Final Report Summary - MINDREHAB (Consciousness In basic Science And Neurorehabilitation)
MindRehab was based on the ambition to make progress on the so-called mind-brain problem: How can it be that perhaps all living creatures, certainly humans, are conscious? Why does activity in the brain not simply occur ”in the dark” but, in stead, is accompanied with subjective experience? The project set out to answer how one may conceptualize and methodologically approach consciousness in a systematic way, given the fact that it is subjectively available only. Furthermore, the project set out to use this knowledge to investigate neural correlates of consciousness and possible clinical applications especially within brain injury rehabilitation.
MindRehab concludes that consciousness cannot be conceptually reduced to lower levels of description, e.g. certain types of behavior, cognition or brain states. Accordingly, the only ”direct” way of measuring consciousness is based on subjects’ own reports. We developed methods to obtain and apply subjects’ own reports and found, in a variety of experimental settings that 1) consciousness appears gradual rather than dichotomous (i.e. there are many ”grades” of weak experiences), and 2) many previous findings of unconscious perception were most likely the result of poor methodology. This latter conclusion was obtained as experimental paradigms that previously have been used to discover and measure unconscious perception seemingly find no unconscious perception when applying the new, graded measure.
Experiments using neuroimaging conducted within the MindRehab framework find that perceptual consciousness seems more related to primary visual areas in the brain than so-called ”higher” areas (e.g. prefrontal). However, findings also indicate an involvement of all brain regions, indicating that the neural correlate of consciousness may not be ”localizable”.
The clinical aspects of the project resulted in new and very promising rehabilitation methods. First of all, we found that specific suggestions given under the influence of hypnosis affect attentional and working memory function indicating a high amount of presently unknown top-down influence on functional recovery and neural reorganization. Also, the finding that positive symptoms (i.e. hallucinations) in schizophrenic patients seemingly relate to ”higher order functions” indicate that the training of these functions may reduce symptoms. Results from our studies of patients in coma, vegetative state and minimally conscious states may also result in new ideas for treatment.
All aspects of the above results are captured in the theoretical model of mind-brain relations that is also in itself a result of the project. We suggest that mental states and behaviour are ”realized” in the brain as particular strategies that are orchestrations of very low-level functions in the brain. Once a brain injury occur, another strategy that involve different low-level functions may realize the very same mental function. In this sense, mental states are in one sense localized and in a different sense not localized in the brain. Consciousness, we believe, is fundamentally related to those kinds of neural activity that makes information available for action, yet it cannot be reduced to this activity. We hope that much more future research can help to establish and develop this idea into a complete framework to understand how physical and subjective properties relate.
MindRehab concludes that consciousness cannot be conceptually reduced to lower levels of description, e.g. certain types of behavior, cognition or brain states. Accordingly, the only ”direct” way of measuring consciousness is based on subjects’ own reports. We developed methods to obtain and apply subjects’ own reports and found, in a variety of experimental settings that 1) consciousness appears gradual rather than dichotomous (i.e. there are many ”grades” of weak experiences), and 2) many previous findings of unconscious perception were most likely the result of poor methodology. This latter conclusion was obtained as experimental paradigms that previously have been used to discover and measure unconscious perception seemingly find no unconscious perception when applying the new, graded measure.
Experiments using neuroimaging conducted within the MindRehab framework find that perceptual consciousness seems more related to primary visual areas in the brain than so-called ”higher” areas (e.g. prefrontal). However, findings also indicate an involvement of all brain regions, indicating that the neural correlate of consciousness may not be ”localizable”.
The clinical aspects of the project resulted in new and very promising rehabilitation methods. First of all, we found that specific suggestions given under the influence of hypnosis affect attentional and working memory function indicating a high amount of presently unknown top-down influence on functional recovery and neural reorganization. Also, the finding that positive symptoms (i.e. hallucinations) in schizophrenic patients seemingly relate to ”higher order functions” indicate that the training of these functions may reduce symptoms. Results from our studies of patients in coma, vegetative state and minimally conscious states may also result in new ideas for treatment.
All aspects of the above results are captured in the theoretical model of mind-brain relations that is also in itself a result of the project. We suggest that mental states and behaviour are ”realized” in the brain as particular strategies that are orchestrations of very low-level functions in the brain. Once a brain injury occur, another strategy that involve different low-level functions may realize the very same mental function. In this sense, mental states are in one sense localized and in a different sense not localized in the brain. Consciousness, we believe, is fundamentally related to those kinds of neural activity that makes information available for action, yet it cannot be reduced to this activity. We hope that much more future research can help to establish and develop this idea into a complete framework to understand how physical and subjective properties relate.