Activity in part of the neural correlates of consciousness reflects integration.
Consciousness and cognition October 1, 2017 Johan Eriksson
Integration is often considered essential for generating conscious experiences, so brain activity linked to consciousness should increase when integration demands rise. Using fMRI and informational masking, researchers compared hearing simple repeating tones versus harmonic tone triplets to manipulate integration. The neural correlates of auditory consciousness included the superior temporal gyrus, lateral and medial frontal regions, cerebellum, and parietal cortex. Only left parietal cortex activity increased significantly with greater integration demands. Integration accounts for part of the neural activity underlying conscious experiences, but much of the associated brain activity likely reflects other processes.