Nicholas D Schiff, Weill Medical College, New York, USA
Michael I Posner, University of Oregon, Oregon, USA
Published online: September 2005
DOI: 10.1038/npg.els.0003377
The concept of consciousness may refer to the normal wakeful state of the brain or specific brain functions such as orienting to sensory events or controlling voluntary responses. Separate mechanisms have been related to each of these functions of consciousness.
Keywords: attention; arousal; executive control; orienting; vegetative state
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| Further Reading | |
| Beauregard M, Levesque J and Bourgouin P (2001) Neural correlates of conscious self-regulation of emotion. Journal of Neuroscience 21: RC 165. | |
| book Damasio A (1994) Descartes Error: Emotion, Reason and the Brain. New York: G.P. Putnam. | |
| Ochsner KN, Bunge SA, Gross JJ and Gabrieli JDE (2002) Rethinking feelings: an fMRI study of the cognitive regulation of emotion. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 14: 1215–1229. | |
| Posner MI (1994) Attention: The mechanism of consciousness. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 91(16): 7398–7402. | |
| book Rueda MR, Posner MI and Rothbart MK (2004) "Attentional control and self regulation". In: Baumeister, RF and Vohs KD (eds) Handbook of Self-Regulation: Research, Theory, and Applications, chap 14, pp. 283–300. New York: Guilford Press. | |
| book Ruff HA and Rothbart MK (1996) Attention in Early Development: Themes and Variations. New York: Oxford University Press. | |
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