{"results":[{"id":"doaj_10.3389/fneur.2026.1728229","title":"Multi-centered reassessment of CRS-R in disorders of consciousness: a dimensionality reduction study from cognition and motor function","authors":[{"name":"Qiheng He"},{"name":"Yuhan Shang"},{"name":"Yijun Dong"},{"name":"Tianqing Cao"},{"name":"Xiaoke Chai"},{"name":"Yuanli Zhao"},{"name":"Yi Yang"},{"name":"Yi Yang"},{"name":"Yi Yang"},{"name":"Yi Yang"},{"name":"Ming Song"}],"abstract":"ObjectiveThis study aimed to enhance the Coma Recovery Scale-Revised (CRS-R) for disorders of consciousness (DoC) by developing a two-dimensional model differentiating cognition and motor function.MethodsWe analyzed 124 DoC patients retrospectively and validated findings using five multicenter datasets (n = 420). CRS-R subscores were decomposed into Consciousness_x (awareness) and Consciousness_y (arousal/motor function) using Projective Non-negative Matrix Factorization. Logistic regression established diagnostic thresholds, evaluated by accuracy, precision, recall, and F1-score.ResultsThe model achieved high accuracy (0.94), precision (0.92), and recall (0.99). Patients with minimally conscious state (MCS) or emerged MCS showed significantly higher scores than vegetative state (VS) patients (p \u0026lt; 0.05). The four-quadrant framework revealed distinct clinical profiles: Quadrant I (high awareness/arousal) identified patients for cognitive rehabilitation; Quadrant II (low awareness/high arousal) suggested arousal-enhancing therapies; Quadrant III (low awareness/arousal) indicated VS requiring basic support; Quadrant IV (high awareness/low arousal) highlighted needs for sensorimotor integration.ConclusionsThe two-dimensionally reduced representation of CRS-R scores maintains diagnostic accuracy while improving DoC classification. The four-quadrant model enables personalized interventions.Trial registrationOur study has been verified by the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry with the registration number: ChiCTR2400085855, and the registration date is June 19, 2024.","source":"DOAJ","year":2026,"language":"","subjects":["Neurology. Diseases of the nervous system"],"doi":"10.3389/fneur.2026.1728229","url":"https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fneur.2026.1728229/full","is_open_access":true,"published_at":"","score":70},{"id":"doaj_10.1016/j.yjoc.2025.100119","title":"Depression, life satisfaction, and creative output","authors":[{"name":"Ja-Young Hwang"},{"name":"Kim Hahn"}],"abstract":"Over 280 million people worldwide suffer from depression, with approximately 21 million individuals affected in the U.S. working-age population. In creative fields like fashion design, the ability to innovate is essential, and designers are expected to solve design problems effectively. Given the significant relationship between depression, life satisfaction, and work performance, this study aimed to explore how factors such as effort, challenges, personal expressiveness, harmonious passion, and the state of flow influence the creative processes of fashion designers. An online survey of 180 U.S. fashion designers evaluated their design processes, personal expressiveness, life satisfaction, depression, passion, and flow using validated scales. Participants rated their efforts and challenges in design, with all variables demonstrating strong reliability (Cronbach's alpha ≥ 0.80). The study revealed that higher life satisfaction enhances designers' engagement in iterative processes, flow, and personal expressiveness, while lower levels of depression improve overall design effectiveness. This research highlighted the crucial role that psychological factors, such as life satisfaction and depression, played in the creative design process. It emphasized the positive relationship between well-being and design engagement, thereby extending the existing literature on the benefits of artistic activities for mental health. The study also suggested some practical implications for educators and the fashion industry.","source":"DOAJ","year":2026,"language":"","subjects":["Consciousness. Cognition"],"doi":"10.1016/j.yjoc.2025.100119","url":"http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2713374525000263","is_open_access":true,"published_at":"","score":70},{"id":"crossref_10.1016/j.concog.2026.104049","title":"Diverging results with converging operations: Implications for the study of consciousness and cognition","authors":[{"name":"Joseph Glicksohn"}],"abstract":"","source":"CrossRef","year":2026,"language":"en","subjects":null,"doi":"10.1016/j.concog.2026.104049","url":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2026.104049","is_open_access":true,"published_at":"","score":70},{"id":"doaj_10.1007/s10071-025-01953-2","title":"Exploring the function of greeting display in a long-term monogamous songbird, the Java sparrow","authors":[{"name":"Yuhan Zhang"},{"name":"Masayo Soma"}],"abstract":"Abstract Complex displays that comprise