The role of levels of processing in disentangling the ERP signatures of conscious visual processing

Derda, Monika; Koculak, Marcin; Windey, Bert; Gociewicz, Krzysztof; Wierzchoń, Michał; Cleeremans, Axel; Binder, Marek

doi:10.1016/j.concog.2019.102767

Cited by 44 publications

(53 citation statements)

References 55 publications

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“…Evidence from other paradigms (visual masking or lowcontrast stimuli) that have recorded electrophysiological measures (EEG or MEG) in combination with visibility/awareness ratings also report modulations during the VAN time range in connection to reported visibility (Andersen et al, 2016;Derda et al, 2019;Koivisto & Grassini, 2016;Tagliabue et al, 2016). Although P3/LP modulations were observed in these studies as well, they were not found as consistently (e.g., only for a high-level but not low-level condition in Derda et al, 2019) and were less predictive of the visual impression (Andersen et al, 2016;Koivisto & Grassini, 2016) as compared to the VAN.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Graded Visual Consciousness During the Attentional Blink

Eiserbeck

Enge

Rabovsky

et al. 2021

Preprint

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One of the ongoing debates about visual consciousness is whether it can be considered as an all-or-none or a graded phenomenon. This may depend on the experimental paradigm and the task used to investigate this question. The present event-related potential study (N = 32) focuses on the attentional blink paradigm for which so far only little and mixed evidence is available. Detection of T2 face targets during the attentional blink was assessed via an objective accuracy measure (reporting the faces’ gender), subjective visibility on a perceptual awareness scale (PAS) as well as event-related potentials time-locked to T2 onset (components P1, N1, N2, and P3). The behavioral results indicate a graded rather than an all-or-none pattern of visual awareness. Corresponding graded differences in the N1, N2, and P3 components were observed for the comparison of visibility levels. These findings suggest that conscious perception during the attentional blink can occur in a graded fashion.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Graded Visual Consciousness During the Attentional Blink

Eiserbeck

Enge

Rabovsky

et al. 2021

Preprint

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“…According to this point of view, VAN would reflect a pre-conscious stage. Besides, others pointed out a twofold contribution of VAN and LP in triggering perceptual experience (Rutiku et al, 2015 , 2016 ; Tagliabue et al, 2016 ; Derda et al, 2019 ; Ye et al, 2019 ). Our approach has the added benefit of going beyond these findings, dissociating the processes that are not directly related to awareness and may act as confounds.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Late Positivity Does Not Meet the Criteria to be Considered a Proper Neural Correlate of Perceptual Awareness

Mazzi

Mazzeo

Savazzi

2020

Front. Syst. Neurosci.

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Contrastive analysis has been widely employed in the search for the electrophysiological neural correlates of consciousness. However, despite its clear logic, it has been argued that it may not succeed in isolating neural processes solely involved in the emergence of perceptual awareness. In fact, data from contrastive analysis would be contaminated by potential confounding factors reflecting distinct, though related, processes either preceding or following the conscious perception. At present, the ERP components representing the proper correlates of perceptual awareness still remain to be identified among those correlating with awareness (i.e., Visual Awareness Negativity, VAN and Late Positivity, LP). In order to dissociate visual awareness from post-perceptual confounds specifically related to decision making, we manipulated the response criterion, which affects how a percept is translated into a decision. In particular, while performing an orientation discrimination task, participants were asked to shift their response criterion across sessions. As a consequence, the resulting modulation should concern the ERP component(s) not exclusively reflecting mechanisms regulating the subjective conscious experience itself but rather the processes accompanying it. Electrophysiological results showed that N1 and P3 were sensitive to the response criterion adopted by participants. Additionally, the more the participants shifted their response criterion, the bigger the ERP modulation was; this was consequently indicative of the critical role of these components in the decision-making processes regardless of awareness level. When considering data independently from the response criterion, the aware vs. unaware contrast showed that both VAN and LP were significant. Crucially, the LP component was also modulated by the interaction of awareness and response criterion, while VAN results to be unaffected. In agreement with previous literature, these findings provide evidence supporting the hypothesis that VAN tracks the emergence of visual awareness by encoding the conscious percept, whereas LP reflects the contribution from post-perceptual processes related to response requirements. This excludes a direct functional role of this later component in giving rise to perceptual awareness.

