Enhanced Awareness Followed Reversible Inhibition of Human Visual Cortex: A Combined TMS, MRS and MEG Study
PLoS ONE June 23, 2014 Christopher Allen, Benjamin T. Dunkley, Suresh Muthukumaraswamy et al. 45 citations
Continuous theta burst stimulation (cTBS) over the occipital cortex, expected to impair conscious vision, instead enhanced it relative to a sham control. The stimulation decreased cortical excitability and increased regional GABA concentration, suggesting that suppression of neural noise can improve the signal-to-noise ratio for conscious vision. No significant effects on magnetoencephalography measures were observed, though weak evidence for potentiation of beta-band event-related desynchronisation appeared. The authors propose that gating-by-inhibition in the visual cortex may be a foundation of consciousness.