title: We see more than we can report: "cost free" color phenomenality outside focal attention.
abstract: The distinction between access consciousness and phenomenal consciousness is a subject of intensive debate. According to one view, visual experience overflows the capacity of the attentional and working memory system: We see more than we can report. According to the opposed view, this perceived richness is an illusion-we are aware only of information that we can subsequently report. This debate remains unresolved because of the inevitable reliance on report, which is limited in capacity. To bypass this limitation, this study utilized color diversity-a unique summary statistic-which is sensitive to detailed visual information. Participants were shown a Sperling-like array of colored letters, one row of which was precued. After reporting a letter from the cued row, participants estimated the color diversity of the noncued rows. Results showed that people could estimate the color diversity of the noncued array without a cost to letter report, which suggests that color diversity is registered automatically, outside focal attention, and without consuming additional working memory resources.
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, Tel Aviv University The Cohn Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Ideas, Tel Aviv University.
authors.forename: Zohar Z
authors.initials: ZZ
authors.lastname: Bronfman
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, Tel Aviv University.
authors.forename: Noam
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Brezis
authors.affiliation: Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.
authors.forename: Hilla
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Jacobson
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, Tel Aviv University Sagol School of Neuroscience, Tel Aviv University Wadham College, University of Oxford Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford marius@post.tau.ac.il zoharbronfman@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Marius
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Usher
mesh_terms: D001288:Attention; D003116:Color; D003243:Consciousness; D003463:Cues; D006801:Humans; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual
keywords: Sperling paradigm; attention; iconic memory; phenomenal vs. access consciousness; summary statistics; visual working memory