Electrophysiological Evidence for Distinct Neural Correlates of Low- and High-Level Visual Consciousness Independent of Post-Perceptual Processing

Abstract

The nature of conscious visual phenomenology comprises multiple representational levels, from basic features to integrated percepts, raising questions regarding the differentiation of the neural correlates of consciousness (NCC). While event-related potential (ERP) studies identified early occipitotemporal negativities as reliable NCC, it remains unclear whether these early negative components capture conscious content beyond low-level features extending to higher-order representational levels. Moreover, whether later ERP components index specific higher-order conscious percepts independent of task-related processing remains contested. Employing a novel inattentional blindness (IB) design with 85 healthy participants exhibiting three representational levels of conscious perception (no, low- or high-level stimulus perception), we demonstrate level-specific electrophysiological correlates of consciousness for an identical stimulus, independent of task-related confounds. Low-level line perception was indexed by an enhanced early occipital negativity, whereas high-level face perception additionally recruited a right-lateralized occipitotemporal negativity, followed by medial posterior positivities. These findings reveal systematic spatiotemporal differentiation of awareness-related potentials across representational levels of conscious perception independent of post-perceptual confounds.