2025-01-11 ニューサウスウェールズ大学(UNSW)
<関連情報>
- https://www.unsw.edu.au/newsroom/news/2025/01/mind-blindness-decoded-people-who-cant-see-with-their-minds-eye-still-activate-their-visual-cortex-study-finds
- https://www.cell.com/current-biology/abstract/S0960-9822(24)01652-X
視覚野の早期解読により、アファンタジアにおける無像イメージが明らかに Imageless imagery in aphantasia revealed by early visual cortex decoding
Shuai Chang∙ Xinyu Zhang∙ Yangjianyi Cao∙ Joel Pearson∙ Ming Meng
Current Biology Published:January 10, 2025
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2024.12.012
Highlights
- Decreased perceptual BOLD response in aphantasia
- Decoded contents of imagery attempts in aphantasia from the primary visual cortex
- Neural patterns in perception and imagery attempts did not have shared features
- Greater ipsilateral imagery BOLD response in aphantasia
Summary
Activity in the early visual cortex is thought to tightly couple with conscious experience, including feedback-driven mental imagery. However, in aphantasia (a complete lack of visual imagery), the state of mental imagery, what takes its place, or how any activity relates to qualia remains unknown. This study analyzed univariate (amplitude) and multivariate (decoding) blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) signals in primary visual cortex during imagery attempts. “Imagery” content could be decoded equally well in both groups; however, unlike in those with imagery, neural signatures in those with validated aphantasia were ipsilateral and could not be cross-decoded with perceptual representations. Further, the perception-induced BOLD response was lower in those with aphantasia compared with controls. Together, these data suggest that an imagery-related representation, but with less or transformed sensory information, exists in the primary visual cortex of those with aphantasia. Our data challenge the classic view that activity in primary visual cortex should result in sensory qualia.
