Exploring the contributions of the supplementary eye field to subliminal inhibition using double-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation.

PubMed

Chiau, Hui-Yan; Muggleton, Neil G; Juan, Chi-Hung

2017-01-01

It is widely accepted that the supplementary eye fields (SEF) are involved in the control of voluntary eye movements. However, recent evidence suggests that SEF may also be important for unconscious and involuntary motor processes. Indeed, Sumner et al. ([2007]: Neuron 54:697-711) showed that patients with micro-lesions of the SEF demonstrated an absence of subliminal inhibition as evoked by masked-prime stimuli. Here, we used double-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) in healthy volunteers to investigate the role of SEF in subliminal priming. We applied double-pulse TMS at two time windows in a masked-prime task: the first during an early phase, 20-70 ms after the onset of the mask but before target presentation, during which subliminal inhibition is present; and the second during a late phase, 20-70 ms after target onset, during which the saccade is being prepared. We found no effect of TMS with the early time window of stimulation, whereas a reduction in the benefit of an incompatible subliminal prime stimulus was found when SEF TMS was applied at the late time window. These findings suggest that there is a role for SEF related to the effects of subliminal primes on eye movements, but the results do not support a role in inhibiting the primed tendency. Hum Brain Mapp 38:339-351, 2017. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Decreased visual detection during subliminal stimulation.

PubMed

Bareither, Isabelle; Villringer, Arno; Busch, Niko A

2014-10-17

What is the perceptual fate of invisible stimuli-are they processed at all and does their processing have consequences for the perception of other stimuli? As has been shown previously in the somatosensory system, even stimuli that are too weak to be consciously detected can influence our perception: Subliminal stimulation impairs perception of near-threshold stimuli and causes a functional deactivation in the somatosensory cortex. In a recent study, we showed that subliminal visual stimuli lead to similar responses, indicated by an increase in alpha-band power as measured with electroencephalography (EEG). In the current study, we investigated whether a behavioral inhibitory mechanism also exists within the visual system. We tested the detection of peripheral visual target stimuli under three different conditions: Target stimuli were presented alone or embedded in a concurrent train of subliminal stimuli either at the same location as the target or in the opposite hemifield. Subliminal stimuli were invisible due to their low contrast, not due to a masking procedure. We demonstrate that target detection was impaired by the subliminal stimuli, but only when they were presented at the same location as the target. This finding indicates that subliminal, low-intensity stimuli induce a similar inhibitory effect in the visual system as has been observed in the somatosensory system. In line with previous reports, we propose that the function underlying this effect is the inhibition of spurious noise by the visual system. © 2014 ARVO.

Intrinsic functional connectivity of the brain swallowing network during subliminal esophageal acid stimulation.

PubMed

Babaei, A; Siwiec, R M; Kern, M; Douglas Ward, B; Li, S-J; Shaker, R

2013-12-01

Intrinsic synchronous fluctuations of the functional magnetic resonance imaging signal are indicative of the underlying 'functional connectivity' (FC) and serve as a technique to study dynamics of the neuronal networks of the human brain. Earlier studies have characterized the functional connectivity of a distributed network of brain regions involved in swallowing, called brain swallowing network (BSN). The potential modulatory effect of esophageal afferent signals on the BSN, however, has not been systematically studied. Fourteen healthy volunteers underwent steady state functional magnetic resonance imaging across three conditions: (i) transnasal catheter placed in the esophagus without infusion; (ii) buffer solution infused at 1 mL/min; and (iii) acidic solution infused at 1 mL/min. Data were preprocessed according to the standard FC analysis pipeline. We determined the correlation coefficient values of pairs of brain regions involved in swallowing and calculated average group FC matrices across conditions. Effects of subliminal esophageal acidification and nasopharyngeal intubation were determined. Subliminal esophageal acid stimulation augmented the overall FC of the right anterior insula and specifically the FC to the left inferior parietal lobule. Conscious stimulation by nasopharyngeal intubation reduced the overall FC of the right posterior insula, particularly the FC to the right prefrontal operculum. The FC of BSN is amenable to modulation by sensory input. The modulatory effect of sensory pharyngoesophageal stimulation on BSN is mainly mediated through changes in the FC of the insula. The alteration induced by subliminal visceral esophageal acid stimulation is in different insular connections compared with that of conscious somatic pharyngeal stimulation. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Subliminal and supraliminal processing of reward-related stimuli in anorexia nervosa.

PubMed

Boehm, I; King, J A; Bernardoni, F; Geisler, D; Seidel, M; Ritschel, F; Goschke, T; Haynes, J-D; Roessner, V; Ehrlich, S

2018-04-01

Previous studies have highlighted the role of the brain reward and cognitive control systems in the etiology of anorexia nervosa (AN). In an attempt to disentangle the relative contribution of these systems to the disorder, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate hemodynamic responses to reward-related stimuli presented both subliminally and supraliminally in acutely underweight AN patients and age-matched healthy controls (HC). fMRI data were collected from a total of 35 AN patients and 35 HC, while they passively viewed subliminally and supraliminally presented streams of food, positive social, and neutral stimuli. Activation patterns of the group × stimulation condition × stimulus type interaction were interrogated to investigate potential group differences in processing different stimulus types under the two stimulation conditions. Moreover, changes in functional connectivity were investigated using generalized psychophysiological interaction analysis. AN patients showed a generally increased response to supraliminally presented stimuli in the inferior frontal junction (IFJ), but no alterations within the reward system. Increased activation during supraliminal stimulation with food stimuli was observed in the AN group in visual regions including superior occipital gyrus and the fusiform gyrus/parahippocampal gyrus. No group difference was found with respect to the subliminal stimulation condition and functional connectivity. Increased IFJ activation in AN during supraliminal stimulation may indicate hyperactive cognitive control, which resonates with clinical presentation of excessive self-control in AN patients. Increased activation to food stimuli in visual regions may be interpreted in light of an attentional food bias in AN.

Subliminal and Supraliminal Processing of Facial Expression of Emotions: Brain Oscillation in the Left/Right Frontal Area

PubMed Central

Balconi, Michela; Ferrari, Chiara

2012-01-01

The unconscious effects of an emotional stimulus have been highlighted by a vast amount of research, whereover it remains questionable whether it is possible to assign a specific function to cortical brain oscillations in the unconscious perception of facial expressions of emotions. Alpha band variation was monitored within the right- and left-cortical side when subjects consciously (supraliminal stimulation) or unconsciously (subliminal stimulation) processed facial patterns. Twenty subjects looked at six facial expressions of emotions (anger, fear, surprise, disgust, happiness, sadness, and neutral) under two different conditions: supraliminal (200 ms) vs. subliminal (30 ms) stimulation (140 target-mask pairs for each condition). The results showed that conscious/unconscious processing and the significance of the stimulus can modulate the alpha power. Moreover, it was found that there was an increased right frontal activity for negative emotions vs. an increased left response for positive emotion. The significance of facial expressions was adduced to elucidate cortical different responses to emotional types. PMID:24962767

Subliminal and supraliminal processing of facial expression of emotions: brain oscillation in the left/right frontal area.

PubMed

Balconi, Michela; Ferrari, Chiara

2012-03-26

The unconscious effects of an emotional stimulus have been highlighted by a vast amount of research, whereover it remains questionable whether it is possible to assign a specific function to cortical brain oscillations in the unconscious perception of facial expressions of emotions. Alpha band variation was monitored within the right- and left-cortical side when subjects consciously (supraliminal stimulation) or unconsciously (subliminal stimulation) processed facial patterns. Twenty subjects looked at six facial expressions of emotions (anger, fear, surprise, disgust, happiness, sadness, and neutral) under two different conditions: supraliminal (200 ms) vs. subliminal (30 ms) stimulation (140 target-mask pairs for each condition). The results showed that conscious/unconscious processing and the significance of the stimulus can modulate the alpha power. Moreover, it was found that there was an increased right frontal activity for negative emotions vs. an increased left response for positive emotion. The significance of facial expressions was adduced to elucidate cortical different responses to emotional types.

Subliminal versus supraliminal stimuli activate neural responses in anterior cingulate cortex, fusiform gyrus and insula: a meta-analysis of fMRI studies.

PubMed

Meneguzzo, Paolo; Tsakiris, Manos; Schioth, Helgi B; Stein, Dan J; Brooks, Samantha J

2014-01-01

Non-conscious neural activation may underlie various psychological functions in health and disorder. However, the neural substrates of non-conscious processing have not been entirely elucidated. Examining the differential effects of arousing stimuli that are consciously, versus unconsciously perceived will improve our knowledge of neural circuitry involved in non-conscious perception. Here we conduct preliminary analyses of neural activation in studies that have used both subliminal and supraliminal presentation of the same stimulus. We use Activation Likelihood Estimation (ALE) to examine functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) studies that uniquely present the same stimuli subliminally and supraliminally to healthy participants during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). We included a total of 193 foci from 9 studies representing subliminal stimulation and 315 foci from 10 studies representing supraliminal stimulation. The anterior cingulate cortex is significantly activated during both subliminal and supraliminal stimulus presentation. Subliminal stimuli are linked to significantly increased activation in the right fusiform gyrus and right insula. Supraliminal stimuli show significantly increased activation in the left rostral anterior cingulate. Non-conscious processing of arousing stimuli may involve primary visual areas and may also recruit the insula, a brain area involved in eventual interoceptive awareness. The anterior cingulate is perhaps a key brain region for the integration of conscious and non-conscious processing. These preliminary data provide candidate brain regions for further study in to the neural correlates of conscious experience.

Semantic processing in subliminal face stimuli: an EEG and tDCS study.

