# Do psychic cells generate consciousness?

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.20164 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.20164/

## Key facts

- No citing papers in the map yet (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 0 of its 52 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 25 Jun 2025.

## Abstract (arXiv)

Technological advances in the past decades have begun to enable neuroscientists to address fundamental questions about consciousness in an unprecedented way. Here we review remarkable recent progress in our understanding of cellular-level mechanisms of conscious processing in the brain. Of particular interest are the cortical pyramidal neurons -- or "psychic cells" called by Ram'on y Cajal more than 100 years ago -- which have an intriguing cellular mechanism that accounts for selective disruption of feedback signaling in the brain upon anesthetic-induced loss of consciousness. Importantly, a particular class of metabotropic receptors distributed over the dendrites of pyramidal cells are highlighted as the key cellular mechanism. After all, Cajal's instinct over a century ago may turn out to be correct -- we may have just begun to understand whether and how psychic cells indeed generate and control our consciousness.