Scientific Understanding of Consciousness
Consciousness as an Emergent Property of Thalamocortical Activity

 

Homunculus (Topographic) Diagram

(after Wilder Penfield and Theodore Rasmussen, 1950, Montreal Neurological Institute, Montreal, Quebec, Canada)

This pictorial diagram with distorted body features indicates the neural network’s topographic specializations for sensory and motor functionalities. Notice the expanded neural motor area for vocalization, for movements of the hand, and especially for the thumb. In the sensory area, notice the enhanced area for the lips and for the index finger of the hand.

Surgeons obtained this information as a result of neurosurgery on patients with intractable epilepsy.