Estimating anisotropy directly via neural timeseries

Fagerholm, Erik D.; Foulkes, W. M. C.; Gallero‐Salas, Yasir; Helmchen, Fritjof; Moran, Rosalyn J.; Friston, Karl J.; Leech, Robert

doi:10.1101/2021.05.25.445605

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 16 publications

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“…In sum, the temporo-spatial alignment is closely related to the notion of symmetry in several ways. (i) Firstly, processes of temporal-spatial alignment result in symmetry between inner and outer states, (ii) with aligning processes understood as governed by informational-gauge-fields (Sengupta et al 2016;Fagerholm et al, 2020;Sakthivadivel, 2022) that preserve essential symmetries of brain and environment through their various sources of temporal and spatial coherence Safron, 2022).…”

Section: Temporo-spatial Alignment and Consciousness: From Neuronal T...mentioning

confidence: 99%

As without, so within: how the brain's temporo-spatial alignment to the environment shapes consciousness

et al. 2023

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Consciousness is constituted by a structure that includes contents as foreground and the environment as background. This structural relation between the experiential foreground and background presupposes a relationship between the brain and the environment, often neglected in theories of consciousness. The temporo-spatial theory of consciousness addresses the brain–environment relation by a concept labelled ‘temporo-spatial alignment’. Briefly, temporo-spatial alignment refers to the brain's neuronal activity's interaction with and adaption to interoceptive bodily and exteroceptive environmental stimuli, including their symmetry as key for consciousness. Combining theory and empirical data, this article attempts to demonstrate the yet unclear neuro-phenomenal mechanisms of temporo-spatial alignment. First, we suggest three neuronal layers of the brain's temporo-spatial alignment to the environment. These neuronal layers span across a continuum from longer to shorter timescales. (i) The background layer comprises longer and more powerful timescales mediating topographic-dynamic similarities between different subjects' brains. (ii) The intermediate layer includes a mixture of medium-scaled timescales allowing for stochastic matching between environmental inputs and neuronal activity through the brain's intrinsic neuronal timescales and temporal receptive windows. (iii) The foreground layer comprises shorter and less powerful timescales for neuronal entrainment of stimuli temporal onset through neuronal phase shifting and resetting. Second, we elaborate on how the three neuronal layers of temporo-spatial alignment correspond to their respective phenomenal layers of consciousness. (i) The inter-subjectively shared contextual background of consciousness. (ii) An intermediate layer that mediates the relationship between different contents of consciousness. (iii) A foreground layer that includes specific fast-changing contents of consciousness. Overall, temporo-spatial alignment may provide a mechanism whose different neuronal layers modulate corresponding phenomenal layers of consciousness. Temporo-spatial alignment can provide a bridging principle for linking physical-energetic (free energy), dynamic (symmetry), neuronal (three layers of distinct time–space scales) and phenomenal (form featured by background–intermediate–foreground) mechanisms of consciousness.

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Section: Temporo-spatial Alignment and Consciousness: From Neuronal T...mentioning

confidence: 99%

As without, so within: how the brain's temporo-spatial alignment to the environment shapes consciousness

et al. 2023

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

As without, so within: How the brain’s temporospatial alignment to the environment shapes consciousness

Northoff¹,

Klar²,

Bein³

et al. 2023

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Consciousness is characterized by a structure of foreground contents and an environmental background. This structure presupposes a relationship between the brain and the environment neglected in many neuroscientific theories of consciousness. One neuroscientific theory of consciousness that addresses the brain-environment relation is the Temporo-Spatial Theory of Consciousness (TTC). By the mechanism of “temporo-spatial alignment”, the TTC considers the symmetry and synchronization of the brain with the environment. Alignment is a mechanism by which the brain adapts to and coordinates its neuronal activity with various interoceptive bodily and exteroceptive environmental stimuli. Based on a synthesis between empirical data and theoretical considerations, we suggest a three-layer conceptual model of neurophenomenal mechanism for consciousness. The neuronal layers are constituted by various lengths of the brain’s intrinsic neuronal timescales that correspond to phenomenal layers of consciousness, such as the environmental background and specific contents in the foreground of consciousness. The suggested three layers are thus shared between the brain’s neuronal activity and consciousness, providing their “common currency” on dynamical grounds coupled to the environment. In establishing an intimate relationship between the environment and brain, temporo-spatial alignment can also be conceived in terms of basic physical-energetic processes, such as free energy, and the dynamical emergence of (a)symmetries.

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Estimating anisotropy directly via neural timeseries

Cited by 2 publications

References 16 publications

As without, so within: how the brain's temporo-spatial alignment to the environment shapes consciousness

As without, so within: how the brain's temporo-spatial alignment to the environment shapes consciousness

As without, so within: How the brain’s temporospatial alignment to the environment shapes consciousness

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