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“…Overall, these results challenge the idea that the P3b is a neural signature of conscious processing. While this particular neural activation pattern has been widely replicated and continues to be systematically put forth as a possible neural signature of consciousness (Railo et al, 2010;Dehaene, 2014;Naccache, 2018;Ye et al, 2019;Derda et al, 2019), these prior studies always had participants report their experiences. Although it may be the case that the theoretical foundation supporting those prior studies may ultimately be proven correct (i.e., cognitive/higher-order theories), these results conclusively demonstrate that the P3b is not a signature of conscious processing.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…We focused on arguably the largest and most replicable piece of neural evidence cited by cognitive theories: the P3b event-related potential (ERP). While numerous signatures of conscious processing have been proposed (i.e., an "ignition" of fronto-parietal circuits, an increase in long-range neural synchrony, and a late burst of gamma-band oscillations, Dehaene, 2014), the P3b has been widely replicated and continues to be routinely cited as a neural marker of conscious experience (Railo et al, 2011;Naccache, 2018;Ye et al, 2019;Derda et al, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Distinguishing the neural correlates of perceptual awareness and post-perceptual processing

Cohen

Ortego

Kyroudis

et al. 2020

Preprint

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To identify the neural correlates of perceptual awareness, researchers often compare the differences in neural activation between conditions in which an observer is or is not aware of a target stimulus. While intuitive, this approach often contains a critical limitation: In order to link brain activity with perceptual awareness, observers traditionally report the contents of their perceptual experience. However, relying on observers' reports is problematic because it makes it difficult to know if the neural responses being measured are associated with conscious perception per se or with post-perceptual processes involved in the reporting task (i.e., working memory, decision-making, etc.). To address this issue, we combined a standard visual masking paradigm with a recently developed "no-report" paradigm. In the visual masking paradigm, observers saw images of animals and objects that were visible or invisible depending on their proximity to masks. Meanwhile, on half of the trials, observers reported the contents of their perceptual experience (i.e., report condition), while on the other half of trials they refrained from reporting about their experiences (i.e., no-report condition). We used electroencephalography (EEG) to examine how visibility interacts with reporting by measuring the P3b event related potential (ERP), one of the proposed canonical "signatures" of conscious processing. Overall, we found a robust P3b in the report condition, but no P3b whatsoever in the no-report condition. This finding suggests that the P3b itself is not a neural signature of conscious processing and highlights the importance of carefully distinguishing the neural correlates of perceptual awareness from postperceptual processing. Significance statementWhat are the neural signatures that differentiate conscious and unconscious processing in the brain? Perhaps the most well-established candidate signature is the P3b event-related potential (ERP), a late slow wave that appears when observers are aware of a stimulus, but disappears when a stimulus fails to reach awareness. Here, however, we found that the P3b does not track what observers are perceiving but instead tracks what observers are reporting. When observers are aware of simple visual stimuli, the P3b is nowhere to be found unless observers are reporting the contents of their experience. These results challenge the well-established notion of the P3b as a neural marker of awareness and highlight the need for new approaches to the neuroscience of consciousness. Figure 4. Results from cluster-based permutations analysis for both (a) the report and (b) the no-report condition. Each individual electrode is plotted as a row on the y-axis, while time (ms) is plotted on the x-axis. Only significant t-values are plotted in the figure.

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The role of levels of processing in disentangling the ERP signatures of conscious visual processing

Cited by 44 publications

References 55 publications

Graded Visual Consciousness During the Attentional Blink

Graded Visual Consciousness During the Attentional Blink

Late Positivity Does Not Meet the Criteria to be Considered a Proper Neural Correlate of Perceptual Awareness

Distinguishing the neural correlates of perceptual awareness and post-perceptual processing

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