Unconscious processing under CFS: Getting the right measure T Stein |
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CIMeC, University of Trento, Italy
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| Unconscious visual processing is typically investigated by contrasting a direct measure of stimulus awareness with an indirect measure of stimulus processing (e.g. adaptation aftereffect). Unconscious processing is inferred when no sensitivity is found in the direct measure, but some sensitivity in the indirect measure. Applying this classic dissociation paradigm, our research on adaptation aftereffects shows that under continuous flash suppression (CFS) only simple stimulus attributes can be processed unconsciously, whereas the processing of complex stimulus properties requires awareness. Recently, this notion has been challenged by findings obtained with a new technique that circumvents the use of an indirect measure and aims at directly measuring unconscious processing. In this breaking CFS (b-CFS) paradigm, differential unconscious processing during CFS is inferred from the time stimuli need to overcome CFS and emerge into awareness. B-CFS is highly sensitive to differences between complex stimuli in their potency to gain access to awareness. However, our data show that such effects need not be specific to CFS, but could reflect non-specific differences in detection thresholds. Therefore, b-CFS cannot provide evidence for unconscious processing specific to CFS. Thus, at present only the classic dissociation paradigm is capable of informing theories of unconscious information processing under interocular suppression. |
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