Collaborative Research: RUI: Isolating neural mechanisms of perceptual awareness from post-perceptual processes

合作研究：RUI：将知觉意识的神经机制与后知觉过程隔离

• 批准号: 1829458
• 负责人: Michael Pitts
• 金额: $ 18.43万
• 依托单位: Reed College
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2018-09-01 至 2023-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1829458&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; RUI; Isolating; neural

Understanding the neural mechanisms that give rise to perceptual awareness is a long-standing and fundamental endeavor in human cognitive neuroscience. For decades, cognitive neuroscientists have tried distinguishing between neural activity patterns associated with conscious and unconscious processing. Answering this question can shed light on whether the fundamental conscious experience is linked to activity in lower-level sensory systems, higher-level brain systems in frontal cortex that developed later (in both phylogeny and ontogeny), or interactions between the two. This investigation is also relevant for understanding various disorders of consciousness such as persistent vegetative state or minimally conscious state, in which individuals are non-responsive, and where such findings could be a first step towards construction of computer algorithms that could indicate the presence of conscious states. Finally, with the adoption of machine learning and neural networks, understanding the neural processes that lead to conscious experience in the human brain could be useful in developing new network architectures designed to more closely mimic human intelligence. The goal of the proposed research is to identify neural correlates of perceptual awareness using a variety of methods such as electroencephalography and functional magnetic resonance imaging. To examine this issue, the researchers will compare conscious versus unconscious processing in the brains of awake human observers. Specifically, they will investigate the differences in neural activity when observers consciously perceive visual items compared to when those same items go unnoticed. A critical problem in comparing conscious versus unconscious processing is that it is difficult to separate the neural events associated with conscious perception from the neural events associated with task performance such as memory, decision-making, or verbal and manual responses. Therefore, the researchers will use newly developed "no-report paradigms" that include conditions in which stimuli are sometimes seen and sometimes unseen, but observers are not required to report their perceptual experience. By comparing differential neural activity for seen versus unseen stimuli when observers report their experience versus when they do not, the researchers will have a unique opportunity to test several leading theories of consciousness and to identify minimally sufficient neural correlates of perceptual awareness.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

理解引起知觉意识的神经机制是人类认知神经科学中一项长期而基本的奋进。几十年来，认知神经科学家一直试图区分与有意识和无意识处理相关的神经活动模式。探讨这个问题可以揭示基本的意识体验是否与较低层次的感觉系统的活动有关，是否与后来发展的额叶皮层中的较高层次的大脑系统有关（在发育和个体发育中），或者两者之间的相互作用。 这项调查也是相关的了解各种意识障碍，如持续性植物人状态或最低意识状态，其中个人是无反应的，这样的发现可能是第一步，建设的计算机算法，可以表明意识状态的存在。最后，随着机器学习和神经网络的采用，了解导致人类大脑中意识体验的神经过程可能有助于开发旨在更接近人类智能的新网络架构。这项研究的目的是利用脑电图和功能性磁共振成像等多种方法来识别感知意识的神经相关性。为了研究这个问题，研究人员将比较清醒的人类观察者大脑中有意识和无意识的处理。具体来说，他们将研究当观察者有意识地感知视觉项目时与当这些相同项目未被注意时神经活动的差异。 比较有意识和无意识处理的一个关键问题是，很难将与有意识感知相关的神经事件与与记忆、决策或口头和手动反应等任务表现相关的神经事件分开。因此，研究人员将使用新开发的“无报告范式”，其中包括刺激有时可见，有时不可见的条件，但观察者不需要报告他们的感知体验。通过比较观察者报告他们的经历时与不报告时对可见刺激与不可见刺激的差异神经活动，研究人员将有一个独特的机会来检验几种主要的意识理论，并确定感知意识的最低限度的足够的神经相关性。这个奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为是值得支持的，通过评估使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准。

项目成果

Distinguishing the Neural Correlates of Perceptual Awareness and Postperceptual Processing

• DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.0120-20.2020
• 发表时间: 2020-06-17
• 期刊: JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE
• 影响因子: 5.3
• 作者: Cohen, Michael A.;Ortego, Kevin;Pitts, Michael
• 通讯作者: Pitts, Michael

Decoding perceptual awareness across the brain with a no-report fMRI masking paradigm

• DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2022.07.068
• 发表时间: 2022-10-10
• 期刊: CURRENT BIOLOGY
• 影响因子: 9.2
• 作者: Hatamimajoumerd, Elaheh;Murty, N. Apurva Ratan;Cohen, Michael A.
• 通讯作者: Cohen, Michael A.