TY - JOUR
T1 - The Scope and Limits of Top-Down Attention in Unconscious Visual Processing
AU - Kanai, Ryota
AU - Tsuchiya, Naotsugu
AU - Verstraten, Frans A.J.
PY - 2006/12/5
Y1 - 2006/12/5
N2 - Attentional selection plays a critical role in conscious perception. When attention is diverted, even salient stimuli fail to reach visual awareness [1, 2]. Attention can be voluntarily directed to a spatial location [3-9] or a visual feature [9-14] for facilitating the processing of information relevant to current goals. In everyday situations, attention and awareness are tightly coupled. This has led some to suggest that attention and awareness might be based on a common neural foundation [15, 16], whereas others argue that they are mediated by distinct mechanisms [17-19]. A body of evidence shows that visual stimuli can be processed at multiple stages of the visual-processing streams without evoking visual awareness [20-22]. To illuminate the relationship between visual attention and conscious perception, we investigated whether top-down attention can target and modulate the neural representations of unconsciously processed visual stimuli. Our experiments show that spatial attention can target only consciously perceived stimuli, whereas feature-based attention can modulate the processing of invisible stimuli. The attentional modulation of unconscious signals implies that attention and awareness can be dissociated, challenging a simplistic view of the boundary between conscious and unconscious visual processing.
AB - Attentional selection plays a critical role in conscious perception. When attention is diverted, even salient stimuli fail to reach visual awareness [1, 2]. Attention can be voluntarily directed to a spatial location [3-9] or a visual feature [9-14] for facilitating the processing of information relevant to current goals. In everyday situations, attention and awareness are tightly coupled. This has led some to suggest that attention and awareness might be based on a common neural foundation [15, 16], whereas others argue that they are mediated by distinct mechanisms [17-19]. A body of evidence shows that visual stimuli can be processed at multiple stages of the visual-processing streams without evoking visual awareness [20-22]. To illuminate the relationship between visual attention and conscious perception, we investigated whether top-down attention can target and modulate the neural representations of unconsciously processed visual stimuli. Our experiments show that spatial attention can target only consciously perceived stimuli, whereas feature-based attention can modulate the processing of invisible stimuli. The attentional modulation of unconscious signals implies that attention and awareness can be dissociated, challenging a simplistic view of the boundary between conscious and unconscious visual processing.
KW - SYSNEURO
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=33751423559&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.cub.2006.10.001
DO - 10.1016/j.cub.2006.10.001
M3 - Article
C2 - 17141615
AN - SCOPUS:33751423559
VL - 16
SP - 2332
EP - 2336
JO - Current Biology
JF - Current Biology
SN - 0960-9822
IS - 23
ER -