In Search of an Integrative Method to Study Unconscious Processing: An Application of Bayesian and General Recognition Theory Models to the Processing of Hierarchical Patterns in the Absence of Awareness
The dissociation between conscious and unconscious perception is one of the most relevant issues in the study of human cognition. While there is evidence suggesting that some stimuli might be unconsciously processed up to its meaning (e.g., high-level stimulus processing), some authors claim that mo...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Ubiquity Press
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Journal of Cognition |
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| Online Access: | https://account.journalofcognition.org/index.php/up-j-jc/article/view/411 |
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| author | Antonio Prieto Pedro R. Montoro Mikel Jimenez José Antonio Hinojosa |
| author_facet | Antonio Prieto Pedro R. Montoro Mikel Jimenez José Antonio Hinojosa |
| author_sort | Antonio Prieto |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The dissociation between conscious and unconscious perception is one of the most relevant issues in the study of human cognition. While there is evidence suggesting that some stimuli might be unconsciously processed up to its meaning (e.g., high-level stimulus processing), some authors claim that most results on the processing of subliminal stimuli can be explained by a mixture of methodological artefacts and questionable assumptions about what can be considered non-conscious. Particularly, one of the most controversial topics involves the method by which the awareness of the stimuli is assessed. To address this question, we introduced an integrative approach to assess the extent to which masked hierarchical stimuli (i.e., global shapes composed of local elements) can be processed in the absence of awareness. We combined a priming task where participants had to report global or local shapes, with the use of subjective and objective awareness measures collected either in a separate block (offline), or trial-by-trial during the main task (online). The unconscious processing of the masked primes was then evaluated through two different novel model-based methods: a Bayesian and a General Recognition Theory modeling approach. Despite the high correlation between awareness measures, our results show that the use of alternative approaches based on different theoretical assumptions leads to diverging conclusions about the extent of the unconscious processing of the masked primes. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-e6e56d21ec0a4c9180864bed8ce5585e |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2514-4820 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | Ubiquity Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Cognition |
| spelling | doaj-art-e6e56d21ec0a4c9180864bed8ce5585e2025-02-11T05:36:32ZengUbiquity PressJournal of Cognition2514-48202025-01-01816610.5334/joc.411410In Search of an Integrative Method to Study Unconscious Processing: An Application of Bayesian and General Recognition Theory Models to the Processing of Hierarchical Patterns in the Absence of AwarenessAntonio Prieto0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3394-5962Pedro R. Montoro1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5665-8587Mikel Jimenez2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2006-6782José Antonio Hinojosa3https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7482-9503Departamento de Psicología Básica I, UNEDDepartamento de Psicología Básica I, UNEDDepartment of Psychology, University of Durham, DurhamInstituto Pluridisciplinar, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid; Departamento de Psicología Experimental, Procesos Cognitivos y Logopedia, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid; Centro de Investigación Nebrija en Cognición (CINC), Universidad de Nebrija, MadridThe dissociation between conscious and unconscious perception is one of the most relevant issues in the study of human cognition. While there is evidence suggesting that some stimuli might be unconsciously processed up to its meaning (e.g., high-level stimulus processing), some authors claim that most results on the processing of subliminal stimuli can be explained by a mixture of methodological artefacts and questionable assumptions about what can be considered non-conscious. Particularly, one of the most controversial topics involves the method by which the awareness of the stimuli is assessed. To address this question, we introduced an integrative approach to assess the extent to which masked hierarchical stimuli (i.e., global shapes composed of local elements) can be processed in the absence of awareness. We combined a priming task where participants had to report global or local shapes, with the use of subjective and objective awareness measures collected either in a separate block (offline), or trial-by-trial during the main task (online). The unconscious processing of the masked primes was then evaluated through two different novel model-based methods: a Bayesian and a General Recognition Theory modeling approach. Despite the high correlation between awareness measures, our results show that the use of alternative approaches based on different theoretical assumptions leads to diverging conclusions about the extent of the unconscious processing of the masked primes.https://account.journalofcognition.org/index.php/up-j-jc/article/view/411visual awarenessawareness measuresunconscious perceptionbayesian inferencevisual maskinggeneral recognition theory |
| spellingShingle | Antonio Prieto Pedro R. Montoro Mikel Jimenez José Antonio Hinojosa In Search of an Integrative Method to Study Unconscious Processing: An Application of Bayesian and General Recognition Theory Models to the Processing of Hierarchical Patterns in the Absence of Awareness Journal of Cognition visual awareness awareness measures unconscious perception bayesian inference visual masking general recognition theory |
| title | In Search of an Integrative Method to Study Unconscious Processing: An Application of Bayesian and General Recognition Theory Models to the Processing of Hierarchical Patterns in the Absence of Awareness |
| title_full | In Search of an Integrative Method to Study Unconscious Processing: An Application of Bayesian and General Recognition Theory Models to the Processing of Hierarchical Patterns in the Absence of Awareness |
| title_fullStr | In Search of an Integrative Method to Study Unconscious Processing: An Application of Bayesian and General Recognition Theory Models to the Processing of Hierarchical Patterns in the Absence of Awareness |
| title_full_unstemmed | In Search of an Integrative Method to Study Unconscious Processing: An Application of Bayesian and General Recognition Theory Models to the Processing of Hierarchical Patterns in the Absence of Awareness |
| title_short | In Search of an Integrative Method to Study Unconscious Processing: An Application of Bayesian and General Recognition Theory Models to the Processing of Hierarchical Patterns in the Absence of Awareness |
| title_sort | in search of an integrative method to study unconscious processing an application of bayesian and general recognition theory models to the processing of hierarchical patterns in the absence of awareness |
| topic | visual awareness awareness measures unconscious perception bayesian inference visual masking general recognition theory |
| url | https://account.journalofcognition.org/index.php/up-j-jc/article/view/411 |
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