Causal connectivity according to conscious experience in non-rapid eye movement sleep

Minji Lee, Benjamin Baird, Olivia Gosseries, Jaakko O. Nieminen, Melanie Boly, Giulio Tononi, Seong Whan Lee

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

    1 Citation (Scopus)

    Abstract

    The understanding of human consciousness based on brain connectivity is considered important for brain-machine interfacing. In this study, we investigated changes in causal connectivity in electroencephalography data related to conscious and unconscious experiences during non-rapid eye movement sleep after parietal transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). A serial awakening paradigm was used to determine whether subjects had had a conscious experience or not. We calculated direct transfer function (DTF) as a measure of effective connectivity in five frequency bands focusing on frontal and parietal-occipital regions. The DTF showed significant differences in frontal-to-parietal flow between reported unconsciousness and consciousness. During the first 100 ms after TMS, the outward links of the parietal region at low frequencies were higher in no conscious experience than in conscious experience. During the next 100 ms, however, the outward links of the frontal region were higher in the conscious experience than the no conscious experience at low frequencies. Changes with causal connectivity over time after TMS indicate that the spatial roles in brain regions associated with consciousness are different. These findings may help clarify the cortical mechanisms related to conscious experience.

    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publication2019 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man and Cybernetics, SMC 2019
    PublisherInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
    Pages2133-2138
    Number of pages6
    ISBN (Electronic)9781728145693
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2019 Oct
    Event2019 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man and Cybernetics, SMC 2019 - Bari, Italy
    Duration: 2019 Oct 62019 Oct 9

    Publication series

    NameConference Proceedings - IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man and Cybernetics
    Volume2019-October
    ISSN (Print)1062-922X

    Conference

    Conference2019 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man and Cybernetics, SMC 2019
    Country/TerritoryItaly
    CityBari
    Period19/10/619/10/9

    Bibliographical note

    Publisher Copyright:
    © 2019 IEEE.

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Electrical and Electronic Engineering
    • Control and Systems Engineering
    • Human-Computer Interaction

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