The neural activity of auditory conscious perception

Although recent work has made headway in understanding the neural
temporospatial dynamics of conscious perception, much of that work has
focused on visual paradigms. To determine whether there are shared
mechanisms for perceptual consciousness across sensory modalities, here we
test within the auditory domain. Participants completed an auditory
threshold task while undergoing intracranial electroencephalography.
Recordings from >2,800 grey matter electrodes were analyzed for
broadband gamma power (a range which reflects local neural activity). For
perceived trials, we find nearly simultaneous activity in early auditory
regions, the right caudal middle frontal gyrus, and the non-auditory
thalamus; followed by a wave of activity that sweeps through auditory
association regions into parietal and frontal cortices. For not perceived
trials, significant activity is restricted to early auditory regions.
These findings show the cortical and subcortical networks involved in
auditory perception are similar to those observed with vision, suggesting
shared mechanisms for conscious perception.

尽管近期研究在解析意识知觉的神经时空动态方面取得了进展，但其中绝大多数研究均聚焦于视觉范式。为探明跨感官模态的知觉意识是否存在共享机制，本研究聚焦听觉领域展开实验。受试者在接受颅内脑电图（intracranial electroencephalography）监测的同时完成听觉阈值任务。本研究对超过2800个灰质电极采集的信号进行分析，以提取宽带伽马功率（broadband gamma power，该频段可反映局部神经活动）。针对知觉到刺激的试次，我们观察到早期听觉皮层、右侧尾侧额中回以及非听觉丘脑几乎同时出现神经活动；随后出现一波神经活动波，依次波及听觉联合皮层、顶叶皮层与额叶皮层。而在未知觉到刺激的试次中，显著神经活动仅局限于早期听觉皮层。上述结果表明，参与听觉知觉的皮层与皮层下网络与视觉知觉中观测到的网络高度相似，提示意识知觉存在跨感官模态的共享机制。