Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Published Online November 12, 2009
Science DOI: 10.1126/science.1180029

Reports

Reproducibility Distinguishes Conscious From Nonconscious Neural Representations

Aaron Schurger,1,2,* Francisco Pereira,1,2 Anne Treisman,1 Jonathan D. Cohen1,2

What qualifies a neural representation for a role in subjective experience? Previous evidence suggests that the duration and intensity of the neural response to a sensory stimulus are factors. We introduce another attribute—the reproducibility of a pattern of neural activity across different episodes—that predicts specific and measurable differences between conscious and nonconscious neural representations indepedently of duration and intensity. We found that conscious neural activation patterns are relatively reproducible when compared to nonconscious neural activation patterns corresponding to the same perceptual content. This is not adequately explained by a difference in signal-to-noise ratio.

1 Department of Psychology, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, USA
2 Center for the Study of Brain, Mind, and Behavior, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, USA

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: schurger{at}princeton.edu

Received for publication 3 August 2009. Accepted for publication 19 October 2009.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Brain Activity to Rely On?.
D. S. Schwarzkopf and G. Rees (2010)
Science 327, 43-44
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)