Is recurrent processing necessary and/or sufficient for consciousness?

Naotsugu Tsuchiya, Jeroen J.A. van Boxtel

Research output: Contribution to journalComment/debatepeer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

While we agree with Lamme's general framework, we are not so convinced by his mapping between psychological concepts with their underlying neuronal mechanisms. Specifically, we doubt if recurrent processing is either necessary or sufficient for consciousness. A gist of a scene may be consciously perceived by purely feedforward, without recurrent, processing. Neurophysiological studies of perceptual suppression show recurrent processing in visual cortex for consciously invisible objects. While the neuronal correlates of attention and consciousness remain to be clarified, we agree with Lamme that these two processes are independent, evinced by our recent demonstration of opposing effects of attention and consciousness.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1-2
Number of pages2
JournalCognitive Neuroscience
Volume1
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Dec 2010
Externally publishedYes

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