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Zhang Y, Song B, Zhao X, Jin Z, Zhang J, Li L. Meta-analysis of experimental factors influencing single-pulse TMS effects on the early visual cortex. Front Neurosci 2024; 18:1351399. [PMID: 38894939 PMCID: PMC11185874 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2024.1351399] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/07/2023] [Accepted: 05/15/2024] [Indexed: 06/21/2024] Open
Abstract
Background Single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (spTMS) applied to the Early Visual Cortex (EVC) has demonstrated the ability to suppress the perception on visual targets, akin to the effect of visual masking. However, the reported spTMS suppression effects across various studies have displayed inconsistency. Objective We aim to test if the heterogeneity of the spTMS effects can be attributable to variations in experimental factors. Methods We conducted a meta-analysis using data collected from the PubMed and Web of Science databases spanning from 1995 to March 2024. The meta-analysis encompassed a total of 40 independent experiments drawn from 33 original articles. Results The findings unveiled an overall significant spTMS suppression effect on visual perception. Nevertheless, there existed substantial heterogeneity among the experiments. Univariate analysis elucidated that the spTMS effects could be significantly influenced by TMS intensity, visual angle of the stimulus, coil type, and TMS stimulators from different manufacturers. Reliable spTMS suppression effects were observed within the time windows of -80 to 0 ms and 50 to 150 ms. Multivariate linear regression analyses, which included SOA, TMS intensity, visual angle of the stimulus, and coil type, identified SOA as the key factor influencing the spTMS effects. Within the 50 to 150 ms time window, optimal SOAs were identified as 112 ms and 98 ms for objective and subjective performance, respectively. Collectively, multiple experimental factors accounted for 22.9% (r = 0.3353) and 39.9% (r = 0.3724) of the variance in objective and subjective performance, respectively. Comparing univariate and multivariate analyses, it was evident that experimental factors had different impacts on objective performance and subjective performance. Conclusion The present study provided quantitative recommendations for future experiments involving the spTMS effects on visual targets, offering guidance on how to configure experimental factors to achieve the optimal masking effect.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | - Junjun Zhang
- MOE Key Lab for Neuroinformation, High-Field Magnetic Resonance Brain Imaging Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Center for Psychiatry and Psychology, School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China
| | - Ling Li
- MOE Key Lab for Neuroinformation, High-Field Magnetic Resonance Brain Imaging Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Center for Psychiatry and Psychology, School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China
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Schmid D, Hesse C, Schenk T. The redundant target paradigm and its use as a blindsight-test: A meta-analytic study. Cortex 2023; 169:326-352. [PMID: 37981442 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2023.08.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/26/2023] [Revised: 08/04/2023] [Accepted: 08/30/2023] [Indexed: 11/21/2023]
Abstract
The redundant target effect (RTE) is the well-known effect whereby a single target is detected faster when a second, redundant target is presented simultaneously. The RTE was shown in different experimental designs and applied in various clinical contexts. However, there are also studies showing non-effects or effects in the opposite direction. Our meta-analysis aims to investigate the replicability of the RTE. Herein, we focused on the clinical context within which the RTE has been applied most often and for which it gained particular prominence: The research on blindsight and other forms of residual vision in patients with damage to the neuronal visual system. The application of the RTE in clinical contexts assumes that whenever vision is present, an RTE will be found. Put differently, the RTE as a tool to uncover residual vision presumes that the RTE is a consistent feature of vision in the healthy population. We found a significant summary effect size of the RTE in healthy participants. The effect size depended on certain experimental features: task type, target configuration in the redundant condition, and how reaction times were computed in the single condition. A specific feature combination is typically used in blindsight research. Analyzing studies with this feature combination revealed a significant summary effect size in healthy participants predicting positive RTEs for future studies. A power-analysis revealed a required sample size of 14 participants to obtain an RTE with high reliability. However, the required sample size is rarely reached in blindsight research. Rather, blindsight research is mostly based on single-case studies. In summary, the RTE is a robust effect on group level but does not occur in every single individual. This means failure to obtain an RTE in a single patient should not be interpreted as evidence for the absence of residual vision in this patient.
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Affiliation(s)
- Doris Schmid
- Department of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany.
| | - Constanze Hesse
- School of Psychology, University of Aberdeen, King's College, Aberdeen, United Kingdom.
| | - Thomas Schenk
- Department of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany.
