Coupling the State and Contents of Consciousness
Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience August 30, 2019 Jaan Aru, Mototaka Suzuki, R. Rutiku et al.
A fundamental feature of consciousness is that its contents depend on its state. The authors propose that both state and contents depend on the activity of cortical layer 5 pyramidal (L5p) neurons. These neurons couple cortico-cortical and thalamo-cortical loops, forming a thalamo-cortical broadcasting system where L5p cells are central. This coupling corresponds to the coupling between state and contents of consciousness. The perspective predicts that cortical processing without L5p neurons will be unconscious, suggesting L5p neurons have a central role in the mechanisms underlying consciousness.