Brain And Consciousness
Authors:
Dr. Suman Budihal,
Publish Date/ Year : June 2026 | Format: Paperback | Genre : Medical Science | Other Book Detail
Publish Date/ Year : June 2026 | Format: Paperback | Genre : Medical Science | Other Book Detail
The neural mechanisms that underlie consciousness are not fully understood. We describe a
region in the human brain where electrical stimulation reproducibly disrupted consciousness. A
54-year-old woman with intractable epilepsy underwent depth electrode implantation and
electrical stimulation mapping. The electrode whose stimulation disrupted consciousness was
between the left claustrum and anterior-dorsal insula. Stimulation of electrodes within 5 mm did
not affect consciousness. We studied the interdependencies among depth recording signals as a
function of time by nonlinear regression analysis (h 2 coefficient) during stimulations that altered
consciousness and stimulations of the same electrode at lower current intensities that were
asymptomatic. Stimulation of the claustral electrode reproducibly resulted in a complete arrest of
volitional behavior, unresponsiveness, and amnesia without negative motor symptoms or mere
aphasia. The disruption of consciousness did not outlast the stimulation and occurred without any
epileptiform discharges. We found a significant increase in correlation for interactions affecting
medial parietal and posterior frontal channels during stimulations that disrupted consciousness
compared with those that did not. Our findings suggest that the left claustrum/anterior insula is
an important part of a network that subserves consciousness and that disruption of consciousness
is related to increased EEG signal synchrony within frontal–parietal networks.
Pages
93 pages
93 pages
Language
English
English
Publication date
June 2026
June 2026
ISBN-13
978-93-6678-028-3
978-93-6678-028-3
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