Measures of states of consciousness during attentional and cognitive load
André S. Nilsen, Bjørn E. Juel, Johan F. Storm
bioRxiv Preprint Server March 22, 2019 preprint DOI: 10.1101/586149 via bioRxiv
Summary
Measures that distinguish conscious from unconscious brain states may also be influenced by attentional load and cognitive resource use within conscious states. Testing several proposed measures, the study examines whether they are modulated by changes in attention and cognitive demands, which has rarely been tested before. The findings suggest that these measures are not solely markers of consciousness but can vary with attentional load within conscious states.
Study at a glance
| Characteristics | Experimental study |
|---|---|
| Key finding | Measures of consciousness are modulated by attentional load and cognitive resource use within conscious brain states. |
Abstract
Background Developing and testing methods for reliably assessing states of consciousness in humans is important for both basic research and clinical purposes. Several potential measures, partly grounded in theoretical developments, have been proposed, and some of them seem to reliably distinguish between conscious and unconscious brain states. However, the degrees to which these measures may also be affected by changes in brain activity or conditions that can occur within conscious brain states have rarely been tested. In this study we test whether several of these measures are modulated by attentional load and related use of cognitive resources.