Scientists believe they have found the brain region that regulates the conscious perception

Team Scientists have identified areas of brain which are activated when one becomes aware of themselves and their thoughts. This mysterious process seems to be controlled by the thalamus, a central region of the brain, which is already known for its function as a filter between sensory signals and the cerebral cortex, the part of the brain that manages the processes at a higher level such as memory, thought and personality.

Conscious perception is the ability of human beings to realize the stimuli obtained from their senses. This is a different condition than just awake, where the sensations are automatically processed and not reflective. Recently, conscious perception requires a detailed and voluntary analysis of external stimuli. For example, we can breathe automatically, but we can also be aware of our breathing and change its rhythm. In the same way, when we listen to a song, we can pay attention and distinguish the tools that make it.

Recently, neurologists have set out to find the part of the brain where this change in perception occurs. Researchers have traditionally suspected that such a function should be controlled by the cerebral cortex, because it is where the brain is treated. The thalamus has never been excluded from participating in conscious perception, but he is usually assigned a small role as a filter that prepares sensory information in the bark. A new study recently published in Science It redefines this look, positioning the thalamus as an active participant in conscious perception.

Most consciousness studies involving thalamus face skepticism, or because they lack key observation data on the thalamus at work or, if proven by data, because of the controversial way that these data are probably obtained. To see if the patient’s brain region “lights up” with activity, when he pays conscious attention to something, it is necessary for this patient to be aware of the incentives – that is, to be conscious – while being examined with invasive sensors.

But in this new study, a team of Beijing Normal University in China turned to a group of people who already have thin electrodes placed in their brain as part of experimental headache therapy, bypassing the ethical question whether this type of research justifies invasive surgery.

Researchers are applying a visual perception test for these patients. A flashing object was shown on the screen that would hide for half the time of the test. These characteristics mean that patients need to pay attention to the site and adjust their eyes and focus to continue watching it, not just look at the screen without analyzing it. This facilitated the conscious perception, and the already implanted electrodes then record the brain activity that accompanies it.

Researchers say that this is one of the first simultaneous records of conscious perception and the information they have recorded, they offer serious evidence of the hypothesis that the thalamus region acts a kind of door to conscious perception. “The findings show that intralamine and medial thalamic nuclei regulate conscious perception. This conclusion is a significant progress in our understanding of the network, which underlies the visual consciousness in humans,” the authors write.

This story originally appeared on Cable Spanish and was translated from Spanish.