Visual consciousness tracked with direct intracranial recording from early and high-level visual cortices in humans and monkeys

old_uid11603
titleVisual consciousness tracked with direct intracranial recording from early and high-level visual cortices in humans and monkeys
start_date2012/07/09
schedule16h
onlineno
location_infoLecture Theatre
detailsHosted by Ryota Kanai
summaryKey insights about the neuronal correlates of consciousness have been gained by electrophysiological recording of single neurons from a particular area or by recording of indirect fMRI signals from whole brain. However, if rapid interaction among neuronal populations in distant cortical areas is essential for consciousness, other methods such as intracranial electrocorticogram (ECoG) that can attain both requirements are necessary. Here we report the results of ECoG experiments in three epilepsy patients and one monkey. We used Continuous Flash Suppression to investigate the neuronal activity when ‘invisible’ stimuli broke interocular suppression. We found that wide spread activity in the visual cortex preceded up to 1-2 seconds before subjective reports of detection and that alpha- and beta- band activity in the visual cortex induced by the initial flashes predicted how long the suppression was going to last. We will discuss implication of these findings for the neuronal dynamics associated with consciousness.
responsiblesLawrence