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Contingent aftereffects distinguish conscious and preconscious color processing

Nature Neuroscience volume 9, pages 873–874 (2006)Cite this article

Abstract

The brain can process input without perception, but what distinguishes conscious from preconscious processing? Using aftereffects induced by quickly alternating images, we show that cortical mechanisms track color much faster than perception, responding well to color alternations that are too rapid to be perceptible. The more restricted frequency response of the conscious perception of color suggests that extra integrative steps give conscious color perception a time course substantially slower than that of early cortical mechanisms.

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Figure 1: Demonstration and implementation of the McCollough effect.
Figure 2: Frequency response of the McCollough effect.

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Acknowledgements

We thank E. Shubel for assistance, and J.H. Reynolds, C. Bodelon, L. Huang, C.I. Baker, T. Konkle and M. Williams for comments. This work was supported by grants from the University of California Regents and Sigma Xi to E.V. and by US National Institutes of Health grant EY01711.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California, 92092-0109, USA

    Edward Vul & Donald I A MacLeod

  2. Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, 02139, Massachusetts, USA

    Edward Vul

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  1. Edward Vul
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  2. Donald I A MacLeod
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Correspondence to Edward Vul.

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Vul, E., MacLeod, D. Contingent aftereffects distinguish conscious and preconscious color processing. Nat Neurosci 9, 873–874 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn1723

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