Thalamocortical inhibitory dynamics support conscious perception
Byoung-Kyong Min,
Hyun Seok Kim,
Dimitris A. Pinotsis,
Dimitrios Pantazis
Affiliations
Byoung-Kyong Min
Department of Brain and Cognitive Engineering, Korea University, Seoul, 02841, Republic of Korea; McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA; Corresponding author. Department of Brain and Cognitive Engineering, Korea University, Seoul, 02841, Republic of Korea.
Hyun Seok Kim
Department of Brain and Cognitive Engineering, Korea University, Seoul, 02841, Republic of Korea
Dimitris A. Pinotsis
Center for Mathematical Neuroscience and Psychology, Department of Psychology, City—University of London, London, EC1V 0HB, UK; Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA
Dimitrios Pantazis
McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA; Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA
Whether thalamocortical interactions play a decisive role in conscious perception remains an open question. We presented rapid red/green color flickering stimuli, which induced the mental perception of either an illusory orange color or non-fused red and green colors. Using magnetoencephalography, we observed 6-Hz thalamic activity associated with thalamocortical inhibitory coupling only during the conscious perception of the illusory orange color. This sustained thalamic disinhibition was temporally coupled with higher visual cortical activation during the conscious perception of the orange color, providing neurophysiological evidence of the role of thalamocortical synchronization in conscious awareness of mental representation. Bayesian model comparison consistently supported the thalamocortical model in conscious perception. Taken together, experimental and theoretical evidence established the thalamocortical inhibitory network as a gateway to conscious mental representations.
