ArticleNeuroscience of consciousness2021
Apical amplification-a cellular mechanism of conscious perception?
Article in Neuroscience of consciousness, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers.
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Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed.
- Apical integration theory provides a neural basis for understanding disorganization and consciousness in the schizophrenias.Current research in neurobiology · 2026Article
- Psychedelic drug action at dendrites is gated by behavioral state and serotonin receptors.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Neuronal Microtubules and Radiofrequency Waves: The Quantum Core of Human Consciousness, Memory, and Pathway to Memory Enhancement/Recovery.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Psilocybin shapes the slow, global propagation of brain activity over the cortical layout of 5HT2a receptors.Communications biology · 2026Article
- Noradrenergic activity as a key target in modulating consciousness.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Testing circuit-level theories of consciousness in humans.Trends in cognitive sciences · 2026Review
- Excitability Modulations of Somatosensory Perception Do Not Depend on Feedforward Neuronal Population Spikes.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2025Article
- A burst-dependent thalamocortical substrate for perceptual awareness.PLoS computational biology · 2025Article
- Context-Sensitive Conscious Interpretation and Layer-5 Pyramidal Neurons in Multistable Perception.Brain and behavior · 2025Review
- Cellular mechanisms of cooperative context-sensitive predictive inference.Current research in neurobiology · 2024Review
- Laying the foundations for a theory of consciousness: the significance of critical brain dynamics for the formation of conscious states.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2024Article
- How-tests for consciousness and direct neurophenomenal structuralism.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Review
- Laminar specificity of the auditory perceptual awareness negativity: A biophysical modeling study.PLoS computational biology · 2023Article
- Laminar Specificity of the Auditory Perceptual Awareness Negativity: A Biophysical Modeling Study.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2023Article
- Excitatory and inhibitory effects of HCN channel modulation on excitability of layer V pyramidal cells.PLoS computational biology · 2022Article
- Representational 'touch' and modulatory 'retouch'-two necessary neurobiological processes in thalamocortical interaction for conscious experience.Neuroscience of consciousness · 2021Review
- Bridging neural circuits and clinical outcomes: a novel framework for perioperative disturbances of consciousness and cognition.Frontiers in neurologyReview
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4 authors.
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No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
We present a theoretical view of the cellular foundations for network-level processes involved in producing our conscious experience. Inputs to apical synapses in layer 1 of a large subset of neocortical cells are summed at an integration zone near the top of their apical trunk. These inputs come from diverse sources and provide a context within which the transmission of information abstracted from sensory input to their basal and perisomatic synapses can be amplified when relevant. We argue that apical amplification enables conscious perceptual experience and makes it more flexible, and thus more adaptive, by being sensitive to context. Apical amplification provides a possible mechanism for recurrent processing theory that avoids strong loops. It makes the broadcasting hypothesized by global neuronal workspace theories feasible while preserving the distinct contributions of the individual cells receiving the broadcast. It also provides mechanisms that contribute to the holistic aspects of integrated information theory. As apical amplification is highly dependent on cholinergic, aminergic, and other neuromodulators, it relates the specific contents of conscious experience to global mental states and to fluctuations in arousal when awake. We conclude that apical dendrites provide a cellular mechanism for the context-sensitive selective amplification that is a cardinal prerequisite of conscious perception.
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