Emergence of visual consciousness in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)

Eno pomembnejših vprašanj znanosti, tako v zgodovini kot tudi danes, je ravno vprašanje zavestikje nastane zavest, kateri možganski korelati sodelujejo pri produkciji zavesti. S temi vprašanji so se ukvarjali veliki filozofi v preteklostiprav tako se že desetletja znanstveniki ukvarjajo z vprašanjem zavesti znotraj področij nevroznanosti. Raziskuje se, kateri možganski korelati so odgovorni za zavest. Znanje s področja nevroznanosti je strmo naraščalo v zadnjih stoletjih, s tem pa je prav tako naraščalo iskanje nevroloških korelatov zavesti. Raziskovalci so skozi zgodovino iskali enoten center, ki naj bi bil glavni ključ za doživljanje zavesti. Znani psiholog William James je eden izmed prvih znanstvenikov, ki je trdil, da je v produkcijo zavesti vpletenih več delov človeških možganov, ki skupaj producirajo zavest človeka. Danes se skozi najrazličnejše študije to tudi potrjuje, saj vse več empiričnih dokazov nakazuje ravno to, da pri produkciji zavesti sodeluje več predelov skupaj, seveda so nekateri pomembnejši od drugih. V teoretičnem delu magistrske naloge najprej raziščemo zgodovino nevroznanosti in potipamo časovnico področja nevroznanosti, predstavimo mnenja in dognanja znanstvenikov skozi zgodovino pa vse do danes. Nato se v prvem delu s pomočjo pregledane literature posvetimo razlagi pojma zavesti ter problemu duha in telesa. Osrednji del magistrskega dela predstavlja izvedena empirična študija, s pomočjo katere smo raziskovali vizualno zavest pri otrocih s sindromom ADHD. Teoretični del zavzema tudi opis sindroma ADHD, tako z vidika psihologije kot nevroznanosti. Na koncu teoretičnega dela magistrske naloge pa se posvetimo opisu nevroloških korelatov vizualne zavesti, ki je prav tako glavna tema našega raziskovalnega projekta. Empiričnemu delu naloge sledi prezentacija in statistična obdelava podatkov, ki so bili pridobljeni skozi študijo, kjer smo s pomočjo empiričnih dokazil preučevali pojav vizualne zavesti pri otrocih s sindromom ADHD. V naši eksperimentalni študiji testiramo vizualno zavest s pomočjo eksperimentalne paradigme, ki jo je razvil glavni mentor tega magistrskega dela, profesor dr. Zoltán Nadasdy s sodelavci. Eksperimentalna naloga, ki so jo reševali naši udeleženci, je vključevala vizualno integracijo slikovnih fragmentov, predstavljenih na računalniškem zaslonu. Zadnji del magistrske naloge prinaša statistično analizo, prezentacijo grafov rezultatov izvedene študije, zaključimo pa z diskusijo.One of the greatest questions of science, throughout history as well as today, is what consciousness is, where consciousness forms, which neural correlates take part in the production of consciousness. All these questions were pondered on by great philosophers of the past. The research in individual areas of neuroscience has also been ongoing in scientific circles for decades, searching for an answer as to which neural correlates are responsible for consciousness. As we can see, the nature of consciousness itself has excited the imagination of humanity since the beginning of history. Knowledge in the field of neuroscience has been rising steeply in the last centuries, and with it, the search for neural correlates of consciousness. Researchers throughout history sought a uniform center, a would-be master key to conscious experience. The famous philosopher William James was one of the first scientists to claim that several parts of the human brain were involved in the production of consciousness, together forming man’s consciousness. Today, this is also being confirmed through different studies, since we now know that more and more empirical evidence points to various regions cooperating in the production of consciousness, some playing bigger, and others playing minor roles. The job of the master thesis is of course not to answer the largest questions that have arisen in the minds of modern as well as historical scientists. In the theoretical part of the master thesis, we first investigate the history of neuroscience and get a feel of the timeline of the area itself, including opinions and findings of scientists throughout history up to today. Then in the first part, with the help of reviewed literature, we turn to explaining the concept of consciousness and the mind-body problem. Since the main part of the master thesis is the performed empirical study used to research visual consciousness in ADHD children, the theoretical part also encompasses the description of the ADHD syndrome from the standpoint of psychology, as well as neuroscience. At the end of the theoretical part of the thesis, we give attention to describing neural correlates of visual consciousness, which is also the main topic of our research project. In the empirical part of the thesis follows the representation and statistical processing of the data obtained through the study, where we studied the phenomenon of visual consciousness in children with the ADHD syndrome. In our experiment, we tested visual consciousness with the help of an experimental paradigm, developed by the main supervisor of this master thesis, Dr. Zoltán Nádasdy, with his colleagues. The experimental task performed by our participants included visual integration of image fragments presented on a computer screen. The last part of the master thesis is the statistical analysis, the graphical representation of the results of the performed study, in the end wrapped up by a discussion section