Masked Cues Research Articles

Testing the Impact of Masking Identity in News Accounts on Perceptions of Organizations and Risks

The blurring of faces and masking of voices are common news production techniques, typically to conceal the identity of individuals providing information. However, little is known about the impact of these masking techniques on audience perceptions, especially in the context of organizational wrongdoing and public risk. Drawing from Exemplification Theory, the current study examined the effect of blurring and voice masking on risk perceptions, opinions of a culpable organization, and desire for additional information about the risk. Risk perceptions were greater when masking cues were applied, as were behavioral intention to avoid the risk in focus. These cues did not impact the perceptions of how widespread similar risks are, nor did they effect respondents’ perceptions of the organization responsible. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed, along with the need for future research examining the use of and effects of identity masking on audience perceptions.

Probability cueing induced bias does not modulate attention-capture by brief abrupt-onset cues

ABSTRACT Salient objects, such as abrupt-onsets, can capture attention even when nearly invisible. While the influence of explicit factors on such capture (e.g., task-goals) has been extensively investigated, the role of implicit control settings (e.g., probability cueing) is relatively unknown. We examined whether probability cueing affects attentional capture by masked onset cues. The target was more likely to appear on one hemifield of the display than the other. Saccade latencies indicated that capture by masked cues was identical across high and low-probability hemifields (Experiment 1). The same cues, when unmasked, captured attention more when presented in the high-probability hemifield (Experiment 2). We argue that capture by masked cues is not sensitive to implicitly learned biases, such as probability cueing. These findings support theories proposing that attentional control settings influence masked visual orienting only when set up explicitly.

How society modulates our behavior: Effects on error processing of masked emotional cues contextualized in social status

ABSTRACT In the present study, we investigate whether subliminal complex social cues have an impact on error-monitoring processes. For this purpose, we presented two social status ranks (high and low) with three possible emotional expressions (happy, neutral, angry), using a backward masking paradigm. Participants were instructed to perform a flanker task while recording Event-Related brain Potentials. Results showed larger amplitudes for the Error-Related Negativity index after the presentation of high relative to low social ranks, only for neutral expressions. Neither the angry nor the happy faces induced significant differences in social rank processing. This indicates that subliminal high social ranks, specifically with neutral expressions, increase error processing by boosting attentional control to perform the ongoing task. Our findings extend current knowledge on the automaticity of social and emotional processing and its influence on performance monitoring mechanisms.

Conscious and unconscious expectancy effects: A behavioral, scalp and intracranial electroencephalography study

ObjectiveThe scope of unconscious cognition stretched its limits dramatically during the last 40 years, yet most unconscious processes and representations that have been described so far are fleeting and very short-lived, whereas conscious representations can be actively maintained in working memory for a virtually unlimited period. In the present work we aimed at exploring conscious and unconscious lasting (>1 second) expectancy effects. MethodsIn a series of four experiments we engaged participants in the foreperiod paradigm while using both unmasked and masked cues that were informative about the presence/absence of an upcoming target. We recorded behavioral responses, high-density scalp EEG (Exp. 2a), and intra-cranial EEG (Exp. 2b). ResultsWhile conscious expectancy was associated with a large behavioral effect (~150 ms), unconscious expectancy effect was significant but much smaller (4 ms). Both conscious and unconscious expectancy Contingent Negative Variations (CNVs) originated from temporal cortices, but only the late component of conscious CNV originated from an additional source located in the vicinity of mesio-frontal areas and supplementary motor areas. Finally, only conscious expectancy was accessible to introspection. ConclusionsBoth unmasked and masked cues had an impact on response times and on brain activity. SignificanceThese results support a two-stage model of the underlying mechanisms of expectancy.

