The Depth and Complexity of Unconscious Processing

Editorial

22 November 2021

Editorial: The Depth and Complexity of Unconscious Processing

Shen Tu

Jerwen Jou

Guang Zhao

and

Jun Jiang

2,513 views

0 citations

Editors

Shen Tu

Guizhou University of Finance and Economics

Jerwen Jou

The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley

Jun Jiang

Army Medical University

Guang Zhao

Tianjin Normal University

Impact

Review

22 June 2021

Degree and Complexity of Non-conscious Emotional Information Processing – A Review of Masked Priming Studies

Michaela Rohr

and

Dirk Wentura

Whether and to what degree information can be processed non-consciously has been a matter of debate since the emergence of psychology as a science. Emotional information, in particular, has often been assumed to have a privileged status because of its relevance for well-being and survival (e.g., to detect a threat). Indeed, many studies have explored non-conscious processing of evaluative (i.e., “emotional” in a broad sense) or emotional (e.g., facial expressions) features using the “silver bullet” of non-consciousness research – the masked sequential priming paradigm. In its prototypical form, this paradigm involves the categorization of target stimuli according to valence (e.g., is the target positive or negative?). Each target is preceded by a briefly presented prime that is followed by a mask to constrain awareness. Non-conscious processing is inferred from subtle influences of the prime on target processing, that is, whether responses are faster if prime and target are valence-congruent or not. We will review this research with a focus on three questions: first, which methods are used in this area to establish non-conscious processing? Second, is there evidence for non-conscious extraction of evaluative information? Third, is there evidence for non-conscious processing beyond a simple valence (positive/negative) discrimination, for example, processing of emotion-specific information? We will highlight important current debates and potential directions in which the field will move in the future.

4,710 views

11 citations

Experimental procedure. Sentences contained masked emotional adjectives (positive, negative, or neutral adjectives) that could be either correct or incorrect (number disagreement relative to unmasked nouns). In addition, the ongoing unmasked sentence could also be correct or incorrect (noun–verb number disagreement). In the example, the masked adjective was incorrect (examples of positive, negative, and neutral adjectives appear), while unmasked verb was correct. The literal translation into English of the example is: The babe [thin/happy/orphan (all plural)] jumps with enthusiasm.

Original Research

11 June 2021

The Automatic but Flexible and Content-Dependent Nature of Syntax

Laura Jiménez-Ortega

, 6 more and

Manuel Martín-Loeches

2,740 views

11 citations

Schematic representation of a single trial. After the fixation, a search display was presented. After participants’ searching and pressing the keyboard, a blank of 2,000 ms arose, followed by the feedback suggesting that whether there was a reward (with a paper money image) or not (without image; i.e., there was a blank screen) in this trial. For this trial, there was a reward.

Original Research

15 April 2021

Contextual Cueing Accelerated and Enhanced by Monetary Reward: Evidence From Event-Related Brain Potentials

Guang Zhao

, 3 more and

Shiyi Li

5,550 views

2 citations

Original Research

29 January 2021

Feature-Based Attentional Weighting and Re-weighting in the Absence of Visual Awareness

Lasse Güldener

, 2 more and

Stefan Pollmann

3,787 views

1 citations

Correction

01 September 2021

Corrigendum: Degree and Complexity of Non-conscious Emotional Information Processing – A Review of Masked Priming Studies

Michaela Rohr

and

Dirk Wentura

1,114 views

0 citations

Mini Review

14 January 2021

Windows of Integration Hypothesis Revisited

Rony Hirschhorn

, 3 more and

Liad Mudrik

In the ongoing research of the functions of consciousness, special emphasis has been put on integration of information: the ability to combine different signals into a coherent, unified one. Several theories of consciousness hold that this ability depends on – or at least goes hand in hand with – conscious processing. Yet some empirical findings have suggested otherwise, claiming that integration of information could take place even without awareness. Trying to reconcile this apparent contradiction, the “windows of integration” (WOI) hypothesis claims that conscious access enables signal processing over large integration windows. The hypothesis applies to integration windows defined either temporally, spatially, or semantically. In this review, we explain the hypothesis and re-examine it in light of new studies published since it was suggested. In line with the hypothesis, these studies provide compelling evidence for unconscious integration, but also demonstrate its limits with respect to time, space, and semantic distance. The review further highlights open questions that still need to be pursued to demonstrate the applicability of the WOI hypothesis as a guiding principle for understanding the depth and scope of unconscious processes.

An illustration of findings of studies of unconscious integration published since 2013, outlined according to SPIW, TIW, and SIW. For all panels, red markers indicate experiments that were interpreted by the authors as suggesting no integration over that window, and green markers represent experiments that were interpreted by the authors as showing positive evidence for unconscious integration. (A) SPIW: the x axis denotes the number of integrated items, and the y axis describes the type of stimuli in the experiment, ordered in ascending complexity, as interpreted by the authors. Marker size describes the level of cognitive complexity the task required, as interpreted by the authors (in ascending order: similarity judgment, congruency, classification, language integration, holistic integration, and problem solving. In the absence of a clear metric of complexity, the suggested order is based on our assessment of the required cognitive effort). (B) TIW: the x axis denotes the duration of the integration window, and the y axis describes the type of stimuli in the experiment, ordered in ascending complexity, as interpreted by the authors. Marker size describes the level of cognitive complexity of the task, as interpreted by the authors (in ascending order: shape processing, motion inference, congruency, classification, language integration). (C) SIW: the x axis denotes the visual angle of the area captured by the integrated items, and the y axis describes the complexity of the visual stimulus, as interpreted by the authors (in increasing order: line, shape, 3D, size illusion, and illusory contour). Experiments that belong to the same research paper are marked with an identical shape.

5,172 views

20 citations

Original Research

02 September 2020

Awareness and Stimulus-Driven Spatial Attention as Independent Processes

Diane Baier

, 1 more and

Ulrich Ansorge

To investigate the relation between attention and awareness, we manipulated visibility/awareness and stimulus-driven attention capture among metacontrast-masked visual stimuli. By varying the time interval between target and mask, we manipulated target visibility measured as target discrimination accuracies (ACCs; Experiments 1 and 2) and as subjective awareness ratings (Experiment 3). To modulate stimulus-driven attention capture, we presented the masked target either as a color-singleton (the target stands out by its unique color among homogeneously colored non-singletons), as a non-singleton together with a distractor singleton elsewhere (an irrelevant distractor has a unique color, whereas the target is colored like the other stimuli) or without a singleton (no stimulus stands out; only in Experiment 1). As color singletons capture attention in a stimulus-driven way, we expected target visibility/discrimination performance to be best for target singletons and worst with distractor singletons. In Experiments 1 and 2, we confirmed that the masking interval and the singleton manipulation influenced ACCs in an independent way and that attention capture by the singletons, with facilitated performance in target-singleton compared to distractor-singleton conditions, was found regardless of the interval-induced (in-)visibility of the targets. In Experiment 1, we also confirmed that attention capture was the same among participants with worse and better visibility/discrimination performance. In Experiment 2, we confirmed attention capture by color singletons with better discrimination performance for probes presented at singleton position, compared to other positions. Finally, in Experiment 3, we found that attention capture by target singletons also increased target awareness and that this capture effect on subjective awareness was independent of the effect of the masking interval, too. Together, results provide new evidence that stimulus-driven attention and awareness operate independently from one another and that stimulus-driven attention capture can precede awareness.

5,187 views

7 citations