multiple behavioral elements play an essential role in the communication of group-living animals. One of them is a greeting display. Greeting is performed during the reunion after a separation, and is known for maintaining social bonds in mammals and pair bonds in monogamous fish. Greeting displays have been documented in birds, but lack functional studies. Java sparrows (Lonchura oryzivora) are gregarious and long-term monogamous songbird species, exhibiting a complex greeting display consisting of a sequence of four repetitive behavioral elements. We hypothesized that Java sparrow greetings function as between-pair communication in social contexts. In particular, we expected that pair-bonded partners would greet more after experiencing longer separation. In addition, we also predicted that they greet more when other conspecific individuals are nearby; as it is more important for them to confirm and advertise their commitment relationships. To test these ideas, we conducted separation-reunion tests using pair-bonded Java sparrows with different separation times (long vs. short) and different social conditions (with vs. without the presence of conspecifics). We calculated and compared the sequential complexity of the greeting displays. We showed that subject pairs performed a greater number of greeting display bouts after longer separation times. In the presence of conspecifics, greeting displays were more frequent, longer, and more complex. Our finding supports the idea that greeting displays in birds are crucial to pair-bond maintenance, contributing to understanding the evolution of complex communications in birds.","source":"DOAJ","year":2025,"language":"","subjects":["Zoology","Consciousness. Cognition"],"doi":"10.1007/s10071-025-01953-2","url":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-025-01953-2","is_open_access":true,"published_at":"","score":69},{"id":"crossref_10.1016/s1053-8100(25)00005-4","title":"Editorial Board","authors":null,"abstract":"","source":"CrossRef","year":2025,"language":"en","subjects":null,"doi":"10.1016/s1053-8100(25)00005-4","url":"https://doi.org/10.1016/s1053-8100(25)00005-4","is_open_access":true,"published_at":"","score":69},{"id":"doaj_10.1186/s41235-024-00608-z","title":"Acquiring complex concepts through classification versus observation","authors":[{"name":"Daniel Corral"},{"name":"Shana K. Carpenter"}],"abstract":"Abstract We report six experiments that examine how two essential components of a category-learning paradigm, training and feedback, can be manipulated to maximize learning and transfer of real-world, complex concepts. Some subjects learned through classification and were asked to classify hypothetical experiment scenarios as either true or non-true experiments; others learned through observation, wherein these same scenarios were presented along with the corresponding category label. Additionally, some subjects were presented correct-answer feedback (the category label), whereas others were presented explanation feedback (the correct answer and a detailed explanation). For classification training, this feedback was presented after each classification judgment; for observation training this feedback was presented simultaneously with the hypothetical experiment. After the learning phase, subjects completed a posttest that included one task that involved classifying novel hypothetical scenarios and another task comprising multiple-choice questions about novel scenarios, in which subjects had to specify the issue with the scenario or indicate how it could be fixed. The posttest either occurred immediately after the learning phase (Experiments 1–2), 10 min later (Experiments 3–4), two days later (Experiment 5), or one week later (Experiment 6). Explanation feedback generally led to better learning and transfer than correct-answer feedback. However, although subjects showed clear evidence of learning and transfer, posttest performance did not differ between classification and observation training. Critically, various learning theories and principles (e.g., retrieval practice, generation, active learning) predict a classification advantage. Our results thus call into question the extent to which such theories and principles extend to the transfer of learning.","source":"DOAJ","year":2024,"language":"","subjects":["Consciousness. Cognition"],"doi":"10.1186/s41235-024-00608-z","url":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s41235-024-00608-z","is_open_access":true,"published_at":"","score":68},{"id":"doaj_10.1007/s10071-024-01840-2","title":"How do animals weigh conflicting information about reward sources over time? Comparing dynamic averaging models","authors":[{"name":"Jack Van Allsburg"},{"name":"Timothy A. Shahan"}],"abstract":"Abstract Optimal foraging theory suggests that animals make decisions which maximize their food intake per unit time when foraging, but the mechanisms animals use to track the value of behavioral alternatives