Reproducibility Distinguishes Conscious from Nonconscious Neural Representations

What qualifies a neural representation for a role in subjective experience? Previous evidence suggests that the duration and intensity of the neural response to a sensory stimulus are factors. We introduce another attribute--the reproducibility of a pattern of neural activity across different episod...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inScience (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Vol. 327; no. 5961; pp. 97 - 99
Main Authors Schurger, Aaron, Pereira, Francisco, Treisman, Anne, Cohen, Jonathan D
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States American Association for the Advancement of Science 2010
Subjects
Awareness - physiology
Brain - physiology
Consciousness - physiology
Female
Humans
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
Neurons - physiology
Photic Stimulation
Temporal Lobe - physiology
Unconscious (Psychology)
Visual Cortex - physiology
Visual Perception
Young Adult
Online AccessGet more information
ISSN0036-8075
1095-9203
DOI10.1126/science.1180029

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Summary:What qualifies a neural representation for a role in subjective experience? Previous evidence suggests that the duration and intensity of the neural response to a sensory stimulus are factors. We introduce another attribute--the reproducibility of a pattern of neural activity across different episodes--that predicts specific and measurable differences between conscious and nonconscious neural representations indepedently of duration and intensity. We found that conscious neural activation patterns are relatively reproducible when compared with nonconscious neural activation patterns corresponding to the same perceptual content. This is not adequately explained by a difference in signal-to-noise ratio.
ISSN:0036-8075
1095-9203
DOI:10.1126/science.1180029