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Wednesday, January 3, 2024

Bifurcation in brain dynamics reveals a signature of conscious processing independent of report

Abstract: An outstanding challenge for consciousness research is to characterize the neural signature of conscious access independently of any decisional processes. Here we present a model-based approach that uses inter-trial variability to identify the brain dynamics associated with stimulus processing. We demonstrate that, even in the absence of any task or behavior, the electroencephalographic response to auditory stimuli shows bifurcation dynamics around 250–300 milliseconds post-stimulus. Namely, the same stimulus gives rise to late sustained activity on some trials, and not on others. This late neural activity is predictive of task-related reports, and also of reports of conscious contents that are randomly sampled during task-free listening. Source localization further suggests that task-free conscious access recruits the same neural networks as those associated with explicit report, except for frontal executive components. Studying brain dynamics through variability could thus play a key role for identifying the core signatures of conscious access, independent of report.

2 comments:

  1. "even in the absence of any task or behavior, the electroencephalographic response to auditory stimuli shows bifurcation dynamics around 250–300 milliseconds post-stimulus. Namely, the same stimulus gives rise to late sustained activity on some trials, and not on others"

    Well. I was a test subject for "cognitive recovery" after ceasing cannabis. Full scull cap, eeg, click button when hearing cog neuro researcher's chosen tone from high low / long /short /. 6 weeks whilst imbibing, 6 weeks ceased.

    I did better stoned! "Recovery of cognition funcrion" you ask? What was the baseline? All the test was doing was testing for "electroencephalographic response to auditory stimuli shows bifurcation dynamics around 250–300 milliseconds post-stimulus".

    Passed and slightly improved after stopping cannabis. But no metric abke to be delivered. My assessment to explain it to myself was I think at 300 wirds answcind and so Im stillbaheas by 20% of rhe general population. So cog wci has anloooong way to go.

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  2. The upshot though was that I did NOT exhibit a P-wave. After acknowledging stimulus MOST people trigger an "action potential". I have received a stimulus, now action an action.

    But my eeg did not exhibit an action potential. Concerning I thought when getting post test reaults. So much so that my cognitive decline / improvement was forgotten. I sought an explanation for my nissing pwave action potential.

    Thenanawer from cog neuro was "we dint know. Yet the absence of action potential is prominent in surgeons and air traffic controllers.

    I am nether an air traffic controller surgeon. And seem to function relatively normally. P-waves and action potentials need more study. The brain as a known organ are still imo, a long way off.

    And when AI discovers drugs, what happens to action potential? I'd have fun developing the training set!
    "Oh, I see AI returning hallucinations, try the lemon benzo's next".
    Action. Potential.
    Will you be happy to have an AI air traffic controller or surgeon?

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