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Related Experiment Videos

Spatial attention speeds discrimination without awareness in blindsight.

R W Kentridge1, C A Heywood, L Weiskrantz

  • 1Cognitive Neuroscience Research Unit, Department of Psychology, Science Laboratories, South Road, Durham DH1 3LE, UK. robert.kentridge@durham.ac.uk

Neuropsychologia
|March 24, 2004
PubMed
Summary

Visual attention may be necessary for awareness, but it is not sufficient. Even when attention is facilitated, awareness does not occur, demonstrating a dissociation between attention and consciousness in blindsight.

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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Neuroscience
  • Neuroscience of Vision
  • Psychology of Perception

Background:

  • The relationship between visual attention and visual awareness is often assumed to be intimate.
  • Blindsight, a neurological condition, presents an opportunity to investigate this relationship by dissociating visual processing from conscious awareness.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate whether visual attention is a sufficient condition for visual awareness.
  • To explore the relationship between attention and awareness using a patient with blindsight.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized a Posner endogenous spatial cueing paradigm with patient GY, who has blindsight.
  • Measured reaction times and discrimination accuracy for visual stimuli at cued and uncued locations.
  • Assessed awareness of stimuli despite attentional facilitation.

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Main Results:

  • Reaction times for stimulus orientation discrimination were reduced when the location was cued.
  • This reaction-time advantage occurred without a decrease in discrimination accuracy.
  • Patient GY reported no awareness of stimuli at attentionally facilitated locations.

Conclusions:

  • Visual attention is not a sufficient condition for visual awareness.
  • These findings demonstrate a dissociation between attention and awareness in blindsight.
  • Attention may be a necessary but not sufficient precursor for conscious visual experience.