How dirty is the quick and dirty pathway? early spatiotemporal dynamics for the processing of biologically relevant stimuli

We aimed to unfurl how dirty the quick and dirty pathway is. This subcortical pulvinar-amygdala pathway, bypassing cortical areas, is proposed to be dedicated to fast and crude processing of behaviourally relevant stimuli. We hypothesized that stimuli targeting the innate drive to mate are processed automatically, independently of attention and awareness. In a first EEG experiment we established that body processing is reflected as a N1 deflection around 150ms post stimulus onset in conscious and unconscious viewing conditions. Secondly, we recorded intracranial field potentials from the amygdala of a hemianopic patient that differentiate affective from neutral content at latencies faster than 100ms. Last, we functionally imaged that stimulus processing of behaviourally relevant stimuli (bodies and faces) is preserved in a long-term completely cortically blind patient. We conclude that a subcortical pathway operating independently from striate input appraises stimuli alluding to mating opportunities, giving rise to affective blindsight for bodies