Is the frontal lobe involved in conscious perception?

Shervin Safavi,Nikos K Logothetis,Theofanis I Panagiotaropoulos,Vishal Kapoor

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01063

Abstract

OPINION article Front. Psychol., 19 September 2014Sec. Consciousness Research Volume 5 - 2014 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01063

Highlights

When studying the neural mechanisms underlying conscious perception we should be careful not to misinterpret evidence, and delineate these mechanisms from activity which could reflect the prerequisites or consequences of conscious experiences (Aru et al, 2012; De Graaf et al, 2012)
Through a clever experimental design that contrasted blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) activity elicited during binocular rivalry with and without behavioral reports, Frässle et al (2014) suggested that frontal lobe, or a large part of it, may not be necessary for conscious perception per se
Frässle et al showed that behavioral reports of conscious experiences resulted in increased and more widespread activity of the frontal lobe compared to a condition without behavioral reports, where spontaneous transitions in the content of consciousness were estimated through the objective measures like optokinetic nystagmus (OKN) and pupil dilation

Summary

Introduction

When studying the neural mechanisms underlying conscious perception we should be careful not to misinterpret evidence, and delineate these mechanisms from activity which could reflect the prerequisites or consequences of conscious experiences (Aru et al, 2012; De Graaf et al, 2012). One of these studies focused on resolving the role of frontal lobe in conscious perception (Frässle et al, 2014).

Results

Conclusion