Kronemer Sharif I, Holness Micah, Morgan A Tyler, Teves Joshua B, Gonzalez-Castillo Javier, Handwerker Daniel A, Bandettini Peter A
Section on Functional Imaging Methods, Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, MD.
Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Core Facility, NIMH, NIH, Bethesda, MD.
bioRxiv. 2024 Apr 4:2023.12.07.570716. doi: 10.1101/2023.12.07.570716.
Afterimages are illusory, visual conscious perceptions. A widely accepted theory is that afterimages are caused by retinal signaling that continues after the physical disappearance of a light stimulus. However, afterimages have been reported without preceding visual, sensory stimulation (e.g., conditioned afterimages and afterimages induced by illusory vision). These observations suggest the role of top-down, brain mechanisms in afterimage conscious perception. Therefore, some afterimages may share perceptual features with sensory-independent conscious perceptions (e.g., imagery, hallucinations, and dreams) that occur without bottom-up, sensory input. In the current investigation, we tested for a link between the vividness of visual imagery and afterimage conscious perception. Participants reported their vividness of visual imagery and perceived sharpness, contrast, and duration of negative afterimages. The afterimage perceptual features were acquired using perception matching paradigms that were validated on image stimuli. Relating these perceptual reports revealed that the vividness of visual imagery positively correlated with afterimage contrast and sharpness. These behavioral results support shared neural mechanisms between visual imagery and afterimages. This study encourages future research combining neurophysiology recording methods and afterimage paradigms to directly examine the neural mechanisms of afterimage conscious perception.
后像是虚幻的视觉意识感知。一个被广泛接受的理论是，后像是由光刺激物理消失后仍持续的视网膜信号引起的。然而，也有报道称后像在没有先前视觉、感觉刺激的情况下出现（例如，条件性后像和由虚幻视觉诱发的后像）。这些观察结果表明自上而下的大脑机制在后像意识感知中的作用。因此，一些后像可能与在没有自下而上的感觉输入情况下发生的感觉独立意识感知（如意象、幻觉和梦境）具有共同的感知特征。在当前的研究中，我们测试了视觉意象的生动程度与后像意识感知之间的联系。参与者报告了他们视觉意象的生动程度以及负后像的感知清晰度、对比度和持续时间。后像感知特征是使用在图像刺激上经过验证的感知匹配范式获得的。对这些感知报告进行关联分析发现，视觉意象的生动程度与后像对比度和清晰度呈正相关。这些行为结果支持了视觉意象和后像之间共享神经机制的观点。这项研究鼓励未来开展结合神经生理学记录方法和后像范式的研究，以直接检验后像意识感知的神经机制。
