Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 9, 2026

Assessment and Communication for People with Disorders of Consciousness
Published on: August 1, 2017
Being confident without seeing: what subjective measures of visual consciousness are about
Michael Zehetleitner1, Manuel Rausch
1Department of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Leopoldstrasse 13, 80802, Munich, Germany, mzehetleitner@psy.lmu.de.
Abstract:
Can observers be confident about the accuracy of a discrimination response without a visual experience of the stimulus? In a series of five experiments, observers performed a masked orientation discrimination task, a masked shape discrimination task, or a random-dot motion discrimination task, followed by two subjective ratings after each trial, in which participants reported either their visual experience of the stimulus or their confidence in being correct. We observed that the threshold for ratings of the perception of the stimulus was above the threshold for ratings of a decision, that decision ratings outperformed stimulus ratings in predicting trial accuracy, and that different decision-related scales were more strongly associated with other decision-related scales than with ratings of stimulus clarity. We propose a taxonomy of subjective measures of consciousness that differentiates between subjective measures relating to the percept of the stimulus and measures relating to a discrimination decision and discuss the relation to type II blindsight.
More Related Videos
05:48The Adventures of Fundi Intervention Based on the Cognitive and Emotional Processing in Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder Patients
Published on: June 12, 2020
04:51A Modified Mirror Test as a Visual Guide for the Self-awareness Trait in Wild Antarctica Penguins, Pygoscelis adeliae
Published on: July 8, 2025
Related Concept Videos
Self-Evaluation: Self-Enhancement and Self-Verification
Understanding Consciousness
Sleep, a crucial state, is characterized by reduced physical...
Introspection
Self-Concept
Infancy and Emerging Recognition
During infancy, self-concept is virtually nonexistent. Babies do not distinguish themselves as separate entities and often mistake their...
Self-Awareness and Its Effects
Understanding Self-Concept