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Review
. 2023 Apr 21;2023(1):niad008.
doi: 10.1093/nc/niad008. eCollection 2023.

Towards causal mechanisms of consciousness through focused transcranial brain stimulation

Marek Havlík  1 , Jaroslav Hlinka  1   2 , Monika Klírová  1   3 , Petr Adámek  1   3 , Jiří Horáček  1   3
Affiliations
Review

Towards causal mechanisms of consciousness through focused transcranial brain stimulation

Marek Havlík et al. Neurosci Conscious. .

Abstract

Conscious experience represents one of the most elusive problems of empirical science, namely neuroscience. The main objective of empirical studies of consciousness has been to describe the minimal sets of neural events necessary for a specific neuronal state to become consciously experienced. The current state of the art still does not meet this objective but rather consists of highly speculative theories based on correlates of consciousness and an ever-growing list of knowledge gaps. The current state of the art is defined by the limitations of past stimulation techniques and the emphasis on the observational approach. However, looking at the current stimulation technologies that are becoming more accurate, it is time to consider an alternative approach to studying consciousness, which builds on the methodology of causal explanations via causal alterations. The aim of this methodology is to move beyond the correlates of consciousness and focus directly on the mechanisms of consciousness with the help of the currently focused brain stimulation techniques, such as geodesic transcranial electric neuromodulation. This approach not only overcomes the limitations of the correlational methodology but will also become another firm step in the following science of consciousness.

Keywords: brain stimulation; causal explanation; consciousness; excitation; geodesic transcranial electric neuromodulation; inhibition; mechanisms of consciousness; neural correlates of consciousness; transcranial electric stimulation.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors confirm that there is no conflict of interest, whether financial or non-financial, in their manuscript.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
TES protocols
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Functionally distinct neural mechanisms of consciousness
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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