and choose between them remain unclear. Several models for how animals integrate past experience have been suggested. However, these models make differential predictions for the occurrence of spontaneous recovery of choice: a behavioral phenomenon in which a hiatus from the experimental environment results in animals reverting to a behavioral allocation consistent with a reward distribution from the more distant past, rather than one consistent with their most recently experienced distribution. To explore this phenomenon and compare these models, three free-operant experiments with rats were conducted using a serial reversal design. In Phase 1, two responses (A and B) were baited with pellets on concurrent variable interval schedules, favoring option A. In Phase 2, lever baiting was reversed to favor option B. Rats then entered a delay period, where they were maintained at weight in their home cages and no experimental sessions took place. Following this delay, preference was assessed using initial responding in test sessions where levers were presented, but not baited. Models were compared in performance, including an exponentially weighted moving average, the Temporal Weighting Rule, and variants of these models. While the data provided strong evidence of spontaneous recovery of choice, the form and extent of recovery was inconsistent with the models under investigation. Potential interpretations are discussed in relation to both the decision rule and valuation functions employed.","source":"DOAJ","year":2024,"language":"","subjects":["Zoology","Consciousness. Cognition"],"doi":"10.1007/s10071-024-01840-2","url":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-024-01840-2","is_open_access":true,"published_at":"","score":68},{"id":"doaj_10.1186/s41235-024-00533-1","title":"How do humans learn about the reliability of automation?","authors":[{"name":"Luke Strickland"},{"name":"Simon Farrell"},{"name":"Micah K. Wilson"},{"name":"Jack Hutchinson"},{"name":"Shayne Loft"}],"abstract":"Abstract In a range of settings, human operators make decisions with the assistance of automation, the reliability of which can vary depending upon context. Currently, the processes by which humans track the level of reliability of automation are unclear. In the current study, we test cognitive models of learning that could potentially explain how humans track automation reliability. We fitted several alternative cognitive models to a series of participants’ judgements of automation reliability observed in a maritime classification task in which participants were provided with automated advice. We examined three experiments including eight between-subjects conditions and 240 participants in total. Our results favoured a two-kernel delta-rule model of learning, which specifies that humans learn by prediction error, and respond according to a learning rate that is sensitive to environmental volatility. However, we found substantial heterogeneity in learning processes across participants. These outcomes speak to the learning processes underlying how humans estimate automation reliability and thus have implications for practice.","source":"DOAJ","year":2024,"language":"","subjects":["Consciousness. Cognition"],"doi":"10.1186/s41235-024-00533-1","url":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s41235-024-00533-1","is_open_access":true,"published_at":"","score":68},{"id":"doaj_Attention+and+Interoception+Alter+Perceptual+and+Neural+Pain+Signatures-A+Case+Study","title":"Attention and Interoception Alter Perceptual and Neural Pain Signatures-A Case Study","authors":[{"name":"Niedernhuber M"},{"name":"Streicher J"},{"name":"Leggenhager B"},{"name":"Bekinschtein TA"}],"abstract":"Maria Niedernhuber,1,2,\u0026ast; Joaquim Streicher,1,3,\u0026ast; Bigna Leggenhager,2,4 Tristan A Bekinschtein1,3 1Cambridge Consciousness and Cognition Lab, Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK; 2Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland; 3Human Experience Dynamics Ltd, London, UK; 4Department of Psychology, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany\u0026ast;These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Tristan A Bekinschtein, Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Downing Pl, Cambridge, CB2 3EB, UK, Email tb419@cam.ac.ukIntroduction: Fluctuations of chronic pain levels are determined by a complex interplay of cognitive, emotional and perceptual variables. We introduce a pain tracking platform composed of wearable neurotechnology and a smartphone application to measure and predict chronic pain levels and its interplay with other dimensions of experience.Methods: Our method measures, dynamically and at home, pain strength, phenomenal and neural time series collected with an online tool and low-density EEG. Here we used data from a single participant who performed an attention task at home for a period of 20 days to investigate the role of attention to different