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Olkoniemi H, Hurme M, Railo H. Neurologically Healthy Humans' Ability to Make Saccades Toward Unseen Targets. Neuroscience 2023; 513:111-125. [PMID: 36702371 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2023.01.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/16/2022] [Revised: 01/12/2023] [Accepted: 01/16/2023] [Indexed: 01/24/2023]
Abstract
Some patients with a visual field loss due to a lesion in the primary visual cortex (V1) can shift their gaze to stimuli presented in their blind visual field. The extent to which a similar "blindsight" capacity is present in neurologically healthy individuals remains unknown. Using retinotopically navigated transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) of V1 (Experiment 1) and metacontrast masking (Experiment 2) to suppress conscious vision, we examined neurologically healthy humans' ability to make saccadic eye movements toward visual targets that they reported not seeing. In the TMS experiment, the participants were more likely to initiate a saccade when a stimulus was presented, and they reported not seeing it, than in trials which no stimulus was presented. However, this happened only in a very small proportion (∼8%) of unseen trials, suggesting that saccadic reactions were largely based on conscious perception. In both experiments, saccade landing location was influenced by unconscious information: When the participants denied seeing the target but made a saccade, the saccade was made toward the correct location (TMS: 68%, metacontrast: 63%) more often than predicted by chance. Signal detection theoretic measures suggested that in the TMS experiment, saccades toward unseen targets may have been based on weak conscious experiences. In both experiments, reduced visibility of the target stimulus was associated with slower and less precise gaze shifts. These results suggest that saccades made by neurologically healthy humans may be influenced by unconscious information, although the initiation of saccades is largely based on conscious vision.
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Affiliation(s)
- Henri Olkoniemi
- Division of Psychology, Faculty of Education and Psychology, University of Oulu, Finland; Department of Psychology and Speech Language Pathology, University of Turku, Finland.
| | - Mikko Hurme
- Department of Psychology and Speech Language Pathology, University of Turku, Finland; Turku Brain and Mind Centre, University of Turku, Finland
| | - Henry Railo
- Department of Psychology and Speech Language Pathology, University of Turku, Finland; Turku Brain and Mind Centre, University of Turku, Finland
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Koivisto M, Leino K, Pekkarinen A, Karttunen J, Railo H, Hurme M. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)-induced Blindsight of Orientation is Degraded Conscious Vision. Neuroscience 2021; 475:206-219. [PMID: 34480985 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2021.08.025] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/10/2021] [Revised: 08/16/2021] [Accepted: 08/24/2021] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Patients with blindsight are blind due to an early visual cortical lesion, but they can discriminate stimuli presented to the blind visual field better than chance. Studies using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) of early visual cortex have tried to induce blindsight-like behaviour in neurologically healthy individuals, but the studies have yielded varied results. We hypothesized that previous demonstrations of TMS-induced blindsight may result from degraded awareness of the stimuli due to the use of dichotomous visibility scales in measuring awareness. In the present study, TMS was applied to early visual cortex during an orientation discrimination task and the subjective scale measuring awareness was manipulated: The participants reported their conscious perception either using a dichotomous scale or a 4-point Perceptual Awareness Scale. Although the results with the dichotomous scale replicated previous reports of blindsight-like behaviour, there was no evidence of TMS-induced blindsight for orientation when the participants used the lowest rating of the 4-point graded scale to indicate that they were not aware of the presence of the stimulus. Moreover, signal detection analyses indicated that across participants, the individual's sensitivity to consciously discriminate orientation predicted behaviour on reportedly unconscious trials. These results suggest that blindsight-like discrimination of orientation in neurologically healthy individuals does not occur for completely invisible stimuli, that is, when the observers do not report any kind of consciousness of the stimulus. TMS-induced blindsight for orientation is likely degraded conscious vision.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mika Koivisto
- Department of Psychology, University of Turku, 20014 Turku, Finland.
| | - Kalle Leino
- Department of Psychology, University of Turku, 20014 Turku, Finland
| | - Aino Pekkarinen
- Department of Psychology, University of Turku, 20014 Turku, Finland
| | - Jaakko Karttunen
- Department of Psychology, University of Turku, 20014 Turku, Finland
| | - Henry Railo
- Department of Psychology, University of Turku, 20014 Turku, Finland
| | - Mikko Hurme
- Department of Psychology, University of Turku, 20014 Turku, Finland
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Is the primary visual cortex necessary for blindsight-like behavior? Review of transcranial magnetic stimulation studies in neurologically healthy individuals. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2021; 127:353-364. [PMID: 33965459 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2021.04.038] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/02/2020] [Revised: 04/28/2021] [Accepted: 04/29/2021] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Abstract
The visual pathways that bypass the primary visual cortex (V1) are often assumed to support visually guided behavior in humans in the absence of conscious vision. This conclusion is largely based on findings on patients: V1 lesions cause blindness but sometimes leave some visually guided behaviors intact-this is known as blindsight. With the aim of examining how well the findings on blindsight patients generalize to neurologically healthy individuals, we review studies which have tried to uncover transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) induced blindsight. In general, these studies have failed to demonstrate a completely unconscious blindsight-like capacity in neurologically healthy individuals. A possible exception to this is TMS-induced blindsight of stimulus presence or location. Because blindsight in patients is often associated with some form of introspective access to the visual stimulus, and blindsight may be associated with neural reorganization, we suggest that rather than revealing a dissociation between visually guided behavior and conscious seeing, blindsight may reflect preservation or partial recovery of conscious visual perception after the lesion.
