Dere Ekrem
Department of Behavioral and Clinical Neuroscience, Ruhr-University Bochum, Bochum, Germany.
Unité de Formation et de Recherche des Sciences de la Vie (UFR 927), Institut de Biologie Paris-Seine, Sorbonne Université, Paris, France.
Front Behav Neurosci. 2024 Jul 25;18:1443161. doi: 10.3389/fnbeh.2024.1443161. eCollection 2024.
For over a century, the neuro- and pathophysiological, behavioral, and cognitive correlates of consciousness have been an active field of theoretical considerations and empirical research in a wide range of modern disciplines. Conscious cognitive processing of information cannot be observed directly, but might be inferred from step-like discontinuities in learning performance or sudden insight-based improvements in problem solving behavior. It is assumed that a sudden step of knowledge associated with insight requires a creative reorganization of mental representations of task- or problem-relevant information and the restructuration of the task, respectively problem to overcome an cognitive dead-end or impasse. Discontinuities in learning performance or problem solving after an insight event can be used as time-tags to capture the time window in which conscious cognitive information processing must have taken place. According to the platform theory of conscious cognitive information processing, the reorganization and restructuration processes, require the maintenance of task- or problem-relevant information in working memory for the operation of executive functions on these mental representations. Electrophysiological evidence suggests that the reorganization and restructuration processes in working memory, that precede insight-based problem solutions are accompanied by an increase in the power of gamma oscillations in cortical areas including the prefrontal cortex. Empirical evidence and theoretical assumptions argue for an involvement of gap junction channels and connexin hemichannels in cortical gamma-oscillations and working memory processes. Discontinuities in learning or problem solving performance might be used as time-tags to investigate the implication of gap junction channels and hemichannels in conscious cognitive processing.
一个多世纪以来，意识的神经和病理生理、行为及认知关联一直是众多现代学科中理论思考和实证研究的活跃领域。意识层面的信息认知处理无法直接观察到，但可以从学习表现中的阶梯状不连续性或基于顿悟的问题解决行为的突然改善中推断出来。据推测，与顿悟相关的知识突然进步分别需要对任务或问题相关信息的心理表征进行创造性重组以及对任务（即问题）进行重构，以克服认知上的死胡同或僵局。顿悟事件后学习表现或问题解决中的不连续性可作为时间标记，用于捕捉意识认知信息处理必定发生的时间窗口。根据意识认知信息处理的平台理论，重组和重构过程需要在工作记忆中维持任务或问题相关信息，以便对这些心理表征执行执行功能。电生理证据表明，在基于顿悟的问题解决之前，工作记忆中的重组和重构过程伴随着包括前额叶皮层在内的皮层区域伽马振荡功率的增加。实证证据和理论假设都支持间隙连接通道和连接蛋白半通道参与皮层伽马振荡和工作记忆过程。学习或问题解决表现中的不连续性可作为时间标记，用于研究间隙连接通道和半通道在意识认知处理中的作用。
