The neural correlates of consciousness: A systematic review and meta-analysis of the visual awareness negativity and P3b

Brendan T Hutchinson; James E Pustejovsky; Kavindu Bandara; Hugh McGovern; Jolene Cox; Alexandra Voce; Michael Pitts; Heleen A Slagter

doi:10.1037/bul0000521

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The neural correlates of consciousness: A systematic review and meta-analysis of the visual awareness negativity and P3b

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The neural correlates of consciousness: A systematic review and meta-analysis of the visual awareness negativity and P3b

Brendan T Hutchinson, James E Pustejovsky, Kavindu Bandara, Hugh McGovern, Jolene Cox, Alexandra Voce, Michael Pitts and Heleen A Slagter

Psychological Bulletin, Vol.152(5-6), pp.449-483

2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000521

PMID: 42734963

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Abstract

consciousness

perception

P3b

visual awareness negativity

meta-analysis

Isolating the neural correlates of consciousness is a paramount challenge in neuroscience. In electroencephalographic research, two event-related potentials have been identified as candidate markers of visual awareness: the visual awareness negativity (VAN) and the P3b (or late positivity). To rigorously evaluate their validity as neural correlates of consciousness, we conducted the first systematic review and meta-analysis of these signals, presented as a registered report. We assessed their necessity and sufficiency through meta-analysis of "seen" effect sizes (where consciousness was present) and "unseen" effect sizes (where consciousness was absent), while examining the influence of study quality, selective reporting, and theoretical and methodological moderators. From 117 studies contributing 547 effect sizes to our seen meta-analysis (322 VAN, 225 P3b) and 89 effect sizes to our unseen meta-analysis (55 VAN, 34 P3b), we estimated a standardized mean difference for the VAN at 0.37 (95% confidence interval [0.32, 0.43]) and the P3b standardized mean difference at 0.49 (95% confidence interval [0.41, 0.57]). Our findings show that the P3b is not a necessary marker for consciousness, as it is not reliably present under task-irrelevant conditions (standardized mean difference = -0.12, 95% confidence interval [-0.47, 0.23]), whereas the VAN is present even in the absence of consciousness, suggesting that it is not a sufficient marker for consciousness. While study quality did not influence outcomes, selective reporting may introduce upward bias in our estimates, although this does not impact our conclusions. Together, findings challenge prevailing theories of consciousness and underscore the need for refined models and methodologies in the search for neural correlates of consciousness. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

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Title: The neural correlates of consciousness: A systematic review and meta-analysis of the visual awareness negativity and P3b
Authors: Brendan T Hutchinson (Corresponding Author) - Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
James E Pustejovsky - University of Wisconsin System
Kavindu Bandara - The University of Melbourne
Hugh McGovern - The University of Queensland
Jolene Cox - University of the Sunshine Coast
Alexandra Voce - Australian Institute of Criminology
Michael Pitts - Reed College
Heleen A Slagter - Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Publication details: Psychological Bulletin, Vol.152(5-6), pp.449-483
Publisher: American Psychological Association
Date published: 2026
DOI: 10.1037/bul0000521
ISSN: 1939-1455
PMID: 42734963
Copyright note: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0). This license permits copying and redistributing the work in any medium or format for noncommercial use provided the original authors and source are credited and a link to the license is included in attribution. No derivative works are permitted under this license.
Data Availability: Data and scripts can be found on the Open Science Framework at https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/7SN9X.
Grant note: This project was funded by a grant awarded to Brendan T. Hutchinson for the Funding Consciousness Science with Registered Reports joint initiative by the Center for Open Science, Templeton World Charity Foundation, and the Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness, as well as by a European Research Council Consolidator Grant awarded to Heleen A. Slagter (101002584, PlasticityOfMind), and a Templeton World Charity Foundation Grant TWCF-2022-30266 awarded to Michael Pitts.
Organisation Unit: Centre for Human Factors and Systems Science
Language: English
Record Identifier: 991258948902621
Output Type: Journal article

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