The hard problem of consciousness is the problem of explaining how we experience qualia or phenomenal experiences, such as seeing, hearing, and feeling, and knowing what they are. To solve this problem, a theory of consciousness needs to link brain to mind by modeling how emergent properties of several brain mechanisms interacting together embody detailed properties of individual conscious psyc...

Trance channeling and multiple personality disorder both seem to be predicated on the basic mental process of dissociation. Dissociation has been defined, very simply, as the opposite of association. Elements of the psyche may be in a dynamic relationship with each other, in which case thoughts, feelings, experiences, etc. are integrated into consciousness and memory (association). Or these sam...

It has been said that complexity lies between order and disorder. In the case of brain activity, and physiology in general, complexity issues are being considered with increased emphasis. We sought to identify features of brain organization that are optimal for sensory processing, and that may guide the emergence of cognition and consciousness, by analysing neurophysiological recordings in cons...

One of the most fascinating and challenging questions of cognitive neurosciences is what are the neural correlates of consciousness. We try to answer this question by studying patients having a dissociation between conscious perception and sensory stimulation. We studied patients with right brain damage (RBD) involving unilateral spatial neglect (USN). USN follows a lesion in the right frontopa...

This paper describes a number of studies looking at the assessment and treatment of people with disorders of consciousness (DOCs). These include patients in a coma, patients in a vegetative state (VS), and patients in a minimally conscious state (MCS). It is important to distinguish between these latter 2 states, as referral decisions may well be different for the 2 groups. A new version of a m...

In this article, we present results from an interdisciplinary research project aimed at assessing consciousness in dreams. For this purpose, we compared lucid dreams with normal non-lucid dreams from REM sleep. Both lucid and non-lucid dreams are an important contrast condition for theories of waking consciousness, giving valuable insights into the structure of conscious experience and its neur...

Differentiation of the minimally conscious state (MCS) and the unresponsive wakefulness syndrome (UWS) is a persistent clinical challenge [1]. Based on positron emission tomography (PET) studies with [(18)F]-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) during sleep and anesthesia, the global cerebral metabolic rate of glucose has been proposed as an indicator of consciousness [2, 3]. Likewise, FDG-PET may contribu...

Psychosis as an altered state of consciousness (ASC) Our deepening understanding of brain, mind and consciousness leaves us no option but to expand the neurobiology of psychosis to incorporate the concept of consciousness; its nature, levels, dimensions and dynamics, and the impact this function plays in the development of challenging, abnormal states of mind. Psychosis has been defined as ‘any...

The human mind and consciousness under normal circumstances likely can be considered, as a unified phenomenon involving the whole brain or at least a major part of it. As suggested by some authors, the problem of consciousness cannot be solved without considering quantum mechanics. For this reason, I would like to draw on a general knowledge on quantum fields, if and how they function in the br...

From a behavioral as well as neurobiological point of view, sleep and consciousness are intimately connected. A better understanding of sleep cycles and sleep architecture of patients suffering from disorders of consciousness (DOC) might therefore improve the clinical care for these patients as well as our understanding of the neural correlations of consciousness. Defining sleep in severely bra...