CONSCBRAIN · How consciousness is shaped by neuronal network dynamics
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2015-05-01 → 2017-04-30
- EU contribution
- €170,122
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF-EF-ST
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
How consciousness is shaped by neuronal network dynamics
This project aimed at developing computer models that could elucidate the physiological mechanisms of conscious experience in the brain. We all experience being awake and alert during most of the day, interrupted only by occasional episodes of fatigue, and fall asleep at night with consciousness either fading entirely or reappearing in a different shape during dreaming. Yet, even when we are fully awake , our brains make us aware of only a fraction of all inputs from the environment, while most of our surroundings are processed unconsciously. Advanced brainimaging tools such as fMRI, EEG and MEG have opened a window on observing the neuronal signature of consciousness and have tried to untangle the mechanisms behind conscious and unconscious brain processes. This research also promises to find neurophysiological markers that can guide clinicians in correctly diagnosing and effectively treating neuropsychiatric disorders. Experimental findings inspired theoretical accounts of consciousness with one theory stating that awareness rises in any physical system capable of creating activity patterns which are both integrated and differentiated at the same time. Another framework states that stimuli compete in sensory areas for entering a global workspace situated in the front of the brain, where recurrent activity makes us becoming aware of the winning stimulus, while input processed outside the global workspace remains unconscious. The first objective of this project was to create whole-brain computer models that show dynamics similar to the different stages of consciousness seen during the sleep-wake cycle and find a computational marker for consciousness. In the second part of the project we tried to implement a computer model of the global workspace idea compatible with the rhythmic nature of brain activity to better understand the physiology behind access to consciousness.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
How does the structure of the brain give rise to its function? We will address this longstanding neuroscience question through an interdisciplinary research project, by using computational modelling to study the neuronal dynamics which underlies the specific brain function of consciousness. More precisely we propose to investigate the differences in neuronal dynamics between conscious and unconscious brain states, and how conscious experience is shared across subjects watching a movie. The project capitalizes on using whole brain models that are constrained by anatomical and functional connectivity data from humans and non-human primates. In a first study, we will test whether differentiation of brain activity, as indicated by homogeneity differences of functional connectivity patterns across the modelled brain areas, can serve as a marker of consciousness. In a second study we will construct a whole brain model of experiments in which subjects synchronize their brain activity when watching a natural stimulus such as a movie. Through external stimulation of the model we will determine the set of brain areas that is causally involved in driving this synchronization of conscious experience. The results will give new theoretical insights on how neuronal interactions at an entire brain’s scale are informative of consciousness and shared conscious experience across subjects.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- UNIVERSIDAD POMPEU FABRA · BarcelonaCoordinatorSpain
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union