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Kim C, Chong SC. Partial blindness: Visual experience is not rich, but not sparse. Psychon Bull Rev 2023:10.3758/s13423-023-02432-w. [PMID: 38151692 DOI: 10.3758/s13423-023-02432-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 12/04/2023] [Indexed: 12/29/2023]
Abstract
Is our perceptual experience constrained by an information bottleneck (i.e., the limited capacity for cognitive access), and if so, how? To answer these questions, we investigated observers' perceptual resolution for an individual face when they saw either a single face or multiple faces simultaneously. We characterized perceptual resolution by measuring how accurately observers detected the degradation of a face. In two experiments, we found that the resolution of perception decreased when seeing multiple faces compared to when seeing a single face, which mainly resulted from the neglect of degradation. Importantly, this degradation neglect was based on partial blindness rather than complete blindness to a face, indicating that perceptual experience is limited by an information bottleneck as a form of partial blindness to an individual item. Together, our findings suggest that perceptual experience at a glance might be sparser than retinal resolution or perceptual resolution measured under conditions where the target stimulus is the sole focus of attention; however, it might be richer than a small handful of items.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cheongil Kim
- Graduate Program in Cognitive Science, Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea
| | - Sang Chul Chong
- Graduate Program in Cognitive Science, Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea.
- Department of Psychology, Yonsei University, 50 Yonsei-ro Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, 03722, Korea.
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2
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Wardrope A. The promises and pitfalls of seizure phenomenology. Seizure 2023; 113:48-53. [PMID: 37976801 DOI: 10.1016/j.seizure.2023.11.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/08/2023] [Accepted: 11/11/2023] [Indexed: 11/19/2023] Open
Abstract
The typical adult patient presenting with a first seizure has a normal clinical examination, uninformative investigations, and often has no witness to their episode. The assessing clinician, therefore, has one primary source of information to guide their assessment; the patient's experience. However, seizure phenomenology - the subjective seizure experience - has received relatively less attention by researchers than objective semiology or investigations. This essay reviews the clinical importance of seizure phenomenology, and the challenges clinicians face in eliciting accurate and clinically relevant descriptions of ictal experience. I conclude by discussing tools that clinicians may use to support the clinical application of seizure phenomenology, and exploring the subjectivity of epilepsy more broadly.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alistair Wardrope
- Academic Neurology Unit, The University of Sheffield, Royal Hallamshire Hospital, Glossop Road, Sheffield, S10 2JF, United Kingdom; Department of Neurology, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Royal Hallamshire Hospital, Glossop Road, Sheffield, S10 2JF, United Kingdom.
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Kiefer M, Frühauf V, Kammer T. Subjective and objective measures of visual awareness converge. PLoS One 2023; 18:e0292438. [PMID: 37788260 PMCID: PMC10547206 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0292438] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/08/2023] [Accepted: 09/20/2023] [Indexed: 10/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Within consciousness research, the most appropriate assessment of visual awareness is matter of a controversial debate: Subjective measures rely on introspections of the observer related to perceptual experiences, whereas objective measures are based on performance of the observer to accurately detect or discriminate the stimulus in question across a series of trials. In the present study, we compared subjective and objective awareness measurements across different stimulus feature and contrast levels using a temporal two-alternative forced choice task. This task has the advantage to provide an objective psychophysical performance measurement, while minimizing biases from unconscious processing. Thresholds based on subjective ratings with the Perceptual Awareness Scale (PAS) and on performance accuracy were determined for detection (stimulus presence) and discrimination (letter case) tasks at high and low stimulus contrast. We found a comparable pattern of thresholds across tasks and contrasts for objective and subjective measurements of awareness. These findings suggest that objective performance measures based on accuracy and subjective ratings of the visual experience can provide similar information on the feature-content of a percept. The observed similarity of thresholds validates psychophysical and subjective approaches to awareness as providing converging and thus most likely veridical measures of awareness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Markus Kiefer
- Department of Psychiatry, Ulm University, Ulm, Germany
| | | | - Thomas Kammer
- Department of Psychiatry, Ulm University, Ulm, Germany
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Wiens S, Andersson A, Gravenfors J. Neural electrophysiological correlates of detection and identification awareness. COGNITIVE, AFFECTIVE & BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE 2023; 23:1303-1321. [PMID: 37656374 PMCID: PMC10545648 DOI: 10.3758/s13415-023-01120-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 06/28/2023] [Indexed: 09/02/2023]
Abstract