PubMed

Kongthong, Nutchakan; Minami, Tetsuto; Nakauchi, Shigeki

2013-06-07

Whether visual subliminal processing involves semantic processing is still being debated. To examine this, we combined a passive electroencephalogram (EEG) study with an application of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS). In the masked-face priming paradigm, we presented a subliminal prime preceding the target stimulus. Participants were asked to determine whether the target face was a famous face, indicated by a button press. The prime and target pair were either the same person's face (congruent) or different person's faces (incongruent), and were always both famous or both non-famous faces. Experiments were performed over 2 days: 1 day for a real tDCS session and another for a sham session as a control condition. In the sham session, a priming effect, reflected in the difference in amplitude of the late positive component (250-500 ms to target onset), was observed only in the famous prime condition. According to a previous study, this effect might indicate a subliminal semantic process [10]. Alternatively, a priming effect toward famous primes disappeared after tDCS stimulation. Our results suggested that a subliminal process might not be limited to processes in the occipital and temporal areas, but may proceed to the semantic level processed in prefrontal cortex. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Effects of the Subliminal Stimulation of Symbiotic Fantasies on the Academic Performance of Emotionally Handicapped Students.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bryant-Tuckett, Rose; Silverman, Lloyd H.

1984-01-01

Compared emotionally disturbed adolescents (N=64) who were divided into experimental and control groups and exposed to a subliminal stimulus. Experimental subjects exposed to the phrase "Mommy and I are one" showed greater academic achievement and adaptive functioning at the end of the six-week treatment. (JAC)

[Effect of caffeine and phenamin on caudate inhibition of aggressive reactions in cats].

PubMed

Belozertsev, Iu A

1975-01-01

In chronic experiments conducted on cats it was shown that caffeine (10--30 mg/kg) failed to change agressive reactions developing in stimulation of the meso- or diencephalic structures. Phenamine (1--3 mg/kg) facilitated the appearance of emotional manifestations and lowered the threshold of the agressive response. Subliminal stimulation of the caudate nucleus in control experiments caused motor tranquilization and depressed the agressive behaviour to a lesser degree when practised against the background of the caffeine action. At the same time, phenamine abolished the influence not only of the threshold, but also of the subliminal stimulation of the caudate nucleus on the spontaneous motor activity and the rage behaviour.

[Value of cumulative electrodermal responses in subliminal auditory perception. A preliminary study].

PubMed

Borgeat, F; Pannetier, M F

1982-01-01

This exploratory study examined the usefulness of averaging electrodermal potential responses for research on subliminal auditory perception. Eighteen female subjects were exposed to three kinds (emotional, neutral and 1000 Hz tone) of auditory stimulation which were repeated six times at three intensities (detection threshold, 10 dB under this threshold and 10 dB above identification threshold). Analysis of electrodermal potential responses showed that the number of responses was related to the emotionality of subliminal stimuli presented at detection threshold but not at 10 dB under it. The data interpretation proposed refers to perceptual defence theory. This study indicates that electrodermal response count constitutes a useful measure for subliminal auditory perception research, but averaging those responses was not shown to bring additional information.

Psychophysiological responses to subliminal auditory suggestions for activation.

PubMed

Borgeat, F; Boissonneault, J; Chaloult, L; Elie, R

1989-12-01

The aim of this study was to characterize further the experimental procedure proposed by Borgeat and Goulet in 1983. Subliminal activation auditory suggestions were expected to increase heart rate and skin conductance in presence of a stressing task. 20 subjects were alternately exposed to activating or neutral (random numbers) 25-dB suggestions masked by a 40-dB white noise. Analyses of variance and covariance indicated an effect of the activating suggestions on heart rate but not on skin conductance. Partly confirming previous results, the data support the reliability of heart rate and the importance of a stressing factor to reveal the effects of preconscious or subliminal stimulations.

The effects of subliminal symbiotic stimulation on free-response and self-report mood.

PubMed

Weinberger, J; Kelner, S; McClelland, D

1997-10-01

Research has shown that subliminal presentation of MOMMY AND I ARE ONE (MIO) can help improve adaptive functioning. Two experiments tried to determine whether changes in mood, especially free-response mood, could help explain these findings. In one experiment, 20 men were randomly assigned to receive either a subliminal MIO or control stimulus. Results showed predicted effects on a free-response and no effects on a self-report mood measure. In the other experiment, 54 male subjects randomly received one of three subliminal stimuli. They evidenced the same pattern of mood results. Sentential semantics were shown to be relevant to the obtained results. Ascending threshold and 150 forced-choice discrimination trials demonstrated that subjects could not report stimulus content. It was concluded that MIO effects were attributable to unconscious processing of the entire message and that free-response mood may partly mediate these effects. Suggestions for future research were offered.

Submillisecond unmasked subliminal visual stimuli evoke electrical brain responses.

PubMed

Sperdin, Holger F; Spierer, Lucas; Becker, Robert; Michel, Christoph M; Landis, Theodor

2015-04-01

Subliminal perception is strongly associated to the processing of meaningful or emotional information and has mostly been studied using visual masking. In this study, we used high density 256-channel EEG coupled with an liquid crystal display (LCD) tachistoscope to characterize the spatio-temporal dynamics of the brain response to visual checkerboard stimuli (Experiment 1) or blank stimuli (Experiment 2) presented without a mask for 1 ms (visible), 500 µs (partially visible), and 250 µs (subliminal) by applying time-wise, assumption-free nonparametric randomization statistics on the strength and on the topography of high-density scalp-recorded electric field. Stimulus visibility was assessed in a third separate behavioral experiment. Results revealed that unmasked checkerboards presented subliminally for 250 µs evoked weak but detectable visual evoked potential (VEP) responses. When the checkerboards were replaced by blank stimuli, there was no evidence for the presence of an evoked response anymore. Furthermore, the checkerboard VEPs were modulated topographically between 243 and 296 ms post-stimulus onset as a function of stimulus duration, indicative of the engagement of distinct configuration of active brain networks. A distributed electrical source analysis localized this modulation within the right superior parietal lobule near the precuneus. These results show the presence of a brain response to submillisecond unmasked subliminal visual stimuli independently of their emotional saliency or meaningfulness and opens an avenue for new investigations of subliminal stimulation without using visual masking. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Development of subliminal persuasion system to improve the upper limb posture in laparoscopic training: a preliminary study.

PubMed

Zhang, Di; Sessa, Salvatore; Kong, Weisheng; Cosentino, Sarah; Magistro, Daniele; Ishii, Hiroyuki; Zecca, Massimiliano; Takanishi, Atsuo

2015-11-01

Current training for laparoscopy focuses only on the enhancement of manual skill and does not give advice on improving trainees' posture. However, a poor posture can result in increased static muscle loading, faster fatigue, and impaired psychomotor task performance. In this paper, the authors propose a method, named subliminal persuasion, which gives the trainee real-time advice for correcting the upper limb posture during laparoscopic training like the expert but leads to a lower increment in the workload. A 9-axis inertial measurement unit was used to compute the upper limb posture, and a Detection Reaction Time device was developed and used to measure the workload. A monitor displayed not only images from laparoscope, but also a visual stimulus, a transparent red cross superimposed to the laparoscopic images, when the trainee had incorrect upper limb posture. One group was exposed, when their posture was not correct during training, to a short (about 33 ms) subliminal visual stimulus. The control group instead was exposed to longer (about 660 ms) supraliminal visual stimuli. We found that subliminal visual stimulation is a valid method to improve trainees' upper limb posture during laparoscopic training. Moreover, the additional workload required for subconscious processing of subliminal visual stimuli is less than the one required for supraliminal visual stimuli, which is processed instead at the conscious level. We propose subliminal persuasion as a method to give subconscious real-time stimuli to improve upper limb posture during laparoscopic training. Its effectiveness and efficiency were confirmed against supraliminal stimuli transmitted at the conscious level: Subliminal persuasion improved upper limb posture of trainees, with a smaller increase on the overall workload.

In the face of emotions: event-related potentials in supraliminal and subliminal facial expression recognition.

PubMed

Balconi, Michela; Lucchiari, Claudio

2005-02-01

Is facial expression recognition marked by specific event-related potentials (ERPs) effects? Are conscious and unconscious elaborations of emotional facial stimuli qualitatively different processes? In Experiment 1, ERPs elicited by supraliminal stimuli were recorded when 21 participants viewed emotional facial expressions of four emotions and a neutral stimulus. Two ERP components (N2 and P3) were analyzed for their peak amplitude and latency measures. First, emotional face-specificity was observed for the negative deflection N2, whereas P3 was not affected by the content of the stimulus (emotional or neutral). A more posterior distribution of ERPs was found for N2. Moreover, a lateralization effect was revealed for negative (right lateralization) and positive (left lateralization) facial expressions. In Experiment 2 (20 participants), 1-ms subliminal stimulation was carried out. Unaware information processing was revealed to be quite similar to aware information processing for peak amplitude but not for latency. In fact, unconscious stimulation produced a more delayed peak variation than conscious stimulation.

The Experience of Soviet Medicine in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945,

DTIC Science & Technology

1980-02-06

mainly during shock/counterblow of brain against the contradictory/opposite walls of skull. Subliminal stimulations cause system resFonse of IX-X nerve...the same effect was cbtained during the stimulation of external auditory passage and muccsa of ncse. Vith sharp pressure to the region of the inguinal...zone of stimulation are invclved the centers cf tespcral region in combination with vestibular, auditory or gustatory aura. At the same time the

Sleep and Performance Research Center

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-05-01

saturation thresholds under high intensity auditory stimulation during wake. Neuroscience 227:191-200 11 Shevrin,, H., Panksepp, J., Brakel...L.L.A.W. & Snodgrass, M. (2012). Subliminal affect valence words change conscious mood potency but not valence: Is this evidence for unconscious

Neural Dynamic Logic of Consciousness: The Knowledge Instinct

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-09-07

have the drive for positive stimulation , regardless of the satisfaction of drives such as hunger [i]; David Berlyne emphasized curiosity as a desire...and stimulates differentiation. The simplest modification of eq.(9), accounting for influence of synthesis is dD/dt = aS. (13) These equations...perception (when it is usually subliminal )? Can we measure aesthetic emotions during more complex cognition (when it is more conscious)? Does brain

Effect of subliminal stimuli on consumer behavior: negative evidence.

