No difference between conscious and nonconscious visuomotor control: evidence from perceptual learning in the masked prime task.
Negative compatibility effects (NCEs) in the masked-prime paradigm are usually obtained when primes are masked effectively. With ineffective masks-and primes above the perceptual threshold-positive compatibility effects (PCEs) occur. We investigated whether this pattern reflects a causal relationship between conscious awareness and low-level motor control, or whether it reflects the fact that both are affected in the same way by changes in physical stimulus attributes. In a 5-session perceptual learning task, participants learned to consciously identify masked primes. However, they showed unaltered NCEs that were not different from those produced by participants in a control group without equivalent perceptual learning. A control experiment demonstrated that no NCEs occur when prime identification is made possible by ineffective masking. The results suggest that perceptual awareness and low-level motor control are affected by the same factors, but are fundamentally independent of each other.
Schlaghecken
Friederike
F
Department of Psychology, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK. f.schlaghecken@warwick.ac.uk
Blagrove
Elisabeth
E
Maylor
Elizabeth A
EA
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001364:Awareness; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning; D008297:Male; D010470:Perceptual Masking; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D011930:Reaction Time; D013360:Subliminal Stimulation; D013997:Time Factors; D014796:Visual Perception