Emergence of consciousness and complexity amidst diffuse delta rhythms: the paradox of Angelman syndrome
bioRxiv Preprint Server July 10, 2019 Joel Frohlich, Lynne M. Bird, John Dell’italia et al. preprint
Children with Angelman syndrome, who are fully conscious, have brainwave patterns that look like those seen during unconsciousness, challenging theories that link consciousness to complex neural activity. However, when comparing wakefulness to sleep, the brainwaves of 35 children with Angelman syndrome show greater complexity during wakefulness, even when accounting for slow-wave activity. This supports the idea that consciousness is tied to neural complexity and warns against assuming a lack of consciousness based solely on EEG readings.