Where Does Consciousness Come From?

New research suggests that four specific, separate processes combine as a "signature" of conscious activity. (Credit: iStockphoto/Linda Bucklin)

From Science Daily:

ScienceDaily (Mar. 17, 2009) — Consciousness arises as an emergent property of the human mind. Yet basic questions about the precise timing, location and dynamics of the neural event(s) allowing conscious access to information are not clearly and unequivocally determined.

Some neuroscientists have even argued that consciousness may arise from a single "seat" in the brain, though the prevailing idea attributes a more global network property.

Do the neural correlates of consciousness correspond to late or early brain events following perception? Do they necessarily involve coherent activity across different regions of the brain, or can they be restricted to local patterns of reverberating activity?

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