Unraveling how evidence accumulation determines conscious experience using voltammetry

Introduction

Consciousness entails the phenomenal experience we have of the world and ourselves. Although it is at the heart of major philosophical, scientific, and ethical issues, our understanding of the neural mechanisms of consciousness remains limited.

Current Limitations

The study of consciousness is compartmentalised, with researchers focusing on isolated sub-aspects of the problem, via restrictive paradigms that ignore:

• The temporal dynamics of conscious experience
• Its metacognitive component
• Its dependence on levels of consciousness

Moreover, we know virtually nothing about the single-neuron and neurochemical basis for consciousness in humans.

Project Overview

VOLTA will advance beyond these empirical and theoretical limitations by conducting a multidimensional and multiscale study of consciousness. The project builds on a computational framework I recently developed linking consciousness to evidence accumulation.

Methodology

It will utilise the clinical context of pharmaco-resistant epilepsy to collect unprecedented behavioural and neural data. Individuals with epilepsy will participate in novel behavioural paradigms quantifying multiple dimensions of conscious experience, including:

1. Temporal dynamics
2. Metacognitive components
3. Existence under sleep and anaesthesia

These experiments will be combined with triple neural recordings that simultaneously characterise:

1. The global activity of neural populations
2. Spiking activity of individual neurons
3. Electrochemical activity by measuring neuromodulator release with voltammetry

These unprecedented recordings will provide a multiscale map of the neurobiological basis of consciousness.

Data Interpretation

My team and I, assisted by international experts, will interpret this rich dataset in light of seven preregistered hypotheses derived from my computational framework.

Conclusion

In summary, VOLTA will carry out a first-of-a-kind within-subject study to reveal the electrophysiological and electrochemical mechanisms of the multiple dimensions of consciousness.