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Updated: Jun 30, 2025

Stimulus-specific Cortical Visual Evoked Potential Morphological Patterns
Published on: May 12, 2019
Are we aware of neural activity in primary visual cortex? A neuropsychological case study
Fabien Hauw1,2,3, Aude Sangaré1,2,3, Esteban Munoz-Musat1,2
1Institut du Cerveau - Paris Brain Institute - ICM, Inserm, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, Paris, France.
Objective:
According to a seminal hypothesis stated by Crick and Koch in 1995, one is not aware of neural activity in primary visual cortex (V1) because this region lacks reciprocal connections with prefrontal cortex (PFC).
Methods:
We provide here a neuropsychological illustration of this hypothesis in a patient with a very rare form of cortical blindness: ventral and dorsal cortical pathways were lesioned bilaterally while V1 areas were partially preserved.
Results:
Visual stimuli escaped conscious perception but still activated V1 regions that were functionally disconnected from PFC.
Interpretation:
These results are consistent with the hypothesis of a causal role of PFC in visual awareness.
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