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Affirmative-action for the brainstem in the neuroscience of consciousness: The zeitgeist of the brainstem as a “dumb arousal” system

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2007

Douglas F. Watt
Douglas F. Watt
Affiliation:
Clinic for Cognitive Disorders, Neuropsychology Department, Quincy Medical Center, Quincy, MA 02169 Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA. 02118. dfwatt@rcn.com
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Abstract

Merker offers a remarkable statement about the neural integration essential to conscious states provided by the mesodiencephalon. The model for triangular interaction between action selection, target selection, and emotion is heuristic. Unfortunately, there is little interest (relatively speaking) in neuroscience in the mesodiencephalon, and attention is currently heavily directed to the telencephalon. This suggests that there may be less real momentum than commonly assumed towards the Holy Grail of neuroscience, a scientific theory of mind, despite the major upsurge in interest.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 30 , Issue 1 , February 2007 , pp. 108 - 110
Copyright
2007 Cambridge University Press

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