La evolución de la conciencia: filogenia, ontogenia y su surgimiento a partir de la anestesia general

George A. Mashour, Michael T. Alkire

Resumen


Evolution of consciousness: Phylogeny, ontogeny and emergence from general anesthesia

Are animals conscious? If so, when did consciousness evolve? We address these long-standing and essential questions using a modern neuroscientific approach that draws on diverse fields such as consciousness studies, evolutionary neurobiology, animal psychology, and anesthesiology. We propose that the stepwise emergence from general anesthesia can serve as a reproducible model to study the evolution of consciousness across various species and use current data from anesthesiology to shed light on the phylogeny of consciousness. Ultimately, we conclude that the neurobiological structure of the vertebrate central nervous system is evolutionarily ancient and highly conserved across species and that the basic neurophysiologic mechanisms supporting consciousness in humans are found at the earliest points of vertebrate brain evolution. Thus, in agreement with Darwin’s insight and the recent “Cambridge Declaration on Consciousness in Non-Human Animals,” a review of modern scientific data suggests that the differences between species in terms of the ability to experience the world is one of degree and not kind.


Texto completo:

PDF

Referencias


Aguirre G. K., E. Zarahn y M. D’Esposito (1998), “Neural components of topographical representation”, Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 95(3): 839–846.

Alkire, M. T., A. G. Hudetz y G. Tononi (2008), “Consciousness and anesthesia”, Science 322(5903): 876–880.

Amsterdam, B. (1972), “Mirror self-image reactions before age two”, Dev Psychobiol 5(4): 297–305.

Anderson, J. R. y G. G. Gallup Jr. (2011), “Do rhesus monkeys recognize themselves in mirrors?”, Am J Primatol 73(7): 603–606.

Aru J., T. Bachmann, W. Singer y L. Melloni (2012), “Distilling the neural correlates of consciousness”, Neurosci Biobehav Rev 36(2): 737–746.

Baars, B. J. (2005), “Subjective experience is probably not limited to humans: The evidence from neurobiology and behavior”, Conscious Cogn 14(1): 7–21.

Balkin, T. J. et al. (2002), “The process of awakening: A PET study of regional brain activity patterns mediating the re-establishment of alertness and consciousness”, Brain 125(Pt 10): 2308–2319.

Birnholz, J. C. (1981), “The development of human fetal eye movement patterns”, Science 213(4508): 679–681.

Block, N. (2007), “Consciousness, accessibility, and the mesh between psychology and neuroscience”, Behav Brain Sci 30(5–6): 481–499.

Blumenfeld, H. (2011), “Epilepsy and the consciousness system: Transient vegetative state?”, Neurol Clin 29(4): 801–823.

Blumenfeld, H. (2012), “Impaired consciousness in epilepsy”, Lancet Neurol 11(9): 814–826.

Boly, M. et al. (2007), “Baseline brain activity fluctuations predict somatosensory perception in humans”, Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 104(29): 12187–12192.

Bonhomme, V. L., P. Boveroux, J. F. Brichant, S. Laureys y M. Boly (2012), “Neural correlates of consciousness during general anesthesia using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)”, Arch Ital Biol 150(2-3): 155–163.

Brown, E. N., P. L. Purdon y C. J. Van Dort (2011), “General anesthesia and altered states of arousal: A systems neuroscience analysis”, Annu Rev Neurosci 34: 601–628.

Brown, E. N., R. Lydic y N. D. Schiff (2010), “General anesthesia, sleep, and coma”, N Engl J Med 363(27): 2638–2650.

Brusseau, R. (2008), “Developmental perspectives: Is the fetus conscious?”, Int Anesthesiol Clin 46(3): 11–23.

Butler A. B. y R. M. Cotterill (2006), “Mammalian and avian neuroanatomy and the question of consciousness in birds”, Biol Bull 211(2): 106–127.

Butler, A. B. (2008), “Evolution of brains, cognition, and consciousness”, Brain Res Bull 75(2-4): 442–449, www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/03619230.

Butler, A. B., P. R. Manger, B. I. Lindahl P. Arhem (2005), “Evolution of the neural basis of consciousness: A bird-mammal comparison”, Bioessays 27(9): 923–936.

Cahill, L. y M. T. Alkire (2003), “Epinephrine enhancement of human memory consolidation: Interaction with arousal at encoding”, Neurobiol Learn Mem 79(2): 194–198.

Cotterill, R. M. (2001), “Cooperation of the basal ganglia, cerebellum, sensory cerebrum and hippocampus: Possible implications for cognition, consciousness, intelligence and creativity”, Prog Neurobiol 64(1): 1–33.

