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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Nov 30, 2025

Detecting Pre-Stimulus Source-Level Effects on Object Perception with Magnetoencephalography
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A source for awareness-dependent figure-ground segregation in human prefrontal cortex.

Ling Huang1,2, Lijuan Wang1,2, Wangming Shen3

  • 1Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition, and Education Sciences, Ministry of Education, South China Normal University, 510631 Guangzhou, Guangdong, China.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
|November 17, 2020
PubMed
Summary

Figure-ground segregation involves edge, center, and background modulation. Awareness influences center and background processes, originating from prefrontal cortex feedback, not local V1 interactions.

Keywords:
awarenessbackground suppressionboundary detectionprefrontal cortexregion filling

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Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Cognitive Neuroscience
  • Visual Perception

Background:

  • Figure-ground modulation enhances neuronal responses to figures over backgrounds.
  • It comprises edge, center, and background modulation, but underlying neural mechanisms and awareness dependence are unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the neural mechanisms of figure-ground modulation components.
  • To determine the role of awareness in these modulations.
  • To identify the brain regions responsible for awareness-dependent figure-ground segregation.

Main Methods:

  • Used a Posner paradigm and fMRI BOLD signals in primary visual cortex (V1).
  • Compared visible versus invisible orientation-defined figures.
  • Performed effective-connectivity analysis.

Main Results:

  • Edge modulation was awareness-independent.
  • Center and background modulations were awareness-dependent, stronger with visible figures.
  • Awareness-dependent processes in V1 received feedback from frontal eye field (FEF) and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC).

Conclusions:

  • Edge detection is automatic, while region filling and background suppression depend on awareness.
  • Prefrontal cortex feedback plays a crucial role in awareness-dependent figure-ground segregation.