The document discusses limitations in neuroimaging compilation and analysis for studying neural correlates of consciousness. It proposes compiling activation likelihood estimations from numerous neuroimaging experiments involving senses of ownership and agency to analyze combined neural activation patterns on 3D brain renderings. This may help reconcile limitations like indirect blood flow detection in fMRI and poor spatial/temporal resolution in PET scans. The hypothesis is that analyzing aggregated data this way could provide a more comprehensive understanding of neural correlates related to senses of ownership and agency.

1. Sense of
Ownership
Image generated from a
sample of 50 experiments
where subjects were
presented with an auditory
stimulus and required to push
a button in response without
generating an original
response. The ALE values are
displayed in green.
In Search of Neural Correlates of Consciousness: A Blueprint
for fMRI & PET Neuroimaging Compilation and Analysis
THE PROBLEM
Limitations in neuroimaging compilation:
1) While the fMRI can see activation in addition to high resolution brain structures, it
cannot trace neurotransmissions.
2) fMRI scanners can be fitted to present patients with modality-specific stimuli and
report a blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) contrast image. However, the
subsequent detection of blood flow is only an indirect correlation to brain activity.
3) PET scans are able to trace neurotransmissions but are hindered by their poor
spatial and temporal resolution.
4) At an image every 40 seconds, PET scans are unable to show rapid brain interactions
5) PET imaging relies upon nuclear medical equipment, which produce harmful
radioactive gamma rays and are costly to researchers, healthcare professionals and subjects.
Limitations in neuroimaging analysis for NCC’s:
1) Consciousness as a process, function, and/or modality is not well understood and scientists do not
have clearly defined parameters for individual study
2) There is no objective process for detecting which neural events a subject is conscious of
3) Self reported conscious events are unreliable and often untestable
4) Consciousness does not appear to be activated nor deactivated through willful volition
5) The primary tools of neuroimaging relate to metabolic changes in specific brain regions which fall
short of providing sufficient information on neuronal activity
Eric J. Backus - ericjbackus@gmail.com
AN INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH COLLABORATION FROM THE KRASNOW INSTITUTE FOR ADVANCED STUDY AND THE PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
A special thanks must be extended to Casey Gower, a significant contributor to this study, without whom
these questions may never have risen above our heated neurophilosophical debates; to my mentors, Dr.
Nadine Kabbani from the Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study and Dr. Emmett Holman from the
Philosophy Department at CHSS - your guidance has truly inspired me to question coveted answers and
has constructed a firm foundation from which I will continue to build my research ambitions; and finally, to
Mason and the URSP, for their continued support of my research ambitions through this second grant. I
will always remember that “cogito, ergo sum” is just the skeptic's FIRST principle, it’s a process or
method of inquiry, not a conclusion - Thank you all for affirming this and helping me realize its
possibilities.
REFERENCES
1. Jeannerod, M. (2003). The mechanism of self-recognition in human. Behavioral Brain Research, 142, 1-15.
2. Gallagher, S. (2000). Philosophical conceptions of the self: implications for cognitive science. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 4, 14-21.
3. How Does fMRI Work? 2012. slideshare.net. Web. 5 June 2015.
<http://image.slidesharecdn.com/mindreading-13282079025387-phpapp01-120202124035-phpapp01/95/mind-reading-6-728.jpg?cb=1328186762>.
4. IDIS 2012. 2012. wordpress.com. Web. 5 June 2015. <https://tonygood4.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/poss1.png.
5. Mier, Walter, and Daniela Mier. Advantages in functional imaging of the brain. 2015. Heidelberg University Hospital,
Heidelberg, Germany. Web. 5 June 2015. <http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fnhum.2015.00249/full>.
6. Sense of Ownership and Sense of Agency 3D canonical brain rendering were produced via the Mango software suite –
short for Multi-image Analysis GUI – which is a viewer for medical research images. It provides analysis tools and a user interface
to navigate image volumes. Please refer to appendices in formal research article for data used to compile images.
7. For a complete list of references please refer to formal research article by E. J. Backus of the same title.
RESEARCH QUESTION
How can the limitations of neuroimaging compilation and analysis be
reconciled to allow for a comprehensive and meaningful
understanding of neural correlates of consciousness (NCC) such as
one’s senses of ownership and agency (SO/SA)?
Sense of Agency
A surface rendering created
from 27 experiments where
subjects were required to
create an original response to
an auditory stimulus. The red-
orange coloration shows the
ALE for sense of agency.
Hypothesis:
By taking activation likelihood estimations
(ALE’s) of numerous neuroimaging experiments
(which have been identified as displaying senses
of ownership and/or agency via various modality-
specific stimuli) a combined neural pattern of
activation peaks can be compiled and analyzed
on a 3D canonical brain rendering.
Normally SA and SO are tightly
integrated, such that while typing
one has an enduring, embodied, and
tacit sense that ‘my own fingers are
doing the moving’(SO)and that ‘the
typing movements are controlled (or
volitionally directed) by me’ (SA).
-S. Gallagher
PET Functionality
FunctionalityfMRI