PubMed

George, S G; Jennings, L B

1975-12-01

The study corrected methodological weaknesses found in previous experiments designed to test the contentions of motivational research theorists that subliminal stimulation can affect buying behavior. The words "Hershey's Chocolate" were presented to a group of 18 experimental Ss below a forced-choice detection threshold. The 19 control Ss had a blank slide superimposed over the same background media. In a highly controlled buying situation neither experimental nor control Ss purchased Hershey's products, but on comparable chocolate products, the experimental Ss bought 5 and the control Ss, 3. A second study tested 15 experimental and 12 control Ss with the stimulus presented just below a recognition threshold. No experimental Ss bought Hershey's; two control Ss did. No support was found for the claims of motivational research theorists.

JPRS Report, Science & Technology, USSR: Space Biology & Aerospace Medicine, Vol. 21, No. 3, May-June 1987

DTIC Science & Technology

1988-01-12

suffi- cient signal power (no more than 50 mW) [8, 18, 19, 35, 39]. Use of electric stimulation at subliminal levels of above current has a tonic...in the case of a manganese-deficient diet [57]. Retarded growth and sexual maturation, diminished concentration of zinc in plasma, red blood cells...metalloenzymes, stimulating effect on blood-forming organs, hemopoiesis and other functions. Our chronic experiments on animals and observations of

Cost-Effectiveness of Flight Simulators for Military Training. Volume 1. Use and Effectiveness of Flight Simulators

DTIC Science & Technology

1977-08-01

favorable. Lack of realism and inability to stimulate the feelings involved in flying are given as the major objections to the simulators. Youngling et...and pitching motion * Subliminal , -hout of banked attitudes during turns. The GAT-2 provides nPvon with 2 degrees of freedom: bank and pitch...small to stimulate the semicircular canals; straight and level flight maintained by successive corrections may be interpreted as gradual turning, due

A Cognitive Model for Exposition of Human Deception and Counterdeception

DTIC Science & Technology

1987-10-01

for understanding deception and counterdeceptlon, for developing related tactics, and for stimulating research in cognitive processes. Further...Processing Resources; Attention) BUFFER MEMORY MANAGER (Local) (Problem Solving; Learning; Procedures) BUFFER MEMORY SENSORS Visual, Auditory ...Perception and Misperception in International Politics, Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 1976. Key, W.B., Subliminal Seduction. New

United States Air Force High School Apprenticeship Program: 1989 Program Management Report. Volume 3

DTIC Science & Technology

1988-12-01

orrtent of visual or auditory stimulus exposed to the eyes o- oays -t a level below normal threshold, it is possible to perceive the subliminal stimuli...usually to small or vague to be consciously recognized, but they are declared to influence the 87-6 viewer’s subconsc’ious sex drive. Stimulation below...programs the mechanisms to stimulate career interests in science and technology in high school students showing promise in these areas. The Air Force High

Proceedings of Workshop on Transformation (4th), held on September 18-19 2002, at The Clubs at Quantico, Quantico Marine Base, Quantico, VA

DTIC Science & Technology

2002-11-01

moment. Transformation is the current intellectual fashion and discussion topic and has been around subliminally for many years under the perfumed...opportunities. � Stimulate the Advocacy Process. � Focus on the long-view while recognizing the force development continuum (time). � Serve as a nucleus of...catalyst to stimulate thought and provoke debate on issues of significance to the senior leadership of the Marine Corps. We also provide support to the

Design Definition Study Report. Full Crew Interaction Simulator-Laboratory Model (FCIS-LM) (Device X17B7). Volume II. Requirements.

DTIC Science & Technology

1978-06-01

stimulate at-least three levels of crew function. At the most complex level, visual cues are used to discriminate the presence or activities of...limited to motion on- set cues washed out at subliminal levels.. Because of the cues they provide the driver, gunner, and commander, and the dis...motion, i.e.,which physiological receptors are affected, how they function,and how they may be stimulated by a simulator motion system. I Motion is

The effects of subliminal anger and sadness primes on agency appraisals.

PubMed

Yang, Zixu; Tong, Eddie M W

2010-12-01

Two studies examined whether appraisals can be differentially affected by subliminal anger and sadness primes. Participants from Singapore (Experiment 1) and China (Experiment 2) were exposed to either subliminal angry faces or subliminal sad faces. Supporting appraisal theories of emotions, participants exposed to subliminal angry faces were more likely to appraise negative events as caused by other people and those exposed to subliminal sad faces were more likely to appraise the same events as caused by situational factors. The results provide the first evidence for subliminal emotion-specific cognitive effects. They show that cognitive functions such as appraisals can be affected by subliminal emotional stimuli of the same valence.

Guess what? Implicit motivation boosts the influence of subliminal information on choice.

PubMed

Milyavsky, Maxim; Hassin, Ran R; Schul, Yaacov

2012-09-01

When is choice affected by subliminal messages? This question has fascinated scientists and lay people alike, but it is only recently that reliable empirical data began to emerge. In the current paper we bridge the literature on implicit motivation and that on subliminal persuasion. We suggest that motivation in general, and implicit motivation more specifically, plays an important role in subliminal persuasion: It sensitizes us to subliminal cues. To examine this hypothesis we developed a new paradigm that allows powerful tests of subliminal influences as well as stringent assessments of subliminality. The results of two experiments suggest that implicit motivation can enhance the effects of subliminal priming on choice. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Subliminal communication technology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Various types of subliminal communication devices presently in use, the psychological basis for subliminal technology, and the effectiveness of subliminal communication for therapy are examined as well as potentials for abuse. Social, legal, and ethical aspects are considered with respect to the privacy and autonomy of captive audiences. Implications for the regulation of subliminal techniques are reviewed with application to the various media.

Oculomotor capture by supraliminal and subliminal onset singletons: the role of contrast polarity.

PubMed

Weichselbaum, Hanna; Fuchs, Isabella; Ansorge, Ulrich

2014-07-01

According to a top-down explanation of subliminal oculomotor capture, only subliminal distractors with a contrast polarity matching that of the searched-for targets should capture attention. For instance, when looking for white targets only subliminal white but not black distractors should capture attention. In contrast, according to a bottom-up explanation of such capture effects, subliminal distractors with a contrast polarity different to that of the searched-for targets should also capture attention. For instance, even when looking for white targets, subliminal black distractors should capture attention. Here, we used subliminal singleton-onset distractors in the same vertical hemifield as the target versus singleton-onset distractors in the opposite vertical field to the target, and tested whether oculomotor capture by these distractors depended on a match between the searched-for target contrasts and the distractor contrasts, by measuring saccade latency, saccade trajectory deviation, and saccade endpoint deviation. We found evidence for oculomotor capture: subliminal distractors in the opposite field delayed saccade execution towards the target. This delay was found in comparison to subliminal distractors in the same hemifield as the target. In line with a bottom-up explanation, this delay was independent of the similarity between the distractor contrast polarity and the searched-for target contrast polarity. Together with the subliminality of the distractors, the experiment confirmed bottom-up oculomotor capture by subliminal singleton-onsets. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Implications of Subliminal Classical Conditioning for Defeating the Use of Countermeasures in the Detection of Deception: Subliminal Evaluation

DTIC Science & Technology

1993-08-01

presented emotional stimuli than for subliminally presented neutral stimuli. Emotional stimuli consisted of sexually charged photographs, and the neutral...behavior. In addition to research using visual stimuli, some 13 studies have been conducted using subliminal (masked by 40 dB white noise) auditory ...deactivating suggestions masked by a 40-dB white noise signal. For the deactivating subliminal auditory messages, suggestions of heaviness and warmth

47 CFR 73.4250 - Subliminal perception.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 4 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Subliminal perception. 73.4250 Section 73.4250... Rules Applicable to All Broadcast Stations § 73.4250 Subliminal perception. (a) See Public Notice, FCC... Bulletin, “Subliminal Projection”, dated November 1977. [44 FR 36389, June 22, 1979] ...

47 CFR 73.4250 - Subliminal perception.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 4 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Subliminal perception. 73.4250 Section 73.4250... Rules Applicable to All Broadcast Stations § 73.4250 Subliminal perception. (a) See Public Notice, FCC... Bulletin, “Subliminal Projection”, dated November 1977. [44 FR 36389, June 22, 1979] ...

47 CFR 73.4250 - Subliminal perception.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 4 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Subliminal perception. 73.4250 Section 73.4250... Rules Applicable to All Broadcast Stations § 73.4250 Subliminal perception. (a) See Public Notice, FCC... Bulletin, “Subliminal Projection”, dated November 1977. [44 FR 36389, June 22, 1979] ...

47 CFR 73.4250 - Subliminal perception.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 4 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Subliminal perception. 73.4250 Section 73.4250... Rules Applicable to All Broadcast Stations § 73.4250 Subliminal perception. (a) See Public Notice, FCC... Bulletin, “Subliminal Projection”, dated November 1977. [44 FR 36389, June 22, 1979] ...

