Enhanced conscious processing and blindsight-like detection of fear-conditioned stimuli under continuous flash suppression.

Abstract

Emotional information, and specifically fear-related stimuli, have been shown to be preferentially processed at a nonconscious level and gain privileged access to awareness. However, recent evidence has emerged suggesting these findings are explained by low-level visual features rather than emotional salience. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that emotional salience increases both blindsight (i.e., detection with reduced awareness) and awareness of visually suppressed stimuli. We used fear conditioning to manipulate the emotional significance of neutral expressions presented under Continuous Flash Suppression. Fifty-two healthy participants were presented with perithreshold neutral faces, previously paired with an electric shock (CS+) or not (CS-), and asked to localise the quadrant wherein faces were presented and rate their level of confidence in the response. Results showed fear conditioning strength (indexed by skin conductance response to CS+ versus CS-) was positively associated with both increased "blindsight" and awareness of conditioned stimuli. These findings suggest emotional significance alone, and not merely low-level visual differences, can enhance pre-conscious and conscious processing of visual stimuli.