A brain-imaging strategy isolates neural correlates of consciousness by examining a cognitive skill—generating verbs for visually presented nouns—before and after practice. Marked qualitative differences in neural circuitry appear between naive and practised states, including both increases and decreases from baseline brain activity.
Binocular rivalry, a phenomenon where perception alternates between two incompatible images presented to each eye, has been used to study the neural correlates of conscious vision. This essay critically examines four key questions about its usefulness: what comparison condition is appropriate, how to separate abolished awareness from inattention, whether findings from rivalry generalize to other perceptual phenomena, and whether neural activity linked to rivalry truly constitutes a neural correlate of consciousness. The authors arrive at skeptical answers to these questions but suggest that a more nuanced use of binocular rivalry can still provide insights into neural dynamics and components of consciousness, including those involved in perceptual decision-making.
Executive function deficits, common in psychiatric disorders, may be linked to diminished neural plasticity. A pioneering study tested the feasibility and preliminary efficacy of combining psilocybin with frontal-midline theta neurofeedback (NF) to improve executive functions. Thirty-seven participants were randomized into an experimental group (18) receiving three microdose sessions followed by three psilocybin-assisted NF sessions, and a passive control group (19). NF learning showed a statistical trend for increased frontal-midline theta with a large effect size.