Rapid alternation of conscious and suppressed stimulus representations in the primate brain
Janis Karan Hesse, Frank F Lanfranchi, Conor McGrory, Yuelin Shi, Tatiana A. Engel, Doris Ying Tsao
bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) October 16, 2026 preprint DOI: 10.64898/2026.10.15.759299 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Observational neurophysiology study (Neuropixels recordings) |
|---|---|
| Population | Neurons in face patches of inferotemporal and prefrontal cortex (species not stated in the abstract) |
| Key findings | During a constant stimulus and percept, neural activity alternated about 15 times per second between conscious and suppressed micro-epochs. A pure signal of conscious perception allowed accurate reconstruction of the conscious image during conscious epochs and of the suppressed image during suppressed epochs, and feature tuning was amplified during conscious epochs. The authors argue that conscious access requires temporal selection beyond localization. |
Abstract
Summary The neural correlates of consciousness remain elusive 1 . Previous studies found that high-level visual cortex is weakly modulated by conscious perception 2,3 , yet a pure signal of conscious perception has not been found anywhere in the brain. Here, we employed Neuropixels recordings across multiple face patches in inferotemporal and prefrontal cortex during a binocular flash suppression paradigm 4 , in which one of two images is consciously perceived while the other, though continuously present, is suppressed from awareness. We found that, during a constant stimulus and percept, the brain rapidly alternates, about 15 times per second, between conscious and suppressed micro-epochs. During conscious micro-epochs, a pure signal of conscious perception was present, allowing accurate reconstruction of the conscious image from neural activity. During suppressed micro-epochs this reversed: the pure signal now tracked the suppressed stimulus, allowing accurate reconstruction of the suppressed image. At the single-cell level, neurons responded selectively to the conscious stimulus and not to the suppressed stimulus during conscious micro-epochs; conversely, during suppressed micro-epochs, neurons responded selectively to the suppressed stimulus. Despite this apparent symmetry, the two epochs could be reliably distinguished, with feature tuning amplified during conscious micro-epochs. Recordings in prefrontal cortex yielded qualitatively similar results. Together, these findings show that both inferotemporal and prefrontal cortex rapidly interleave conscious with suppressed content, indicating that conscious access requires temporal selection beyond localization.