DNF seminar
Abstract:
The human brain at rest is not a closed system: it receives inputs from visceral organs, in particular the heart and the stomach. Those two organs contain pacemaker cells generating rhythmic electrical activity, and constantly send information that is potentially relayed up to the neocortex. In this talk, I propose that such visceral inputs constrain spontaneous brain dynamics, and will present evidence showing the impact of the gastric basal rhythm on resting-state brain dynamics in both fMRI and MEG data. I also propose that the monitoring of visceral signals in the central nervous system creates to a self-centered referential from which subjectivity, defined as the first-person perspective intrinsic to any conscious experience, can develop. I will present experimental evidence compatible with this hypothesis: neural responses to heartbeats in the default-mode network predict conscious vision and carry information about the self during spontaneous thoughts.
References:
Park et al, Nature Neuroscience 2014
Babo-Rebelo et al J Neurosci 2016
Richter et al NeuroImage 2016 (in press)
Babo-Rebelo et al Phil Trans 2016 (in press)