PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Andrew M. Haun
AU  - Masafumi Oizumi
AU  - Christopher K. Kovach
AU  - Hiroto Kawasaki
AU  - Hiroyuki Oya
AU  - Matthew A. Howard
AU  - Ralph Adolphs
AU  - Naotsugu Tsuchiya
TI  - Conscious Perception as Integrated Information Patterns in Human Electrocorticography
AID  - 10.1523/ENEURO.0085-17.2017
DP  - 2017 Sep 01
TA  - eneuro
PG  - ENEURO.0085-17.2017
VI  - 4
IP  - 5
4099  - http://www.eneuro.org/content/4/5/ENEURO.0085-17.2017.short
4100  - http://www.eneuro.org/content/4/5/ENEURO.0085-17.2017.full
SO  - eNeuro2017 Sep 01; 4
AB  - A significant problem in neuroscience concerns the distinction between neural processing that is correlated with conscious percepts from processing that is not. Here, we tested if a hierarchical structure of causal interactions between neuronal populations correlates with conscious perception. We derived the hierarchical causal structure as a pattern of integrated information, inspired by the integrated information theory (IIT) of consciousness. We computed integrated information patterns from intracranial electrocorticography (ECoG) from six human neurosurgical patients with electrodes implanted over lateral and ventral cortices. During recording, subjects viewed continuous flash suppression (CFS) and backward masking (BM) stimuli intended to dissociate conscious percept from stimulus, and unmasked suprathreshold stimuli. Object-sensitive areas revealed correspondence between conscious percepts and integrated information patterns. We quantified this correspondence using unsupervised classification methods that revealed clustering of visual experiences with integrated information, but not with broader information measures including mutual information and entropy. Our findings point to a significant role of locally integrated information for understanding the neural substrate of conscious object perception.