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\t\t\tPhoto Illustration by Tag Hartman-Simkins \/ Futurism. Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
If you don\u2019t know anything about neuroscience, that\u2019s okay \u2014 one researcher\u2019s striking theory might send us all back to the start anyway. <\/p>\n
Peter Coppola is a visiting neuroscience researcher at the University of Cambridge, where he recently finished a review<\/a> of over 100 years of brain science. The goal, he wrote afterward in <\/a>The Conversation<\/a>, was to chart a hierarchy of the brain, to see which regions were more important for consciousness.<\/p>\n To undertake the exhaustive study, Coppola turned over every rock in the field of neuroscience, from extreme surgical studies<\/a> of cats and monkeys to the effect of electrical pulses<\/a> and magnetic stimulation<\/a> on the brain. The results of his survey, he says, is a body of evidence that challenges the most widely understood theories of consciousness to date.<\/p>\n Consciousness is typically defined as immediate awareness<\/a> of our feelings, emotions, and experiences. Because we experience consciousness from the comfort of our own minds, it\u2019s what\u2019s known as a subjective phenomenon.<\/p>\n Science, however, is an objective practice, using observable truths rather than personal experience. We don\u2019t have to be Isaac Newton to understand that an apple fell onto his head.<\/p>\n As a result, consciousness as a concept is extremely hard to study, resulting in a surprisingly shaky understanding of the phenomenon, even though it\u2019s central to everyone\u2019s existence. While theories of consciousness can generally be broken into four competing schools<\/a>, they each tend to agree that at least some part<\/a> of the neocortex \u2014 the wrinkled outer layer of the brain \u2014 is necessary for consciousness.<\/p>\n The aim of Coppola\u2019s study is to test that assertion. The neuroscientist\u2019s research breaks the human brain down to three regions \u2014 the cortex, the subcortex, and the cerebellum \u2014 to find cases where one or some of those sections have been altered, and examine their effects on consciousness.<\/p>\n Though one might expect to find the neocortex was a non-starter, the researcher instead found evidence suggesting that it\u2019s not all that important.<\/p>\n For example, Coppola writes, \u201cpeople born without the cerebellum, or the front of their cortex, can still appear conscious and live quite normal lives. However, damaging the cerebellum later in life can trigger hallucinations or change your emotions completely.\u201d<\/p>\n Some cases, like children born with a chunk of their neocortex missing, defy easy explanation.<\/p>\n \u201cAccording to medical textbooks, these people should be in a permanent vegetative state,\u201d Coppola observes. On the contrary, recent research suggests<\/a> these patients are in fact conscious, exhibiting many typical behaviors<\/a> of children with a fully formed neocortex. Similar results were observed in adult animals.<\/p>\n There are a few possible explanations for why this is, the researcher explains: either the neocortex, a relatively new<\/a> part of our anatomy as evolution goes, isn\u2019t needed for baseline consciousness, or else that when someone is born with a deficient cortex, the other two regions of the brain learn to compensate.<\/p>\n \u201cThis means we may have to review our theories of consciousness,\u201d Coppola concludes. \u201cIn turn, this may influence patient care as well as how we think about animal rights. In fact, consciousness might be more common than we realized.\u201d<\/p>\n