Dissociable rhythmic mechanisms enhance memory for conscious and nonconscious perceptual contents

Understanding the neural mechanisms of conscious and unconscious experience is a major goal of fundamental and translational neuroscience. Here, we target the early visual cortex with a protocol of noninvasive, high-resolution alternating current stimulation while participants performed a delayed target-probe discrimination task and reveal dissociable mechanisms of mnemonic processing for conscious and unconscious perceptual contents. Entraining beta-rhythms in bilateral visual areas preferentially enhanced short-term memory for seen information, whereas a-entrainment in the same region preferentially enhanced short-term memory for unseen information. The shortterm memory improvements were frequency-specific and long-lasting. The results add a mechanistic foundation to existing theories of consciousness, call for revisions to these theories, and contribute to the development of nonpharmacological therapeutics for improving visual cortical processing.

Automated summary

Understanding the neural mechanisms of conscious and unconscious experience is a crucial goal in neuroscience. In this study, researchers used noninvasive electrical stimulation to target the early visual cortex and identified distinct mechanisms for memory processing of conscious and unconscious perception. The findings contribute to existing theories of consciousness, call for revisions to these theories, and offer potential therapeutic interventions for enhancing visual cortical processing.