Coull, J. T., M. E. Jones, T. D. Egan, C. D. Frith y M. Maze (2004), “Attentional effects of noradrenaline vary with arousal level: Selective activation of thalamic pulvinar in humans”, Neuroimage 22(1): 315–322.

Crick F. y C. Koch (2003), “A framework for consciousness”, Nat Neurosci 6(2): 119–126.

Crick, F. (1994), The Astonishing Hypothesis. New York: Scribner.

Damasio, A. (1999), The Feeling of What Happens. New York: Harcourt Brace.

Damasio, A. (2003), “Mental self: The person within”, Nature 423(6937): 227.

Darwin, C. R. (1872), The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals. London, UK: John Murray.

De Graaf, T. A. , P. J. Hsieh y A. T. Sack (2012), “The ‘correlates’ in neural correlates of consciousness”, Neurosci Biobehav Rev 36(1): 191–197.

Dehaene S., C. Sergent y J. P. Changeux (2003), “A neuronal network model linking subjective reports and objective physiological data during conscious perception”, Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 100(14): 8520–8525.

Delfour, F. y K. Marten (2001), “Mirror image processing in three marine mammal species: Killer whales (Orcinus orca), false killer whales (Pseudorca crassidens) and California sea lions (Zalophus californianus)”, Behav Processes 53(3): 181–190.

Denton, D. A. (2005), The Primordial Emotions: The Dawning of Consciousness. Oxford, UK: Oxford Univ Press.

Denton, D. A., M. J. McKinley, M. Farrell y G. F. Egan (2009), “The role of primordial emotions in the evolutionary origin of consciousness”, Conscious Cogn 18(2): 500–514.

Devilbiss, D. M., M. E. Page y B. D. Waterhouse (2006), “Locus ceruleus regulates sensory encoding by neurons and networks in waking animals”, J Neurosci 26(39): 9860–9872.

Edelman, G. M. y G. Tononi (2000), A Universe of Consciousness. New York: Basic Books.

Edlund, J. A. et al. (2011), “Integrated information increases with fitness in the evolution of animals”, PLOS Comput Biol 7(10): e1002236.

Emery N. J. y N. S. Clayton (2004), “The mentality of crows: Convergent evolution of intelligence in corvids and apes”, Science 306(5703): 1903–1907.

Emery N. J. y N. S. Clayton (2005), “Evolution of the avian brain and intelligence”, Curr Biol 15(23): R946–R950, www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/09609822.

Emery, N. J. (2006), “Cognitive ornithology: The evolution of avian intelligence”, Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 361(1465): 23–43.

Emery, N. J. y N. S. Clayton (2001), “Effects of experience and social context on prospective caching strategies by scrub jays”, Nature 414(6862): 443–446.

Fahrenfort, J. J., H. S. Scholte y V. A. Lamme (2008), “The spatiotemporal profile of cortical processing leading up to visual perception”, J Vis 8(1): 11–12.

Franks, N. P. (2008), “General anaesthesia: From molecular targets to neuronal pathways of sleep and arousal”, Nat Rev Neurosci 9(5): 370–386.

Friedman, E. B. et al. (2010), “A conserved behavioral state barrier impedes transitions between anesthetic-induced unconsciousness and wakefulness: Evidence for neural inertia”, PLoS ONE 5(7): e11903.

Gaillard R. et al. (2006), “Non-conscious semantic processing of emotional words modulates conscious access”, Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 103(19): 7524–7529.

Gaillard R. et al. (2007), “Subliminal words durably affect neuronal activity”, Neuroreport 18(15): 1527–1531.

Gallup, G. G. Jr. (1970), “Chimpanzees: Self-recognition”, Science 167(3914): 86–87.

Gallup, G. G. Jr. (1985), “Do minds exist in species other than our own?”, Neurosci Biobehav Rev 9(4): 631–641.

Goodrich, B. G. (2010), “We do, therefore we think: Time, motility, and consciousness”, Rev Neurosci 21(5): 331–361.

Hayama, H. R. et al. (2012), “Event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging of a low dose of dexmedetomidine that impairs long-term memory”, Anesthesiology 117(5): 981–995.

Hobson, J. A. (2009), “REM sleep and dreaming: Towards a theory of protoconsciousness”, Nat Rev Neurosci 10(11): 803–813.

Hohwy, J. (2009). “The neural correlates of consciousness: New experimental approaches needed?”, Conscious Cogn 18(2): 428–438.

Imas, O. A., K. M. Ropella, B. D. Ward, J. D. Wood y A. G. Hudetz (2005), “Volatile anesthetics disrupt frontal-posterior recurrent information transfer at gamma frequencies in rat”, Neurosci Lett 387(3): 145–150.

Jarvis, E. D. et al. Avian Brain Nomenclature Consortium (2005), “Avian brains and a new understanding of vertebrate brain evolution”, Nat Rev Neurosci 6(2): 151–159.

