Resting State fMRI as A Tool for the Study of Consciousness

Abstract

Consciousness constitutes a complex concept. Its clinical and phenomenological definitions are commonly under debate. Resting- State functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging has contributed to the understanding of different cognitive processes by providing neural mechanisms underlying specific functions. Resting State acquisitions has shown an important role of Resting State networks both in different mental state and consciousness alterations as those disorders of consciousness observed in neurological pathologies and specific states as drug-induced hallucinations and traumatic brain injury. This evidence situates the complex focus of this article, the consciousness, as an accurate balance between activity and connectivity of regions and neural networks.