47 CFR 73.4250 - Subliminal perception.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 4 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Subliminal perception. 73.4250 Section 73.4250... Rules Applicable to All Broadcast Stations § 73.4250 Subliminal perception. (a) See Public Notice, FCC... Bulletin, “Subliminal Projection”, dated November 1977. [44 FR 36389, June 22, 1979] ...

The Mind/Mind Problem

DTIC Science & Technology

2005-05-01

perception of two separate and distinct minds. In actuality, a hypnotist’s verbal suggestions are taken in like any other auditory input would be, and... subliminal cues that facilitate the illusions of clairvoyance, ESP, and mental telepathy, for example, which some believe not to be illusions at all, but...joke that might normally have left it cold. Similarly, following the kind of repeated stimulation that might occur during learning or exercise, neurons

The effects of mellow and frenetic music on reported cognitions resulting from auditory subliminal messages.

PubMed

Benes, K M; Gutkin, T B; Decker, T N

1990-01-01

Building on the work of Henley and Dixon (1974) and Mykel and Daves (1979), we investigated the effects of mellow and frenetic music on reported cognitions resulting from auditory subliminal stimuli. College students (N = 120) were randomly assembled into six groups. One third of the students heard four subliminally transmitted water-related words, one third heard four subliminally transmitted family-related words, and one third heard no subliminal stimuli. Either mellow or frenetic masking music was played for half the students in each group. Students reported more word-related imagery in the mellow music conditions than in the frenetic conditions, although the reported imagery did not correspond with the subliminal messages presented.

[Subliminal perception and the levels of activation].

PubMed

Borgeat, F; Chabot, R; Chaloult, L

1981-06-01

The influence of the auditory subliminal messages on the level of activation has been evaluated through a double-blind study. Twenty consenting subjects were alternately submitted to activating and deactivating subliminal messages. Activation changes were estimated through the variations in the scores at the Mood Adjective Check List. Five out of this test's six factors concerned by the content of the subliminal messages responded differently according to the nature of these messages; four factors did so to a statistically significant degree. These results tend to indicate that auditory subliminal perceptions can influence the level of activation. The authors raise several questions, especially stressing that the parameters regulating subliminal response and susceptibility remain largely undefined and in need of systematic investigation.

A task-difficulty artifact in subliminal priming.

PubMed

Pratte, Michael S; Rouder, Jeffrey N

2009-08-01

Subliminal priming is said to occur when a subliminal prime influences the classification of a subsequent target. Most subliminal-priming claims are based on separate target- and prime-classification tasks. Because primes are intended to be subliminal, the prime-classification task is difficult, and the target-classification task is easy. To assess whether this task-difficulty difference accounts for previous claims of subliminal priming, we manipulated the ease of the prime-classification task by intermixing long-duration (visible) primes with short-duration (near liminal) ones. In Experiment 1, this strategy of intermixing long-duration primes raised classification of the short-duration ones. In Experiments 2 and 3, prime duration was lowered in such a way that prime classification was at chance in intermixed presentations. Under these conditions, we failed to observe any priming effects; hence, previous demonstrations of subliminal priming may simply have reflected a task-difficulty artifact.

Supraliminal But Not Subliminal Distracters Bias Working Memory Recall

PubMed Central

2015-01-01

Information of which observers are not consciously aware can nevertheless influence perceptual processes. Whether subliminal information might exert an influence on working memory (WM) representations is less clear, and relatively few studies have examined the interactions between subliminal and supraliminal information in WM. We present 3 experiments examining this issue. Experiments 1a and b replicated the finding that orientation stimuli can influence behavior subliminally in a visuomotor priming task. Experiments 2 and 3 used the same orientation stimuli, but participants had to remember a target orientation and report it back by adjusting a probe orientation after a memory delay. Before or after presentation of the target orientation, a subliminal or supraliminal distracter orientation was presented that was either irrelevant for task completion and never had to be reported (Experiment 2), or was relevant for task completion because it had to be reported on some trials (Experiment 3). In both experiments, presentation of a supraliminal distracter influenced WM recall of the target orientation. When the distracter was presented subliminally, however, there was no bias in orientation recall. These results suggest that information stored in WM is protected from influences of subliminal stimuli, while online information processing is modulated by subliminal information. PMID:25867502

Conditional automaticity in subliminal morphosyntactic priming.

PubMed

Ansorge, Ulrich; Reynvoet, Bert; Hendler, Jessica; Oettl, Lennart; Evert, Stefan

2013-07-01

We used a gender-classification task to test the principles of subliminal morphosyntactic priming. In Experiment 1, masked, subliminal feminine or masculine articles were used as primes. They preceded a visible target noun. Subliminal articles either had a morphosyntactically congruent or incongruent gender with the targets. In a gender-classification task of the target nouns, subliminal articles primed the responses: responses were faster in congruent than incongruent conditions (Experiment 1). In Experiment 2, we tested whether this congruence effect depended on gender relevance. In line with a relevance-dependence, the congruence effect only occurred in a gender-classification task but was absent in another categorical discrimination of the target nouns (Experiment 2). The congruence effect also depended on correct word order. It was diminished when nouns preceded articles (Experiment 3). Finally, the congruence effect was replicated with a larger set of targets but only for masculine targets (Experiment 4). Results are discussed in light of theories of subliminal priming in general and of subliminal syntactic priming in particular.

Subliminal or not? Comparing null-hypothesis and Bayesian methods for testing subliminal priming.

PubMed

Sand, Anders; Nilsson, Mats E

2016-08-01

A difficulty for reports of subliminal priming is demonstrating that participants who actually perceived the prime are not driving the priming effects. There are two conventional methods for testing this. One is to test whether a direct measure of stimulus perception is not significantly above chance on a group level. The other is to use regression to test if an indirect measure of stimulus processing is significantly above zero when the direct measure is at chance. Here we simulated samples in which we assumed that only participants who perceived the primes were primed by it. Conventional analyses applied to these samples had a very large error rate of falsely supporting subliminal priming. Calculating a Bayes factor for the samples very seldom falsely supported subliminal priming. We conclude that conventional tests are not reliable diagnostics of subliminal priming. Instead, we recommend that experimenters calculate a Bayes factor when investigating subliminal priming. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Proceedings of the 1977 Image Conference Held at Williams Air Force Base, Arizona on 17-18 May 1977

DTIC Science & Technology

1977-05-01

both stimulating and informative. May your experiences at this Conference he most rewarding and enjoyable. rr KEYNOTE ADDRESS Senator 3!rry M. Goldwater...capabilities, human motion perceiving capabilities and the dynamics of the flight system being simulated. Subliminal washout schemes and recent develop...facilities and the military user by the graphic presentation of information with auditory overlay. Background Pieces of the electronic graphic mail concept

Attention is necessary for subliminal instrumental conditioning.

PubMed

Mastropasqua, Tommaso; Turatto, Massimo

2015-08-10

The capacity of humans and other animals to provide appropriate responses to stimuli anticipating motivationally significant events is exemplified by instrumental conditioning. Interestingly, in humans instrumental conditioning can occur also for subliminal outcome-predicting stimuli. However, it remains unclear whether attention is necessary for subliminal instrumental conditioning to take place. In two experiments, human participants had to learn to collect rewards (monetary gains) while avoiding punishments (monetary losses), on the basis of subliminal outcome-predicting cues. We found that instrumental conditioning can proceed subconsciously only if spatial attention is aligned with the subliminal cue. Conversely, if spatial attention is briefly diverted from the subliminal cue, then instrumental conditioning is blocked. In humans, attention but not awareness is therefore mandatory for instrumental conditioning, thus revealing a dissociation between awareness and attention in the control of motivated behavior.

Priming mortality salience: supraliminal, subliminal and "double-death" priming techniques.

PubMed

Mahoney, Melissa B; Saunders, Benjamin A; Cain, Nicole M

2014-01-01

The study examined whether successively presented subliminal and supraliminal morality salience primes ("double death" prime) would have a stronger influence on death thought accessibility than subliminal or supraliminal primes alone. A between-subjects 2 (subliminal prime/control) × 2 (supraliminal prime/control) design was used. The supraliminal prime prompted participants to answer questions about death. For the subliminal prime, the word death was presented outside of awareness. Both priming techniques differed significantly from a control in ability to elicit mortality salience. There was an interactive influence of both primes. Implications for unconscious neutral networks relating to death are discussed.

Subliminal gaze cues increase preference levels for items in the gaze direction.

PubMed

Mitsuda, Takashi; Masaki, Syuta

2017-08-29

Another individual's gaze automatically shifts an observer's attention to a location. This reflexive response occurs even when the gaze is presented subliminally over a short period. Another's gaze also increases the preference level for items in the gaze direction; however, it was previously unclear if this effect occurs when the gaze is presented subliminally. This study showed that the preference levels for nonsense figures looked at by a subliminal gaze were significantly greater than those for items that were subliminally looked away from (Task 1). Targets that were looked at by a subliminal gaze were detected faster (Task 2); however, the participants were unable to detect the gaze direction (Task 3). These results indicate that another individual's gaze automatically increases the preference levels for items in the gaze direction without conscious awareness.

