety made no specific contribution to any cognitive bias. Multidimensional anxiety measures are useful for detecting content-specificity effects in cognitive biases.

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