Head of the working group: Dr. Torge Dellert

How does our brain generate consciousness, that is, the subjective phenomenal experience of what it is like to see, hear, think or feel? Recent years have seen considerable progress in the search for the neural correlates of consciousness — the minimum neural mechanisms jointly sufficient for any one specific conscious percept (e.g., a face). In typical studies, neural activity is compared when a certain constant stimulus is perceived versus not perceived. However, most of them have confounded conscious perception with task-related post-perceptual processes (e.g., decision-making and report). Moreover, the vast majority of consciousness research has investigated vision, while other sensory modalities (e.g., audition) have been neglected. Our research group employs experimental paradigms in combination with electroencephalography (EEG) and/or functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to dissociate neural correlates of consciousness and post-perceptual processes across multiple sensory modalities.

1. Does conscious perception emerge during early, sensory or late, distributed information processing?
2. How can we best isolate conscious perception from post-perceptual processes, such as decision-making?
3. How do neural correlates of consciousness differ between stimulus detection and identification?
4. Are there common and distinct neural correlates of consciousness across sensory modalities, such as vision and audition?