Conscious processing of emotional faces involves both early and late neural correlates of consciousness, while neutral faces involve only early correlates. Using an inattentional blindness paradigm with happy, fearful, and neutral faces, visual awareness negativity (VAN) was associated with consciousness for all faces, but late positivity (LP) was linked to consciousness only for emotional faces. Source localization showed LP for emotional faces in frontal and parietal lobes, with no significant activation for neutral faces. Time-frequency analysis revealed increased alpha and theta oscillations during conscious processing, suggesting suppression of irrelevant stimuli. The findings indicate that integrating early and late consciousness theories better explains how emotional faces are consciously processed.
Internet addiction is linked to altered communication patterns across the whole brain. Individuals with internet addiction showed increased functional connectivity density in regions involved in cognitive control and the default mode network, including the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, left parahippocampal gyrus, cerebellum, bilateral middle cingulate cortex, and superior temporal pole. Decreased connectivity density appeared in the right inferior parietal lobe and bilateral calcarine and lingual gyrus, areas tied to visual attention. Scores on the Internet Addiction Test correlated with connectivity changes in the left parahippocampal gyrus and bilateral superior temporal pole. These patterns resemble those seen in substance addiction and share neurobiological features with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder.