Possible Seat Of Consciousness Found

If not the seat of consciousness, at least the enabler of it may have been found. Rather than one location in the brain being responsible for human consciousness, it may be one region and a few very large neurons that coordinate the activity that we perceive of consciousness. Like the brain, the concept is squishy because the location (the claustrum) and the three key neurons may not contain consciousness, but modifying their activity enables or disables consciousness in at least one patient studied. Consciousness may exist outside the structure, but may require it to be expressed, or consciousness is solely a feature of the region and neurons. In any case, one of the fundamental aspects of being human is becoming better understood. Of this is a vital component of consciousness, then it may be possible to search for similar structures in other animals to see if humans are unique.

“The Discovery Of A Giant Neuron Could Help Explain How The Brain Creates Consciousness” – Quartz