Using motion aftereffects to contrast conscious perception and attention in an EEG experiment

Abstract

The search for neuronal correlates of attention and consciousness has lasted for years, but still, the results are mixed. By using the method derived from Murd and Bachmann (2011) and adding electroencephalographic (EEG) measuring, we tried to find and confirm the correlates of consciousness and attention found by other authors. We hypothesized that a) consciousness is associated with lower frequency local gamma band activity, and b) attention is related to local gamma band activity of 60-80 Hz on the posterior EEG electrodes. Unfortunately, the results did not confirm the hypotheses. The main reasons could be insufficient number of total trials in the experiment and low sensitivity of the EEG recordings to the high gamma band activity.