The presence of consciousness in absence seizures

Issue title: Epilepsy and Disorders of Consciousness

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Bayne, Tim

Affiliations: Faculty of Philosophy, University of Oxford & St. Catherine's College, Oxford, UK

Note: [] Address for correspondence: St. Catherine's College, Manor Road, Oxford, OX1 3UJ, UK. Tel.: +44 07946268245; Fax: +44 01865 271768; E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract: This paper examines three respects in which the study of epileptic absence seizures promises to inform our understanding of consciousness. Firstly, it has the potential to bear on debates concerning the behavioural and cognitive functions associated with consciousness. Secondly, it has the potential to illuminate the relationship between background states (or 'levels') of consciousness and the contents of consciousness. Thirdly, it has the potential to bear on our understanding of the unity of consciousness.

Keywords: Consciousness, absence seizures, unity of consciousness, neural correlates of consciousness, background states of consciousness, contents of consciousness

DOI: 10.3233/BEN-2011-0318

Journal: Behavioural Neurology, vol. 24, no. 1, pp. 47-53, 2011