Balancing awareness: Vestibular signals modulate visual consciousness in the absence of awareness

Salomon, Roy; Kaliuzhna, Mariia; Herbelin, Bruno; Blanke, Olaf

doi:10.1016/j.concog.2015.07.009

Cited by 32 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 66 publications

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“…Second, mislocalization of the participant's hand, which appears closer to the rubber hand, was lessened by right cathodal GVS [92], suggesting an influence of vestibular signals on proprioception [93,94]. Altogether, healthy participants data suggest that vestibular stimulation may modulate visual and proprioceptive signal integration (for recent accounts, see [95,96,97 & ]) in a more specific way than general hemispheric activation. ] tested the vestibular contribution to illusory full-body ownership.…”

Section: Illusory Ownership For a Handmentioning

confidence: 89%

The vestibular system

Lopez

2016

Current Opinion in Neurology

104

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In addition to 'balancing the body', the vestibular cortical network contributes to modulate space, body and self-awareness. Emerging evidence suggests that the vestibular network expands into dimensions of emotion processing, mental health, and social cognition. Here, the importance of connecting vestibular physiology, affective neuroscience, and social neuroscience to better understand the psychological aspects of vertigo in otoneurology is discussed.

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Section: Illusory Ownership For a Handmentioning

confidence: 89%

The vestibular system

Lopez

2016

Current Opinion in Neurology

104

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“…Another potential factor that may have contributed to differences in breakthrough times Previous research, using a variety of paradigms including bCFS, has shown that the congruency between visual information and signals from other sensory modalities can alter the time it takes for the visual stimulus to enter awareness (Lunghi, Binda, & Morrone, 2010;Lunghi, Morrone, & Alais, 2014;Salomon et al, 2015Salomon et al, , 2013van der Hoort, Reingardt, & Ehrsson, 2017). Note that these studies manipulated congruency rather than contingency, as the systematic manipulation of the contingency of cross modal signals is generally much more difficult than manipulation of congruency.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sensorimotor contingency modulates breakthrough of virtual 3D objects during a breaking continuous flash suppression paradigm

Suzuki¹,

Schwartzman²,

Augusto³

et al. 2018

Preprint

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To investigate how embodied sensorimotor interactions shape subjective visual experience, we developed a novel combination of Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) within an adapted breaking continuous flash suppression (bCFS) paradigm. In a first experiment, participants manipulated novel virtual 3D objects, viewed through a head-mounted display, using three interlocking cogs. This setup allowed us to manipulate the sensorimotor contingencies governing interactions with virtual objects, while characterising the effects on subjective visual experience by measuring breakthrough times from bCFS. We contrasted the effects of the congruency (veridical versus reversed sensorimotor coupling) and contingency (live versus replayed interactions) using a motion discrimination task. The results showed that the contingency but not congruency of sensorimotor coupling affected breakthrough times, with live interactions displaying faster breakthrough times. In a second experiment, we investigated how the contingency of sensorimotor interactions affected object category discrimination within a more naturalistic setting, using a motion tracker that allowed object interactions with increased degrees of freedom. We again found that breakthrough times were faster for live compared to replayed interactions (contingency effect). Together, these data demonstrate that bCFS breakthrough times for unfamiliar 3D virtual objects are modulated by the contingency of the dynamic causal coupling between actions and their visual consequences, in line with theories of perception that emphasise the influence of sensorimotor contingencies on visual experience. The combination of VR/AR and motion tracking technologies with bCFS provides a novel methodology extending the use of binocular suppression paradigms into more dynamic and realistic sensorimotor environments.

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“…Recent experimental work has shown that consciously perceived non-visual stimuli may even be integrated with stimuli rendered invisible through various masking paradigms (i.e. auditory (Alsius & Munhall, 2013;Lunghi, Morrone, & Alais, 2014), tactile (Lunghi & Alais, 2013;Lunghi, Binda, & Morrone, 2010;Salomon, Galli, et al, 2015), olfactory (Zhou, Jiang, He, & Chen, 2010), proprioceptive (Salomon, Lim, Herbelin, Hesselmann, & Blanke, 2013) and vestibular (Salomon, Kaliuzhna, Herbelin, & Blanke, 2015)) and that even a subliminal auditory and a subliminal visual stimulus can be integrated and impact consciousness (Faivre, Mudrik, Schwartz, & Koch, 2014;Noel, Wallace, & Blake, 2015). Do these findings on unconscious integration also extend to self-consciousness and BSC in particular, which is often considered a more complex and specific form of conscious content (Dehaene & Changeux, 2011;Gallagher, 2000)?…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, to date there is no experimental evidence suggesting that the multisensory integration processes of BSC do not require conscious awareness of the respective multisensory stimuli, although unconscious multisensory integration has been shown in humans (see above) Salomon, Kaliuzhna, et al, 2015;Salomon, Lim, Herbelin, et al, 2013) and at the neuronal level in anesthetized animals Meredith & Stein, 1986;Stein & Stanford, 2008). Here, we tested for the first time whether multisensory integration of bodily stimuli underlying BSC also occurs for multisensory inputs, which are presented below the threshold of conscious perception.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Unconscious integration of multisensory bodily inputs in the peripersonal space shapes bodily self-consciousness

Salomon¹,

Noel

Łukowska

et al. 2016

Preprint

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Recent studies have highlighted the role of multisensory integration as a key mechanism of self-consciousness. In particular, integration of bodily signals within the peripersonal space (PPS) underlies the experience of the self in a body we own (self-identification) and that is experienced as occupying a specific location in space (self-location), two main components of bodily self-consciousness (BSC). Experiments investigating the effects of multisensory integration on BSC have typically employed supra-threshold sensory stimuli, neglecting the role of unconscious sensory signals in BSC, as tested in other consciousness research. Here, we used psychophysical techniques to test whether multisensory integration of bodily stimuli underlying BSC may also occur for multisensory inputs presented below the threshold of conscious perception. Our results indicate that visual stimuli rendered invisible (through continuous flash suppression) boost processing of tactile stimuli on the body (Exp. 1), and enhance the perception of near-threshold tactile stimuli (Exp. 2), only once they entered peripersonal space. We then employed unconscious multisensory mechanisms to manipulate BSC. Participants were presented with tactile stimulation on their body and with visual stimuli on a virtual body, seen at a distance, which were either visible or rendered invisible.We report that if visuo-tactile stimulation was synchronized, participants self-identified with the virtual body (Exp. 3), and shifted their self-location toward the virtual body (Exp.4), even if visual stimuli were fully invisible. Our results indicate that multisensory inputs, even outside of awareness, are integrated and affect the phenomenological content of selfconsciousness, grounding BSC firmly in the field of psychophysical consciousness studies.All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission.(which was not peer-reviewed) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity.

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Balancing awareness: Vestibular signals modulate visual consciousness in the absence of awareness

Cited by 32 publications

References 66 publications

The vestibular system

The vestibular system

Sensorimotor contingency modulates breakthrough of virtual 3D objects during a breaking continuous flash suppression paradigm

Unconscious integration of multisensory bodily inputs in the peripersonal space shapes bodily self-consciousness

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