Humans have conscious experiences of the events in their environment. Previous research from electroencephalography (EEG) has shown visual awareness negativity (VAN) at about 200 ms to be a neural correlate of consciousness (NCC). However, when considering VAN as an NCC, it is important to explore which particular experiences are associated with VAN. Recent research proposes that VAN is an NCC of lower-level experiences (detection) rather than higher-level experiences (identification). However, previous results are mixed and have several limitations. In the present study, the stimulus was a ring with a Gabor patch tilting either left or right. On each trial, subjects rated their awareness on a three-level perceptual awareness scale that captured both detection (something vs. nothing) and identification (identification vs. something). Separate staircases were used to adjust stimulus opacity to the detection threshold and the identification threshold. Bayesian linear mixed models provided extreme evidence (BF10 = 131) that VAN was stronger at the detection threshold than at the identification threshold. Mean VAN decreased from [Formula: see text]2.12 microV [[Formula: see text]2.86, [Formula: see text]1.42] at detection to [Formula: see text]0.46 microV [[Formula: see text]0.79, [Formula: see text]0.11] at identification. These results strongly support the claim that VAN is an NCC of lower-level experiences of seeing something rather than of higher-level experiences of specific properties of the stimuli. Thus, results are consistent with recurrent processing theory in that phenomenal visual consciousness is reflected by VAN. Further, results emphasize that it is important to consider the level of experience when searching for NCC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stefan Wiens
- Department of Psychology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden.
| | - Annika Andersson
- Department of Psychology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
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Jimenez M, Prieto A, Gómez P, Hinojosa JA, Montoro PR. Masked priming under the Bayesian microscope: Exploring the integration of local elements into global shape through Bayesian model comparison. Conscious Cogn 2023; 115:103568. [PMID: 37708623 DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2023.103568] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/25/2022] [Revised: 08/24/2023] [Accepted: 08/24/2023] [Indexed: 09/16/2023]
Abstract
To investigate whether local elements are grouped into global shapes in the absence of awareness, we introduced two different masked priming designs (e.g., the classic dissociation paradigm and a trial-wise probe and prime discrimination task) and collected both objective (i.e., performance based) and subjective (using the perceptual awareness scale [PAS]) awareness measures. Prime visibility was manipulated using three different prime-mask stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs) and an unmasked condition. Our results showed that assessing prime visibility trial-wise heavily interfered with masked priming preventing any prime facilitation effect. The implementation of Bayesian regression models, which predict priming effects for participants whose awareness levels are at chance level, provided strong evidence in favor of the hypothesis that local elements group into global shape in the absence of awareness for SOAs longer than 50 ms, suggesting that prime-mask SOA is a crucial factor in the processing of the global shape without awareness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mikel Jimenez
- Department of Psychology, University of Durham, Durham, United Kingdom.
| | | | - Pablo Gómez
- California State University San Bernardino, Palm Desert Campus, USA
| | - José Antonio Hinojosa
- Facultad de Lenguas y Educación, Universidad de Nebrija, Madrid, Spain; Instituto Pluridisciplinar, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain; Departamento de Psicología Experimental, Procesos Psicológicos y Logopedia, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain
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Wardrope A, Reuber M. The hermeneutics of symptoms. MEDICINE, HEALTH CARE AND PHILOSOPHY 2022; 25:395-412. [PMID: 35503189 PMCID: PMC9427902 DOI: 10.1007/s11019-022-10086-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/19/2022] [Revised: 02/22/2022] [Accepted: 04/02/2022] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
The clinical encounter begins with presentation of an illness experience; but throughout that encounter, something else is constructed from it – a symptom. The symptom is a particular interpretation of that experience, useful for certain purposes in particular contexts. The hermeneutics of medicine – the study of the interpretation of human experience in medical terms – has largely taken the process of symptom-construction to be transparent, focussing instead on how constellations of symptoms are interpreted as representative of particular conditions. This paper examines the hermeneutical activity of symptom-construction more closely. I propose a fourfold account of the clinical function of symptoms: as theoretical entities; as tools for communication; as guides to palliative intervention; and as candidates for medical explanation or intervention. I also highlight roles they might play in illness experience. I use this framework to discuss four potential failures of symptom-interpretation: failure of symptom-type and symptom-token recognition; loss of the complete picture of illness experience through overwhelming emphasis on its symptomatic interpretation; and intersubjective feedback effects of symptom description altering the ill person’s own perceptions of their phenomenal experience. I conclude with some suggestions of potential remedies for failures in the process of symptom-construction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alistair Wardrope
- Department of Neuroscience, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK.
