Electrophysiological correlates of conscious vision: evidence from unilateral extinction

J Cogn Neurosci. 2000 Sep;12(5):869-77. doi: 10.1162/089892900562471.

Abstract

To study the electrophysiological correlates of conscious vision, we recorded event-related potentials (ERPs) in a patient with partial unilateral visual extinction as a result of right-hemisphere damage. When, following bilateral presentations, contralesional stimuli were not perceived, there was an absence of the early attention-sensitive P1 (80-120 msec) and N1 (140-180 msec) components of the ERP response. In contrast, following unilateral presentations, or in those bilateral presentations in which contralesional stimuli were perceived (about 60%), these ERP components were present. These results provide novel evidence that extinction involves the stage of early focusing of attention and that the P1 and N1 components of visual ERPs are reliable physiological correlates of conscious vision.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Attention / physiology*
  • Brain Diseases / complications
  • Dominance, Cerebral
  • Evoked Potentials, Visual / physiology*
  • Functional Laterality
  • Humans
  • Photic Stimulation / methods
  • Vision Disorders / etiology
  • Vision Disorders / physiopathology*
  • Vision Disorders / psychology*
  • Vision, Ocular / physiology*
  • Visual Fields / physiology