INFORMATION INTEGRATION IN THE ABSENCE OF VISUAL AWARENESS

Abstract

Consciousness has been a key element in theories of mind over centuries, however, the functional role of consciousness in human cognition remains elusive. In vision sciences, visual awareness has been proposed to be a prerequisite of high-level information processing: out of sight, out of mind. This proposal led to the belief that low-level simple stimuli can be processed unconsciously, while high-level complex information integration belongs to the realm of consciousness. To test this account, we examined whether information integration can occur without visual awareness. In three studies, we showed that syntactic congruency, sound-shape mapping, and facial attractiveness can be processed prior to conscious awareness. These findings show that information integration occurs in the absence of conscious awareness and potentially expand the limit of unconscious processing. To us, revealing what cognitive processing can occur without consciousness leads to accurate delineation between conscious and unconscious processing and eventually a better definition of consciousness. Furthermore, as a variety of information can be operated unconsciously and influence our behaviors, a deeper understanding on unconscious processing is a critical step toward constituting a comprehensive theory of human mind.