A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal
Multiple independent components contribute to event-related potential correlates of conscious vision
Authors: Colombari, Elisabetta; Railo, Henry
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Publication year: 2024
Journal: Consciousness and Cognition
Journal name in source: Consciousness and Cognition
Article number: 103785
Volume: 126
ISSN: 1053-8100
eISSN: 1090-2376
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2024.103785
Web address : http://doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2024.103785
Self-archived copy’s web address: https://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/471001964
Research has revealed two major event-related potential (ERP) markers of visual awareness: the earlier Visual Awareness Negativity (VAN, around 150–250 ms after stimulus onset), and the following Late Positivity (LP, around 300–500 ms after stimulus onset). Understanding the neural sources that give rise to VAN and LP is important in order to understand what kind of neural processes underlie conscious visual perception. Although the ERPs afford high temporal resolution, their spatial resolution is limited because multiple separate neural sources sum up at the scalp level. In the present study, we sought to characterize the locations and time-courses of independent neural sources underlying the ERP correlates of visual awareness by means of Independent Component Analysis (ICA). ICA allows identifying and localizing the temporal dynamics of different neural sources that contribute to the ERP correlates of conscious perception. The present results show that the cortical sources of VAN are localized to posterior areas including occipital and temporal cortex, while LP reflects a combination of multiple sources distributed among frontal, parietal and occipito-temporal cortex. Our findings suggest that conscious vision correlates with dynamically changing neural sources, developing in part in “accumulative fashion”: consciousness-related activity initially arises in few early sources and, subsequently, additional sources are engaged as a function of time.
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Funding information in the publication:
H.R. was funded by the Academy of Finland (grant #308533).