Moving in response to an unseen visual stimulus.

OBJECTIVE

Whether consciousness has a causal role in voluntary movements is not clear. Backward masking blocks a stimulus from becoming conscious, but it can trigger movement in a reaction time paradigm. We hypothesize that if backward masking is used in a choice reaction time paradigm, when the visible stimulus (S2) differs from the masked stimulus (S1), the movement will often differ from conscious intent. We did such a study employing electroencephalography (EEG) to explore the brain activity associated with this effect.

METHODS

Twenty healthy adults participated in a choice reaction time task with a backwardly masked stimulus and EEG. They moved right or left hand in response to the direction of an arrow. S2 was congruent or incongruent with S1. When incongruent, responses were frequently concordant with S1, with faster reaction time than when responding to S2 and thought to be a mistake.

RESULTS

We show that it is possible to trigger movements from the unperceived stimuli indicating consciousness is not causal since the movement was not in accord with intent. EEG showed information flow from occipital cortex to motor cortex.

CONCLUSIONS

Occipital activity was the same despite response, but the parietal and frontal EEG differed. When responding to S1, the motor cortex responded as soon as information arrived, and when responding to S2, the motor cortex responded with a delay allowing for other brain processing prior to movement initiation. While the exact time of conscious recognition of S2 is not clear, when there is a response to S1, the frontal cortex signals an "error", but this is apparently too late to veto the movement.

SIGNIFICANCE: While consciousness does not initiate the movement, it monitors the concordance of intent and result.