Conscious Perception and the Prefrontal Cortex A Review

Abstract

Is perceptual processing in dedicated sensory areas sufficient for conscious perception? Localists say, 'Yes — given some background conditions.' Prefrontalists say, 'No: conscious perceptual experience requires the involvement of prefrontal structures.' I review the evidence for prefrontalism. I start by presenting correlational evidence. In doing so, I answer the 'report argument', according to which the apparent involvement of the prefrontal cortex in consciousness stems from the requirement for reports. I then review causal evidence for prefrontalism and answer the 'lesion argument', which purports to show that prefrontalism is wrong because lesions to the prefrontal cortex do not abolish consciousness. I conclude that multiple sources of evidence converge toward the view that the prefrontal cortex plays a significant role in consciousness.

Bistable perception, precision and neuromodulation

“…While some argue that the frontal lobe is actively involved in the perceptual experience itself, others contend that its involvement is more aligned with higher-order processing tasks such as attention and awareness ( Safavi et al. 2014 ; Block 2020 ; Michel 2022 ). This ongoing debate, although not exhaustively covered here, adds an additional layer of complexity to our understanding of multistable perception and its neurobiological underpinnings.…”

Confidence in consciousness research

“…This is not a problem for the Consciousness-Selectivity condition since the increase in metacognitive sensitivity in this case presumably does not come from metacognition tracking unconscious sensory activity. 14 I am not assuming that the prefrontal cortex is relevant for consciousness (See Malach (2022) and Michel (2022b) for reviews on this issue). Instead, I argue that systems responsible for evaluating conscious visibility are dependent on prefrontal cortex activity, and these systems overlap with the metacognitive systems responsible for confidence judgments.…”

“…Ultimately, the systems generating confidence and visibility judgments could simply be one and the same metacognitive system performing different computations over the same inputs (Fleming, 2019;Rausch et al 2021). Since whatever system generates visibility reports has to be consciousness-selective, this 14 I am not assuming that the prefrontal cortex is relevant for consciousness (See Malach (2022) and Michel (2022b) for reviews on this issue). Instead, I argue that systems responsible for evaluating conscious visibility are dependent on prefrontal cortex activity, and these systems overlap with the metacognitive systems responsible for confidence judgments.…”

“…14 14 I am not assuming that the prefrontal cortex is relevant for consciousness (See Malach (2022) and Michel (2022b) for reviews on this issue). Instead, I argue that systems responsible for evaluating conscious visibility are dependent on prefrontal cortex activity, and these systems overlap with the metacognitive systems responsible for confidence judgments. …”

Text-related functionality of visual human pre-frontal activations revealed through neural network convergence

“…In contrast, "globalist" theoriessuch as Global Neuronal Workspace, or High Order Theories [14][15][16][17] will attribute to frontal activations a central role in enabling visual perceptual awareness. Moreover, according to the Global Neuronal Workspace theory, prefrontal activations are hypothesized to be transient, showing at both the appearance and disappearance of perceived stimuli, reflecting the updating of consciously perceived contents 8,12 (for a recent review of this debate see 18,19 ). Thus, highlighting the potential functional role and dynamics of visual activation in human prefrontal cortex, beyond its immediate interest in understanding the functionality of the frontal lobes has also far-reaching theoretical consequences.…”