Several aspects of the proposal, which aims to expand open access, require serious discussion and, in some cases, a rethink.
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Edited by Charles Gross, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, and approved November 12, 2012 (received for review May 10, 2012)
Abstract
The human brain has the extraordinary capability to transform cluttered sensory input into distinct object representations. For example, it is able to rapidly and seemingly without effort detect object categories in complex natural scenes. Surprisingly, category tuning is not sufficient to achieve conscious recognition of objects. What neural process beyond category extraction might elevate neural representations to the level where objects are consciously perceived? Here we show that visible and invisible faces produce similar category-selective responses in the ventral visual cortex. The pattern of neural activity evoked by visible faces could be used to decode the presence of invisible faces and vice versa. However, only visible faces caused extensive response enhancements and changes in neural oscillatory synchronization, as well as increased functional connectivity between higher and lower visual areas. We conclude that conscious face perception is more tightly linked to neural processes of sustained information integration and binding than to processes accommodating face category tuning.
- consciousness
- object categorization
- figure–ground segregation
- perceptual organization
- recurrent processing
Footnotes
- ↵1To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: fahrenfort.work{at}gmail.com.
Author contributions: J.J.F., K.H., S.v.G., H.S.S., and V.A.F.L. designed research; J.J.F. performed research; J.J.F. and T.M.S. analyzed data; and J.J.F. and T.M.S. wrote the paper.
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
This article is a PNAS Direct Submission.
This article contains supporting information online at www.pnas.org/lookup/suppl/doi:10.1073/pnas.1207414110/-/DCSupplemental.
Neuronal integration and conscious perception
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