Faster might not be better: Pictures may not elicit a stronger unconscious priming effect than words when modulated by semantic similarity

I am Once Again Asking for Your Attention: A Replication of Feature-Based Attention Modulations of Binding Effects with Picture Stimuli

Action control theories assume that stimulus and response features are integrated or bound into short term episodic traces. A repetition of any of these features results in a retrieval of the entire episodic trace, and can thus facilitate or interfere with future actions. Along with stimuli features, features of the response and any other irrelevant stimuli that are present, are also integrated into such traces and can influence future actions. Using word stimuli, Singh et al. (2018) observed that such so-called binding effects are larger for attended features relative to unattended features. This was the case even for features generally believed to be automatically processed, like valence. Since previous research has shown differences in the processing of word and picture stimuli, it is questionable whether the attentional modulations in the above study would extend to picture stimuli. In order to examine this question, Experiment 1 replicated the design of Singh et al. (2018) but used picture instead of word stimuli. In order to directly compare word and picture stimuli, the data of Singh et al (2018) were re-analysed together with the data of the present study. In Experiment 2, the alternative hypothesis, that the effects were driven by the encoding of stimulus contingencies, was tested. Taken together, the findings of the present study replicate those of Singh et al. (2018), indicating that even with picture stimuli, valence related binding effects are modulated by attention allocation.

Two masked prime arrows simultaneously affect a response to a target: Revealing of an additive unconscious priming effect

Since there are many sources of unconscious information in our minds, there is a possibility that multiple channels of unconscious information can affect a response at the same time. However, this question has been largely ignored by researchers. In the present study, we presented two opposite pointing arrows as the masked primes followed by a target arrow. The results suggested that the two directions in which the two prime arrows are pointing influenced the response to the target simultaneously and additively, that is, the overall priming effect caused by the two opposite pointing prime arrows was equal to the net effect of the individual congruent effect elicited by the same pointing prime arrow and the individual incongruent priming effect induced by the prime arrow poitning in the opposite direction. In addition, in Experiment 1, a biased delayed response to the target was observed when the target arrow and the opposite pointing prime arrow were closely positioned in space due to Gestalt continuity and closure grouping. According to these results, the "independent unconscious influence" and "reverse unconscious selection" hypotheses are proposed.

The role of conscious perception in semantic processing: Testing the action trigger hypothesis

Finding that invisible primes affect categorization of visible targets (response priming) is held to demonstrate that semantic processing does not require conscious perception. However, the effects are typically very small, they do not indicate whether conscious perception enhances response priming and they often reflect visuo-motor rather than semantic processing. Here, we compared response priming elicited by liminal words when these were clearly seen vs missed, while participants categorized target animals' names. We varied task demands to induce visuo-motor vs semantic processing. Conscious perception strongly enhanced both visuo-motor and semantic response priming. In line with the Action Trigger Hypothesis, task demands modulated processing of both missed and consciously perceived primes. Finally, conscious and unconscious response priming showed diverging patterns on fast and on slow trials, a dissociation suggesting that priming was not contaminated by conscious priming. We conclude that the impact of unconscious stimuli is small and task-dependent.

Separate neural networks of implicit emotional processing between pictures and words: A coordinate-based meta-analysis of brain imaging studies

Both pictures and words are frequently employed as experimental stimuli to investigate the neurocognitive mechanisms of emotional processing. However, it remains unclear whether emotional picture processing and emotional word processing share neural underpinnings. To address this issue, we focus on neuroimaging studies examining the implicit processing of affective words and pictures, which require participants to meet cognitive task demands under the implicit influence of emotional pictorial or verbal stimuli. A coordinate-based activation likelihood estimation meta-analysis was conducted on these studies, which revealed no common activation maximum between the picture and word conditions. Specifically, implicit negative picture processing (35 experiments, 393 foci, and 932 subjects) engages the bilateral amygdala, left hippocampus, fusiform gyri, and right insula, which are mainly located in the subcortical network and visual network associated with bottom-up emotional responses. In contrast, implicit negative word processing (34 experiments, 316 foci, and 799 subjects) engages the default mode network and fronto-parietal network including the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, indicating the involvement of top-down semantic processing and emotion regulation. Our findings indicate that affective pictures (that intrinsically have an affective valence) and affective words (that inherit the affective valence from their object) modulate implicit emotional processing in different ways, and therefore recruit distinct brain systems.

The Influence of Unconscious Perceptual Processing on Decision-Making: A New Perspective From Cognitive Neuroscience Applied to Generation Z

Cognitive neuroscience and its applied developments have revolutionized marketing. With advances in neuroscientific techniques, marketing has needed to refocus toward understanding issues like the area of the brain that should be stimulated to transform the consumer’s intention to purchase into a real decision, how information is processed when making a decision, and how personality traits affect the purchase decision. Neuroscience has opened the door to the consumer’s brain. For many years, scientists have investigated the role of subliminal messages in marketing, with their findings generating a significant controversy. Many have shown that making sound decisions based on intuition rather than conscious reasoning is more common than previously thought. In fact, many studies have shown that sound intuitive decision-making depends on the association of the subliminal messages of a given situation with the limbic brain structures formed. Scientists have concluded that the brain does not consciously need to know contextual information to learn the value of this information and make the necessary linkages to make productive decisions. In this study, we consider whether unconscious perceptual processing influences decision-making and explore the influence of aspects of personality that are related to unconscious processing, such as the degree of neuroticism, extroversion, and gender of the individual, applied to the demographic cohort Generation Z, distinguishing between whether the stimuli are verbal or pictorial. The backward masking visual paradigm has been used to assess unconscious perceptual processing. To test these processes, a set of ANOVA models and logistic regressions were run where the dependent variable is whether the people perceived the stimuli or not and the independent variables were gender, the form of the stimuli (pictorial or verbal), and the personality traits extroversion, introversion, and neuroticism. The results suggest that verbal stimuli work better than pictorial stimuli, although a possible explanation is that the pictures require modification to be more effective. In the case of verbal stimuli, gender and level of neuroticism are found to be important variables that influence unconscious perceptual decision-making processes. Specifically, a female with a high level of neuroticism shows greater permeability in its unconscious perceptual processes.