Jing J., R. Gillette y K. R. Weiss (2009), “Evolving concepts of arousal: Insights from simple model systems”, Rev Neurosci 20(5–6): 405–427.

Jones, B. E. (2003), “Arousal systems”, Front Biosci 8: 5438–5451.

Keenan, J. P., G. G. Gallup y D. Falk (2003), The Face in the Mirror: The Search for the Origins of Consciousness. New York: Harper Collins Publishers.

Ku, S. W., U. Lee, G. J. Noh, I. G. Jun y G. A. Mashour (2011), “Preferential inhibition of frontalto-parietal feedback connectivity is a neurophysiologic correlate of general anesthesia in surgical patients”, PLoS ONE 6(10): e25155.

Lamme, V. A. (2006), “Towards a true neural stance on consciousness”, Trends Cogn Sci 10(11): 494–501.

Långsjö, J. W. et al. (2012), “Returning from oblivion: Imaging the neural core of consciousness”, J Neurosci 32(14): 4935–4943.

Laureys S., A. M. Owen y N. D. Schiff (2004), “Brain function in coma, vegetative state, and related disorders”, Lancet Neurol 3(9): 537–546.

Laureys, S. (2005), “The neural correlate of (un)awareness: Lessons from the vegetative state”, Trends Cogn Sci 9(12): 556–559.

Lee U., G. A. Mashour, S. Kim, G. J. Noh y B. M. Choi (2009), “Propofol induction reduces the capacity for neural information integration: implications for the mechanism of consciousness and general anesthesia”, Conscious Cogn 18(1): 56–64.

Lee U., M. Muller, G. J. Noh, B. Choi y G. A. Mashour (2011), “Dissociable network properties of anesthetic state transitions”, Anesthesiology 114(4): 872– 881.

Lee, U. et al. (2009), “The directionality and functional organization of frontoparietal connectivity during consciousness and anesthesia in humans”, Conscious Cogn 18(4): 1069–1078.

Lewis, L. D. et al. (2012), “Rapid fragmentation of neuronal networks at the onset of propofol-induced unconsciousness”, Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 109(49): E3377–E3386.

Liotti, M. et al. (2001), “Brain responses associated with consciousness of breathlessness (air hunger)”, Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 98(4): 2035–2040.

Llinás R., y U. Ribary (1993), “Coherent 40-Hz oscillation characterizes dream state in humans”, Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 90(5): 2078–2081.

Llinas, R. (2001), I of the Vortex: From Neurons to Self. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Low, P. (2012), “Consciousness in human and non-human animals. The Francis Crick Memorial Conference”. J. Panksepp et al. (eds.). Cambridge, UK. Disponible en http:// fcmconference.org/img/CambridgeDeclarationOnConsciousness.pdf. Accessed April 26, 2013.

Lydic R. y H. A. Baghdoyan (2005), “Sleep, anesthesiology, and the neurobiology of arousal state control”, Anesthesiology 103(6): 1268–1295.

Maclean, P. D. (1990), The Triune Brain in Evolution: Role in Paleocerebral Functions. New York: Springer.

McGaugh, J. L. (2005), “Emotional arousal and enhanced amygdala activity: New evidence for the old perseveration-consolidation hypothesis”, Learn Mem 12(2): 77–79.

Merker, B. (2007), “Consciousness without a cerebral cortex: A challenge for neuroscience and medicine”, Behav Brain Sci 30(1): 63–81.

Min, B. K. (2010), “A thalamic reticular networking model of consciousness”, Theor Biol Med Model 7: 10.

Morin, A. (2011), “Self-recognition, theory-of-mind, and self-awareness: What side are you on?”, Laterality 16(3): 367–383.

Moruzzi G. y H. W. Magoun (1949), “Brain stem reticular formation and activation of the EEG”, Electroencephalogr Clin Neurophysiol 1(4): 455–473.

Nieder, A. (2009), “Prefrontal cortex and the evolution of symbolic reference”, Curr Opin Neurobiol 19(1): 99–108, www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/09594388.

Noack, R. A. (2012), “Solving the “human problem”: The frontal feedback model”, Conscious Cogn 21(2): 1043–1067.

Panksepp, J. (2011), “Cross-species affective neuroscience decoding of the primal affective experiences of humans and related animals”, PLoS ONE 6(9): e21236.

Paus, T. (2000), “Functional anatomy of arousal and attention systems in the human brain”, Prog Brain Res 126: 65–77.

Paus, T. (2001), “Primate anterior cingulate cortex: Where motor control, drive and cognition interface”, Nat Rev Neurosci 2(6): 417–424.

