Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Site Tools

  • AAAS
  • Subscribe
  • Feedback

Site Search

Search Advanced

Science 4 December 1998:
Vol. 282. no. 5395, pp. 1846 - 1851
DOI: 10.1126/science.282.5395.1846
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Review

Consciousness and Complexity

Giulio Tononi, * Gerald M. Edelman

Conventional approaches to understanding consciousness are generally concerned with the contribution of specific brain areas or groups of neurons. By contrast, it is considered here what kinds of neural processes can account for key properties of conscious experience. Applying measures of neural integration and complexity, together with an analysis of extensive neurological data, leads to a testable proposal--the dynamic core hypothesis--about the properties of the neural substrate of consciousness.

The authors are at The Neurosciences Institute, 10640 John J. Hopkins Drive, San Diego, CA 92121, USA.
*   To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: tononi{at}nsi.edu

Read the Full Text


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
PSD-95 Is Essential for Hallucinogen and Atypical Antipsychotic Drug Actions at Serotonin Receptors.
A. I. Abbas, P. N. Yadav, W.-D. Yao, M. I. Arbuckle, S. G. N. Grant, M. G. Caron, and B. L. Roth (2009)
J. Neurosci. 29, 7124-7136
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Impaired consciousness during temporal lobe seizures is related to increased long-distance cortical-subcortical synchronization.
M. Arthuis, L. Valton, J. Regis, P. Chauvel, F. Wendling, L. Naccache, C. Bernard, and F. Bartolomei (2009)
Brain
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Consciousness as Integrated Information: a Provisional Manifesto.
G. Tononi (2008)
Biol. Bull. 215, 216-242
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Special Section: On Looking Inward: Revisiting the Role of Introspection in Neuroscientific and Psychiatric Research.
J. A. den Boer, A.A.T. S. Reinders, and G. Glas (2008)
Theory Psychology 18, 380-403
   Abstract »    PDF »
Neural Dissociation between Visual Awareness and Spatial Attention.
V. Wyart and C. Tallon-Baudry (2008)
J. Neurosci. 28, 2667-2679
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Short-term meditation training improves attention and self-regulation.
Y.-Y. Tang, Y. Ma, J. Wang, Y. Fan, S. Feng, Q. Lu, Q. Yu, D. Sui, M. K. Rothbart, M. Fan, et al. (2007)
PNAS 104, 17152-17156
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Creating knowledge: the power and logic of articulation.
L. Hakanson (2007)
Ind. Corp. Change
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Mammalian and avian neuroanatomy and the question of consciousness in birds..
A. B. Butler and R. M. J. Cotterill (2006)
Biol. Bull. 211, 106-127
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Mode of Functional Connectivity in Amygdala Pathways Dissociates Level of Awareness for Signals of Fear.
L. M. Williams, P. Das, B. J. Liddell, A. H. Kemp, C. J. Rennie, and E. Gordon (2006)
J. Neurosci. 26, 9264-9271
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Theories and measures of consciousness: An extended framework.
A. K. Seth, E. Izhikevich, G. N. Reeke, and G. M. Edelman (2006)
PNAS 103, 10799-10804
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
What is the function of the claustrum?.
F. C Crick and C. Koch (2005)
Phil Trans R Soc B 360, 1271-1279
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Long-term meditators self-induce high-amplitude gamma synchrony during mental practice.
A. Lutz, L. L. Greischar, N. B. Rawlings, M. Ricard, and R. J. Davidson (2004)
PNAS 101, 16369-16373
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Editorial I: Entropy is blind to nitrous oxide. Can we see why?.
J. W. Sleigh and J. P. M. Barnard (2004)
Br. J. Anaesth. 92, 159-161
   Full Text »    PDF »
Naturalizing consciousness: A theoretical framework.
G. M. Edelman (2003)
PNAS 100, 5520-5524
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Control Processes and Self-Organization as Complementary Principles Underlying Behavior.
C. S. Carver and M. F. Scheier (2002)
Personality and Social Psychology Review 6, 304-315
   Abstract »    PDF »
Visualizing the Next Steps in Parkinson Disease.
I. Bodis-Wollner (2002)
Arch Neurol 59, 1233-1234
   Full Text »    PDF »
Residual cerebral activity and behavioural fragments can remain in the persistently vegetative brain.
N. D. Schiff, U. Ribary, D. R. Moreno, B. Beattie, E. Kronberg, R. Blasberg, J. Giacino, C. McCagg, J. J. Fins, R. Llinas, et al. (2002)
Brain 125, 1210-1234
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Consciousness.
A. Zeman (2001)
Brain 124, 1263-1289
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Brain responses associated with consciousness of breathlessness (air hunger).
M. Liotti, S. Brannan, G. Egan, R. Shade, L. Madden, B. Abplanalp, R. Robillard, J. Lancaster, F. E. Zamarripa, P. T. Fox, et al. (2001)
PNAS 98, 2035-2040
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Letters.
E. H. Friedman and T. Bryan (2000)
J Learn Disabil 33, 3-4
   PDF »
Increased Synchronization of Neuromagnetic Responses during Conscious Perception.
R. Srinivasan, D. P. Russell, G. M. Edelman, and G. Tononi (1999)
J. Neurosci. 19, 5435-5448
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Interactions of Prefrontal Cortex in Relation to Awareness in Sensory Learning.
A. R. McIntosh, M. N. Rajah, and N. J. Lobaugh (1999)
Science 284, 1531-1533
   Abstract »    Full Text »
Neuroimaging of genesis and satiation of thirst and an interoceptor-driven theory of origins of primary consciousness.
D. Denton, R. Shade, F. Zamarippa, G. Egan, J. Blair-West, M. McKinley, J. Lancaster, and P. Fox (1999)
PNAS 96, 5304-5309
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Complexity and the Nervous System.
C. Koch and G. Laurent (1999)
Science 284, 96-98
   Abstract »    Full Text »
Measures of degeneracy and redundancy in biological networks.
G. Tononi, O. Sporns, and G. M. Edelman (1999)
PNAS 96, 3257-3262
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)