Trial-wise awareness ratings do not capture the dynamics of masked priming

Trial-wise subjective awareness ratings, particularly the Perceptual Awareness Scale (PAS), have been widely recommended for assessing awareness in masked priming research. Central to this approach is the assumption that awareness may fluctuate across trials, so trial-wise ratings should be used to separate conscious from unconscious processing. Here, we asked whether such changes in PAS-ratings are associated with corresponding changes in priming by reanalyzing data from three masked priming experiments examining evaluative response priming and semantic priming, each including samples with and without trial-wise PAS-ratings. Using effect course analysis, we traced the development of PAS-ratings and priming effects during the experimental session. Across experiments, PAS-ratings systematically increased with practice, including in catch trials in which no prime was presented. Critically, these changes in PAS-ratings were not accompanied by corresponding changes in priming effects, and individual changes in PAS-ratings and priming effects were uncorrelated. Moreover, priming exhibited qualitatively different time courses in samples with versus without PAS-ratings, suggesting that trial-wise awareness ratings alter priming dynamics. These findings challenge the selection of trials according to PAS-ratings to separate conscious from unconscious processing and raise methodological concerns about the use of PAS in masked priming research.