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Neural correlates of change detection and change blindness

Nature Neuroscience volume 4, pages 645–650 (2001)Cite this article

Abstract

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) of subjects attempting to detect a visual change occurring during a screen flicker was used to distinguish the neural correlates of change detection from those of change blindness. Change detection resulted in enhanced activity in the parietal and right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex as well as category-selective regions of the extrastriate visual cortex (for example, fusiform gyrus for changing faces). Although change blindness resulted in some extrastriate activity, the dorsal activations were clearly absent. These results demonstrate the importance of parietal and dorsolateral frontal activations for conscious detection of changes in properties coded in the ventral visual pathway, and thus suggest a key involvement of dorsal–ventral interactions in visual awareness.

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Figure 1: Face change trial.
Figure 2: Activity related to category-specific conscious detection of change.
Figure 3: Results from experiment 1 shown on three views of the T1-weighted anatomical template.
Figure 4: Results from experiment 2.
Figure 5: Results of the random effects analysis of the 10 subjects in experiments 1 and 2.

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Acknowledgements

We thank N. Kanwisher for providing the face and place images, and J. Driver for his comments on the manuscript. This work was supported by a Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council grant (N.L.), a Medical Research Council career award (N.L.) and The Wellcome Trust (G.R., C.F.).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK

    Diane M. Beck & Nilli Lavie

  2. Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Alexandra House, Queen Square, University College London, London, WC1N 3AR, UK

    Geraint Rees

  3. Wellcome Department of Cognitive Neurology, Institute of Neurology, University College London, 12 Queen Square, London, WC1N 3BG, UK

    Geraint Rees & Christopher D. Frith

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  1. Diane M. Beck
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Correspondence to Diane M. Beck.

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Beck, D., Rees, G., Frith, C. et al. Neural correlates of change detection and change blindness. Nat Neurosci 4, 645–650 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/88477

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