ERP and MEG correlates of visual consciousness: The second decade.
Consciousness and cognition April 1, 2020 Jona Förster, Mika Koivisto, Antti Revonsuo 176 citations
The earliest and most reliable brain signal linked to visual phenomenal consciousness is the visual awareness negativity (VAN), a negative voltage deflection occurring around 200-300 milliseconds after a stimulus appears over posterior scalp regions. A later positive component, the late positivity (LP), which appears over frontal areas around 300-500 milliseconds, likely reflects later cognitive processes such as reflective or access consciousness rather than phenomenal awareness itself. This conclusion is supported by a review of event-related potential and magnetoencephalography studies published since 2010 that directly compared brain responses to consciously perceived versus unseen stimuli. The evidence strengthens VAN's role as the primary neural correlate of phenomenal consciousness and further undermines LP as a marker of phenomenal awareness.