The Claustrum Is Already A Touchy Subject In The Field Of Brain Science.
Some neuroscientists don’t think consciousness can be studied at all.
Others are still trying to figure out what brain parts support subjective awareness. A group of neuroscientists led by Christof Koch have found neurons in the claustrum, a relatively unknown part of the brain, that send fibers through the cerebral cortex, way beyond where they should go. With its vast fibers, one neuron shown in the presentation was like a “crown of thorns” around the brain. The news source Nature News says that Koch sees this as proof that the claustrum may coordinate brain signals to make consciousness.
People who are skeptical about almost all theories of consciousness will definitely be interested in the idea that one part of the brain might be in a special position as the main guardian of consciousness. Before we look into how likely this theory is to be true, though, what the heck is a claustrum?
The claustrum is like a strange roommate in your apartment building that you’ve never met, unlike the cerebral cortex, cerebellum, amygdala, or medulla, which feel like old friends. The claustrum is a fragile layer of neurons located just below the insular lobe of the cortex. This is the hidden lobe that a surgeon can only see by dissecting…