Unconscious memory suppression

Recent evidence suggests that high-level executive control can occur unconsciously. In this study, we tested whether unconscious executive control extends to memory retrieval and forgetting. In a first experiment, participants learned word-word associations and were trained to either actively recall or forget theses associations in response to conscious visual cues (Think/No-Think paradigm). Then, the very same cues were subliminally presented while participants were performing a grammatical gender categorization task on distinct word pairs. Memory retrieval tested a few minutes later was significantly influenced by conscious and masked cues, suggesting that memory recall could be manipulated unbeknownst to the participants. In a second experiment, we replicated these findings and added a baseline condition in which some words were not preceded by masked cues. Memory recall was significantly reduced both when words were preceded by an unconscious instruction to forget compared to the baseline condition (i.e. no cue), and to the unconscious instructions to recall. Overall, our results suggest that executive control can occur unconsciously and suppress a specific memory outside of one's awareness.

Effects of talker intelligibility and noise on judgments of accentedness

The damaging effect of background noise on the intelligibility of foreign-accented speech has been well documented, but little is known about the effect of noise on listeners’ subjective judgments of accents. Noise adds distortion to speech, which may cause it to sound more “foreign.” On the other hand, noise may reduce perceived foreignness by masking cues to the accent. In this study, 40 native English speakers listened to 14 English-speaking native Mandarin speakers in four levels of noise: -4 dB, 0 dB, + 4 dB, and quiet. Participants judged each speaker on a scale from 1 (native-like) to 9 (foreign). The results showed a significant decrease in perceived accentedness as noise level increased. They also showed a significant interaction between noise and intelligibility: intelligibility (which had been measured for the same talkers in a previous study) had the greatest effect on perceived accentedness in quiet, and a reduced effect with increasing noise levels. These findings indicate that listeners’ decreased access to acoustic-phonetic cues in the presence of background noise also reduces their sensitivity to phonetic variation arising from foreign accents. Furthermore, the link between intelligibility and accentedness is weakened by the presence of noise.

Only pre-cueing but no retro-cueing effects emerge with masked arrow cues.

The impact of masked stimulation on cognitive control processes is investigated with much interest. In many cases, masked stimulation suffices to initiate and employ control processes. Shifts of attention either happen in the external environment or internally, for example, in working memory. In the former, even masked cues (i.e., cues that are presented for a period too short to allow strategic use) were shown efficient for shifting attention to particular locations in pre-cue paradigms. Internal attention shifting can be investigated using retro-cues: long after encoding, a valid cue indicates the location to-be-tested via change detection, and this improves performance (retro-cue effect). In the present experiment, participants performed in both a pre- and a retro-cue task with masked and normally presented cues. While the masked cues benefitted performance in the pre-cue task, they did not in the retro-cue task. These results inform about limits of masked stimulation.

Adjustments of response speed and accuracy to unconscious cues

Controlling response parameters like the speed and accuracy of responses allows us to adjust our behavior according to particular situational task demands. We investigated whether exertion of cognitive control over speed–accuracy settings is not exclusively based on conscious representations, but can also be elicited by stimuli that are not consciously represented. Participants were instructed to point and click on a target, with a cue signaling before each response whether to prioritize accuracy of the response over speed, or vice versa. In half of the trials, the cue was masked to prevent a conscious representation of the cue. With visible cues, response patterns showed typical speed–accuracy tradeoffs, with faster and less accurate responses after speed cues, and slower but more accurate responses after accuracy cues. Crucially, this was found with masked cues as well. Our results are in line with recent findings on the relation of consciousness and cognitive control processes like task-set activation and response inhibition: masked cues are able to impact on cognitive control processes.

Unconscious cues bias first saccades in a free-saccade task.

Visual-spatial attention can be biased towards salient visual information without visual awareness. It is unclear, however, whether such bias can further influence free-choices such as saccades in a free viewing task. In our experiment, we presented visual cues below awareness threshold immediately before people made free saccades. Our results showed that masked cues could influence the direction and latency of the first free saccade, suggesting that salient visual information can unconsciously influence free actions.

