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Thesis Project - Coggle Diagram
Thesis Project
Brain-body interactions
Cognitive science: view sentience in noncommunicating states in its minimal form which is embodied, and free of language and other cognitive properties
in terms of embodiment, special attention has been paid to interoception i.e. the perception of the state of the body as viewed from peripheral systems, such as the heart, stomach, and the vestibular system
Cardiac activity: neural events locked to heartbeats - predict whether a subject will report a fast flashing visual stimuli as perceived or not
heartbeat-evoked responses also differ in auditory interoceptive learning tasks and emotional states
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vestibular system: crucially involved in integrating sensory signals from personal space (somatosensory, proprioceptive, visual, auditory signals) with sensory signals from extrapersonal space (visual and auditory signals) - has been considered to mediate between theb ody and the external world
Taken together, studies on interoception indicate a bi-directional relationship between brain and peripheral body processes which may be informative for evidencing sentience in noncomunicating states
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State of the art
Motivation
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suspension of consious wakefullness is related to changes in brain function, behaviour and neurochemistry
Yet, the lack of a reportable subjective experience is a common feature they all share
in light of the inability to communicate our mind, how can one infer whether 'a person is still in there'?
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retained awareness during surgery, dream-like experiences, in some patients
moral significance
driver of medical decisions, from pain management to end-of-life practices
dilemmas continue to intrigue the scientific community, persitent legal debates, with societal engagement
Ongoing uncertainty implies: so far measurements are not conclusive - with respect to the type of mentall life one entertains when in a noncommunicating state