Readout and delayed transmission of initial afferent V1 activity in decisions about stimulus contrast

Abstract

Initial afferent activation of V1, indexed by the C1 component of the human VEP, is often considered to be a rudimentary stage of visual processing, operating mostly as a conduit for later stages with limited cognitive penetrability. The full suite of visual analysis entails activity across several visual areas and feedback from later areas to earlier ones. This raises the question of whether the early sensory representation indexed by the C1 is read out for perceptual decisions or whether it is passed over in favour of more advanced representations. To address this question, we asked whether the C1 would predict time-pressured stimulus contrast comparisons independently of physical stimulus conditions, a phenomenon known as choice probability. We found that the C1 did this for a narrow range of response times, indicative of decision readout since the C1 is a transient signal. This effect could not be accounted for by stimulus differences, choice history, or any other choice-predictive signal that we could identify in either the time or frequency domain, either before or after target onset. It also preceded the onset of evidence-dependent decision formation estimated from the centroparietal positivity by tens of milliseconds, together providing an approximate timeline of early evidence readout and its delayed impact on the decision.