- Department of Clinical Neurology, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Sheffield, UK.
| | - Markus Reuber
- Department of Neuroscience, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK
- Department of Clinical Neurology, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Sheffield, UK
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Carretié L, Fernández-Folgueiras U, Álvarez F, Cipriani GA, Tapia M, Kessel D. Fast Unconscious Processing of Emotional Stimuli in Early Stages of the Visual Cortex. Cereb Cortex 2022; 32:4331-4344. [DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhab486] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/02/2021] [Revised: 11/04/2021] [Accepted: 11/24/2021] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Abstract
Several cortical and subcortical brain areas have been reported to be sensitive to the emotional content of subliminal stimuli. However, the timing of these activations remains unclear. Our scope was to detect the earliest cortical traces of emotional unconscious processing of visual stimuli by recording event-related potentials (ERPs) from 43 participants. Subliminal spiders (emotional) and wheels (neutral), sharing similar low-level visual parameters, were presented at two different locations (fixation and periphery). The differential (peak-to-peak) amplitude from CP1 (77 ms from stimulus onset) to C2 (100 ms), two early visual ERP components originated in V1/V2 according to source localization analyses, was analyzed via Bayesian and traditional frequentist analyses. Spiders elicited greater CP1–C2 amplitudes than wheels when presented at fixation. This fast effect of subliminal stimulation—not reported previously to the best of our knowledge—has implications in several debates: 1) The amygdala cannot be mediating these effects, 2) latency of other evaluative structures recently proposed, such as the visual thalamus, is compatible with these results, 3) the absence of peripheral stimuli effects points to a relevant role of the parvocellular visual system in unconscious processing.
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Dellert T, Müller-Bardorff M, Schlossmacher I, Pitts M, Hofmann D, Bruchmann M, Straube T. Dissociating the Neural Correlates of Consciousness and Task Relevance in Face Perception Using Simultaneous EEG-fMRI. J Neurosci 2021; 41:7864-7875. [PMID: 34301829 PMCID: PMC8445054 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.2799-20.2021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/05/2020] [Revised: 05/31/2021] [Accepted: 07/06/2021] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Current theories of visual consciousness disagree about whether it emerges during early stages of processing in sensory brain regions or later when a widespread frontoparietal network becomes involved. Moreover, disentangling conscious perception from task-related postperceptual processes (e.g., report) and integrating results across different neuroscientific methods remain ongoing challenges. The present study addressed these problems using simultaneous EEG-fMRI and a specific inattentional blindness paradigm with three physically identical phases in female and male human participants. In phase 1, participants performed a distractor task during which line drawings of faces and control stimuli were presented centrally. While some participants spontaneously noticed the faces in phase 1, others remained inattentionally blind. In phase 2, all participants were made aware of the task-irrelevant faces but continued the distractor task. In phase 3, the faces became task-relevant. Bayesian analysis of brain responses demonstrated that conscious face perception was most strongly associated with activation in fusiform gyrus (fMRI) as well as the N170 and visual awareness negativity (EEG). Smaller awareness effects were revealed in the occipital and prefrontal cortex (fMRI). Task-relevant face processing, on the other hand, led to strong, extensive activation of occipitotemporal, frontoparietal, and attentional networks (fMRI). In EEG, it enhanced early negativities and elicited a pronounced P3b component. Overall, we provide evidence that conscious visual perception is linked with early processing in stimulus-specific sensory brain areas but may additionally involve prefrontal cortex. In contrast, the strong activation of widespread brain networks and the P3b are more likely associated with task-related processes.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT How does our brain generate visual consciousness-the subjective experience of what it is like to see, for example, a face? To date, it is hotly debated whether it emerges early in sensory brain regions or later when a widespread frontoparietal network is activated. Here, we use simultaneous fMRI and EEG for high spatial and temporal resolution and demonstrate that conscious face perception is predominantly linked to early and occipitotemporal processes, but also prefrontal activity. Task-related processes (e.g., decision-making), on the other hand, elicit brain-wide activations including late and strong frontoparietal activity. These findings challenge numerous previous studies and highlight the importance of investigating the neural correlates of consciousness in the absence of task relevance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Torge Dellert
