A neural marker of perceptual consciousness in infants S Kouider |
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CNRS and Ecole Normale Supérieure, France
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| Studying the neural basis of consciousness has been made possible in adults by mapping subjective reports to their neurophysiological underpinning. However, studying this issue in infants remains challenging because they cannot report about their own thoughts. How, then, might one test whether the brain mechanisms for conscious access are already present in infancy? Here, to circumvent this problem, we studied whether an electrophysiological signature of consciousness found in adults, corresponding to a late non-linear cortical response to brief pictures, already exists in infants. We recorded event-related potentials (ERPs) while 5, 12 and 15 month-old infants viewed masked faces at various levels of visibility. In all age groups, we found a late slow wave showing a non-linear profile at the expected perceptual thresholds. However, this late component shifted from a weak and delayed response in 5-month-olds to a sustained and earlier response in older infants. These results reveal that the brain mechanisms underlying conscious perception are already present in infancy, but undergo a slow acceleration during development. Relevant publication: Kouider, S., Stahlhut, C., Gelskov, S., Barbosa, L, de Gardelle, V., Dutat, M., Dehaene, S., & Dehaene-Lambertz, G. A neural marker of perceptual consciousness in infants. Science, manuscript in press. |
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