Neural correlates of consciousness in an attentional blink paradigm with uncertain target relevance.
NeuroImage December 1, 2022 Torge Dellert, Sophie Krebs, Maximilian Bruchmann et al.
The P3b brain wave, long thought to be a signature of conscious perception, may instead reflect decision-making processes. In a study of 38 participants using a modified attentional blink paradigm—where seeing a first image briefly impairs awareness of a second—the early visual awareness negativity (VAN) appeared for seen versus unseen targets, but no enhanced P3b did, even when the second target was made distinct from distractors. The findings challenge the P3b as a neural correlate of consciousness and support the view that awareness arises during early sensory processing rather than later stages.