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Münster, 48149 Münster, Germany
- Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Münster, 48149 Münster, Germany
| | - Miriam Müller-Bardorff
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Münster, 48149 Münster, Germany
| | - Insa Schlossmacher
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Münster, 48149 Münster, Germany
- Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Münster, 48149 Münster, Germany
| | - Michael Pitts
- Department of Psychology, Reed College, Portland, Oregon 97202
| | - David Hofmann
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Münster, 48149 Münster, Germany
| | - Maximilian Bruchmann
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Münster, 48149 Münster, Germany
- Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Münster, 48149 Münster, Germany
| | - Thomas Straube
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Münster, 48149 Münster, Germany
- Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Münster, 48149 Münster, Germany
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Gradedness of visual awareness depends on attentional scope: Global perception is more graded than local perception. Conscious Cogn 2021; 94:103174. [PMID: 34399139 DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2021.103174] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/05/2021] [Revised: 07/19/2021] [Accepted: 07/19/2021] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
The gradedness or discreteness of our visual awareness has been debated. Here, we investigate the influence of spatial scope of attention on the gradedness of visual awareness. We manipulated scope of attention using hierarchical letter-based tasks (global: broad scope; local: narrow scope). Participants reported the identity of a masked hierarchical letter either at the global level or at the local level. We measured subjective awareness using the perceptual awareness scale ratings and objective performance. The results indicate more graded visual awareness (lesser slope for the awareness rating curve) at the global level compared to the local level. Graded perception was also observed in visibility ratings usage with global level task showing higher usage of the middle PAS ratings. Our results are in line with the prediction of level of processing hypothesis and show that global/local attentional scope and contextual endogenous factors influence the graded nature of our visual awareness.
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Eiserbeck A, Enge A, Rabovsky M, Abdel Rahman R. Electrophysiological Chronometry of Graded Consciousness during the Attentional Blink. Cereb Cortex 2021; 32:1244-1259. [PMID: 34435621 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhab289] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/21/2021] [Revised: 07/20/2021] [Accepted: 07/21/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
One of the ongoing debates about visual consciousness is whether it can be considered as an all-or-none or a graded phenomenon. While there is increasing evidence for the existence of graded states of conscious awareness based on paradigms such as visual masking, only little and mixed evidence is available for the attentional blink paradigm, specifically in regard to electrophysiological measures. Thereby, the all-or-none pattern reported in some attentional blink studies might have originated from specifics of the experimental design, suggesting the need to examine the generalizability of results. In the present event-related potential (ERP) study (N = 32), visual awareness of T2 face targets was assessed via subjective visibility ratings on a perceptual awareness scale in combination with ERPs time-locked to T2 onset (components P1, N1, N2, and P3). Furthermore, a classification task preceding visibility ratings allowed to track task performance. The behavioral results indicate a graded rather than an all-or-none pattern of visual awareness. Corresponding graded differences in the N1, N2, and P3 components were observed for the comparison of visibility levels. These findings suggest that conscious perception during the attentional blink can occur in a graded fashion.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anna Eiserbeck
- Department of Psychology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin 12489, Germany
| | - Alexander Enge
- Department of Psychology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin 12489, Germany.,Research Group Learning in Early Childhood, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive & Brain Sciences, Leipzig 04103, Germany
| | - Milena Rabovsky
- Department of Psychology, University of Potsdam, Potsdam 14476, Germany
| | - Rasha Abdel Rahman
- Department of Psychology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin 12489, Germany
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