Responding to the direction of the eyes: In search of the masked gaze-cueing effect

Recent studies have demonstrated that masked gaze cues can produce a cueing effect. Those studies, however, all utilized a localization task and, hence, are ambiguous with respect to whether the previously observed masked gaze-cueing effect reflects the orienting of attention or the preparation of a motor response. The aim of the present study was to investigate this issue by determining whether masked gaze cues can modulate responses in detection and discrimination tasks, both of which isolate spatial attention from response priming. First, we found a gaze-cueing effect for unmasked cues in detection, discrimination, and localization tasks, which suggests that the gaze-cueing effect for visible cues is not task dependent. Second, and in contrast, we found a gaze-cueing effect for masked cues in a localization task, but not in detection or discrimination tasks, which suggests that the gaze-cueing effect for masked cues is task dependent. Therefore, the present study shows that the masked gaze-cueing effect is attributed to response priming, as opposed to the orienting of spatial attention.

On the source and scope of priming effects of masked stimuli on endogenous shifts of spatial attention

Unconscious stimuli can influence participants' motor behavior as well as more complex mental processes. Previous cue-priming experiments demonstrated that masked cues can modulate endogenous shifts of spatial attention as measured by choice reaction time tasks. Here, we applied a signal detection task with masked luminance targets to determine the source and the scope of effects of masked stimuli. Target-detection performance was modulated by prime-cue congruency, indicating that prime-cue congruency modulates signal enhancement at early levels of target processing. These effects, however, were only found when the prime was perceptually similar to the cue indicting that primes influence early target processing in an indirect way by facilitating cue processing. Together with previous research we conclude that masked stimuli can modulate perceptual and post-central levels of processing. Findings mark a new limit of the effects of unconscious stimuli which seem to have a smaller scope than conscious stimuli.

Why do animals hybridize?

Animal hybridization is increasingly recognized as common and evolutionarily important, but the role of behavior in promoting hybridization events is not well understood. Understanding the behavioral causes of hybridization requires understanding the ecological, demographic, and phenotypic influences on mate choice in hybridizing taxa. Here, I review how these influences on mate choice can contribute to hybridization by (1) circumventing (female) choice, (2) bringing formerly isolated species into sympatry, (3) masking cues important for mate recognition, (4) altering the traits or preferences involved in mate recognition, or (5) altering the costs and benefits of mate choice. In particular, hybridization in response to either high direct costs of mate choice or high direct benefits of heterospecific mating may be widespread, a possibility that awaits further testing. Adopting a mate choice perspective to the study of hybridization challenges the assumption of hybrids as reproductive “mistakes” and allows for functional explanations regarding the occurrence and maintenance of hybridization. As evidence of the prevalence and evolutionary importance of animal hybridization accumulates, investigations into the role of behavior will be increasingly important for our understanding of diversification and for conservation applications.

Olfactory cue use by three-spined sticklebacks foraging in turbid water: prey detection or prey location?

Foraging, when senses are limited to olfaction, is composed of two distinct stages: the detection of prey and the location of prey. While specialist olfactory foragers are able to locate prey using olfactory cues alone, this may not be the case for foragers that rely primarily on vision. Visual predators in aquatic systems may be faced with poor visual conditions such as natural or human-induced turbidity. The ability of visual predators to compensate for poor visual conditions by using other senses is not well understood, although it is widely accepted that primarily visual fish, such as three-spined sticklebacks, Gasterosteus aculeatus, can detect and use olfactory cues for a range of purposes. We investigated the ability of sticklebacks to detect the presence of prey and to locate prey precisely, using olfaction, in clear and turbid (two levels) water. When provided with only a visual cue, or only an olfactory cue, sticklebacks showed a similar ability to detect prey, but a combination of these cues improved their performance. In open-arena foraging trials, a dispersed olfactory cue added to the water (masking cues from the prey) improved foraging success, contrary to our expectations, whereas activity levels and swimming speed did not change as a result of olfactory cue availability. We suggest that olfaction functions to allow visual predators to detect rather than locate prey and that olfactory cues have an appetitive effect, enhancing motivation to forage.

