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Neuropsychologia. 2019 Jun;129:284-293. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2019.03.002. Epub 2019 Mar 7.

Conscious perception in patients with prefrontal damage.

Author information

1
Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Granada, Spain; Brain, Mind, and Behavior Research Center (CIMCYC), University of Granada, Spain. Electronic address: icolas@ugr.es.
2
Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Granada, Spain; Brain, Mind, and Behavior Research Center (CIMCYC), University of Granada, Spain. Electronic address: anachica@ugr.es.
3
Brain, Mind, and Behavior Research Center (CIMCYC), University of Granada, Spain.
4
Grupo CSUR de Epilepsia Refractaria. Servicio de Neurocirugía, Hospital Virgen de Las Nieves, Granada, Spain.
5
Servicio de Neuropsicología. Hospital Universitario San Rafael, Granada, Spain.

Abstract

We are conscious and verbally report some of the information reaching our senses, although a big amount of information is processed unconsciously. There is no agreement about the neural correlates of consciousness, with low-level theories proposing that neural processing on primary sensory brain regions is the most important neural correlate of consciousness, while high-level theories propose that activity within the fronto-parietal network is the key component of conscious processing (Block, 2009). Contrary to the proposal of high-level theories, patients with prefrontal lobe damage do not present clinical symptoms associated to consciousness deficits. In the present study, we explored the conscious perception of near-threshold stimuli in a group of patients with right prefrontal damage and a group of matched healthy controls. Results demonstrated that perceptual contrast to perceive the near-threshold targets was related to damage to the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, and with reduced integrity of the ventral branch of the right superior longitudinal fascicule (SLF III). These results suggest a causal role of the prefrontal lobe in conscious processing.

KEYWORDS:

Conscious perception; Prefrontal damage; Superior longitudinal fasciculus

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