Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews
September 1, 2017
Georg Northoff, Zirui Huang
235 citations
The brain's intrinsic time and space are fundamental for consciousness. The Temporo-spatial Theory of Consciousness (TTC) proposes four distinct neuronal mechanisms that correspond to different dimensions of consciousness: (1) temporo-spatial nestedness of spontaneous activity accounts for the level or state of consciousness, serving as a neural predisposition; (2) temporo-spatial alignment of pre-stimulus activity accounts for the content or form of consciousness, acting as a neural prerequisite; (3) temporo-spatial expansion of early stimulus-induced activity accounts for phenomenal consciousness, as neural correlates; and (4) temporo-spatial globalization of late stimulus-induced activity accounts for cognitive features, as neural consequences.
Cognitive neuroscience
January 1, 2016
Georg Northoff
213 citations
The self is often thought of as a high-level cognitive function, but this paper argues that self-specificity is a fundamental feature of the brain's spontaneous activity, particularly in cortical midline structures. Evidence shows overlap between resting-state activity and self-related processing in these regions, and resting-state patterns can predict later degrees of self-specificity. The author proposes the basis model, which conceives self-specificity as basic rather than higher-order, linking it to emotions, reward, and perception. This spontaneous self-specificity may provide a foundation for coding the self as subject in relation to internal or external mental events, connecting self-consciousness and phenomenal consciousness.
Neuropsychologia
January 21, 2016
Zirui Huang, Natsuho Obara, Henry Davis et al.
144 citations
The temporal structure of spontaneous brain activity in the medial prefrontal cortex is linked to private self-consciousness. In 47 healthy subjects, the power-law exponent—a measure of long-range temporal correlations in resting-state fMRI signals—was correlated with scores on the private self-consciousness subscale of the Revised Self-Consciousness Scale. No such correlation appeared for public or social self-consciousness, nor for other resting-state measures like functional connectivity. This is the first evidence that the scale-free dynamics of cortical midline structures specifically relate to the private dimension of self-consciousness, suggesting a neural basis for the overlap between resting-state activity and self-related processing.
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.
Schizophrenia Bulletin
June 8, 2016
Ben Alderson‐day, Kelly Diederen, Charles Fernyhough et al.
134 citations
Resting-state brain networks may help explain hallucinations across different sensory modalities and populations. This report from the International Consortium on Hallucination Research reviews evidence linking resting-state alterations to auditory hallucinations, finding connectivity differences in left-hemisphere auditory and language regions, plus atypical interactions of the default mode network with networks for cognitive control and salience. Similar patterns appear in visual hallucinations, suggesting both domain-general and modality-specific network changes. However, high methodological heterogeneity across studies limits direct comparisons. The authors offer recommendations for future research on resting-state connectivity and hallucinations.
Psychopathology
December 15, 2016
Giovanni Stanghellini, Massimo Ballerini, Simona Presenza et al.
115 citations
In major depressive disorder, abnormal time experience is nearly universal: 96 out of 100 patients reported at least one disturbance. The most common patterns are a sense of stagnation in vital processes, feeling trapped by the past so that the present and future seem dominated by it, and a slowing of the flow of time. Unlike in schizophrenia, where time experience becomes fragmented, depression involves a blockage or inhibition of forward movement. These findings confirm that distorted time perception is a core feature of depression, which could aid differential diagnosis and distinguish true depression from milder forms.
Human Brain Mapping
July 1, 2013
Zirui Huang, Rui Dai, Xuehai Wu et al.
104 citations
Patients with disorders of consciousness (DOC) show reduced brain activity in midline regions (anterior and posterior cingulate cortex) during self-referential thinking tasks compared to healthy individuals. The degree of signal reduction in the perigenual anterior cingulate cortex predicts their level of consciousness. These same midline regions also display abnormal resting-state functional connectivity and low-frequency fluctuations. The findings link self-referential processing, resting-state brain activity, and consciousness, suggesting that neural abnormalities in these areas contribute to DOC.
Schizophrenia Bulletin
March 14, 2017
Georg Northoff, Paola Magioncalda, Matteo Martino et al.
95 citations
In bipolar disorder, the sense of time's speed is distorted: manic patients experience inner time as too fast and outer time as too slow, while depressed patients experience inner time as too slow and outer time as too fast. This desynchronization between self-time and world-time arises from opposite changes in neuronal variability—specifically, the standard deviation ratio between somatomotor and sensory brain networks. The authors' empirical data show abnormal SD balance in both manic and depressed bipolar patients, as well as in major depressive disorder. These findings suggest that individualized stimulation techniques like TMS or tDCS might normalize the neuronal variability patterns in these networks, potentially correcting the distorted time perception.
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.