Similar Improvement of Reward and Punishment Learning by Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

The role of dopamine in reinforcement learning has been extensively studied, but the role of other major neuromodulators, particularly serotonin, remains poorly understood. An influential theory has suggested that dopamine and serotonin represent opponent systems respectively driving reward and punishment learning. To test this theory, we compared two groups of patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder, one unmedicated (n = 12) and one treated with serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SRI; n = 13). To avoid confounding basic reinforcement learning with strategic conscious reasoning, we used a subliminal conditioning task that involves subjects learning to associate masked cues with gambling outcomes to maximize their payoff. The same task was used in a previous study to demonstrate opposite effects of dopaminergic medication on reward and punishment learning. Unmedicated obsessive-compulsive disorder patients exhibited an instrumental learning deficit that was fully alleviated under SRI treatment. Contrary to dopaminergic medication, SRIs similarly modulated reward and punishment learning. Thus, departing from the opponency model, our results support a beneficial role of serotonin in instrumental learning that is independent of outcome valence.

A Cue from the Unconscious – Masked Symbols Prompt Spatial Anticipation

Anticipating where an event will occur enables us to instantaneously respond to events that occur at the expected location. Here we investigated if such spatial anticipations can be triggered by symbolic information that participants cannot consciously see. In two experiments involving a Posner cueing task and a visual search task, a central cue informed participants about the likely location of the next target stimulus. In half of the trials, this cue was rendered invisible by pattern masking. In both experiments, visible cues led to cueing effects, that is, faster responses after valid compared to invalid cues. Importantly, even masked cues caused cueing effects, though to a lesser extent. Additionally, we analyzed effects on attention that persist from one trial to the subsequent trial. We found that spatial anticipations are able to interfere with newly formed spatial anticipations and influence orienting of attention in the subsequent trial. When the preceding cue was visible, the corresponding spatial anticipation persisted to an extent that prevented a noticeable effect of masked cues. The effects of visible cues were likewise modulated by previous spatial anticipations, but were strong enough to also exert an impact on attention themselves. Altogether, the results suggest that spatial anticipations can be formed on the basis of unconscious stimuli, but that interfering influences like still active spatial anticipations can suppress this effect.

Unconscious activation of task sets

Using an explicit task cuing paradigm, we tested whether masked cues can trigger task-set activation, which would suggest that unconsciously presented stimuli can impact cognitive control processes. Based on a critical assessment of previous findings on the priming of task-set activation, we present two experiments with a new method to approach this subject. Instead of using a prime, we varied the visibility of the cue. These cues either directly signaled particular tasks in Experiment 1, or certain task transitions (i.e., task repetitions or switches) in Experiment 2. While both masked task and transition cues affected task choice, only task cues affected the speed of task performance. This observation suggests that task-specific stimulus-response rules can be activated only by masked cues that are uniquely associated with a particular task. Taken together, these results demonstrate that unconsciously presented stimuli have the power to activate corresponding task sets.

Subliminal Instrumental Conditioning Demonstrated in the Human Brain

SummaryHow the brain uses success and failure to optimize future decisions is a long-standing question in neuroscience. One computational solution involves updating the values of context-action associations in proportion to a reward prediction error. Previous evidence suggests that such computations are expressed in the striatum and, as they are cognitively impenetrable, represent an unconscious learning mechanism. Here, we formally test this by studying instrumental conditioning in a situation where we masked contextual cues, such that they were not consciously perceived. Behavioral data showed that subjects nonetheless developed a significant propensity to choose cues associated with monetary rewards relative to punishments. Functional neuroimaging revealed that during conditioning cue values and prediction errors, generated from a computational model, both correlated with activity in ventral striatum. We conclude that, even without conscious processing of contextual cues, our brain can learn their reward value and use them to provide a bias on decision making.

Influences of visibility, intentions, and probability in a peripheral cuing task

According to the concept of direct parameter specification, nonconsciously registered information can be processed to the extent that it matches currently active intentions of a person. This prediction was tested and confirmed in the current study. Masked visual information provided by peripheral cues led to reaction time (RT) effects only if the information specified one of the required responses (Experiments 1 and 3). Information delivered by the same masked cues that did not match the intentions was not used. However, the same information influenced RT if it was provided by visible cues (Experiments 2 and 3). The results suggest that the processing of nonconsciously registered information is flexible because it is susceptible to the changing intentions of a person. Yet, these processes are apparently restricted, as nonconsciously registered information cannot be used as easily for purposes not corresponding to the currently active intentions as better visible information.