Chang Shuai, Zhang Xinyu, Cao Yangjianyi, Pearson Joel, Meng Ming
Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences, Ministry of Education, School of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510631, China; State Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology, Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, Guangdong Provincial Clinical Research Center for Ocular Diseases, Guangzhou 510060, China.
Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences, Ministry of Education, School of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510631, China.
Curr Biol. 2025 Feb 3;35(3):591-599.e4. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2024.12.012. Epub 2025 Jan 10.
Activity in the early visual cortex is thought to tightly couple with conscious experience, including feedback-driven mental imagery. However, in aphantasia (a complete lack of visual imagery), the state of mental imagery, what takes its place, or how any activity relates to qualia remains unknown. This study analyzed univariate (amplitude) and multivariate (decoding) blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) signals in primary visual cortex during imagery attempts. "Imagery" content could be decoded equally well in both groups; however, unlike in those with imagery, neural signatures in those with validated aphantasia were ipsilateral and could not be cross-decoded with perceptual representations. Further, the perception-induced BOLD response was lower in those with aphantasia compared with controls. Together, these data suggest that an imagery-related representation, but with less or transformed sensory information, exists in the primary visual cortex of those with aphantasia. Our data challenge the classic view that activity in primary visual cortex should result in sensory qualia.
早期视觉皮层的活动被认为与意识体验紧密相关，包括反馈驱动的心理意象。然而，在失想象症（完全缺乏视觉意象）中，心理意象的状态、取而代之的是什么，或者任何活动与感受质如何相关，仍然未知。本研究分析了在尝试进行意象时，初级视觉皮层中基于血氧水平依赖（BOLD）信号的单变量（振幅）和多变量（解码）情况。两组中“意象”内容的解码效果同样良好；然而，与有意象的人不同，经证实患有失想象症的人的神经特征是同侧的，并且不能与知觉表征进行交叉解码。此外，与对照组相比，失想象症患者中由知觉诱发的BOLD反应较低。这些数据共同表明，失想象症患者的初级视觉皮层中存在与意象相关的表征，但感觉信息较少或已发生转变。我们的数据挑战了经典观点，即初级视觉皮层中的活动应导致感觉感受质。
