Consciousness and cerebral baseline activity fluctuations
Melanie Boly, Christophe Phillips, Evelyne Balteau, Caroline Schnakers, Christian Degueldre, Gustave Moonen, André Luxen, Philippe Peigneux, Marie-Elisabeth Faymonville, Pierre Maquet, Steven Laureys
Human Brain Mapping May 8, 2008 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.20602 via OpenAlex
Summary
AI-generated from the abstractVariability in how people perceive the same sensory stimulus from one moment to the next may stem from ongoing fluctuations in baseline brain activity. This review examines evidence that activity levels in sensory brain areas before a stimulus predict whether that stimulus will be consciously perceived. The findings are discussed in the context of recent discoveries about the structure of spontaneous BOLD signal fluctuations in the awake human brain, and possible sources of these baseline fluctuations are considered.
Study at a glance
| Characteristics | Review Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Keywords | Baseline sea Consciousness Sensory system Perception Neuroscience |
| Citations | 73 |
| Key finding | Baseline brain activity in sensory areas predicts subsequent variations in conscious perception. |
Abstract
The origin of within-subject variability in perceptual experiments is poorly understood. We here review evidence that baseline brain activity in the areas involved in sensory perception predict subsequent variations in sensory awareness. We place these findings in light of recent findings on the architecture of spontaneous BOLD fluctuations in the awake human brain, and discuss the possible origins of the observed baseline brain activity fluctuations.