Vogt Cingulate Precuneus Retrosplenial Cortex NCC Consciousness 2005

Jun 29, 2010 1:37 PM  Brent VOGT  and Steven Laureys

VOGT is president of the Cingulum Neurosci Institute.

He is at SUNY  in Syracuse   Upstate  medical university.

vogt@upstate.edu

Posterior Cingulate, Precuneal & Retrosplenial Cortices: Cytology

& Components of the Neural Network Correlates of

Consciousness*

Progress in Brain Research 2005

They claim that those the regions  RSC =  retrosplenial cortex

PCC =  Posterior Cingulate cortex and

PrCC  precuneate cortex

are critical nodes in the NCC network =  NNCC = neural network correlates of consc.

They have highlest level of  cytochrome c oxidase;  brain glucose metab.

Anterior thalamic projection and aneroventral thalamic nucleus is a key coupling site btwn brain

stem system for arousal and cortical systems for cognit proc and awareness.

Region is critical to self-reflection.

Finally, anatomical relations between the neural correlates of mind and NNCC in the

cingulate gyrus do not appear to overlap and suggests that mental function and conscious awareness may be mediated by two neural networks.

page 6  SELF REFLECTION and Complex Info Proc.

It is also possible that during complex sensory processing in other

modalities, activity in this region must be suspended. Thus, conscious reflection on self is

mediated by PCC/PrCC and this processing must be suspended and activity in this posterior

cingulate region inactivated when engaging in complex cognitive and sensory information

processing tasks. To the extent that PCC/PrCC is essential for conscious awareness, painful

stimulation leads subjects to internally inactivate the region of cortex that underpins their

conscious awareness.

page 7  Anatomic Reltn Btwn  MENTAL Processing and CONSC Info Processing

(they are SEPARATE!)  !!!!!!!!!

The disproportionately important role of RSC/PCC/PrCC in conscious awareness raises

another issue: To what extent do the NNCC in the cingulate gyrus overlap with the neural

correlates of mind (NCM)? The same view of consciousness has been argued previously for

NCM (Vogt and Devinsky, 2001) to the extent that there is a part of cingulate cortex that plays

a particularly important role in mental function based on lesion and functional imaging

observations. The neuroscientific definition of mind in this context is those locations in the

brain where mental activity has the highest probablility of causing an increase in neuronal and

functional activation. Thus, intentions to move/willed actions, long-term storage of self-

centered information, the logic of mental activity including inductive reasoning, and theory of

mind tasks in which a subject is asked to interpret the mental state of another individual all

activate only part of the cingulate gyrus rather than its full extent The conclusion from this

assessment was that ACC and MCC along with adjacent frontal areas 8, 9, and 10 form a

cingulofrontal convergence region that is a critical node in the NCM. It is striking that only a

few studies engaged PCC as in theory of mind work (Fletcher et al., 1995) and this was

attributed to its role in self-centered reflection as part of the paradigm rather than a pivotal role

for PCC in the NCM.

NNCC and NCMind  work together but are separate... together constitute essence of humanity.

It appears that the NNCC and NCM do not appreciably overlap in the cingulate gyrus.

This conclusion raises doubts about the extent to which mental function in terms of cognitive

processing and conscious awareness is subserved by the same neural substrates. Viewed in this

manner, mental function is a higher order motor selection process, while conscious awareness

involves a continual stream of self reflection and an effort to relate the self to its sensory

environment. Surprisingly, both functional networks may operate essentially independent of

each other but together form the essence of human brain function. Thus, human functional

imaging provides an important context for resolving many of the essential philosophical

questions regarding mind and consciousness raised over the past two millennia and it appears

these issues will eventually be resolved via a thoughtful consideration of the structure, functions

and pathologies of the cingulate gyrus.

Vogt Cingulate Precuneus Retrosplenial Cortex NCC Consciousness 2005

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