Plotnik, J. M. F. B. de Waal y D. Reiss (2006), “Self-recognition in an Asian elephant”, Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 103(45): 17053–17057.

Prior, H., A. Schwarz y O. Gunturkun (2008), “Mirror-induced behavior in the magpie (Pica pica): Evidence of self-recognition”, PLoS Biol 6(8): e202.

Rajala, A. Z., K. R. Reininger, K. M. Lancaster y L. C. Populin (2010), “Rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) do recognize themselves in the mirror: Implications for the evolution of self-recognition”, PLoS ONE 5(9): e12865.

Reiss, D. y L. Marino (2001), “Mirror self-recognition in the bottlenose dolphin: A case of cognitive convergence”, Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 98(10): 5937–5942.

Revonsuo, A. (2006) Inner Presence: Consciousness as a Biological Phenomenon. Cambridge, M. A.: MIT Press.

Saalmann, Y. B., M. A. Pinsk, L. Wang, X. Li y S. Kastner (2012), “The pulvinar regulates information transmission between cortical areas based on attention demands”, Science 337(6095): 753–756.

Schiff N. D. y F. Plum (2000), “The role of arousal and “gating” systems in the neurology of impaired consciousness”, J Clin Neurophysiol 17(5): 438–452.

Schmid M. C., W. Singer y P. Fries (2012), “Thalamic coordination of cortical communication”, Neuron 75(4): 551–552.

Schröter, M. S. et al. (2012), “Spatiotemporal reconfiguration of large-scale brain functional networks during propofol-induced loss of consciousness”, J Neurosci 32(37): 12832–12840.

Semendeferi, K., A. Lu, N. Schenker y H. Damasio (2002), “Humans and great apes share a large frontal cortex”, Nat Neurosci 5(3): 272–276.

Seth, A. K., B. J. Baars y D. B. Edelman (2005), “Criteria for consciousness in humans and other mammals”, Conscious Cogn 14(1): 119–139.

Singer, W. (1993), “Synchronization of cortical activity and its putative role in information processing and learning”, Annu Rev Physiol 55: 349–374.

Stam C. J. y E. C. van Straaten (2012), “Go with the flow: Use of a directed phase lag index (dPLI) to characterize patterns of phase relations in a large-scale model of brain dynamics”, Neuroimage 62(3): 1415–1428.

Stam C. J., y E. C.van Straaten (2012), “The organization of physiological brain networks”, Clin Neurophysiol 123(6): 1067–1087.

Stephenson-Jones M., J. Ericsson, B. Robertson y S. Grillner (2012), “Evolution of the basal ganglia: Dual-output pathways conserved throughout vertebrate phylogeny”, J Comp Neurol 520(13): 2957–2973.

Striedter, G. (2005), Principles of Brain Evolution. Sunderland, M. A. : Sinauer Associates.

Tononi G. y C. Koch (2008), “The neural correlates of consciousness: An update”, Ann N Y Acad Sci 1124: 239–261.

Tononi, G. (2004), “An information integration theory of consciousness”, BMCNeurosci 5(1): 42.

Tononi, G. (2012), “Integrated information theory of consciousness: An updated account”, Arch Ital Biol 150(2–3): 56–90.

Tononi, G. y G. M. Edelman (1998), “Consciousness and complexity”, Science 282(5395): 1846–1851.

Van der Werf Y. D., M. P. Witter y H. J. Groenewegen (2002), “The intralaminar and midline nuclei of the thalamus. Anatomical and functional evidence for participation in processes of arousal and awareness”, Brain Res Brain Res Rev 39(2–3): 107–140.

Ward, L. M. (2011), “The thalamic dynamic core theory of conscious experience”, Conscious Cogn 20(2): 464–486.

Warren, W. C. et al. (2008), “Genome analysis of the platypus reveals unique signatures of evolution”, Nature 453(7192): 175–183.

Wildman D. E. et al. (2007), “Genomics, biogeography, and the diversification of placental mammals”, Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 104(36): 14395–14400.

Xie, G. et al. (2011), “Critical involvement of the thalamus and precuneus during restoration of consciousness with physostigmine in humans during propofol anaesthesia: A positron emission tomography study”, Br J Anaesth 106(4): 548–557.


Enlaces refback

  • No hay ningún enlace refback.


Revista semestral editada por el Centro de Estudios Filosóficos, Políticos
y Sociales Vicente Lombardo Toledano de la Secretaría de Educación Pública,
la Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana-Iztapalapa y Edicions UIB de la Universitat de les Illes Balears.

Lombardo Toledano 51, Col. Ex-Hda. Guadalupe Chimalistac,
Del. Alvaro Obregón, C.P. 01050, México, D.F.
Tels. (5255) 5661-4679 y 5661-4987
Fax: (5255) 5661-1787