Tutorial commentary: surprisingly small subcortical structures are needed for the state of waking consciousness, while cortical projection areas seem to provide perceptual contents of consciousness.
The evidence can therefore be summarized as follows: (1) RF, nRt, and ILN activity seem to be necessary but not sufficient for conscious experience. (2) Stimulus representation in primary sensory projection areas also seems to be necessary but not sufficient for conscious perceptual experience (Weiskrantz, 1980). The simplest hypothesis is that both components are necessary and sufficient to support conscious perceptual experience.
Baars
B J
BJ
Wright Institute, Berkeley, California 94704, USA.
D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D001364:Awareness / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology*; D003128:Coma / Q000503:physiopathology; D003243:Consciousness / Q000502:physiology*; D004292:Dominance, Cerebral / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000502:physiology; D010465:Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D013787:Thalamic Nuclei / Q000503:physiopathology*; D014851:Wakefulness / Q000502:physiology*