Selective Neural Synchrony Suppression as a Forward Gatekeeper to Piecemeal Conscious Perception.

Details

Serval ID
serval:BIB_9A71C7ADFCD6
Type
Article: article from journal or magazin.
Collection
Publications
Institution
Title
Selective Neural Synchrony Suppression as a Forward Gatekeeper to Piecemeal Conscious Perception.
Journal
Cerebral cortex
Author(s)
Levy J., Vidal J.R., Fries P., Démonet J.F., Goldstein A.
ISSN
1460-2199 (Electronic)
ISSN-L
1047-3211
Publication state
Published
Issued date
07/2016
Peer-reviewed
Oui
Volume
26
Number
7
Pages
3010-3022
Language
english
Notes
Publication types: Journal Article
Publication Status: ppublish
Abstract
The emergence of conscious visual perception is assumed to ignite late (∼250 ms) gamma-band oscillations shortly after an initial (∼100 ms) forward sweep of neural sensory (nonconscious) information. However, this neural evidence is not utterly congruent with rich behavioral data which rather point to piecemeal (i.e., graded) perceptual processing. To address the unexplored neural mechanisms of piecemeal ignition of conscious perception, hierarchical script sensitivity of the putative visual word form area (VWFA) was exploited to signal null (i.e., sensory), partial (i.e., letter-level), and full (i.e., word-level) conscious perception. Two magnetoencephalography experiments were conducted in which healthy human participants viewed masked words (Experiment I: active task, Dutch words; Experiment II: passive task, Hebrew words) while high-frequency (broadband gamma) brain activity was measured. Findings revealed that piecemeal conscious perception did not ignite a linear piecemeal increase in oscillations. Instead, whereas late (∼250 ms) gamma-band oscillations signaled full conscious perception (i.e., word-level), partial conscious perception (i.e., letter-level) was signaled via the inhibition of the early (∼100 ms) forward sweep. This inhibition regulates the downstream broadcast to filter out irrelevant (i.e., masks) information. The findings thus highlight a local (VWFA) gatekeeping mechanism for conscious perception, operating by filtering out and in selective percepts.

Keywords
Brain/physiology, Consciousness/physiology, Female, Gamma Rhythm/physiology, Humans, Linear Models, Magnetoencephalography, Male, Neuropsychological Tests, Reading, Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted, Visual Perception/physiology, Young Adult, MEG, VWFA, conscious perception, gamma-band oscillations, partial conscious perception, synchrony
Pubmed
Web of science
Open Access
Yes
Create date
11/10/2016 15:30
Last modification date
20/08/2019 15:01
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