A concept of consciousness.
- Authors
- Niedermeyer, E
- Year
- 1999
- Journal
- Italian journal of neurological sciences
- PMID
- 10933479
- DOI
- 10.1007/s100720050004
The term "consciousness", so widely used in clinical settings, is considered extremely complex and practically undefinable. Historically, consciousness was ignored by the great classical philosophers, and was regarded as a basic condition of "being". This changed with Descartes and during the ensuing centuries. A simplified, reductionistic and easily definable concept of consciousness is proposed; consciousness is proposed to consist of three main components: vigilance, mental contents, and selective attention. These three components can be investigated with modern neuroscientific methods--vigilance being the most readily explorable function. The striking differences between sleep and coma are pointed out (along with some observations on sleep initiation). Special attention is paid to epileptic impairment of consciousness and, in particular, to the spike-wave absence which is thought to be due to a temporary suspension of the "working memory circuits" within the frontal lobe.
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| Hippocampal non-theta state: The "Janus face" of information processing. | Mysin I et al. | — | 2023 | → |
| A genome wide association study of fast beta EEG in families of European ancestry. | Meyers JL et al. | — | 2017 | → |
| Genetics of human brain oscillations. | Begleiter H et al. | — | 2006 | → |
| Intracellular activity of cortical and thalamic neurones during high-voltage rhythmic spike discharge in Long-Evans rats in vivo. | Polack PO et al. | — | 2006 | → |
| Psychobiology of altered states of consciousness. | Vaitl D et al. | — | 2005 | → |