The ability to automatically detect changes in the environment is crucial for organisms to survive. In the visual system, changes in visual stimuli may evoke visual mismatch negativity (vMMN), an event-related potential (ERP) component that reflects automatic change detection. Previous studies that used visual masking to examine the effects of consciousness did not yield evidence that vMMN could be elicited by subliminal stimuli. However, these studies used relatively simple visual features. To further examine the role of consciousness in vMMN, the present study used emotional (happy and fearful) faces, which are biologically and socially significant visual stimuli. A passive oddball paradigm was employed, and we found that only fearful faces could evoke vMMN at a low consciousness level. Furthermore, the fear-related vMMN was enhanced by the consciousness level, and localized in regions of the brain associated with emotional face processing and the prefrontal cortex. We also found that the emotional visual mismatch oscillatory responses (vMORs) were associated with the enhancement of the alpha-band oscillation. Moreover, consciousness could weaken the happiness-related vMOR. These results suggested that changes to emotional faces—especially fearful faces—could be unconsciously detected by the brain. More importantly, this automatic change detection mechanism could be modulated by consciousness.

自动检测环境变化的能力对于生物生存至关重要。在视觉系统中，视觉刺激的变化可能会引起视觉失配阴性（vMMN），这是反映自动变化检测的事件相关电位（ERP）组件。以前的研究使用视觉掩盖来检查意识的影响，但没有证据表明vMMN可能是由下意识刺激引起的。但是，这些研究使用了相对简单的视觉特征。为了进一步研究意识在vMMN中的作用，本研究使用情绪（高兴和恐惧）的面孔，这些面孔在生物学和社会上都是重要的视觉刺激。使用了被动的奇数球范例，我们发现只有恐惧的面孔才能在低意识水平下唤起vMMN。此外，与恐惧相关的vMMN通过意识水平得到增强，并位于与情绪面部处理和前额叶皮层相关的大脑区域。我们还发现，情绪视觉失配振荡反应（vMOR）与α波段振荡的增强有关。此外，意识会削弱与幸福相关的vMOR。这些结果表明，情绪面孔（尤其是恐惧面孔）的变化可以被大脑无意识地检测到。更重要的是，这种自动变化检测机制可以通过意识来调节。我们还发现，情绪视觉失配振荡反应（vMOR）与α波段振荡的增强有关。此外，意识会削弱与幸福相关的vMOR。这些结果表明，情绪面孔（尤其是恐惧面孔）的变化可以被大脑无意识地检测到。更重要的是，这种自动变化检测机制可以通过意识来调节。我们还发现，情绪视觉失配振荡反应（vMOR）与α波段振荡的增强有关。此外，意识会削弱与幸福相关的vMOR。这些结果表明，情绪面孔（尤其是恐惧面孔）的变化可以被大脑无意识地检测到。更重要的是，这种自动变化检测机制可以通过意识来调节。