bodily systems in chronic pain.Results: We show a relationship between emotions and pain strength while allocating attention to the heartbeat, the breathing, the affected or the unaffected limb. We found that pain was maximal when attending to the affected limb and decreased when the participant focused on his breathing or his heartbeat. These results provide interesting insights regarding the role of attention to interoceptive signals in chronic pain. We found power changes in the delta, theta, alpha and beta (but not in the gamma) band between the four attention conditions. However, there was no reliable association of these changes to pain intensity ratings. Theta power was higher when attention was directed to the unaffected limb compared to the others. Further, the pain ratings, when attending to unaffected limb, were associated with alpha and theta power band changes.Conclusion: Overall, we demonstrate that our neurophysiology and experience tracking platform can capture how body attention allocation alters the dynamics of subjective measures and its neural correlates. This research approach is proof of concept for the development of personalized clinical assessment tools and a testbed for behavioural, subjective and biomarkers characterization.Keywords: pain, consciousness, EEG, power, CRPS","source":"DOAJ","year":2024,"language":"","subjects":["Medicine (General)"],"url":"https://www.dovepress.com/attention-and-interoception-alter-perceptual-and-neural-pain-signature-peer-reviewed-fulltext-article-JPR","is_open_access":true,"published_at":"","score":68},{"id":"crossref_10.1016/s1053-8100(24)00071-0","title":"Editorial Board","authors":null,"abstract":"","source":"CrossRef","year":2024,"language":"en","subjects":null,"doi":"10.1016/s1053-8100(24)00071-0","url":"https://doi.org/10.1016/s1053-8100(24)00071-0","is_open_access":true,"published_at":"","score":68},{"id":"ss_a553ad662d5510440d36931ebcb8ad0dcf332109","title":"Consciousness, Cognition and the Neuronal Cytoskeleton – A New Paradigm Needed in Neuroscience","authors":[{"name":"S. Hameroff"}],"abstract":"Viewing the brain as a complex computer of simple neurons cannot account for consciousness nor essential features of cognition. Single cell organisms with no synapses perform purposeful intelligent functions using their cytoskeletal microtubules. A new paradigm is needed to view the brain as a scale-invariant hierarchy extending both upward from the level of neurons to larger and larger neuronal networks, but also downward, inward, to deeper, faster quantum and classical processes in cytoskeletal microtubules inside neurons. Evidence shows self-similar patterns of conductive resonances repeating in terahertz, gigahertz, megahertz, kilohertz and hertz frequency ranges in microtubules. These conductive resonances apparently originate in terahertz quantum dipole oscillations and optical interactions among pi electron resonance clouds of aromatic amino acid rings of tryptophan, phenylalanine and tyrosine within each tubulin, the component subunit of microtubules, and the brain’s most abundant protein. Evidence from cultured neuronal networks also now shows that gigahertz and megahertz oscillations in dendritic-somatic microtubules regulate specific firings of distal axonal branches, causally modulating membrane and synaptic activities. The brain should be viewed as a scale-invariant hierarchy, with quantum and classical processes critical to consciousness and cognition originating in microtubules inside neurons.","source":"Semantic Scholar","year":2022,"language":"en","subjects":["Medicine"],"doi":"10.3389/fnmol.2022.869935","url":"https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/a553ad662d5510440d36931ebcb8ad0dcf332109","pdf_url":"https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnmol.2022.869935/pdf","is_open_access":true,"citations":45,"published_at":"","score":67.35},{"id":"ss_09e41e6c384bc880c8618ffa16a160b992e699d2","title":"Consciousness, (meta)cognition, and culture","authors":[{"name":"ChrisD . Frith"}],"abstract":"Our conscious experience is determined by a combination of top-down processes (e.g., prior beliefs) and bottom-up processes (e.g., sensations). The balance between these two processes depends on estimates of their reliability (precision), so that the estimate considered more reliable is given more weight. We can modify these estimates at the metacognitive level, changing the relative weights of priors and sensations. This enables us, for example, to direct our attention to weak stimuli. But there is a cost to this malleability. For example, excessive weighting of top-down processes, as in schizophrenia, can lead to perceiving things that are not there and believing things that are not true. It is only at the top of the brain’s cognitive hierarchy that metacognitive control becomes conscious. At this level, our beliefs concern complex, abstract entities with which we have limited direct experience. Estimates