Attention is necessary for subliminal instrumental conditioning

PubMed Central

Mastropasqua, Tommaso; Turatto, Massimo

2015-01-01

The capacity of humans and other animals to provide appropriate responses to stimuli anticipating motivationally significant events is exemplified by instrumental conditioning. Interestingly, in humans instrumental conditioning can occur also for subliminal outcome-predicting stimuli. However, it remains unclear whether attention is necessary for subliminal instrumental conditioning to take place. In two experiments, human participants had to learn to collect rewards (monetary gains) while avoiding punishments (monetary losses), on the basis of subliminal outcome-predicting cues. We found that instrumental conditioning can proceed subconsciously only if spatial attention is aligned with the subliminal cue. Conversely, if spatial attention is briefly diverted from the subliminal cue, then instrumental conditioning is blocked. In humans, attention but not awareness is therefore mandatory for instrumental conditioning, thus revealing a dissociation between awareness and attention in the control of motivated behavior. PMID:26257144

Subliminal Face Emotion Processing: A Comparison of Fearful and Disgusted Faces

PubMed Central

Khalid, Shah; Ansorge, Ulrich

2017-01-01

Prior research has provided evidence for (1) subcortical processing of subliminal facial expressions of emotion and (2) for the emotion-specificity of these processes. Here, we investigated if this is also true for the processing of the subliminal facial display of disgust. In Experiment 1, we used differently filtered masked prime faces portraying emotionally neutral or disgusted expressions presented prior to clearly visible target faces to test if the masked primes exerted an influence on target processing nonetheless. Whereas we found evidence for subliminal face congruence or priming effects, in particular, reverse priming by low spatial frequencies disgusted face primes, we did not find any support for a subcortical origin of the effect. In Experiment 2, we compared the influence of subliminal disgusted faces with that of subliminal fearful faces and demonstrated a behavioral performance difference between the two, pointing to an emotion-specific processing of the disgusted facial expressions. In both experiments, we also tested for the dependence of the subliminal emotional face processing on spatial attention – with mixed results, suggesting an attention-independence in Experiment 1 but not in Experiment 2 –, and we found perfect masking of the face primes – that is, proof of the subliminality of the prime faces. Based on our findings, we speculate that subliminal facial expressions of disgust could afford easy avoidance of these faces. This could be a unique effect of disgusted faces as compared to other emotional facial displays, at least under the conditions studied here. PMID:28680413

Subliminal Face Emotion Processing: A Comparison of Fearful and Disgusted Faces.

PubMed

Khalid, Shah; Ansorge, Ulrich

2017-01-01

Prior research has provided evidence for (1) subcortical processing of subliminal facial expressions of emotion and (2) for the emotion-specificity of these processes. Here, we investigated if this is also true for the processing of the subliminal facial display of disgust. In Experiment 1, we used differently filtered masked prime faces portraying emotionally neutral or disgusted expressions presented prior to clearly visible target faces to test if the masked primes exerted an influence on target processing nonetheless. Whereas we found evidence for subliminal face congruence or priming effects, in particular, reverse priming by low spatial frequencies disgusted face primes, we did not find any support for a subcortical origin of the effect. In Experiment 2, we compared the influence of subliminal disgusted faces with that of subliminal fearful faces and demonstrated a behavioral performance difference between the two, pointing to an emotion-specific processing of the disgusted facial expressions. In both experiments, we also tested for the dependence of the subliminal emotional face processing on spatial attention - with mixed results, suggesting an attention-independence in Experiment 1 but not in Experiment 2 -, and we found perfect masking of the face primes - that is, proof of the subliminality of the prime faces. Based on our findings, we speculate that subliminal facial expressions of disgust could afford easy avoidance of these faces. This could be a unique effect of disgusted faces as compared to other emotional facial displays, at least under the conditions studied here.

Supraliminal but not subliminal distracters bias working memory recall.

PubMed

Wildegger, Theresa; Myers, Nicholas E; Humphreys, Glyn; Nobre, Anna C

2015-06-01

Information of which observers are not consciously aware can nevertheless influence perceptual processes. Whether subliminal information might exert an influence on working memory (WM) representations is less clear, and relatively few studies have examined the interactions between subliminal and supraliminal information in WM. We present 3 experiments examining this issue. Experiments 1a and b replicated the finding that orientation stimuli can influence behavior subliminally in a visuomotor priming task. Experiments 2 and 3 used the same orientation stimuli, but participants had to remember a target orientation and report it back by adjusting a probe orientation after a memory delay. Before or after presentation of the target orientation, a subliminal or supraliminal distracter orientation was presented that was either irrelevant for task completion and never had to be reported (Experiment 2), or was relevant for task completion because it had to be reported on some trials (Experiment 3). In both experiments, presentation of a supraliminal distracter influenced WM recall of the target orientation. When the distracter was presented subliminally, however, there was no bias in orientation recall. These results suggest that information stored in WM is protected from influences of subliminal stimuli, while online information processing is modulated by subliminal information. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Subliminal words durably affect neuronal activity.

PubMed

Gaillard, Raphaël; Cohen, Laurent; Adam, Claude; Clemenceau, Stéphane; Hasboun, Dominique; Baulac, Michel; Willer, Jean-Claude; Dehaene, Stanislas; Naccache, Lionel

2007-10-08

Unconscious mental representations elicited by subliminal stimuli are marked by their fleeting lifetimes, usually below 1 s. Can such evanescent subliminal stimuli, nevertheless, lead to long-lasting learning? To date, evidence suggesting a long-term influence of briefly perceived stimuli on behaviour or brain activity is scarce and questionable. In this study, we used intracranial recordings to provide the first direct demonstration that unconsciously perceived subliminal words could exert long-lasting effects on neuronal signals. When repeating subliminal words over long interstimulus intervals, we observed electrophysiological repetition effects. These unconscious repetition effects suggest that the single presentation of a masked word can durably affect neural architecture.

Experimenter bias and subliminal perception

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barber, Paul J.; Rushton, J. Philippe

1975-01-01

It has been suggested that subliminal perception phenomena may be in part due to experimenter bias effects. Two studies that obtained positive evidence of subliminal perception were therefore replicated with experimenters tested under blind and not blind conditions. (Editor)

Anticipatory control through associative learning of subliminal relations: invisible may be better than visible.

PubMed

Farooqui, Ausaf A; Manly, Tom

2015-03-01

We showed that anticipatory cognitive control could be unconsciously instantiated through subliminal cues that predicted enhanced future control needs. In task-switching experiments, one of three subliminal cues preceded each trial. Participants had no conscious experience or knowledge of these cues, but their performance was significantly improved on switch trials after cues that predicted task switches (but not particular tasks). This utilization of subliminal information was flexible and adapted to a change in cues predicting task switches and occurred only when switch trials were difficult and effortful. When cues were consciously visible, participants were unable to discern their relevance and could not use them to enhance switch performance. Our results show that unconscious cognition can implicitly use subliminal information in a goal-directed manner for anticipatory control, and they also suggest that subliminal representations may be more conducive to certain forms of associative learning. © The Author(s) 2015.

Unconscious Desire: The Affective and Motivational Aspects of Subliminal Sexual Priming.

PubMed

Gillath, Omri; Collins, Tara

2016-01-01

Sexual arousal is thought to be the result of the processing of sexual cues at two levels: conscious and unconscious. Whereas numerous studies have examined the affective and motivational responses to supraliminal (consciously processed) sexual cues, much less is known regarding the responses to subliminal (processed outside of one's awareness) sexual cues. Five studies examined responses to subliminal sexual cues. Studies 1–3 demonstrated increases in adults' positive affect following exposure to subliminal sexual cues compared to control cues. Study 4 demonstrated that the positive affect resulting from exposure to subliminal sexual cues increased motivation to further engage in a neutral task. Study 5 provided evidence suggesting that the affect and motivation found in Studies 1–4 were associated with motivation to engage in sex specifically, rather than a general approach motivation. The implications of these findings for the processing of subliminal sexual cues and for human sexuality are discussed.

A Study to Determine the Perception of Unintended Messages by Viewers of two United States Army Television Commercials.

DTIC Science & Technology

1991-11-29

inter,:reted in ways not intended; the percepLion of subliminal messages is based on demographic characteristics and subculture influence; and...receiver and sender, and must be dealt with accordingly. For instance, if the sender of the message must compete with a louder auditory stimulus, this...these themes. Hoijer concluded that television programs do stimulate thought processes, and there is a connection between the contents 18 of the program

Distinguishing detection from identification in subliminal auditory perception: a review and critique of Merikle's study.

PubMed

Harris, J L; Salus, D; Rerecich, R; Larsen, D

1996-01-01

Assertions made by Merikle (1988) regarding audio subliminal messages were tested. Seventeen participants were presented subliminal messages embedded in a white-noise cover, and three signal-to-noise (S/N) detection ratios were examined. Participants were asked to guess message presence and message content, to determine subjective/objective thresholds. Results showed that participants were unable to identify target words presented in this audio subliminal stimulus format beyond chance levels.

Review of auditory subliminal psychodynamic activation experiments.

PubMed

Fudin, R; Benjamin, C

1991-12-01

Subliminal psychodynamic activation experiments using auditory stimuli have yielded only a modicum of support for the contention that such activation produces predictable behavioral changes. Problems in many auditory subliminal psychodynamic activation experiments indicate that those predictions have not been tested adequately. The auditory mode of presentation, however, has several methodological advantages over the visual one, the method used in the vast majority of subliminal psychodynamic activation experiments. Consequently, it should be considered in subsequent research in this area.

A Study on Attention Guidance to Driver by Subliminal Visual Information

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Takahashi, Hiroshi; Honda, Hirohiko

This paper presents a new warning method for increasing drivers' sensitivity for recognizing hazardous factors in the driving environment. The method is based on a subliminal effect. The results of many experiments performed by three dimensional head-mounted display shows that the response time for detecting a flashing mark tended to decrease when a subliminal mark was shown in advance. Priming effects are observed in subliminal visual information. This paper also proposes a scenario for implementing this method in real vehicles.

Subliminal understanding of negation: unconscious control by subliminal processing of word pairs.

