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How our brains give rise to consciousness is one of the biggest mysteries in neuroscience. But new research by Janis Hesse at the University of California, Berkeley, and colleagues, may help fill in some of the details. The insights are coming from studies on macaque monkeys.

For years, neuroscientists have been divided over whether the neural mechanisms underlying consciousness lie primarily in the front or the back of the brain. Some researchers champion frontal regions through frameworks like global neuronal workspace and higher-order models. Others support posterior zones through models like integrated information theory and recurrent processing.

This new study suggests both camps might be arguing about the wrong thing.

To figure out what the brain is doing during conscious perception, the team needed a way to control what the monkeys could see and what remained hidden from their awareness.

They used a technique called binocular flash suppression, in which an image shown to one eye disappears from conscious awareness when a different image is flashed to the other eye. They tested it on 14 adult humans and, after demonstrating it worked, applied the same approach to macaque monkeys.

First, the researchers showed two macaque monkeys a series of pictures, including faces and other objects, while the animals kept their eyes fixed on a small dot in the center of the screen. The monkeys received a juice reward for maintaining their gaze on the dot.

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