Abstract
The cognitive signature of unconscious processes is hotly debated recently. Generally, consciousness is thought to mediate flexible, adaptive and goal-directed behavior, but in the last decade unconscious processing has rapidly gained ground on traditional conscious territory. In this study we demonstrate that the scope and impact of unconscious information on behavior and brain activity can be modulated dynamically on a trial-by-trial basis. Participants performed a Go/No-Go experiment in which an unconscious (masked) stimulus preceding a conscious target could be associated with either a Go or No-Go response. Importantly, the mapping of stimuli onto these actions varied on a trial-by-trial basis, preventing the formation of stable associations and hence the possibility that unconscious stimuli automatically activate these control actions. By eliminating stimulus-response associations established through practice we demonstrate that unconscious information can be processed in a flexible and adaptive manner. In this experiment we show that the same unconscious stimulus can have a substantially different effect on behavior and (prefrontal) brain activity depending on the rapidly changing task context in which it is presented. This work suggests that unconscious information processing shares many sophisticated characteristics (including flexibility and context-specificity) with its conscious counterpart.
Highlights
For a long time the extent of unconscious information processing has been assumed to be limited in scope and restricted to relatively ‘‘low-level’’ automatic cognitive processes, such as motor preparation
By measuring psychophysics and EEG we show that, even when strong S-R associations cannot be formed through learning, an unconscious No-Go stimulus can still trigger PFCmediated inhibitory control processes [11,22,32], suggesting that unconscious cognition is rather flexible and that it might share several sophisticated properties with its conscious counterpart
The 2-choice discrimination task, administered after the main experiment to assess whether primes were not consciously perceived, revealed that 24 out of 27 participants scored at chance-level
Summary
For a long time the extent of unconscious information processing has been assumed to be limited in scope and restricted to relatively ‘‘low-level’’ automatic cognitive processes, such as motor preparation. After (substantial) practice, unconscious stimuli are able to trigger behavioral and neural effects, possibly because of increased stimulus-response (SR) associations [24] This interpretation is strengthened by several studies that have demonstrated a lack of transfer from trained conscious stimuli to untrained (novel) unconscious stimuli of the same category [24,25,26,27], suggesting that unconscious influences on behavior might be mediated by strong sensorymotor links established through learning. By measuring psychophysics and EEG we show that, even when strong S-R associations cannot be formed through learning, an unconscious No-Go stimulus can still trigger PFCmediated inhibitory control processes [11,22,32], suggesting that unconscious cognition is rather flexible and that it might share several sophisticated properties with its conscious counterpart
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