Psychiatry Research
January 14, 2020
Clemens Bauer, Kana Okano, Satrajit Ghosh et al.
87 citations
Auditory hallucinations in schizophrenia are linked to overactivity and hyperconnectivity in the default mode network and reduced anticorrelation with the central executive network. Patients were trained with real-time fMRI neurofeedback and meditation strategies to modulate these networks. The intervention reduced default mode network hyperconnectivity and increased anticorrelation between the default mode and central executive networks. Changes in individual default mode network connectivity correlated with reductions in auditory hallucination frequency and severity. This provides the first empirical evidence that meditation-enhanced neurofeedback can directly alter resting state network activity and reduce auditory hallucinations.
Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health
January 1, 2013
Georg Northoff
82 citations
The self or subject of experience has been a philosophical concept, later adopted by psychoanalysis as the ego, and is now investigated through brain imaging. This article discusses philosophical concepts of self, complements them with neuroscientific data on self and self-reference, and directly compares both accounts while highlighting their relevance for psychoanalysis of self and ego.
Human Brain Mapping
January 28, 2018
Jianfeng Zhang, Zirui Huang, Yali Chen et al.
70 citations
During anesthetic-induced unconsciousness, two temporal features of brain activity—long-range temporal correlations (measured by power-law exponent) and temporal variability (measured by standard deviation)—both decrease globally across the brain compared to wakefulness. The spatial relationship between these two features becomes altered, or 'decoupled,' primarily due to changes in the spatial pattern of long-range temporal correlations rather than temporal variability. This suggests that the topographical organization of long-range temporal correlations is crucial for maintaining optimal neural dynamics during normal consciousness, supporting the temporo-spatial theory of consciousness.
Clinical Psychopharmacology and Neuroscience
December 26, 2014
Georg Northoff
65 citations
Auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH) may arise from abnormally elevated resting state activity in the auditory cortex, abnormal modulation of the auditory cortex by anterior cortical midline regions of the default-mode network, and neural confusion between resting state changes and stimulus-induced activity. This 'resting state hypothesis' integrates recent findings on intrinsic brain activity and corresponds with subjective-experiential features from phenomenological accounts, leading to a 'neurophenomenal resting state hypothesis' of AVH in schizophrenia.
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience
October 4, 2018
Andrea Scalabrini, Clara Mucci, Georg Northoff
58 citations
A multilayered model of the self links four layers—relational alignment, self-constitution, self-manifestation, and self-expansion—to distinct neural correlates and levels of personality organization. The model proposes that psychotic, borderline, and neurotic personality organizations correspond respectively to disruptions in self-constitution, self-manifestation, and self-expansion. Grounded in empirical data on neural correlates of the self, early attachment experiences, and resting-state brain activity (rest-self overlap/containment), the model integrates psychodynamic and neuroscientific perspectives. The spontaneous activity of the brain, intrinsically related to the self, may be key to understanding how the default state navigates internal and external reality.
Neuroscience of Consciousness
January 1, 2022
Austin Clinton Cooper, Bianca Ventura, Georg Northoff
54 citations
Advanced meditators often report experiences of nondual awareness—a state without boundaries between self and environment. This review of functional magnetic resonance imaging studies across meditation types and experience levels finds that meditation reorganizes the brain's spatial topography. Key neural changes include decreased activity in the posterior default mode network (DMN), increased activity in the central executive network (CEN), reduced connectivity within the posterior DMN and between posterior and anterior DMN, increased connectivity within the anterior DMN and CEN, and significantly altered connectivity between DMN and CEN, likely nonlinear. These changes suggest a shift from mental-self-processing toward interoceptive and exteroceptive self-processing, enabling explicit nondual awareness. The authors propose a topographic reorganization model of meditation (TRoM) linking neural and experiential effects.
The Neuroscientist
May 25, 2022
Georg Northoff, Deniz Vatansever, Andrea Scalabrini et al.
53 citations
Ongoing brain activity, often linked to the default-mode network (DMN) and internally focused thought, is typically contrasted with task-related, externally oriented cognition. This dual model is challenged by a baseline model, which proposes that ongoing activity serves as a neuronal baseline—an internal reference point for both rest and task states. This shared neural code is reflected in the spatiotemporal organization of brain activity, including global signal topography and intrinsic neural timescales. The authors conclude that recent evidence supports the baseline model over the dual model, suggesting that ongoing activity integrates rest and task states, DMN and non-DMN networks, and internally and externally oriented cognition.
NeuroImage
May 1, 2021
Pengmin Qin, Xuehai Wu, Changwei Wu et al.