of the precision of such beliefs are more uncertain and more malleable. However, at this level, we do not need to rely on our own limited experience. We can rely instead on the experiences of others. Explicit metacognition plays a unique role, enabling us to share our experiences. We acquire our beliefs about the world from our immediate social group and from our wider culture. And the same sources provide us with better estimates of the precision of these beliefs. Our confidence in our high-level beliefs is heavily influenced by culture at the expense of direct experience.","source":"Semantic Scholar","year":2023,"language":"en","subjects":["Medicine"],"doi":"10.1177/17470218231164502","url":"https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/09e41e6c384bc880c8618ffa16a160b992e699d2","pdf_url":"https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/17470218231164502","is_open_access":true,"citations":11,"published_at":"","score":67.33},{"id":"ss_4577de52d0b0323848ea388f0771756f2af7b4c8","title":"Baroreceptor Modulation of the Cardiovascular System, Pain, Consciousness, and Cognition","authors":[{"name":"H. Suarez-Roca"},{"name":"Negmeldeen Mamoun"},{"name":"M. I. Sigurdson"},{"name":"W. Maixner"}],"abstract":"Baroreceptors are mechanosensitive elements of the peripheral nervous system that maintain cardiovascular homeostasis by coordinating the responses to external and internal environmental stressors. While it is well known that carotid and cardiopulmonary baroreceptors modulate sympathetic vasomotor and parasympathetic cardiac neural autonomic drive, to avoid excessive fluctuations in vascular tone and maintain intravascular volume, there is increasing recognition that baroreceptors also modulate a wide range of non‐cardiovascular physiological responses via projections from the nucleus of the solitary tract to regions of the central nervous system, including the spinal cord. These projections regulate pain perception, sleep, consciousness, and cognition. In this article, we summarize the physiology of baroreceptor pathways and responses to baroreceptor activation with an emphasis on the mechanisms influencing cardiovascular function, pain perception, consciousness, and cognition. Understanding baroreceptor‐mediated effects on cardiac and extra‐cardiac autonomic activities will further our understanding of the pathophysiology of multiple common clinical conditions, such as chronic pain, disorders of consciousness (e.g., abnormalities in sleep‐wake), and cognitive impairment, which may result in the identification and implementation of novel treatment modalities. © 2021 American Physiological Society. Compr Physiol 11:1373‐1423, 2021.","source":"Semantic Scholar","year":2021,"language":"en","subjects":["Medicine"],"doi":"10.1002/j.2040-4603.2021.tb00152.x","url":"https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/4577de52d0b0323848ea388f0771756f2af7b4c8","is_open_access":true,"citations":70,"published_at":"","score":67.1},{"id":"doaj_10.1186/s41235-022-00452-z","title":"Children’s memory “in the wild”: examining the temporal organization of free recall from a week-long camp at a local zoo","authors":[{"name":"Thanujeni Pathman"},{"name":"Lina Deker"},{"name":"Puneet Kaur Parmar"},{"name":"Mark Christopher Adkins"},{"name":"Sean M. Polyn"}],"abstract":"Abstract Free-recall paradigms have greatly influenced our understanding of memory. The majority of this research involves laboratory-based events (e.g., word lists) that are studied and tested within minutes. This literature shows that adults recall events in a temporally organized way, with successive responses often coming from neighboring list positions (i.e., temporal clustering) and with enhanced memorability of items from the end of a list (i.e., recency). Temporal clustering effects are so robust that temporal organization is described as a fundamental memory property. Yet relatively little is known about the development of this temporal structure across childhood, and even less about children’s memory search for real-world events occurring over an extended period. In the present work, children (N = 144; 3 age groups: 4–5-year-olds, 6–7-year-olds, 8–10-year-olds) took part in a 5-day summer camp at a local zoo. The camp involved various dynamic events, including daily animal exhibit visits. On day 5, children were asked to recall all the animals they visited. We found that overall recall performance, in terms of number of animals recalled, improved steadily across childhood. Temporal organization and recency effects showed different developmental patterns. Temporal clustering was evident in the response sequences for all age groups and became progressively stronger across childhood. In contrast, the recency advantage, when characterized as a proportion of total responses, was stable across age groups. Thus, recall dynamics in early childhood parallel that seen in adulthood, with continued development of temporal