Repression of unconscious information by conscious processing: Evidence from affective blindsight induced by transcranial magnetic stimulation

Jolij, Jacob; Lamme, Victor A. F.

doi:10.1073/pnas.0500834102

Cited by 117 publications

(92 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…In a study on blindsight in normal participants using TMS, Jolij and Lamme (2005) report a very similar contrast between availability of unconscious (or preconscious) information for perceptual decision-making. In this study, TMS of primary visual cortex was used to induce artificial blindsight in normal observers.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Act Quickly, Decide Later: Long-latency Visual Processing Underlies Perceptual Decisions but Not Reflexive Behavior

Jolij¹,

Scholte

Gaal

et al. 2011

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience

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Abstract■ Humans largely guide their behavior by their visual representation of the world. Recent studies have shown that visual information can trigger behavior within 150 msec, suggesting that visually guided responses to external events, in fact, precede conscious awareness of those events. However, is such a view correct? By using a texture discrimination task, we show that the brain relies on long-latency visual processing in order to guide perceptual decisions. Decreasing stimulus saliency leads to selective changes in long-latency visually evoked potential components reflecting scene segmentation. These latency changes are accompanied by almost equal changes in simple RTs and points of subjective simultaneity. Furthermore, we find a strong correlation between individual RTs and the latencies of scene segmentation related components in the visually evoked potentials, showing that the processes underlying these late brain potentials are critical in triggering a response. However, using the same texture stimuli in an antisaccade task, we found that reflexive, but erroneous, prosaccades, but not antisaccades, can be triggered by earlier visual processes. In other words: The brain can act quickly, but decides late. Differences between our study and earlier findings suggesting that action precedes conscious awareness can be explained by assuming that task demands determine whether a fast and unconscious, or a slower and conscious, representation is used to initiate a visually guided response. ■

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Act Quickly, Decide Later: Long-latency Visual Processing Underlies Perceptual Decisions but Not Reflexive Behavior

Jolij¹,

Scholte

Gaal

et al. 2011

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience

Self Cite

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“…Lastly, transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) has been used to induce ''virtual lesions'' to V1, so as to block conscious visual perception and create experimental models of blindsight (Allen, Sumner, & Chambers, 2014;Lloyd, Abrahamyan, & Harris, 2013;Railo, Andersson, Kaasinen, Laine, & Koivisto, 2014;Silvanto, Walsh, & Cowey, 2009) and affective blindsight (Filmer & Monsell, 2013;Jolij & Lamme, 2005). These methods have revealed interesting parallels with the behavioral outcomes reported in affective blindsight.…”

Section: Methodological Issues In the Study Of Affective Blindsightmentioning

confidence: 99%

From affective blindsight to emotional consciousness

Celeghin

Gelder

Tamietto

2015

Consciousness and Cognition

113

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a b s t r a c tFollowing destruction or denervation of the primary visual cortex (V1) cortical blindness ensues. Affective blindsight refers to the uncanny ability of such patients to respond correctly, or above chance level, to visual emotional expressions presented to their blind fields. Fifteen years after its original discovery, affective blindsight still fascinates neuroscientists and philosophers alike, as it offers a unique window on the vestigial properties of our visual system that, though present in the intact brain, tend to be unnoticed or even actively inhibited by conscious processes. Here we review available studies on affective blindsight with the intent to clarify its functional properties, neural bases and theoretical implications. Evidence converges on the role of subcortical structures of old evolutionary origin such as the superior colliculus, the pulvinar and the amygdala in mediating affective blindsight and nonconscious perception of emotions. We conclude that approaching consciousness, and its absence, from the vantage point of emotion processing may uncover important relations between the two phenomena, as consciousness may have evolved as an evolutionary specialization to interact with others and become aware of their social and emotional expressions.

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“…The latter may have become impossible due to brain damage, as in the rare cases of selective striate cortex damage, or because awareness is prevented by experimental manipulation; most typically visual masking (Dimberg et al, 2000;Esteves, Dimberg, & Öhman, 1994;Jolij & Lamme, 2005;Killgore & Yurgelun-Todd, 2004;Liddell et al, 2005;Morris, Ohman et al, 1998;Murphy & Zajonc, 1993;Niedenthal, 1990;Pessoa, Japee, Sturman, & Ungerleider, 2006;Pessoa, Japee, & Ungerleider, 2005;Tamietto & de Gelder, 2008a;Whalen et al, 2004;Whalen et al, 1998b;Williams et al, 2006;Williams et al, 2004). This suggests that there might be a nonconscious perceptual subsystem for visually based affect experience and cognition.…”

Section: Subcortical Social Visionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Faces, Bodies, Social Vision as Agent Vision, and Social Consciousness

Gelder¹,

Tamietto²

2010

The Science of Social Vision

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and KeywordsThis chapter discusses recent findings from research on face and body perception giving special attention to the implications of the findings for social vision. The first section is devoted to similarities between the processes underlying face and body perception. The second section discusses how the perception of faces and bodies is integrated. The third section tackles issues on conscious and nonconscious perception of socially meaningful signals and their neuroanatomical underpinnings. Finally, the relation between social vision and awareness is explored, and notion of social consciousness is developed. Throughout the chapter, the notions of agent vision and social vision are used in the sense made familiar by the expression "night vision" to refer to various devices that expand the normal visual abilities and allows the observer to see in the dark, outside the spotlight of consciousness.

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Repression of unconscious information by conscious processing: Evidence from affective blindsight induced by transcranial magnetic stimulation

Cited by 117 publications

References 29 publications

Act Quickly, Decide Later: Long-latency Visual Processing Underlies Perceptual Decisions but Not Reflexive Behavior

Act Quickly, Decide Later: Long-latency Visual Processing Underlies Perceptual Decisions but Not Reflexive Behavior

From affective blindsight to emotional consciousness

Faces, Bodies, Social Vision as Agent Vision, and Social Consciousness

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