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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 6, 2026

Measurement of Energy Metabolism in Explanted Retinal Tissue Using Extracellular Flux Analysis

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Published on: January 7, 2019

The cortical energy needed for conscious perception.

Marieke L Schölvinck¹, Clare Howarth, David Attwell

¹Department of Physiology, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, England.

|March 7, 2008

Summary

Conscious perception uses minimal brain energy, with local cortical energy use changing by less than 6%. This efficient neural coding strategy may explain why brain activity during perception is often undetectable by BOLD functional imaging.

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Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Cognitive Science
Computational Neuroscience

Background:

Brain energy supply limits information processing.
The distribution of cortical energy between conscious and unconscious processing remains unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

To quantify the energy consumption associated with conscious perception.
To investigate the neural coding strategies that minimize energy use in perception.

Main Methods:

Analysis of electrophysiological data from primates.
Calculation of local cortical energy consumption during sensory perception tasks.

Main Results:

Conscious perception involves minimal local alterations in mean cortical neuronal firing rate and energy consumption (<6%).
Specific sensory stimuli (visual, tactile, auditory) showed similar low energy changes.

Conclusions:

Conscious perception is energetically efficient.
A neural coding strategy using opposing neuronal responses minimizes energy fluctuations.
This efficiency may render conscious perception undetectable by BOLD functional imaging.