Journal of Experimental Psychology Learning Memory and Cognition · 1994 · 265 citations · 24 references
Social SciencesNeurosciencePsychologyCognitive NeuroscienceCognitive PsychologyExperimental PsychologyCognitive PsychophysiologyConsciousnessPerception AssessmentPsychophysicsReaction TimeSelective AttentionMeasurement TechniquesPerceptual AwarenessUnconscious Mental States
Conscious perception is often overestimated by standard measurement techniques, contributing to controversy over studies of unconscious perception. The study aims to examine how awareness is measured and its relationship to perception and memory. The authors employed a process‑dissociation procedure to separately estimate conscious and unconscious contributions in a stem‑completion task. Four experiments provided clear evidence of unconscious perception; shortening word duration reduced both conscious and unconscious contributions, whereas dividing attention selectively reduced conscious but not unconscious perception.
Conscious perception is substantially overestimated when standard measurement techniques are used. That overestimation has contributed to the controversial nature of studies of unconscious perception. A process-dissociation procedure (L. L. Jacoby, 1991) was used for separately estimating the contribution of conscious and unconscious perception to performance of a stem-completion task. Unambiguous evidence for unconscious perception was obtained in 4 experiments. In Experiment 1, decreasing the duration of a briefly presented word diminished the contribution of both conscious and unconscious perception. In Experiments 2-4, dividing attention reduced the contribution of conscious perception while leaving that of unconscious perception unchanged. Discussion focuses on the measurement of awareness and the relation between perception and memory.
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