Subcortical Arousal in Perceptual Awareness

A. The following are the inclusion/exclusion criteria for healthy participants age 18 years and up (Aim 1 and 2):

Inclusion: (1) normal vision with or without the use of corrective lenses; (2) normal hearing not needing an assistive hearing device.

Exclusion: (1) past history of diagnosis of a psychiatric or neurologic disease; (2) current psychiatric or neurologic disease; (3) requires hard contact lenses or glasses to maintain normal vision (prevents accurate pupil and eye gaze measurements); (4) pregnant or nonremovable ferrous metal objects inside or on the body (prevents MRI).

B. The following are the inclusion/exclusion criteria for epilepsy patients with thalamic electrodes age 13 years and up (Aim 3A):

Inclusion: (1) normal vision with or without the use of corrective lenses

Exclusion: (1) severe vision impairment even with correction preventing ability to see stimuli (prevents accurate pupil and eye gaze measurements); (2) unable to perform the perception task due to cognitive impairment. All participants must be capable of consenting for themselves.

C. The following are the inclusion/exclusion criteria for epilepsy patients with thalamic electrodes age 18 year and up (Aim 3B):

Inclusion: (1) normal vision with or without the use of corrective lenses; (2) A female subject must have a negative pregnancy test and if sexually active, must be using a reliable form of birth control for the duration of the trial, be surgically sterile, or be at least two years post-menopausal.

Exclusion: (1) severe vision impairment even with correction preventing ability to see stimuli (prevents accurate pupil and eye gaze measurements); (2) unable to perform the perception task due to cognitive impairment. All participants must be capable of consenting for themselves; (3) Pregnancy.