COGNITIVE SCIENCE PROGRAM

 Our visual systems are typically bombarded with massive amounts of information. However, we are subjectively aware of only a small proportion of this incoming visual information at any given time. Do our visual systems represent some of this information unconsciously, and how and why do we become aware of only certain visual percepts and not others? In the first half of this talk, I will describe studies that suggest unconscious representations of visual information in several visual brain areas. The second half of the talk will focus on a series of studies that demonstrate the importance of recurrent and phasic processing in the brain for visual awareness. Together, these results suggest that processing loops between the primary visual cortex and higher brain regions are essential for experiencing consciousness of visual events.