Multistable Visual Perception as a Gateway to the Neuronal Correlates of Phenomenal Consciousness: The Scope and Limits of Neuroscientific Analysis

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the neuronal correlates of multistable perception as a method that could provides significant insights into the neuronal correlates of consciousness. It describes the current state of knowledge on the contribution of cortical and subcortical areas in subjective visual perception as measured by the presentation of multistable stimulus configurations, mainly binocular rivalry, coupled with invasive and noninvasive recordings of neurophysiological signals. The findings from these experiments apparently support the view that correlates of subjective visual perception are found across different primary and secondary sensory and associational cortical and subcortical areas. This chapter ensures that the neuroscientific method, assisted by phenomenological psychophysics and computational neuroscience, has potentially unlimited power, constrained only by the experimental methods used in revealing the neuronal correlates of cognitive processes. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.