Brain Structure That Filters Consciousness Identified

Scientists determine the structure of the brain that nominates awareness

Written by Samriti Malawabi And Nature Magazine

Neuroscientists first noticed how structures are activated in the brain when the brain becomes familiar with its own ideas, known as conscious perception.

Brain Constantly With scenes, sounds and other stimuli, but people only realize a slice of the world around them – the taste of a piece of chocolate or the voice of a person, for example. The researchers have long known that the outer layer of the brain, called the brain shell, plays a role in this experience in realizing specific ideas.

The deeper brain structures were more difficult to clarify, because they could only be accessed with gas surgery. Experiences design to test concept in animals is also difficult. The researchers say that studying these areas will allow researchers to expand their consciousness theories beyond the external wrapping of the brain.

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“area Awareness studies “It has sparked a lot of criticism and doubts because this is a phenomenon that is difficult to study,” says Lyad Modric, a neuroscientist at Tel Aviv University in Israel. Awareness investigationShe says.

E or or not

In a study published in sciences Today, Mingsha Chang, a neuroscientist at Beijing University, has focused on the accent. This region is involved in the center of the brain in processing sensory information and working memory, and it is believed to have a role in conscious perception.

Participants were already undergoing severe and continuous treatment HeadacheAnd that had thin poles they were deeply injected into their brains. This allowed Zhang and his colleagues to study their brain signals and measure conscious awareness.

Participants were asked to move their eyes in a certain way depending on whether they had noticed a flash icon on a screen in front of them. The symbol is designed so that the participants are familiar with only about half the time.

During the tasks, the researchers recorded nervous activity in multiple areas of the brain, including the hypothalamus and dandruff. This is the first time that such simultaneous records have been conducted in people who are conducting awareness -related mission, says Christopher White, a neuroscientist at Sydney University in Australia. The work is “really wonderful”, because it allowed the team to consider how the timing of nervous activity varies in different regions.

Gatekeeper

The activity was in the accent of the participants and the frontal lobe when they were aware of the appearance of the symbol significantly different from the activity when they were not. The activity appeared when they were familiar with the symbol earlier and were stronger in the sections of the mulch than the sections of the dandruff, and it appears to be coordinated in the two regions. This indicates that the accent works as a candidate and controls the ideas that reach consciousness that do not do so, says Mac SHINE, a neuroscientist at the University of Sydney.

Previous animal studies support these results. In the 2020 sheet, the magnet researchers used to transport individual mouse bristles enough for mice to notice about half the time. The animals were trained to take a licking of water when they felt movement. The researchers found that the cells in the stroke that were activated when the mice noted that the mice that were displayed to the deeper brain areas, including the hypothalamus.

“One of the most extensive investigations into the role of the mulch in awareness,” says Modrick.

Zhang plans to conduct more experiences in people and investigate the brain activity in detail in makak monkeys.

This article is cloned with permission It was first published On April 3, 2025.