Neuro-cognitive mechanisms of conscious and unconscious visual perception                         

Research Network

Principal investigators

Prof. Dr. Ulrich Ansorge

University of Vienna

Prof. Dr. Ingrid Scharlau

University of Paderborn

Dr. Werner Klotz

University of Bielefeld

Research associate

Shah Khalid

Project description

The project seeks to unearth the laws governing processing of unconscious visual stimuli and the commonalities as well as the differences between different sorts of processing such stimuli with the help of masked priming. In this context, the visibility of priming stimuli (primes) is diminished by visual masks to test whether invisible primes exert an effect on the efficiency of the processing of a subsequent target. During the first grant period, we will investigate whether (a) unconscious visual words with a spatial meaning have the same effects as unconscious visual location information based on stimulus position, (b) attentional control settings could be responsible for whether or not masked stimuli will be processed, and (c) different tasks using the same unconscious visual stimuli recruit different parts of the brain. The investigations aim for behavioral and physiological effects, especially event-related potentials (ERPs).

 

Selected papers

 

Ansorge, U., Breitmeyer, B. G., & Becker, S. I. (2007). Comparing sensitivity across different processing measures under metacontrast masking conditions. Vision Research, 47, 3335-3349.

 

Ansorge, U., & Neumann, O. (2005). Intentions determine the effect of invisible metacontrast-masked primes: Evidence for top-down contingencies in a peripheral cuing task. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 31, 762-777.

 

 

Investigating commonalities between effects of unconscious priming

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funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG)

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