Scientists think they have found the brain area that regulates conscious understanding

A team of Scientists have identified areas of the brain that are activated when one becomes aware of himself or his or her thoughts. This ambiguous process appears to be controlled by the thalamus, a central area of ​​the brain, formerly known as the filter between sensory signals and the brain cortex, part of the brain that governs higher -level processes such as memory, thought and personality.

The conscious understanding of man’s ability to aware of the stimuli received by their senses. This is a different state of being awake, where emotions are automatically processed. Instead, conscious perception requires careful and voluntary analysis of external stimuli. For example, we can breathe automatically, but we can be aware of our breathing and correct the rhythm. Likewise, when listening to a song, we can pay attention to the tools that make up it.

Recently, neurologists have decided to find a part of the brain to have this change in perception. The researchers have traditionally suspected that such a function should be controlled by the brain, because this is where advanced brain processing occurs. The thalamus has never been rejected from being involved in conscious perception, but is usually assigned as a partial role filter as a filter that gives sensory information to the cortex. A new study recently published Science Define this view again, and puts the Talmus as an active participant in conscious perception.

Most studies of thalamus awareness have been skeptical, or because they lack key observation data from the tallam at work, or if they are evident with data, because of the controversial method that may have been obtained. To see if the patient’s brain area is illuminated when paying attention to something “with”, it is necessary for the patient to be aware of the stimuli – that is, be aware – while simultaneously examining your brain with offensive sensors.

But in this new study, a team from the Beijing University in China was inserted into a group of people who had previously inserted thin electrodes in their brain as part of an empirical headache treatment and turned to the ethical question as to whether this research justifies an offensive action.

The researchers performed vision perception test for these patients. A flashing object was displayed on a screen that could hide half the test time. These properties meant that patients had to pay attention to the object and adjust their eyes and maintain their focus on watching it, not just the page without analyzing it. This facilitates conscious perception, is previously implanted with electrodes, and then recorded the brain activity accompanied by this.

The researchers say this is one of the first simultaneous recording of conscious perception, and the information they have recorded provides strong evidence of the hypothesis that the thalamus area operates a gateway for conscious perception. The authors write: “These findings suggest that internal and internal thalamic nuclei regulate conscious perception. This conclusion reflects significant progress in our understanding of the network, which forms the basis of visual awareness in humans.”

This story appeared first Wired en español And translated from Spanish.