What are the neural processes associated with perceptual awareness that are distinct from pre-conscious sensory encoding and post-perceptual processes such as reporting an experience? Here, we used electroencephalography (EEG) and a no-report visual masking paradigm with parametric manipulations of stimulus visibility to search for neural signatures associated with perceptual awareness independent from both early sensory processing and subsequent reporting. Overall, we found only one neural signal that was uniquely associated with perceptual awareness: a fronto-central event-related potential (ERP) that we refer to as the N2. In contrast, earlier ERP signals were linked with the linear stimulus manipulation, while later candidate signatures, such as P3b and temporal generalization of decoding, were present in the report condition but disappeared in the no-report condition. Taken together, these findings challenge several prominent theories of consciousness and offer a new avenue for exploring the neural mechanisms supporting conscious processing.
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