The origin of human consciousness has been debated for more than 2,000 years, and today there is still no scientific consensus on the matter. Recently, a British neuroscientist even suggested that the current dominant theory about the origin of consciousness is flawed.
Several Visions Clash
First, it is worth recalling that consciousness encompasses wakefulness, self-awareness, and the perception of the environment. It also includes thoughts, feelings, and other sensations. More plainly, it is the state we are in when we are awake. Defining human consciousness is not difficult, but its origin in the brain remains a mystery. Indeed, the emergence of subjectivity from brain matter is still an enigma today and therefore has not yet achieved scientific consensus.
There are, however, two main lines of thought that clash. Some argue that consciousness is a kind of “ghost” in the brain’s machinery, an idea that supporters say should deserve its own dedicated branch of study. The second major theory, favored for about thirty years, posits that consciousness is a signal, like many others, generated in the background by neuronal mechanics. For proponents of this view, everything would hinge on the cerebral cortex (or rather the neocortex), the largest and most recently evolved part of the human brain, which is associated with higher cognitive functions (language, planning, decision-making, etc.).
Nevertheless, this dominant idea, already unsettled by other emerging theories, may have suffered a fatal blow with the publication of a new study in Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews in June 2026. The British neuroscientist Peter Coppola contends that human consciousness traces its roots to the brain’s most archaic areas.
Consciousness Would Emanate from the “Subcortex”
After reviewing decades of work on the subject, the expert concluded that attributing the origin of consciousness to the neocortex is an outdated view. He prefers to reference the “subcortex,” a large ensemble of branched structures located beneath the neocortex and, above all, present for roughly 500 million years in the human brain.
This ensemble notably includes the hypothalamus (sleep, sexual activity), the brainstem (breathing, heart rate, etc.), and the basal ganglia (cognitive regulation, motor learning, etc.). Typically, we regard these areas as “primitive” and, in theory, incapable of housing the seat of human consciousness. Yet the fact remains that, without these vital zones, our life would be entirely impossible.
Despite this idea that does not solve the central mystery, Peter Coppola does not deny the crucial role of the neocortex. Instead, he argues that this very neocortex may not be the root of consciousness. More importantly, the proposal challenges beliefs about the subcortex’s supposed ineptitude and primitive nature. It is worth noting, however, that the absence of a neocortex is not always synonymous with unconsciousness, as has been shown by people born without this structure or others from whom it was removed during surgical procedures. Indeed, these individuals can continue to exhibit behaviors compatible with a form of conscious life.
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