Visual awareness, emotion, and gamma band synchronization.
Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991) August 1, 2009 Qian Luo, Derek Mitchell, Xi Cheng et al.
Gamma-band synchronization in the brain is linked to conscious awareness but is not sufficient for it. Using brain-imaging, researchers observed increased gamma event-related synchronization (ERS) in prefrontal-anterior cingulate, visual, parietal, posterior cingulate, and superior temporal cortices when stimuli were consciously detected. However, gamma ERS also increased in the amygdala, visual, prefrontal, parietal, and posterior cingulate cortices for emotional versus neutral stimuli, regardless of whether participants were aware of them. This indicates that gamma-band activity is related to both conscious perception and emotional processing, but its presence does not guarantee consciousness.