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Amodal completion of unconsciously presented objects
Tatiana Aloi Emmanouil1, Tony Ro
1Baruch College and Graduate Center of the City University of New York, New York, USA, tatiana.emmanouil@baruch.cuny.edu.
Psychonomic Bulletin & Review
|March 28, 2014
Summary
Unconsciously perceived objects are completed, even when visually occluded. This demonstrates that unconscious visual processing extends beyond simply detecting visible features.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Visual Perception
- Neuroscience
Background:
- Objects are perceived as whole despite occlusion in everyday vision.
- The extent of unconscious visual processing, particularly object completion, remains debated.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if visually occluded objects, presented subliminally, undergo amodal completion.
- To determine the capabilities of unconscious visual processing.
Main Methods:
- A priming paradigm was employed with subliminal primes and consciously perceived targets.
- Two experiments tested discrimination responses to targets preceded by intact or occluded congruent shapes.
- Priming effects were analyzed to differentiate between feature-based and amodal completion.
Main Results:
- Faster discrimination responses to targets were observed when preceded by congruent shapes, irrespective of occlusion.
- Priming effects persisted even when primes were occluded, ruling out feature-based matching.
- No facilitation was found for targets sharing local features or only visible features of the occluded prime.
Conclusions:
- Objects presented below the awareness threshold can be amodally completed.
- Unconscious visual processing supports object completion, indicating deeper cognitive operations than previously assumed.
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