On consciousness, resting state fMRI, and neurodynamics.
BACKGROUND
During the last years, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) of the brain has been introduced as a new tool to measure consciousness, both in a clinical setting and in a basic neurocognitive research. Moreover, advanced mathematical methods and theories have arrived the field of fMRI (e.g. computational neuroimaging), and functional and structural brain connectivity can now be assessed non-invasively.


RESULTS
The present work deals with a pluralistic approach to "consciousness'', where we connect theory and tools from three quite different disciplines: (1) philosophy of mind (emergentism and global workspace theory), (2) functional neuroimaging acquisitions, and (3) theory of deterministic and statistical neurodynamics - in particular the Wilson-Cowan model and stochastic resonance.


CONCLUSIONS
Based on recent experimental and theoretical work, we believe that the study of large-scale neuronal processes (activity fluctuations, state transitions) that goes on in the living human brain while examined with functional MRI during "resting state", can deepen our understanding of graded consciousness in a clinical setting, and clarify the concept of "consiousness" in neurocognitive and neurophilosophy research.
Lundervold
Arvid
A
Department of Biomedicine, Neuroinformatics and Image Analysis Laboratory, University of Bergen Jonas Lies vei 91, N-5009 Bergen, Norway. arvid.lundervold@biomed.uib.no.