TY - JOUR
T1 - The fMRI signal, slow cortical potential and consciousness
AU - He, Biyu J.
AU - Raichle, Marcus E.
N1 - Funding Information:
We are grateful to Giulio Tononi, Bruno van Swinderen, Avi Snyder, John Zempel, and Harold Burton for insightful discussions. B.J.H. would also like to thank the U.S. Immigration Service under the Bush administration, whose visa background security check forced her to spend two months (following an international conference) in a third country, free of routine obligations—it was during this time that the hypothesis presented herein was initially conjectured. This research was supported by NIH grant 06833.
PY - 2009/7
Y1 - 2009/7
N2 - As functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has become a driving force in cognitive neuroscience, it is crucial to understand the neural basis of the fMRI signal. Here, we discuss a novel neurophysiological correlate of the fMRI signal, the slow cortical potential (SCP), which also seems to modulate the power of higher-frequency activity, the more established neurophysiological correlate of the fMRI signal. We further propose a hypothesis for the involvement of the SCP in the emergence of consciousness, and review existing data that lend support to our proposal. This hypothesis, unlike several previous theories of consciousness, is firmly rooted in physiology and as such is entirely amenable to empirical testing.
AB - As functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has become a driving force in cognitive neuroscience, it is crucial to understand the neural basis of the fMRI signal. Here, we discuss a novel neurophysiological correlate of the fMRI signal, the slow cortical potential (SCP), which also seems to modulate the power of higher-frequency activity, the more established neurophysiological correlate of the fMRI signal. We further propose a hypothesis for the involvement of the SCP in the emergence of consciousness, and review existing data that lend support to our proposal. This hypothesis, unlike several previous theories of consciousness, is firmly rooted in physiology and as such is entirely amenable to empirical testing.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=67649664104&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.tics.2009.04.004
DO - 10.1016/j.tics.2009.04.004
M3 - Article
C2 - 19535283
AN - SCOPUS:67649664104
SN - 1364-6613
VL - 13
SP - 302
EP - 309
JO - Trends in Cognitive Sciences
JF - Trends in Cognitive Sciences
IS - 7
ER -