MRI scans reveal the STUNNING stages of consciousness in the brain

Enduring questions over which part of the brain helps produce that feeling of being'awake' have been answered, thanks to stunningly detailed new brain imagery. Researchers' new high-resolution brain scans allowed them to see brain connections at a granular'submillimeter' level -- meaning down to a tiny 3/100ths of an inch. The images were then used to map a neural network of previously unseen pathways in the brain, called the'default ascending arousal network' or dAAN, which they now theorize is the core region that helps humans sustain wakeful consciousness. In recent years, the neuroscientists studying consciousness have divided this curious mystery of how the human brain is self-aware into two sub-categories: 'arousal' (wakefulness) and'awareness' (the subjective experience of being alive). The researchers hope their work exploring this dAAN pathway will help develop new treatments for patients with comas, or other conditions that hinge on wakefulness.