PubMed

Armstrong, Anna-Marie; Dienes, Zoltan

2013-09-01

A series of five experiments investigated the extent of subliminal processing of negation. Participants were presented with a subliminal instruction to either pick or not pick an accompanying noun, followed by a choice of two nouns. By employing subjective measures to determine individual thresholds of subliminal priming, the results of these studies indicated that participants were able to identify the correct noun of the pair--even when the correct noun was specified by negation. Furthermore, using a grey-scale contrast method of masking, Experiment 5 confirmed that these priming effects were evidenced in the absence of partial awareness, and without the effect being attributed to the retrieval of stimulus-response links established during conscious rehearsal. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Selling of the Subliminal.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Levy, Steven

1984-01-01

Describes Expandovision, a microcomputer-television connection which enables users to flash brief messages designed to improve their behavior on their television screens. Several incidents where subliminal persuasion has been used on television viewers in the past are recounted, and the effectiveness and dangers of subliminal persuasion are…

Subliminal priming with nearly perfect performance in the prime-classification task.

PubMed

Finkbeiner, Matthew

2011-05-01

The subliminal priming paradigm is widely used by cognitive scientists, and claims of subliminal perception are common nowadays. Nevertheless, there are still those who remain skeptical. In a recent critique of subliminal priming, Pratte and Rouder (Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 71, 1276-1283, 2009) suggested that previous claims of subliminal priming may have been due to a failure to control the task difficulty between the experiment proper and the prime-classification task. Essentially, because the prime-classification task is more difficult than the experiment proper, the prime-classification task results may underrepresent the subjects' true ability to perceive the prime stimuli. To address this possibility, prime words were here presented in color. In the experiment proper, priming was observed. In the prime-classification task, subjects reported the color of the primes very accurately, indicating almost perfect control of task difficulty, but they could not identify the primes. Thus, I conclude that controlling for task difficulty does not eliminate subliminal priming.

The subliminal affective priming effects of faces displaying various levels of arousal: an ERP study.

PubMed

Li, Tian-Tian; Lu, Yong

2014-11-07

This study on the subliminal affective priming effects of faces displaying various levels of arousal employed event-related potentials (ERPs). The participants were asked to rate the arousal of ambiguous medium-arousing faces that were preceded by high- or low-arousing priming faces presented subliminally. The results revealed that the participants exhibited arousal-consistent variation in their arousal level ratings of the probe faces exclusively in the negative prime condition. Compared with high-arousing faces, the low-arousing faces tended to elicit greater late positive component (LPC, 450-660ms) and greater N400 (330-450ms) potentials. These findings support the following conclusions: (1) the effect of subliminal affective priming of faces can be detected in the affective arousal dimension; (2) valence may influence the subliminal affective priming effect of the arousal dimension of emotional stimuli; and (3) the subliminal affective priming effect of face arousal occurs when the prime stimulus affects late-stage processing of the probe. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Subliminal spatial cues capture attention and strengthen between-object link.

PubMed

Chou, Wei-Lun; Yeh, Su-Ling

2011-12-01

According to the spreading hypothesis of object-based attention, a subliminal cue that can successfully capture attention to a location within an object should also cause attention to spread throughout the whole cued object and lead to the same-object advantage. Instead, we propose that a subliminal cue favors shifts of attention between objects and strengthens the between-object link, which is coded primarily within the dorsal pathway that governs the visual guidance of action. By adopting the two-rectangle method and using an effective subliminal cue to compare with the classic suprathreshold cue, we found a different result pattern with suprathreshold cues than with subliminal cues. The suprathreshold cue replicated the conventional location and object effects, whereas a subliminal cue led to a different-object advantage with a facilitatory location effect and a same-object advantage with an inhibitory location effect. These results support our consciousness-dependent shifting hypothesis but not the spreading hypothesis. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Early ERP Modulation for Task-Irrelevant Subliminal Faces.

PubMed

Pegna, Alan J; Darque, Alexandra; Berrut, Claire; Khateb, Asaid

2011-01-01

A number of investigations have reported that emotional faces can be processed subliminally, and that they give rise to specific patterns of brain activation in the absence of awareness. Recent event-related potential (ERP) studies have suggested that electrophysiological differences occur early in time (<200 ms) in response to backward-masked emotional faces. These findings have been taken as evidence of a rapid non-conscious pathway, which would allow threatening stimuli to be processed rapidly and subsequently allow appropriate avoidance action to be taken. However, for this to be the case, subliminal processing should arise even if the threatening stimulus is not attended. This point has in fact not yet been clearly established. In this ERP study, we investigated whether subliminal processing of fearful faces occurs outside the focus of attention. Fourteen healthy participants performed a line judgment task while fearful and non-fearful (happy or neutral) faces were presented both subliminally and supraliminally. ERPs were compared across the four experimental conditions (i.e., subliminal and supraliminal; fearful and non-fearful). The earliest differences between fearful and non-fearful faces appeared as an enhanced posterior negativity for the former at 170 ms (the N170 component) over right temporo-occipital electrodes. This difference was observed for both subliminal (p < 0.05) and supraliminal presentations (p < 0.01). Our results confirm that subliminal processing of fearful faces occurs early in the course of visual processing, and more importantly, that this arises even when the subject's attention is engaged in an incidental task.

The effects of expected reward on creative problem solving.

PubMed

Cristofori, Irene; Salvi, Carola; Beeman, Mark; Grafman, Jordan

2018-06-12

Creative problem solving involves search processes, and it is known to be hard to motivate. Reward cues have been found to enhance performance across a range of tasks, even when cues are presented subliminally, without being consciously detected. It is uncertain whether motivational processes, such as reward, can influence problem solving. We tested the effect of supraliminal and subliminal reward on participant performance on problem solving that can be solved by deliberate analysis or by insight. Forty-one participants attempted to solve 100 compound remote associate problems. At the beginning of each problem, a potential reward cue (1 or 25 cents) was displayed, either subliminally (17 ms) or supraliminally (100 ms). Participants earned the displayed reward if they solved the problem correctly. Results showed that the higher subliminal reward increased the percentage of problems solved correctly overall. Second, we explored if subliminal rewards preferentially influenced solutions that were achieved via a sudden insight (mostly processed below awareness) or via a deliberate analysis. Participants solved more problems via insight following high subliminal reward when compared with low subliminal reward, and compared with high supraliminal reward, with no corresponding effect on analytic solving. Striatal dopamine (DA) is thought to influence motivation, reinforce behavior, and facilitate cognition. We speculate that subliminal rewards activate the striatal DA system, enhancing the kinds of automatic integrative processes that lead to more creative strategies for problem solving, without increasing the selectivity of attention, which could impede insight.

Subliminally and consciously induced cognitive conflicts interact at several processing levels.

PubMed

Stock, Ann-Kathrin; Friedrich, Julia; Beste, Christian

2016-12-01

Controlled behavior is susceptible to conflicts that can emerge from subliminal or consciously processed information. While research suggests that both sources of conflicting information may interact in their modulation of controlled behavior, it has remained unclear which cognitive sub-processes involved in controlled behavior are affected by this interaction; i.e., at which processing level subliminally and consciously induced response conflicts interact in modulating controlled behavior. Moreover, we investigated whether this interaction of subliminally and consciously induced response conflicts was due to a nexus between the two types of conflict like a common cognitive process or factor. For this, n = 38 healthy young subjects completed a paradigm which combines subliminal primes and consciously perceived flankers while an electroencephalography (EEG) was recorded. We show that the interaction of subliminal and conscious sources of conflict is not restricted to the response selection level (N2) but can already be shown at the earliest stages of perceptual and attentional processing (P1). While the degree of early attentional processing of subliminal information seems to depend on the absence of consciously perceived response conflicts, conflicts during the stage of response selection may be either reduced or enhanced by subliminal priming. Moreover, the results showed that even though the two different sources of conflict interact at the response selection level, they clearly originate from two distinct processes that interact before they detrimentally affect cognitive control. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Subliminal Messages in Advertising.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Olson, Miles C.

The technique of subliminal information giving has been considerably broadened in recent years so that magazine ads now employ it by carefully hiding images where they are not usually perceived with the conscious eye. In his recent book, "Subliminal Seduction: Ad Media's Manipulation of a Not So Innocent America," Wilson B. Key…

Old Wine in New Bottles: Subliminal Messages in Instructional Media.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Treimer, Margaret; Simonson, Michael R.

This study was conducted to determine if viewing a commercially prepared videotape containing written and aural subliminal messages was more effective at producing weight loss than a videotape containing the same content, but without the subliminals. Participants included undergraduate and graduate students from Iowa State University (N=51) who…

The effect of D-cycloserine on subliminal cue exposure in spider fearful individuals.

PubMed

Gutner, Cassidy A; Weinberger, Joel; Hofmann, Stefan G

2012-01-01

Research on D-cycloserine (DCS) has demonstrated a significant effect on symptom reduction in human studies that utilized conventional exposure-based approaches. Recent studies have offered promising results for targeting fears through subliminal paradigms. In this double-blind, randomized placebo-controlled study, 45 spider fearful individuals received DCS or placebo pills prior to completing a subliminal cue exposure task to images of spiders. Participants completed self-report questionnaires and a behavioral approach task to a live caged tarantula. After repeated exposure to subliminal spider cues, participants in the DCS group reported a greater reduction in disgust than individuals in the placebo group. No difference was observed in fear ratings. These findings suggest that DCS augments the reduction in disgust in spider fearful subjects after subliminal exposure to spider cues.

Subliminal semantic priming in near absence of attention: A cursor motion study.

