Transitions in conscious visual perception involve two distinct neural mechanisms: boundary fading in visual cortex, marked by increased excitability and reduced alpha-band activity indicating a shift in excitation-inhibition balance, and higher-order perceptual monitoring in motor cortex, reflected by decreased high-alpha and beta-band activity. Microsaccadic eye movements, which delay the illusion, selectively reset both processes. These findings support a hierarchical framework where visual and motor systems jointly shape changes in conscious experience.
An open science adversarial collaboration directly juxtaposed Integrated Information Theory (IIT) and Global Neuronal Workspace Theory (GNWT) by investigating neural correlates of visual experience. 256 human subjects viewed suprathreshold stimuli for variable durations while neural activity was measured with fMRI, MEG, and ECoG. Information about conscious content was found in visual, ventro-temporal, and inferior frontal cortex, with sustained responses in occipital and lateral temporal cortex reflecting stimulus duration, and content-specific synchronization between frontal and early visual areas.