Abstract
In the organization of the central nervous system the role of Ascending Reticular Activating System (ARAS) – comprising the reticular formation, thalamus and thalamo-cortical system of bi-directional projection which governs the activities of wakefulness and vigilance – does not correspond to a hierarchical superiority with respect to the cerebral hemispheres. The ARAS is not limited to the brain stem: it projects upwards towards the cerebral hemispheres and downwards towards the spinal cord. Its functions are much more complex than simple cortical desynchronization, even though this is essential in the state of alertness and attention. Its thalamo-cortical projections, which are a-specific with a high oscillatory frequency, are fundamental for some essential functions of consciousness.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Baars, B.J.: In the Theater of Consciousness: the Workspace of the Mind. Oxford University Press, New York (1997)
Boring, E.G.: Attention: Research and beliefs concerning the concept in scientific psychology before 1930. In: Mostofsky, D.I. (ed.) Attention: Contemporary Theory and Analysis. Appleton-Century-Crofts, New York (1970)
Callieri, B.: L’accesso fenomenologico alla coscienza in psichiatria, tra l’empirico e il trascendentale. Rivista di Biologia 73, 170–190 (1980)
Changeux, J-P.: L’uomo neuronale. Feltrinelli, Milano (1998)
Crick, F.: The Astonishing Hypothesis. Scribner, New York (1994)
Dehaene, S., Kerszberg, M., Changeux, J.-P.: A neuronal model of a global workspace in effortful cognitive tasks. Neurobiology 95(24), 14529–14534 (1998)
Dennett, D.C.: Consciousness Explained. Little Brown & Co., Boston (1991)
Edelman, G.: The Remembered Present: A Biological Theory of Consciousness. Basic Books, New York (1989)
Fodor, J.: La mente modulare. Il Mulino, Bologna (1983)
Fodor, J.: La mente non funziona così. La portata e i limiti della psicologia computazionale, Laterza, Roma-Bari (2001)
Freud, S.: (1886-1895) Opere. 1. Studi sull’isteria e altri scritti. Boringhieri, Torino (1977)
Frith, C.: Attention to action and awareness of other minds. Consciousness and Cognition 11, 481–487 (2002)
Jaakko, W., Långsjö, M., Alkire, T., et al.: Returning from Oblivion: Imaging the Neural Core of Consciousness. Journal of Neuroscience 32(14), 4935–4943 (2012)
Jackendoff, R.: Consciousness and the Computational Mind. MIT Press, Cambridge (1987)
Jaspers, K.: Psicopatologia generale. Il Pensiero Scientifico. Roma, 1964 (1913)
Kotchoubey, B.: Event-related potentials predict the outcome of the vegetative state. Editorial, Clinical Neurophysiology 118(3), 477–479 (2007)
Laureys, S., Owen, A.M., Schiff, N.D.: Brain function in coma, vegetative state, and related disorders. The Lancet Neurology 3, 537–546 (2004)
Mancia, M.: Neurofisiologia. Raffaello Cortina, Milano (1994)
McGinn, C.: The Problem of Consciousness. Blackwell, Oxford (1991)
Midorikawa, A., Kawamura, M., Takaya, R.: A disconnection syndrome due to agenesis of the corpus callosum: disturbance of unilateral synchronization. Cortex 42, 356–365 (2006)
Moruzzi, G., Magoun, H.: Brain stem reticular formation and activation of the EEG. EEG Clin. Neurophysiol. 1, 455 (1949)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2014 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this paper
Cite this paper
Maldonato, M. (2014). The Ascending Reticular Activating System. In: Bassis, S., Esposito, A., Morabito, F. (eds) Recent Advances of Neural Network Models and Applications. Smart Innovation, Systems and Technologies, vol 26. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-04129-2_33
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-04129-2_33
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-04128-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-04129-2
eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)