Provisional editorial interpretation based on a selected group of reviewed publications. This is not a systematic review of the entire catalogue or a scientific consensus statement.
Editorial summary translated for navigation; original publication language is unchanged.
Stanislas Dehaene; Jean-Pierre Changeux · 2011 · Neuron
Reviews conscious access through amplification and widespread availability of neural information in the global neuronal workspace framework.
A theoretical synthesis does not fully explain subjective experience.
Open sourceGeorge A. Mashour et al. · 2020 · Neuron
Reviews global neuronal workspace mechanisms across perception, attention, working memory and anesthesia, emphasizing recurrent amplification and information sharing.
Competing theoretical accounts remain under investigation.
Open sourceLarissa Albantakis et al. · 2023 · PLOS Computational Biology
Formalizes integrated information theory using proposed properties of experience, intrinsic information and causal relationships within physical systems.
The framework is theoretical, not experimental proof of consciousness.
Open sourceChristof Koch; Marcello Massimini; Melanie Boly; Giulio Tononi · 2016 · Nature Reviews Neuroscience
Reviews neural correlates and quantitative measures, emphasizing posterior cortical regions and separating experience from task monitoring and reporting.
Correlation does not establish causal sufficiency or settle theoretical disagreements.
Open sourceAdenauer G. Casali et al. · 2013 · Science Translational Medicine
Introduces an index of stimulation-evoked EEG complexity that distinguished several conscious and unconscious conditions in the studied participants.
A physiological index does not directly reveal subjective experience.
Open sourceSilvia Casarotto et al. · 2016 · Annals of Neurology
Validated a brain-complexity threshold before identifying some unresponsive patients with values overlapping those measured in conscious benchmark conditions.
High complexity cannot independently confirm experience in noncommunicative patients.
Open sourceCogitate Consortium; Oscar Ferrante et al. · 2025 · Nature
A preregistered multimodal study in 256 participants challenged selected predictions of global neuronal workspace and integrated information theories.
It tests specific visual-consciousness predictions, not every claim of either theory.
Open sourceMarcello Massimini et al. · 2005 · Science
Magnetic stimulation and EEG showed that cortical responses during non-REM sleep remained more localized than during quiet wakefulness.
These findings do not imply that all sleep lacks conscious experience.
Open sourceSimone Sarasso et al. · 2015 · Current Biology
During drug-induced unresponsiveness, ketamine preserved more complex cortical responses than propofol or xenon, separating responsiveness from brain complexity.
Drug effects and retrospective reports complicate inferences about subjective experience.
Open sourceFrancesca Siclari et al. · 2017 · Nature Neuroscience
High-density EEG associated reported dreams with reduced posterior low-frequency activity, while some faster activity correlated with dream contents.
Reports after awakening may confound dreaming with dream recall.
Open sourceAdrian M. Owen et al. · 2006 · Science
In one behaviorally unresponsive patient, instructed mental imagery produced task-specific brain activity resembling healthy volunteers, revealing covert command-following.
A single-patient finding cannot establish awareness in all similarly diagnosed patients.
Open sourceMelanie Boly et al. · 2011 · Science
During an auditory task, impaired backward frontal-to-temporal connectivity distinguished the vegetative-state group from controls in the studied sample.
Model-dependent connectivity estimates are not universally sufficient markers of consciousness.
Open sourcePim van Lommel et al. · 2001 · The Lancet
Interviews with 344 cardiac-arrest survivors examined near-death experiences and subsequent attitude changes.
Recalled experiences cannot establish their timing or independence from brain activity.
Open sourceSam Parnia et al. · 2001 · Resuscitation
Interviews with 63 cardiac-arrest survivors explored memories, experience features and physiological associations.
Few reported experiences, limiting statistical conclusions and physiological interpretation.
Open sourceSam Parnia et al. · 2014 · Resuscitation
This multicentre study examined memories after cardiac arrest, with 140 initial and 101 detailed survivor interviews.
Survivor selection and few awareness reports limit generalization.
Open sourceSam Parnia et al. · 2023 · Resuscitation
Interviews and physiological monitoring explored awareness during resuscitation; none of 28 interviewed survivors identified the visual target.
Small survivor samples cannot establish consciousness after irreversible death.
Open sourceJimo Borjigin et al. · 2013 · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Rat EEG showed briefly increased gamma coordination and connectivity after experimental cardiac arrest.
Animal neural signals do not directly demonstrate subjective experience.
Open sourceRaul Vicente et al. · 2022 · Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience
EEG recorded gamma activity and coupling changes around cardiac arrest in one brain-injured patient.
A single injured brain cannot establish conscious experience.
Open sourceGang Xu et al. · 2023 · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Two of four dying patients showed increased gamma activity and connectivity after ventilatory support withdrawal.
