Apical drive—A cellular mechanism of dreaming?

Aru, Jaan; Siclari, Francesca; Phillips, William A.; Storm, Johan F.

doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2020.09.018

Cited by 35 publications

(46 citation statements)

References 201 publications

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“…Both between-states and within-state studies of measures of consciousness could be improved by simultaneous independent measurement of important covariates of brain activity and/or experience, e.g., arousal and/or apical drive (Aru et al, 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

EEG Signal Diversity Varies With Sleep Stage and Aspects of Dream Experience

et al. 2021

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Several theories link consciousness to complex cortical dynamics, as suggested by comparison of brain signal diversity between conscious states and states where consciousness is lost or reduced. In particular, Lempel-Ziv complexity, amplitude coalition entropy and synchrony coalition entropy distinguish wakefulness and REM sleep from deep sleep and anesthesia, and are elevated in psychedelic states, reported to increase the range and vividness of conscious contents. Some studies have even found correlations between complexity measures and facets of self-reported experience. As suggested by integrated information theory and the entropic brain hypothesis, measures of differentiation and signal diversity may therefore be measurable correlates of consciousness and phenomenological richness. Inspired by these ideas, we tested three hypotheses about EEG signal diversity related to sleep and dreaming. First, diversity should decrease with successively deeper stages of non-REM sleep. Second, signal diversity within the same sleep stage should be higher for periods of dreaming vs. non-dreaming. Third, specific aspects of dream contents should correlate with signal diversity in corresponding cortical regions. We employed a repeated awakening paradigm in sleep deprived healthy volunteers, with immediate dream report and rating of dream content along a thought-perceptual axis, from exclusively thought-like to exclusively perceptual. Generalized linear mixed models were used to assess how signal diversity varied with sleep stage, dreaming and thought-perceptual rating. Signal diversity decreased with sleep depth, but was not significantly different between dreaming and non-dreaming, even though there was a significant positive correlation between Lempel-Ziv complexity of EEG recorded over the posterior cortex and thought-perceptual ratings of dream contents.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

EEG Signal Diversity Varies With Sleep Stage and Aspects of Dream Experience

et al. 2021

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“…In contrast to the role of AA in perception, cells in perceptual regions can also be activated during imagery experiences, hallucinations, and dreams. We assume that in these cases inputs from internal sources to the apical dendrites in layer 1 do generate an action potential output, a process referred to as “apical drive” ( Aru et al. 2020a ).…”

Section: The Mechanism Of Aamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…(2012) . Evidence that cholinergic arousal is at its highest during dreaming is reviewed by Aru et al. (2020a) …”

Section: Aa and Perceptual Consciousnessmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Apical amplification—a cellular mechanism of conscious perception?

Marvan

Polak

Bachmann

et al. 2021

Neuroscience of Consciousness

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We present a theoretical view of the cellular foundations for network-level processes involved in producing our conscious experience. Inputs to apical synapses in layer 1 of a large subset of neocortical cells are summed at an integration zone near the top of their apical trunk. These inputs come from diverse sources and provide a context within which the transmission of information abstracted from sensory input to their basal and perisomatic synapses can be amplified when relevant. We argue that apical amplification enables conscious perceptual experience and makes it more flexible, and thus more adaptive, by being sensitive to context. Apical amplification provides a possible mechanism for recurrent processing theory that avoids strong loops. It makes the broadcasting hypothesized by global neuronal workspace theories feasible while preserving the distinct contributions of the individual cells receiving the broadcast. It also provides mechanisms that contribute to the holistic aspects of integrated information theory. As apical amplification is highly dependent on cholinergic, aminergic, and other neuromodulators, it relates the specific contents of conscious experience to global mental states and to fluctuations in arousal when awake. We conclude that apical dendrites provide a cellular mechanism for the context-sensitive selective amplification that is a cardinal prerequisite of conscious perception.

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“…These three ingredients (apical compartment, basal compartment and the NSP-thalamus) could be seen as three dimensions of the state of consciousness. For example, it has been proposed that during dreaming the apical compartment can generate conscious experience with a minor contribution from the basal compartment (Aru, Siclari, et al, 2020). Perhaps the dimension of arousal is controlled by the NSP-thalamic input to the L5p neurons.…”

Section: Dit and The Phenomenological Properties Of Consciousnessmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dendritic integration theory: A thalamo-cortical theory of state and content of consciousness

2020

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The idea that the thalamo-cortical system is the crucial constituent of the neurobiological mechanisms of consciousness has a long history. For the last few decades, however, consciousness research has to a large extent overlooked the interplay between the cortex and thalamus. Here we revive an integrated view of the neurobiology of consciousness by presenting and discussing several recent major findings about the role of the thalamocortical interactions in consciousness. Based on these findings we propose a specific cellular mechanism how thalamic nuclei modulate the integration of different processing streams within single cortical pyramidal neurons. This theory is inspired by recent work done in rodents, but it integrates decades of work conducted on various species. We illustrate how this new view readily explains various properties and experimental phenomena associated with conscious experience. We discuss the implications of this idea and some of the experiments that need to be done in order to test it. Our view bridges two long-standing perspectives on the neural mechanisms of consciousness and proposes that cortical and thalamo-cortical processing interact at the level of single pyramidal cells.

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Apical drive—A cellular mechanism of dreaming?

Cited by 35 publications

References 201 publications

EEG Signal Diversity Varies With Sleep Stage and Aspects of Dream Experience

EEG Signal Diversity Varies With Sleep Stage and Aspects of Dream Experience

Apical amplification—a cellular mechanism of conscious perception?

Dendritic integration theory: A thalamo-cortical theory of state and content of consciousness

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