Investigating commonalities between effects of unconscious priming
Final Report Abstract
In this project, we investigated and found similarities between different forms of masked (subliminal) priming, because there were top-down contingencies of unconscious processing and underpinnings of subliminal processing by motor processes, even in the domain of word meaning. In conclusion, there is little to fear from unconscious processing. Like conscious processing, we, as human agents, can exert rigorous control over unconscious processing. This result is at odds with classic notions of automatic processing that linked unconscious processing with automaticity and low degrees of control. To our surprise, however, selective attention towards relevant features was not the key gating principle for all these top-down dependencies. Also, we found evidence for diverse underlying physiological pathways. This finding implies that not all forms of unconscious processing are due to the same brain processes. Finally, even in our relatively refined area of research, notable exceptions to the top-down dependency principle outlined above were observed. These were suggestive of some asymmetric mutual dependencies between processing of unconscious spatial meaning and unconscious valence information.
Publications
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(2009). Goal-driven attentional capture by invisible colours: Evidence from event-related potentials. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 16, 648-653
Ansorge, U., Kiss, M., & Eimer, M.
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(2010). Attentional capture by masked color singletons. Vision Research, 50, 2015-2027
Ansorge, U., Horstmann, G., & Worschech, F.
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(2010). Masked singleton effects. Attention, Perception & Psychophysics, 72, 2069-2086
Held, B., Ansorge, U., & Müller, H.
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(2010). Testing the theory of embodied cognition with subliminal words. Cognition, 116, 303-320
Ansorge, U., Kiefer, M., Khalid, S., Grassl, S., & König, P.
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(2010). Top-down contingent attentional capture during feed-forward visual processing. Acta Psychologica, 135, 123-126
Ansorge, U., Horstmann, G., & Scharlau, I.
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(2011). Controlling the unconscious: Attentional task sets modulate subliminal semantic and visuo-motor processes differentially. Psychological Science, 22, 282-291
Martens, U., Ansorge, U., & Kiefer, M.
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(2011). No conflict control in the absence of awareness. Psychological Research, 75, 351-365
Ansorge, U., Fuchs, I., Khalid, S., & Kunde, W.
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(2011). Sensitivity of different measures of the visibility of masked primes: Influences of prime-response and prime-target relations. Consciousness and Cognition, 20, 1473-1488
Khalid, S., König, P., & Ansorge, U.