organization across middle to late childhood.","source":"DOAJ","year":2023,"language":"","subjects":["Consciousness. Cognition"],"doi":"10.1186/s41235-022-00452-z","url":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s41235-022-00452-z","is_open_access":true,"published_at":"","score":67},{"id":"doaj_10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1117645","title":"A low-threshold sleep intervention for improving sleep quality and well-being","authors":[{"name":"Esther-Sevil Eigl"},{"name":"Laura Krystin Urban-Ferreira"},{"name":"Manuel Schabus"},{"name":"Manuel Schabus"}],"abstract":"BackgroundApproximately one-third of the healthy population suffer from sleep problems, but only a small proportion of those affected receive professional help. Therefore, there is an urgent need for easily accessible, affordable, and efficacious sleep interventions.ObjectiveA randomized controlled study was conducted to investigate the efficacy of a low-threshold sleep intervention consisting of either (i) sleep data feedback plus sleep education or (ii) sleep data feedback alone in comparison with (iii) no intervention.Material and methodsA total of 100 employees of the University of Salzburg (age: 39.51 ± 11.43 years, range: 22–62 years) were randomly assigned to one of the three groups. During the 2-week study period, objective sleep parameters were assessed via actigraphy. In addition, an online questionnaire and a daily digital diary were used to record subjective sleep parameters, work-related factors, as well as mood and well-being. After 1 week, a personal appointment was conducted with participants of both experimental group 1 (EG1) and experimental group 2 (EG2). While the EG2 only received feedback about their sleep data from week 1, the EG1 additionally received a 45-min sleep education intervention containing sleep hygiene rules and recommendations regarding stimulus control. A waiting-list control group (CG) did not receive any feedback until the end of the study.ResultsResults indicate positive effects on sleep and well-being following sleep monitoring over the course of 2 weeks and minimal intervention with a single in-person appointment including sleep data feedback. Improvements are seen in sleep quality, mood, vitality, and actigraphy-measured sleep efficiency (SE; EG1), as well as in well-being and sleep onset latency (SOL) in EG2. The inactive CG did not improve in any parameter.ConclusionResults suggest small and beneficial effects on sleep and well-being in people being continuously monitored and receiving (actigraphy-based) sleep feedback when paired with a single-time personal intervention.","source":"DOAJ","year":2023,"language":"","subjects":["Psychiatry"],"doi":"10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1117645","url":"https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1117645/full","is_open_access":true,"published_at":"","score":67},{"id":"doaj_10.21494/ISTE.OP.2024.1064","title":"Faut-il craindre les IA ou ceux qui agitent les fantasmes ?","authors":[{"name":"Benoît Le Blanc"}],"abstract":"","source":"DOAJ","year":2023,"language":"","subjects":["Consciousness. Cognition"],"doi":"10.21494/ISTE.OP.2024.1064","url":"https://www.openscience.fr/Faut-il-craindre-les-IA-ou-ceux-qui-agitent-les-fantasmes","is_open_access":true,"published_at":"","score":67},{"id":"crossref_10.1016/s1053-8100(23)00151-4","title":"Editorial Board","authors":null,"abstract":"","source":"CrossRef","year":2023,"language":"en","subjects":null,"doi":"10.1016/s1053-8100(23)00151-4","url":"https://doi.org/10.1016/s1053-8100(23)00151-4","is_open_access":true,"published_at":"","score":67},{"id":"ss_45035f0927b9dcfadef4de6ab21ad970a87a6b5f","title":"Consciousness and cognition in plants.","authors":[{"name":"Miguel Segundo-Ortin"},{"name":"P. Calvo"}],"abstract":"Unlike animal behavior, behavior in plants is traditionally assumed to be completely determined either genetically or environmentally. Under this assumption, plants are usually considered to be noncognitive organisms. This view nonetheless clashes with a growing body of empirical research that shows that many sophisticated cognitive capabilities traditionally assumed to be exclusive to animals are exhibited by plants too. Yet, if plants can be considered cognitive, even in a minimal sense, can they also be considered conscious? Some authors defend that the quest for plant consciousness is worth pursuing, under the premise that sentience can play a role in facilitating plant's sophisticated behavior. The goal of this article is not to provide a positive argument for plant cognition and consciousness, but to invite a constructive, empirically informed debate about it. After reviewing the empirical literature concerning plant cognition, we introduce the reader to the emerging field of plant neurobiology. Research on plant electrical and chemical signaling can help shed light into the biological bases for plant sentience. To conclude, we shall