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Allen C, Viola T, Irvine E, Sedgmond J, Castle H, Gray R, Chambers CD. Causal manipulation of feed-forward and recurrent processing differentially affects measures of consciousness. Neurosci Conscious 2020; 2020:niaa015. [PMID: 32922860 PMCID: PMC7475771 DOI: 10.1093/nc/niaa015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/11/2019] [Revised: 03/30/2020] [Accepted: 05/07/2020] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
It has been theorized that cortical feed-forward and recurrent neural activity support unconscious and conscious cognitive processes, respectively. Here we causally tested this proposition by applying event-related transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) at early and late times relative to visual stimuli, together with a pulse designed to suppress conscious detection. Consistent with pre-registered hypotheses, early TMS affected residual, reportedly 'unseen' capacity. However, conscious perception also appeared critically dependent upon feed-forward processing to a greater extent than the later recurrent phase. Additional exploratory analyses suggested that these early effects dissociated from top-down criterion measures, which were most affected by later TMS. These findings are inconsistent with a simple dichotomy where feed-forward and recurrent processes correspond to unconscious and conscious mechanisms. Instead, different components of awareness may correspond to different phases of cortical dynamics in which initial processing is broadly perceptual whereas later recurrent processing might relate to decision to report.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christopher Allen
- Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre (CUBRIC), School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Maindy Road, Cardiff, CF24 4HQ, UK
| | - Tommaso Viola
- Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre (CUBRIC), School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Maindy Road, Cardiff, CF24 4HQ, UK.,Institute of Neuroscience, Medical School, University of Newcastle, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE2 4HH, UK
| | - Elizabeth Irvine
- Philosophy, School of English, Communication and Philosophy, John Percival Building, Cardiff University, Colum Road, Cardiff, CF10 3EU, UK
| | - Jemma Sedgmond
- Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre (CUBRIC), School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Maindy Road, Cardiff, CF24 4HQ, UK
| | - Heidi Castle
- Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre (CUBRIC), School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Maindy Road, Cardiff, CF24 4HQ, UK
| | - Richard Gray
- Philosophy, School of English, Communication and Philosophy, John Percival Building, Cardiff University, Colum Road, Cardiff, CF10 3EU, UK
| | - Christopher D Chambers
- Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre (CUBRIC), School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Maindy Road, Cardiff, CF24 4HQ, UK
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Teixeira M, Nascimento S, Almeida V, Simões M, Amaral C, Castelo-Branco M. The conscious experience of color constancy and neural responses to subliminal deviations – A behavioral and EEG/ERP oddball study. Conscious Cogn 2020; 84:102987. [DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2020.102987] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/25/2020] [Revised: 06/06/2020] [Accepted: 07/13/2020] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
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8
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Neuronavigated TMS of early visual cortex eliminates unconscious processing of chromatic stimuli. Neuropsychologia 2020; 136:107266. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2019.107266] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/11/2019] [Revised: 11/13/2019] [Accepted: 11/14/2019] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
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Hurme M, Koivisto M, Revonsuo A, Railo H. V1 activity during feedforward and early feedback processing is necessary for both conscious and unconscious motion perception. Neuroimage 2019; 185:313-321. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2018.10.058] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/13/2018] [Revised: 09/25/2018] [Accepted: 10/21/2018] [Indexed: 10/28/2022] Open
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Marvan T, Polák M. Unitary and dual models of phenomenal consciousness. Conscious Cogn 2017; 56:1-12. [PMID: 29024889 DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2017.09.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/15/2017] [Revised: 09/13/2017] [Accepted: 09/13/2017] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Abstract
There is almost unanimous consensus among the theorists of consciousness that the phenomenal character of a mental state cannot exist without consciousness. We argue for a reappraisal of this consensus. We distinguish two models of phenomenal consciousness: unitary and dual. Unitary model takes the production of a phenomenal quality and it's becoming conscious to be one and the same thing. The dual model, which we advocate in this paper, distinguishes the process in which the phenomenal quality is formed from the process that makes this quality conscious. We put forward a conceptual, methodological, neuropsychological and neural argument for the dual model. These arguments are independent but provide mutual support to each other. Together, they strongly support the dual model of phenomenal consciousness and the concomitant idea of unconscious mental qualities. The dual view is thus, we submit, a hypothesis worthy of further probing and development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tomáš Marvan
- Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Jilská 1, Prague 110 00, Czech Republic.
| | - Michal Polák
- Department of Philosophy, University of West Bohemia, Pilsen, Czech Republic
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Hurme M, Koivisto M, Revonsuo A, Railo H. Early processing in primary visual cortex is necessary for conscious and unconscious vision while late processing is necessary only for conscious vision in neurologically healthy humans. Neuroimage 2017; 150:230-238. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2017.02.060] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/20/2016] [Revised: 02/15/2017] [Accepted: 02/21/2017] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
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12
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Celeghin A, de Gelder B, Tamietto M. From affective blindsight to emotional consciousness. Conscious Cogn 2015; 36:414-25. [DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2015.05.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 57] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/18/2015] [Revised: 05/12/2015] [Accepted: 05/13/2015] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
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