No subjective reports linked these signals to conscious awareness.
Open sourceAlexander Olaussen et al. · 2015 · Resuscitation
This systematic review gathered reports of signs of consciousness during ongoing cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
Responsiveness during CPR is not evidence of consciousness after irreversible death.
Open sourceGeorge A. Mashour et al. · 2024 · Anesthesiology
This review connects near-death reports with research on electrical activity and connectivity around cardiac or respiratory arrest.
Candidate neural correlates do not establish subjective experience.
Open sourceJoshua G. Kovoor et al. · 2024 · Discover Mental Health
This scoping review mapped prospective studies, finding varied experience frequencies and assessment methods.
Heterogeneity and recall bias limited comparison and prevented meta-analysis.
Open sourceLuc Montagnier et al. · 2009 · Interdisciplinary Sciences: Computational Life Sciences
The authors report electromagnetic signals in diluted bacterial DNA preparations and propose a resonance mechanism.
Independent replication is not established by this abstract.
Open sourceF. A. Popp et al. · 1984 · Cell Biophysics
Cellular photon measurements were interpreted by the authors as evidence for coherence and a contribution from DNA.
A 2015 critical review challenges the coherence interpretation.
Open sourceB. Ruth and F. A. Popp · 1976 · Zeitschrift für Naturforschung C
Measurements detected faint photon emission from yeast and seedlings, including changes after chemical treatment.
Light emission alone does not demonstrate communication or consciousness.
Open sourceJanusz Slawinski · 2005 · Forschende Komplementärmedizin und Klassische Naturheilkunde
This review relates biological photon emission to metabolism, physiological stress and biochemical excitation processes.
It does not demonstrate consciousness surviving death.
Open sourceMichal Cifra and Pavel Pospíšil · 2014 · Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology B: Biology
The review explains oxidative sources of cellular light and surveys detection methods and physiological monitoring applications.
Emission evidence does not establish optical communication or conscious experience.
Open sourceMichal Cifra et al. · 2015 · Journal of Luminescence
This critical review finds biological light emission established, but reliable evidence for coherence or nonclassical photon statistics lacking.
The assessment covers literature available in 2015.
Open sourceJohnjoe McFadden · 2020 · Neuroscience of Consciousness
The cemi model proposes consciousness as information integrated in the brain’s electromagnetic field and outlines testable predictions.
A theoretical proposal is not conclusive experimental confirmation.
Open sourceJohnjoe McFadden · 2023 · Frontiers in Human Neuroscience
This theoretical review advocates electromagnetic accounts of consciousness and compares their explanatory claims with neuronal theories.
The comparisons represent the author’s position, not independent confirmation.
Open sourceRhys R. Mould et al. · 2024 · Frontiers in Physiology
The authors survey biological photon research, metabolic origins, detection methods and potential applications of ultraweak light emission.
Proposed biological roles and applications require separate validation.
Open sourceJozsef Bodis et al. · 2026 · Frontiers in Endocrinology
A review with mouse-embryo measurements examines metabolic photon sources and hypotheses about DNA-related optical signalling.
The authors acknowledge that DNA-based biophoton communication remains unproven.
Open sourceSamuel Crowther, Alice Attenborough and Frank Vollmer · 2026 · Nanophotonics
The review explains mitochondrial photon emission through oxidative chemistry, distinguishing baseline emission from stress-related increases.
Its energetic analysis does not cover every cellular light source.
Open sourceMasaki Kobayashi, Daisuke Kikuchi and Hitoshi Okamura · 2009 · PLOS ONE
Sensitive cameras visualized faint human-body light emission and changes in its intensity across the day.
These measurements do not demonstrate an aura or consciousness signal.
Open sourceStuart Hameroff; Roger Penrose · 2014 · Physics of Life Reviews
Reviews the proposed connection between consciousness, quantum processes in microtubules and objective reduction.
A theoretical proposal, not a demonstration that quantum processes generate consciousness.
Open sourceMax Tegmark · 2000 · Physical Review E
Calculates rapid decoherence in brain models and challenges a quantum-computational explanation of cognition.
The conclusions depend on the modeled states and physical assumptions.
Open sourceS. Hagan; S. R. Hameroff; J. A. Tuszyński · 2002 · Physical Review E
Recalculates microtubule decoherence under different assumptions, responding to criticisms of the Orch OR model.
Model calculations do not establish conscious quantum computation in living brains.
Open sourceSana Khan et al. · 2024 · eNeuro
A microtubule-stabilizing treatment delayed loss of righting reflex during isoflurane anesthesia in rats.
An animal behavioral measure does not directly demonstrate quantum consciousness.
Open source