Subjective visibility depends on level of processing |
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Authors: | Bert Windey Wim Gevers Axel Cleeremans |
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Institution: | 1. ULB Neuroscience Institute (UNI), Université Libre de Bruxelles, Building C / Campus Erasme, CP 602, 808, Route de Lennik, 1070 Bruxelles, Belgium;2. Center for Research in Cognitive Neurosciences (CRCN), Université Libre de Bruxelles, CP 191, Avenue F.D. Roosevelt 50, 1050 Bruxelles, Belgium;3. Consciousness, Cognition and Computation Group, Université Libre de Bruxelles CP 191, Avenue F.-D. Roosevelt, 50, 1050 Bruxelles, Belgium |
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Abstract: | Is visual awareness graded or binary? Experimental work has provided support for both possibilities, leading to two coexisting but contradictory theoretical accounts. Here we propose a promising candidate factor through which to integrate both accounts: the depth of stimulus processing required by the task. We compared color identification (a low-level task) with numerical judgements (a high-level task) performed on the very same colored number stimuli. Psychophysical curves were analyzed for both objective discrimination performance and subjective visibility ratings on a trial-by trial basis. We observed a graded relationship between stimulus duration and visibility in the low-level task, but a more non-linear relationship in the high-level task. Both patterns of results have previously been consistently associated with the graded and the dichotomous account, respectively. Follow-up experiments that manipulate the level of processing can further unify previously inconsistent results, thus integrating two major theories of visual awareness. |
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Keywords: | Consciousness Awareness Vision Psychophysics Graded Dichotomous |
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