title: Phasic auditory alerting improves visual conscious perception.
abstract: Attention is often conceived as a gateway to consciousness (Posner, 1994). Although endogenous spatial attention may be independent of conscious perception (CP) (Koch Tsuchiya, 2007), exogenous spatial orienting seems instead to be an important modulator of CP (Chica, Lasaponara, Lupiáñez, Doricchi, & Bartolomeo, 2010; Chica, Lasaponara, et al., 2011). Here, we investigate the role of auditory alerting in CP in normal observers. We used a behavioral task in which phasic alerting tones were presented either at unpredictable or at predictable time intervals prior to the occurrence of a near-threshold visual target. We find, for the first time in neurologically intact observers, that phasic alertness increases CP, both objectively and subjectively. This result is consistent with evidence showing that phasic alerting can ameliorate the spatial bias exhibited by visual neglect patients (Robertson, Mattingley, Rorden, & Driver, 1998). The alerting network may increase the activity of fronto-parietal networks involved in top-down amplification required to bring a stimulus into consciousness (Dehaene, Changeux, Naccache, Sackur, & Sergent, 2006).
authors.affiliation: INSERM-U 975, Centre de Recherche de l'Institut du Cerveau et de la Moëlle Epinière (CRICM) et Université Pierre et Marie Curie (UPMC), Groupe Hospitalier Pitié-Salpêtrière, Paris, France. anachica@ugr.es
authors.forename: Flor
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Kusnir
authors.forename: Ana B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Chica
authors.forename: Manuel A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Mitsumasu
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bartolomeo
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D003243:Consciousness / Q000502:physiology; D003463:Cues; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D017603:Signal Detection, Psychological; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult