Subcortical correlates of consciousness with human single neuron recordings
Subcortical brain structures such as the subthalamic nucleus or the thalamus are involved in regulating motor and cognitive behavior. However, their contribution to perceptual consciousness remains unclear, due to the inherent difficulties of recording subcortical neuronal activity in humans. Here,...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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eLife Sciences Publications Ltd
2025-05-01
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| Series: | eLife |
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| Online Access: | https://elifesciences.org/articles/95272 |
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| author | Michael Pereira Nathan Faivre Fosco Bernasconi Nicholas Brandmeir Jacob E Suffridge Kaylee Tran Shuo Wang Victor Finomore Peter Konrad Ali Rezai Olaf Blanke |
| author_facet | Michael Pereira Nathan Faivre Fosco Bernasconi Nicholas Brandmeir Jacob E Suffridge Kaylee Tran Shuo Wang Victor Finomore Peter Konrad Ali Rezai Olaf Blanke |
| author_sort | Michael Pereira |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Subcortical brain structures such as the subthalamic nucleus or the thalamus are involved in regulating motor and cognitive behavior. However, their contribution to perceptual consciousness remains unclear, due to the inherent difficulties of recording subcortical neuronal activity in humans. Here, we asked neurological patients undergoing surgery for deep brain stimulation to detect weak vibrotactile stimuli applied on their hand while recording single neuron activity from the tip of a microelectrode. We isolated putative single neurons in the subthalamic nucleus and thalamus. A significant proportion of neurons modulated their activity while participants were expecting a stimulus. We found that the firing rate of 23% of these neurons differed between detected and undetected stimuli. Our results provide direct neurophysiological evidence of the involvement of the subthalamic nucleus and the thalamus for the detection of vibrotactile stimuli, thereby calling for a less cortico-centric view of the neural correlates of consciousness. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-366125f7c6ae4f51b44dcf9bfad3b7b9 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2050-084X |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-05-01 |
| publisher | eLife Sciences Publications Ltd |
| record_format | Article |
| series | eLife |
| spelling | doaj-art-366125f7c6ae4f51b44dcf9bfad3b7b92025-08-20T03:13:05ZengeLife Sciences Publications LtdeLife2050-084X2025-05-011310.7554/eLife.95272Subcortical correlates of consciousness with human single neuron recordingsMichael Pereira0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0778-674XNathan Faivre1https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6011-4921Fosco Bernasconi2Nicholas Brandmeir3Jacob E Suffridge4Kaylee Tran5Shuo Wang6https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2562-0225Victor Finomore7Peter Konrad8Ali Rezai9Olaf Blanke10Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Neuro-X Institute & Brain Mind Institute, Faculty of Life Sciences, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), Geneva, Switzerland; Department of Neurosciences, WVU Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute, Morgantown, United States; University Grenoble Alpes, Inserm U1216, CHU Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble Institut Neurosciences, Grenoble, FranceLaboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Neuro-X Institute & Brain Mind Institute, Faculty of Life Sciences, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), Geneva, Switzerland; University Grenoble Alpes, University Savoie Mont Blanc, CNRS, LPNC, Grenoble, FranceLaboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Neuro-X Institute & Brain Mind Institute, Faculty of Life Sciences, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), Geneva, SwitzerlandDepartments of Neurosurgery, WVU Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute, Morgantown, United StatesDepartment of Neurosciences, WVU Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute, Morgantown, United States; Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, West Virginia University, Morgantown, United StatesDepartment of Neurosciences, WVU Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute, Morgantown, United StatesDepartment of Neurosciences, WVU Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute, Morgantown, United States; Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, West Virginia University, Morgantown, United States; Department of Radiology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, United StatesDepartment of Neurosciences, WVU Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute, Morgantown, United StatesDepartments of Neurosurgery, WVU Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute, Morgantown, United StatesDepartment of Neurosciences, WVU Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute, Morgantown, United States; Departments of Neurosurgery, WVU Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute, Morgantown, United StatesLaboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Neuro-X Institute & Brain Mind Institute, Faculty of Life Sciences, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), Geneva, Switzerland; Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University Hospital Geneva, Geneva, SwitzerlandSubcortical brain structures such as the subthalamic nucleus or the thalamus are involved in regulating motor and cognitive behavior. However, their contribution to perceptual consciousness remains unclear, due to the inherent difficulties of recording subcortical neuronal activity in humans. Here, we asked neurological patients undergoing surgery for deep brain stimulation to detect weak vibrotactile stimuli applied on their hand while recording single neuron activity from the tip of a microelectrode. We isolated putative single neurons in the subthalamic nucleus and thalamus. A significant proportion of neurons modulated their activity while participants were expecting a stimulus. We found that the firing rate of 23% of these neurons differed between detected and undetected stimuli. Our results provide direct neurophysiological evidence of the involvement of the subthalamic nucleus and the thalamus for the detection of vibrotactile stimuli, thereby calling for a less cortico-centric view of the neural correlates of consciousness.https://elifesciences.org/articles/95272perceptionconsciousnesssubcorticalneuronthalamussubthalamic |
| spellingShingle | Michael Pereira Nathan Faivre Fosco Bernasconi Nicholas Brandmeir Jacob E Suffridge Kaylee Tran Shuo Wang Victor Finomore Peter Konrad Ali Rezai Olaf Blanke Subcortical correlates of consciousness with human single neuron recordings eLife perception consciousness subcortical neuron thalamus subthalamic |
| title | Subcortical correlates of consciousness with human single neuron recordings |
| title_full | Subcortical correlates of consciousness with human single neuron recordings |
| title_fullStr | Subcortical correlates of consciousness with human single neuron recordings |
| title_full_unstemmed | Subcortical correlates of consciousness with human single neuron recordings |
| title_short | Subcortical correlates of consciousness with human single neuron recordings |
| title_sort | subcortical correlates of consciousness with human single neuron recordings |
| topic | perception consciousness subcortical neuron thalamus subthalamic |
| url | https://elifesciences.org/articles/95272 |
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