Are neural correlates of visual consciousness retinotopic?
” Perception 32 ECVP Abstract Supplement Are neural correlates of visual consciousness retinotopic? D H ffytche, D Pins Does each specialised brain area contain multiple, dissociable perceptual circuits–one for each region of visual space–or in perception related to diffuse activation of a specialised area? We have set out to answer this question by studying brain activity during a visual threshold task presented at central and peripheral visual field locations. At threshold, the same stimulus is seen on some trials and not on others with the response to not-seen trials reflecting non-conscious sensory processing or preparatory attention. Any increment in this response for seen trials is a neural correlate of perception (Pins and ffytche, 2003 Cerebral Cortex 13 461 – 474). We performed the threshold task in eleven psychophysically trained subjects, using fMRI to record brain activity at the occipital polar and medial calcarine regions mapping the central and peripheral stimuli. Our
