Annals of Neurology
August 20, 2015
Pengmin Qin, Xuehai Wu, Zirui Huang et al.
144 citations
Functional connectivity within two brain networks plays distinct roles in disorders of consciousness. Connectivity in the salience network, particularly between the supragenual anterior cingulate cortex and left anterior insula, was reduced in patients with unresponsive wakefulness syndrome compared to those in a minimally conscious state or fully conscious brain-lesioned patients. This connectivity correlated with behavioral signs of consciousness. In contrast, connectivity in the default-mode network, specifically between the posterior cingulate cortex and left lateral parietal cortex, was weaker in patients with unresponsive wakefulness syndrome who did not recover compared to those who later emerged from this state, suggesting this network predicts recovery of consciousness.
Human Brain Mapping
October 4, 2018
Annemarie Wolff, Daniel A. di Giovanni, Javier Gómez‐Pilar et al.
135 citations
Private self-consciousness—the tendency to focus on one's inner thoughts and feelings—is linked to specific temporal patterns in the brain's resting state activity. In an EEG study, higher scores on the Private dimension of the Self-Consciousness Scale correlated with three measures of resting state activity: a steeper power-law exponent (PLE), a longer auto-correlation window (ACW), and a stronger modulation index (MI). These temporal features reflect how self-related information is temporally nested, continuous, and integrated in spontaneous brain activity. Source localization further linked Private self-consciousness to activity in cortical midline structures, including the perigenual anterior cingulate cortex and posterior cingulate cortex. A machine learning algorithm could accurately classify individuals as having high or low Private self-consciousness based on these spatiotemporal measures.
Human Brain Mapping
July 22, 2020
Ivar R. Kolvoort, Soren Wainio‐Theberge, Annemarie Wolff et al.
92 citations
The self integrates information across time, but how this psychological temporal integration relates to neuronal temporal integration is unclear. In a modified self-matching task with temporal delays, participants showed a self-prioritization effect—greater accuracy for self-related stimuli—across all delay conditions, indicating stronger temporal integration of self-related information. Resting-state EEG measures of scale-free dynamics (power law exponent and autocorrelation window) indexed neuronal temporal integration. Higher neuronal integration was associated with a stronger increase in the self-prioritization effect over longer delays. Temporal integration on the neuronal level appears to serve as a template for psychological-level self-integration, suggesting it acts as a common currency linking neuronal and psychological aspects of self.
NeuroImage
May 11, 2022
David Smith, Annemarie Wolff, Angelika Wolman et al.
40 citations
The self is experienced as continuous across time, and this temporal continuity may be reflected in the brain's intrinsic neural timescales, measured by the autocorrelation window (ACW). In an EEG study, participants first recorded an autobiographical narrative, then listened to their own narrative and a stranger's narrative while their brain activity was recorded. They also continuously rated the emotional valence of each narrative by moving a cursor. Compared to the non-self narrative, the self-narrative elicited longer neural ACWs and greater spatial extent and speed of cursor movement. These results suggest that longer temporal windows of neural activity are important for self-specificity, and that temporal continuity may serve as a common currency linking brain and self.