PubMed

Xiao, Kunchen; Yamauchi, Takashi

2015-12-15

The role of attention in subliminal semantic priming remains controversial: some researchers argue that attention is necessary for subliminal semantic priming, while others suggest that subliminal semantic processing is free from the influence of attention. The present study employs a cursor motion method to measure priming and evaluate the influence of attention. Specifically, by employing a semantic priming task developed by Naccache, Blandin, and Dehaene (2002), we investigate the extent to which top-down attention influences semantic priming. Results indicate that, consistent with the Naccache et al. (2002) results, attention facilitates priming. However, inconsistent with their theory, significant priming is still observed even in near absence of attention. We suggest that top-down attention helps but is not necessary for subliminal semantic processing. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A direct intracranial record of emotions evoked by subliminal words.

PubMed

Naccache, Lionel; Gaillard, Raphaël; Adam, Claude; Hasboun, Dominique; Clémenceau, Stéphane; Baulac, Michel; Dehaene, Stanislas; Cohen, Laurent

2005-05-24

A classical but still open issue in cognitive psychology concerns the depth of subliminal processing. Can the meaning of undetected words be accessed in the absence of consciousness? Subliminal priming experiments in normal subjects have revealed only small effects whose interpretation remains controversial. Here, we provide a direct demonstration of semantic access for unseen masked words. In three epileptic patients with intracranial electrodes, we recorded brain potentials from the amygdala, a neural structure that responds to fearful or threatening stimuli presented in various modalities, including written words. We show that the subliminal presentation of emotional words modulates the activity of the amygdala at a long latency (>800 ms). Our result indicates that subliminal words can trigger long-lasting cerebral processes, including semantic access to emotional valence.

Subliminal semantic priming changes the dynamic causal influence between the left frontal and temporal cortex.

PubMed

Matsumoto, Atsushi; Kakigi, Ryusuke

2014-01-01

Recent neuroimaging experiments have revealed that subliminal priming of a target stimulus leads to the reduction of neural activity in specific regions concerned with processing the target. Such findings lead to questions about the degree to which the subliminal priming effect is based only on decreased activity in specific local brain regions, as opposed to the influence of neural mechanisms that regulate communication between brain regions. To address this question, this study recorded EEG during performance of a subliminal semantic priming task. We adopted an information-based approach that used independent component analysis and multivariate autoregressive modeling. Results indicated that subliminal semantic priming caused significant modulation of alpha band activity in the left inferior frontal cortex and modulation of gamma band activity in the left inferior temporal regions. The multivariate autoregressive approach confirmed significant increases in information flow from the inferior frontal cortex to inferior temporal regions in the early time window that was induced by subliminal priming. In the later time window, significant enhancement of bidirectional causal flow between these two regions underlying subliminal priming was observed. Results suggest that unconscious processing of words influences not only local activity of individual brain regions but also the dynamics of neural communication between those regions.

Processing of subliminal facial expressions of emotion: a behavioral and fMRI study.

PubMed

Prochnow, D; Kossack, H; Brunheim, S; Müller, K; Wittsack, H-J; Markowitsch, H-J; Seitz, R J

2013-01-01

The recognition of emotional facial expressions is an important means to adjust behavior in social interactions. As facial expressions widely differ in their duration and degree of expressiveness, they often manifest with short and transient expressions below the level of awareness. In this combined behavioral and fMRI study, we aimed at examining whether or not consciously accessible (subliminal) emotional facial expressions influence empathic judgments and which brain activations are related to it. We hypothesized that subliminal facial expressions of emotions masked with neutral expressions of the same faces induce an empathic processing similar to consciously accessible (supraliminal) facial expressions. Our behavioral data in 23 healthy subjects showed that subliminal emotional facial expressions of 40 ms duration affect the judgments of the subsequent neutral facial expressions. In the fMRI study in 12 healthy subjects it was found that both, supra- and subliminal emotional facial expressions shared a widespread network of brain areas including the fusiform gyrus, the temporo-parietal junction, and the inferior, dorsolateral, and medial frontal cortex. Compared with subliminal facial expressions, supraliminal facial expressions led to a greater activation of left occipital and fusiform face areas. We conclude that masked subliminal emotional information is suited to trigger processing in brain areas which have been implicated in empathy and, thereby in social encounters.

Early ERP Modulation for Task-Irrelevant Subliminal Faces

PubMed Central

Pegna, Alan J.; Darque, Alexandra; Berrut, Claire; Khateb, Asaid

2011-01-01

A number of investigations have reported that emotional faces can be processed subliminally, and that they give rise to specific patterns of brain activation in the absence of awareness. Recent event-related potential (ERP) studies have suggested that electrophysiological differences occur early in time (<200 ms) in response to backward-masked emotional faces. These findings have been taken as evidence of a rapid non-conscious pathway, which would allow threatening stimuli to be processed rapidly and subsequently allow appropriate avoidance action to be taken. However, for this to be the case, subliminal processing should arise even if the threatening stimulus is not attended. This point has in fact not yet been clearly established. In this ERP study, we investigated whether subliminal processing of fearful faces occurs outside the focus of attention. Fourteen healthy participants performed a line judgment task while fearful and non-fearful (happy or neutral) faces were presented both subliminally and supraliminally. ERPs were compared across the four experimental conditions (i.e., subliminal and supraliminal; fearful and non-fearful). The earliest differences between fearful and non-fearful faces appeared as an enhanced posterior negativity for the former at 170 ms (the N170 component) over right temporo-occipital electrodes. This difference was observed for both subliminal (p < 0.05) and supraliminal presentations (p < 0.01). Our results confirm that subliminal processing of fearful faces occurs early in the course of visual processing, and more importantly, that this arises even when the subject's attention is engaged in an incidental task. PMID:21687457

A Comparative Study of the Effect of Subliminal Messages on Public Speaking Ability.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schnell, James A.

A study investigated the effectiveness of subliminal techniques (such as tape recorded programs) for improving public speaking ability. It was hypothesized that students who used subliminal tapes to improve public speaking ability would perform no differently from classmates who listened to identical-sounding placebo tape programs containing no…

The Effect of Subliminal HELP Presentations on Learning a Text Editor.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wallace, F. Layne; And Others

1991-01-01

Discussion of subliminal stimuli focuses on a study of undergraduates that was conducted to determine the feasibility of presenting subliminal information in a passive manner to reinforce the learning process involved in computer-based text editing. The Texas Instruments microcomputers used in the study are described, and further research is…

Responses to "Subliminal Advertising" versus "Advertising" in the Title and Explanation of Ad-Response Survey.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rogers, Martha; Roads, Carrie

Despite a lack of evidence that subliminal messages experimentally embedded in advertisements produce predictable effects, many people believe they know what "subliminal advertising" is and believe that it is used and that it works. A study investigated this belief. Subjects, 206 Fostoria, Ohio residents, were given two questionnaires…

Simple Research Paradigm for Demonstrating Subliminal Pschodynamic Activation: Effects of Oedipal Stimuli on Dart-Throwing Accuracy in College Males

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Silverman, Lloyd H.; And Others

1978-01-01

Four experiments were carried out in which "subliminal psychodynamic activation" effects, used for studying the relationship between psychopathology and unconscious conflict, were sought out from male college students. Results were discussed for their bearing on subliminal research and research in personality. (Editor/RK)

Cognitive Style and Subliminal Instruction.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moore, David M.

This study tested several hypotheses about the effects of the cognitive style of students on their ability to learn a subliminal task while viewing a non-related film. Subjects were 132 undergraduate students who were divided into three groups: field dependent, neutral, and field independent. The task to be taught subliminally was the assembly in…

The Effects of Subthreshold Visual Cues on Flight Performance in the NUH-60FS Black Hawk Research Simulator

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-08-01

influenced your opinion of subthreshold priming/ subliminal messaging...17 10. After completing this experiment, do you have a positive or negative view of subthreshold priming/ subliminal ...0%) Table 9. Has participating in this experiment influenced your opinion of subthreshold priming/ subliminal messaging? Yes No Other

Subliminal cues bias perception of facial affect in patients with social phobia: evidence for enhanced unconscious threat processing

PubMed Central

Jusyte, Aiste; Schönenberg, Michael

2014-01-01

Socially anxious individuals have been shown to exhibit altered processing of facial affect, especially expressions signaling threat. Enhanced unaware processing has been suggested an important mechanism which may give rise to anxious conscious cognition and behavior. This study investigated whether individuals with social anxiety disorder (SAD) are perceptually more vulnerable to the biasing effects of subliminal threat cues compared to healthy controls. In a perceptual judgment task, 23 SAD and 23 matched control participants were asked to rate the affective valence of parametrically manipulated affective expressions ranging from neutral to angry. Each trial was preceded by subliminal presentation of an angry/neutral cue. The SAD group tended to rate target faces as “angry” when the preceding subliminal stimulus was angry vs. neutral, while healthy participants were not biased by the subliminal stimulus presentation. The perceptual bias in SAD was also associated with higher reaction time latencies in the subliminal angry cue condition. The results provide further support for enhanced unconscious threat processing in SAD individuals. The implications for etiology, maintenance, and treatment of SAD are discussed. PMID:25136307

Subliminal cues bias perception of facial affect in patients with social phobia: evidence for enhanced unconscious threat processing.

PubMed

Jusyte, Aiste; Schönenberg, Michael

2014-01-01

Socially anxious individuals have been shown to exhibit altered processing of facial affect, especially expressions signaling threat. Enhanced unaware processing has been suggested an important mechanism which may give rise to anxious conscious cognition and behavior. This study investigated whether individuals with social anxiety disorder (SAD) are perceptually more vulnerable to the biasing effects of subliminal threat cues compared to healthy controls. In a perceptual judgment task, 23 SAD and 23 matched control participants were asked to rate the affective valence of parametrically manipulated affective expressions ranging from neutral to angry. Each trial was preceded by subliminal presentation of an angry/neutral cue. The SAD group tended to rate target faces as "angry" when the preceding subliminal stimulus was angry vs. neutral, while healthy participants were not biased by the subliminal stimulus presentation. The perceptual bias in SAD was also associated with higher reaction time latencies in the subliminal angry cue condition. The results provide further support for enhanced unconscious threat processing in SAD individuals. The implications for etiology, maintenance, and treatment of SAD are discussed.

