A Philosophical Perspective on the Relation between Cortical Midline Structures and the Self.

In recent years there has been increasing evidence that an area in the brain called the cortical midline structures (CMSs) is implicated in what has been termed self-related processing. This article will discuss recent evidence for the relation between CMS and self-consciousness in light of several important philosophical distinctions. First, we should distinguish between being a self (i.

Concepts or metacognition--what is the issue? Commentary on Stephane Savanah's "The concept possession hypothesis of self-consciousness".

The author claims that concept possession is not only necessary but also sufficient for self-consciousness, where self-consciousness is understood as the awareness of oneself as a self. Further, he links concept possession to intelligent behavior. His ultimate aim is to provide a framework for the study of self-consciousness in infants and non-human animals.

Neonatal separation stress reduces glial fibrillary acidic protein- and S100beta-immunoreactive astrocytes in the rat medial precentral cortex.

The interactions between the mother/parents and their offspring provides socioemotional input, which is essential for the establishment and maintenance of synaptic networks in prefrontal and limbic brain regions. Since glial cells are known to play an important role in developmental and experience-driven synaptic plasticity, the effect of an early adverse emotional experience induced by maternal separation for 1 or 6 h on the expression of the glia specific proteins S100beta and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) was quantitatively analyzed in anterior cingulate cortex, hippocampus, and precentral medial cortex. Three animal groups were analyzed at postnatal day 14: (i) separated for 1 h; (ii) separated for 6 h; (iii) undisturbed (control).