Neuroscience has gathered significant evidence linking brain activity to various aspects of consciousness, such as perception, memory, attention, and self-awareness. However, it has not definitively shown that consciousness itself is created by brain activity.
Neuroscientists study the neural correlates of consciousness — brain structures and functions consistently associated with conscious experience. For example, the prefrontal cortex and thalamus are heavily involved in self-awareness and attention.
Functional MRI (fMRI) and EEG technologies reveal that brain activity changes as people move between conscious states, suggesting consciousness is closely tied to the brain's physical states.
Patients with surgically separated brain hemispheres often report altered conscious experiences, indicating that consciousness can be divided based on neural connections.
Neurological damage can disrupt consciousness, affecting memory, perception, and self-awareness, implicating specific brain regions in these processes.
Neuroscience has not yet explained why or how subjective experience arises from neural activity. This remains a major philosophical challenge.
While neuroscience identifies regions involved in self-awareness, it does not explain why people experience a continuous sense of self over time.
Neuroscience relies on third-person observations, which limits understanding of consciousness, as much of it is subjective.
IIT posits that consciousness corresponds to the degree of informational integration in a system, suggesting a fundamental property of complex systems.
Proposed by Roger Penrose and Stuart Hameroff, Orch-OR links consciousness to quantum processes within brain microtubules.
GWT proposes that consciousness emerges from the brain's ability to integrate and broadcast information across different regions.
Neuroscience has made significant progress in identifying links between brain activity and consciousness. However, the fundamental nature of consciousness — how and why it arises — remains unresolved, indicating a complex relationship between the brain and conscious experience.