present a series of approaches to scientifically investigate plant consciousness. In sum, we invite the reader to consider the idea that if consciousness boils down to some form of biological adaptation, we should not exclude a priori the possibility that plants have evolved their own phenomenal experience of the world. This article is categorized under: Cognitive Biology \u003e Evolutionary Roots of Cognition Philosophy \u003e Consciousness Neuroscience \u003e Cognition.","source":"Semantic Scholar","year":2021,"language":"en","subjects":["Medicine"],"doi":"10.1002/wcs.1578","url":"https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/45035f0927b9dcfadef4de6ab21ad970a87a6b5f","pdf_url":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdfdirect/10.1002/wcs.1578","is_open_access":true,"citations":65,"published_at":"","score":66.95},{"id":"ss_757756c83549153ae2c3a2016d3a764424c1f21c","title":"Minimal physicalism as a scale-free substrate for cognition and consciousness","authors":[{"name":"C. Fields"},{"name":"J. Glazebrook"},{"name":"M. Levin"}],"abstract":"Abstract Theories of consciousness and cognition that assume a neural substrate automatically regard phylogenetically basal, nonneural systems as nonconscious and noncognitive. Here, we advance a scale-free characterization of consciousness and cognition that regards basal systems, including synthetic constructs, as not only informative about the structure and function of experience in more complex systems but also as offering distinct advantages for experimental manipulation. Our “minimal physicalist” approach makes no assumptions beyond those of quantum information theory, and hence is applicable from the molecular scale upwards. We show that standard concepts including integrated information, state broadcasting via small-world networks, and hierarchical Bayesian inference emerge naturally in this setting, and that common phenomena including stigmergic memory, perceptual coarse-graining, and attention switching follow directly from the thermodynamic requirements of classical computation. We show that the self-representation that lies at the heart of human autonoetic awareness can be traced as far back as, and serves the same basic functions as, the stress response in bacteria and other basal systems.","source":"Semantic Scholar","year":2021,"language":"en","subjects":["Medicine"],"doi":"10.1093/nc/niab013","url":"https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/757756c83549153ae2c3a2016d3a764424c1f21c","pdf_url":"https://academic.oup.com/nc/article-pdf/2021/2/niab013/39524810/niab013.pdf","is_open_access":true,"citations":63,"published_at":"","score":66.89},{"id":"ss_c0f8b9d64b975a92e8c76472cc537c4445d9bf16","title":"Recovery of consciousness and cognition after general anesthesia in humans","authors":[{"name":"G. Mashour"},{"name":"B. J. Palanca"},{"name":"M. Basner"},{"name":"Duan Li"},{"name":"Wei Wang"},{"name":"S. Blain-Moraes"},{"name":"N. Lin"},{"name":"Kaitlyn L. Maier"},{"name":"M. Muench"},{"name":"V. Tarnal"},{"name":"G. Vanini"},{"name":"E. Ochroch"},{"name":"Rosemary Hogg"},{"name":"Marlon Schwartz"},{"name":"H. Maybrier"},{"name":"R. Hardie"},{"name":"E. Janke"},{"name":"Goodarz Golmirzaie"},{"name":"P. Picton"},{"name":"A. McKinstry-Wu"},{"name":"M. Avidan"},{"name":"M. Kelz"}],"abstract":"Understanding how consciousness and cognitive function return after a major perturbation is important clinically and neurobiologically. To address this question, we conducted a three-center study of 30 healthy humans receiving general anesthesia at clinically relevant doses for three hours. We administered a pre- and post-anesthetic battery of neurocognitive tests, recorded continuous electroencephalography to assess cortical dynamics, and monitored sleep-wake activity before and following anesthetic exposure. We hypothesized that cognitive reconstitution would be a process that evolved over time in the following sequence: attention, complex scanning and tracking, working memory, and executive function. Contrary to our hypothesis, executive function returned first and electroencephalographic analyses revealed that frontal cortical dynamics recovered faster than posterior cortical dynamics. Furthermore, actigraphy indicated normal sleep-wake patterns in the post-anesthetic period. These recovery patterns of higher cognitive function and arousal states suggest that the healthy human brain is resilient to the effects of deep general anesthesia.","source":"Semantic Scholar","year":2020,"language":"en","subjects":["Biology","Psychology","Medicine"],"doi":"10.7554/eLife.59525","url":"https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/c0f8b9d64b975a92e8c76472cc537c4445d9bf16","pdf_url":"https://doi.org/10.7554/elife.59525","is_open_access":true,"citations":91,"published_at":"","score":66.72999999999999}],"total":960335,"page":1,"page_size":20,"sources":["DOAJ","CrossRef","Semantic Scholar"],"query":"Consciousness. Cognition"}