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Unconscious masked priming depends on temporal attention
Lionel Naccache1, Elise Blandin, Stanislas Dehaene
1Clinical Neurophysiology Department, Hôpital de la Pitié-Salpêtrière, Paris, France. naccache@shfj.cea.fr
Psychological Science
|September 11, 2002
Summary
Unconscious priming effects in masked priming experiments depend on temporal attention. When attention is diverted, priming effects like response-congruity and physical repetition vanish, challenging automatic spreading activation theories.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Neuroscience
- Experimental Psychology
Background:
- Masked priming experiments typically assume automatic cognitive processes.
- These processes are often considered independent of attentional control.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the role of temporal attention in masked priming.
- To challenge the view of automaticity in unconscious priming.
Main Methods:
- Three behavioral experiments were conducted.
- A number comparison task was used.
- Temporal attention was manipulated to focus on or away from the prime-target presentation window.
Main Results:
- Unconscious priming effects were contingent on the allocation of temporal attention.
- Response-congruity priming disappeared when temporal attention was diverted.
- Physical repetition priming also vanished under conditions of diverted temporal attention.
Conclusions:
- The occurrence of unconscious priming is influenced by temporal attention.
- Findings contradict theories of purely automatic spreading activation in masked priming.
- Attention plays a crucial role in modulating unconscious cognitive processes.