Heart ‐rate modulations reveal attention and consciousness interactions

We presented near‐threshold visual stimuli th at could be preceded by an alerting tone on 50% of the trials. Behaviorally, phasic alerting improved perceptual sensitivity for detecting a near‐threshold stimulus (along with changes in response criterion). Following the alerting tone, a cardiac deceleration‐acceleration pattern was observed, which was more pronounced when the near‐threshold stimulus was consciously perceived in comparison with unconsciously perceived stimuli. SC results further showed some degree of subliminal processing of unseen stimuli. These results reveal that cardiac activity could be a marker of attention and c onsciousness interactions, emphasizing the need for taking into account brain‐body interactions for current theoretical models of consciousness.
Source: Psychophysiology - Category: Neurology Authors: Tags: ORIGINAL ARTICLE Source Type: research