51 citations
Consciousness depends on a network of brain regions that integrate sensory and motor information. Analyzing fMRI data from people in preserved (awake, fully conscious brain-injury survivors), reduced (N1-sleep, minimally conscious), and lost (N3-sleep, anesthesia, unresponsive wakefulness) states, plus a unique rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep group, researchers identified key hubs whose degree centrality—a measure of network importance—dropped significantly when consciousness was reduced or absent. These hubs included the supplementary motor area, bilateral supramarginal gyrus, supragenual/dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, and left middle temporal gyrus. A higher-order sensorimotor circuit connecting these regions showed functional connectivity that correlated with consciousness levels across groups and remained active in REM sleep, suggesting this circuit supports consciousness and offers new targets for treating disorders of consciousness.
Entropy
February 13, 2022
Georg Northoff, Federico Zilio
47 citations
Consciousness operates across multiple timescales, from brief moments to an ongoing 'stream of consciousness'. Integrated Information Theory (IIT) currently places experience at short timescales of 100–300 ms (theta and alpha frequencies), which explains how single inputs become unified phenomenal content. However, this does not address how specific contents relate to one another over time. By integrating IIT with the Temporo-spatial Theory of Consciousness (TTC), which assumes a multitude of timescales, the authors propose that pre-stimulus activity non-additively interacts with input, expanding its temporal features into longer timescales (delta and slower frequencies). This temporo-spatial expansion embeds short-term content within the ongoing stream of consciousness, suggesting that both short and long timescales are needed to account for conscious experience.
Schizophrenia Bulletin
July 28, 2015
Jeffrey D. Robinson, Nils-Frederic Wagner, Georg Northoff
47 citations
Schizophrenia involves a disturbance of the self, particularly the sense of agency—the feeling of controlling one's own actions and thoughts. Current models of agency involve both bottom-up sensory processes and top-down cognitive influences. This review proposes that ongoing brain activity in self-referential regions, especially the default mode network, adds a deeper layer of influence. Neuroimaging studies show that aberrant activity in these regions in schizophrenia can lead to misattributing internally generated stimuli as external, producing symptoms like thought insertion and delusions of control. This framework suggests neuroimaging can improve conceptualization, measurement, and treatment of agency disturbances.
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience
March 17, 2017
Michael Schaefer, Georg Northoff
43 citations
The self has two facets: a conscious self generated by cortical midline structures in the brain, and an unconscious self linked to embodied cognition via somatosensory cortices. This model draws on neuroscience imaging studies and theories of embodied cognition. The article describes problems with this dual-self model and discusses possible theoretical solutions.
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.
Communications Biology
May 9, 2023
Philipp Klar, Yasir Çatal, Robert Langner et al.
35 citations
Scale-free physiological processes are common in the human body. Resting-state fMRI studies found that anesthesia eliminates scale-free dynamics. This study examines scale-free dynamics in the cerebral cortex's unimodal periphery and transmodal core during rest and tasks at three conscious levels (awake, sedation, anesthesia), complemented by computational modeling. The results show that anesthesia transforms pink noise into white noise, disrupting the brain's alignment with a task's temporal structure. The model indicates that stimuli with pink noise, unlike brown or white noise, modulate task-related activity. The findings support two mechanisms of consciousness—temporo-spatial nestedness and alignment—proposed by the Temporo-Spatial Theory of Consciousness.
Early intervention in psychiatry
March 1, 2023
Lachlan Kent, Barnaby Nelson, Georg Northoff
35 citations
Distortions in how time is experienced, perceived, and processed appear across many psychiatric disorders, including depression, mania, anxiety, autism, impulse-control, dissociative, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorders. A proposed Transdiagnostic Taxonomy of (disordered) Time (TTT) maps these temporal disturbances onto a 2 × 2 × 2 state space that combines psychological models of temporal processing with phenomenological models of subjective time experience. The taxonomy differentiates diagnoses primarily involving distorted macro-level phenomenal temporal experiences (anxiety, dissociation/PTSD, depression, mania) from those involving distorted micro-level temporal processing (psychotic, impulse-control, autistic, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorders). Temporal distortions may precede functional decline, suggesting potential for early detection and intervention in at-risk groups.
Physics of life reviews
March 1, 2025
Georg Northoff, Andrea Buccellato, Federico Zilio
31 citations
The connection between brain activity and mental experience remains poorly understood. The authors extend their earlier hypothesis that shared temporal and spatial dynamics provide a 'common currency' linking neural and mental features. They present additional evidence from thoughts, meditation, depression, and attention showing that temporal characteristics are shared by both brain and mind. New empirical examples demonstrate that spatial characteristics, such as topographic reorganization, are also shared in depression and meditation. The authors specify distinct forms of temporospatial correspondences along a continuum from simple to complex. They propose an integrated mind-brain theory called the Common currency theory (CCT) as a framework for understanding the neuro-mental relationship.