A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal
Subliminal perception is continuous with conscious vision and can be predicted from prestimulus electroencephalographic activity
Authors: Railo Henry, Piccin Roberto, Lukasik Karolina M.
Publisher: WILEY
Publication year: 2021
Journal: European Journal of Neuroscience
Journal name in source: EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE
Journal acronym: EUR J NEUROSCI
Volume: 54
Issue: 3
First page : 4985
Last page: 4999
Number of pages: 15
ISSN: 0953-816X
eISSN: 1460-9568
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/ejn.15354
Self-archived copy’s web address: https://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/66656077
Individuals are able to discriminate visual stimuli they report not consciously seeing. This phenomenon is known as "subliminal perception." Such capacity is often assumed to be relatively automatic in nature and rely on stimulus-driven activity in low-level cortical areas. Instead, here we asked to what extent neural activity before stimulus presentation influences subliminal perception. We asked participants to discriminate the location of a briefly presented low-contrast visual stimulus and then rate how well they saw the stimulus. Consistent with previous studies, participants correctly discriminated with slightly above chance-level accuracy the location of a stimulus they reported not seeing. Signal detection analyses indicated that while subjects categorized their percepts as "unconscious," their capacity to discriminate these stimuli lay on the same continuum as conscious vision. We show that the accuracy of discriminating the location of a subliminal stimulus could be predicted with relatively high accuracy (AUC = 0.70) based on lateralized electroencephalographic (EEG) activity before the stimulus, the hemifield where the stimulus was presented, and the accuracy of previous trial's discrimination response. Altogether, our results suggest that rather than being a separate unconscious capacity, subliminal perception is based on similar processes as conscious vision.
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