The Effect of D-cycloserine on Subliminal Cue Exposure in Spider Fearful Individuals

PubMed Central

Gutner, Cassidy A.; Weinberger, Joel; Hofmann, Stefan G.

2012-01-01

Research on d-cycloserine (DCS) has demonstrated a significant effect on symptom reduction in human studies that utilized conventional exposure-based approaches. Recent studies have offered promising results for targeting fears through subliminal paradigms. In this double-blind, randomized placebo controlled study, 45 spider fearful individuals received DCS or placebo pills prior to completing a subliminal cue exposure task to images of spiders. Participants completed self-report questionnaires and a behavioral approach task to a live caged tarantula. After repeated exposure to subliminal spider cues, participants in the DCS group reported a greater reduction in disgust than individuals in the placebo group. No difference was observed in fear ratings. These findings suggest that DCS augments the reduction in disgust in spider fearful subjects after subliminal exposure to spider cues. PMID:22992160

Comment on Birgegard and Sohlberg's (1999) suggestions for research in subliminal psychodynamic activation.

PubMed

Fudin, R

2000-06-01

Methodological changes in subliminal psychodynamic activation experiments based on the assumption that multiletter messages can be encoded automatically (Birgegard & Sohlberg, 1999) are questioned. Their contention that partial experimental messages and appropriate nonsense anagram controls (Fudin, 1986) need not be presented in every experiment is supported, with a reservation. If the difference between responses to the complete message and its control is significant in the predicted direction, then Fudin's procedure should be used. A nonsignificant difference between the response to each partial message and its control is needed to support the assumption of proponents of subliminal psychodynamic activation that successful outcomes are effected by the encoding of the meaning of a complete message. Experiments in subliminal psychodynamic activation can be improved if their methodologies take into account variables that may operate when subliminal stimuli are presented and encoded.

Feedforward somatosensory inhibition is normal in cervical dystonia.

PubMed

Ferrè, Elisa R; Ganos, Christos; Bhatia, Kailash P; Haggard, Patrick

2015-03-01

Insufficient cortical inhibition is a key pathophysiological finding in dystonia. Subliminal sensory stimuli were reported to transiently inhibit somatosensory processing. Here we investigated whether such subliminal feedforward inhibition is reduced in patients with cervical dystonia. Sixteen cervical dystonia patients and 16 matched healthy controls performed a somatosensory detection task. We measured the drop in sensitivity to detect a threshold-level digital nerve shock when it was preceded by a subliminal conditioning shock, compared to when it was not. Subliminal conditioning shocks reduced sensitivity to threshold stimuli to a similar extent in both patients and controls, suggesting that somatosensory subliminal feedforward inhibition is normal in cervical dystonia. Somatosensory feedforward inhibition was normal in this group of cervical dystonia patients. Our results qualify previous concepts of a general dystonic deficit in sensorimotor inhibitory processing. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Electrophysiological Correlates of Subliminal Perception of Facial Expressions in Individuals with Autistic Traits: A Backward Masking Study

PubMed Central

Vukusic, Svjetlana; Ciorciari, Joseph; Crewther, David P.

2017-01-01

People with Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) show difficulty in social communication, especially in the rapid assessment of emotion in faces. This study examined the processing of emotional faces in typically developing adults with high and low levels of autistic traits (measured using the Autism Spectrum Quotient—AQ). Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded during viewing of backward-masked neutral, fearful and happy faces presented under two conditions: subliminal (16 ms, below the level of visual conscious awareness) and supraliminal (166 ms, above the time required for visual conscious awareness). Individuals with low and high AQ differed in the processing of subliminal faces, with the low AQ group showing an enhanced N2 amplitude for subliminal happy faces. Some group differences were found in the condition effects, with the Low AQ showing shorter frontal P3b and N4 latencies for subliminal vs. supraliminal condition. Although results did not show any group differences on the face-specific N170 component, there were shorter N170 latencies for supraliminal vs. subliminal conditions across groups. The results observed on the N2, showing group differences in subliminal emotion processing, suggest that decreased sensitivity to the reward value of social stimuli is a common feature both of people with ASD as well as people with high autistic traits from the normal population. PMID:28588465

Immediate effect of subliminal priming with positive reward stimuli on standing balance in healthy individuals: A randomized controlled trial.

PubMed

Aoyama, Yasuhiro; Uchida, Hiroyuki; Sugi, Yasuyuki; Kawakami, Akinobu; Fujii, Miki; Kiso, Kanae; Kono, Ryota; Takebayashi, Takashi; Hirao, Kazuki

2017-07-01

Information received subconsciously can influence exercise performance; however, it remains unclear whether subliminal or supraliminal reward is more effective in improving standing balance ability when priming stimuli are subconsciously delivered. The present study aimed to compare the effects of subliminal priming-plus-subliminal reward stimuli (experimental) with subliminal priming-plus-supraliminal reward stimuli (control) on standing balance ability. This was a single-blind (outcome assessor), parallel-group, randomized controlled trial involving healthy young adults recruited from a university in Japan. Assessments were conducted at baseline and immediately after intervention. The primary outcome was the functional reach test (FRT) measurement. The secondary outcome was one-leg standing time (OLST) with eyes closed. Of the 52 participants screened, 25 were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups each. Both interventions were effective for improving the FRT between the baseline and intervention; however, smaller improvements were observed in the experimental group. We found a large between-groups effect size immediately after the intervention for the FRT (d = -0.92). In contrast, there were no differences in improvements in OLST between the 2 groups (d = -0.06); furthermore, neither intervention was found to be effective for this parameter. We concluded that subliminal priming with conscious reward stimuli results in improvements in immediate-term forward reach ability, which is superior to that achieved by subliminal priming with subconscious reward stimuli.

Electrophysiological Correlates of Subliminal Perception of Facial Expressions in Individuals with Autistic Traits: A Backward Masking Study.

PubMed

Vukusic, Svjetlana; Ciorciari, Joseph; Crewther, David P

2017-01-01

People with Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) show difficulty in social communication, especially in the rapid assessment of emotion in faces. This study examined the processing of emotional faces in typically developing adults with high and low levels of autistic traits (measured using the Autism Spectrum Quotient-AQ). Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded during viewing of backward-masked neutral, fearful and happy faces presented under two conditions: subliminal (16 ms, below the level of visual conscious awareness) and supraliminal (166 ms, above the time required for visual conscious awareness). Individuals with low and high AQ differed in the processing of subliminal faces, with the low AQ group showing an enhanced N2 amplitude for subliminal happy faces. Some group differences were found in the condition effects, with the Low AQ showing shorter frontal P3b and N4 latencies for subliminal vs. supraliminal condition. Although results did not show any group differences on the face-specific N170 component, there were shorter N170 latencies for supraliminal vs. subliminal conditions across groups. The results observed on the N2, showing group differences in subliminal emotion processing, suggest that decreased sensitivity to the reward value of social stimuli is a common feature both of people with ASD as well as people with high autistic traits from the normal population.

Neural correlates of exposure to subliminal and supraliminal sexual cues

PubMed Central

Canterberry, Melanie

2012-01-01

Sexual arousal is thought to be the result of two levels of processing: conscious and unconscious. Whereas some research exists on the neural correlates related with conscious exposure to sexual stimuli, there are no parallel data regarding unconscious or subliminal exposure to such stimuli. In the present study, we therefore compared brain activation of 39 participants (20 women) as they were exposed to supraliminal vs subliminal sexual stimuli. Supraliminal exposure was associated with greater activation in areas that were previously associated with sexual arousal (e.g. caudate nucleus and thalamus) as well as areas that were previously associated with control (e.g. orbitofrontal cortex and cingulate cortex). In contrast, subliminal exposure was mainly related to activation in areas previously associated with sexual arousal. Men and women exhibited theoretically meaningful differences in patterns of activation associated with supra- and subliminal exposure. Findings are discussed with regard to sexual arousal and regulatory processes. PMID:22006991

Long-lasting effect of subliminal processes on cardiovascular responses and performance.

PubMed

Capa, Rémi L; Cleeremans, Axel; Bustin, Gaëlle M; Hansenne, Michel

2011-07-01

Students were exposed to a priming task in which subliminal representations of the goal of studying were directly paired (priming-positive group) or not (priming group) to positive words. A control group without subliminal prime of the goal was added. Just after the priming task, students performed an easy or a difficult learning task based on their coursework. Participants in the priming-positive group performed better and had a stronger decrease of pulse transit time and pulse wave amplitude reactivity than participants of the two other groups, but only during the difficult condition. Results suggested that subliminal priming induces effortful behavior extending over twenty five minutes but only when the primes had been associated with visible positive words acting as a reward. These findings provide evidence that subliminal priming can have long-lasting effects on behaviors typical of daily life. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Neural correlates of exposure to subliminal and supraliminal sexual cues.

PubMed

Gillath, Omri; Canterberry, Melanie

2012-11-01

Sexual arousal is thought to be the result of two levels of processing: conscious and unconscious. Whereas some research exists on the neural correlates related with conscious exposure to sexual stimuli, there are no parallel data regarding unconscious or subliminal exposure to such stimuli. In the present study, we therefore compared brain activation of 39 participants (20 women) as they were exposed to supraliminal vs subliminal sexual stimuli. Supraliminal exposure was associated with greater activation in areas that were previously associated with sexual arousal (e.g. caudate nucleus and thalamus) as well as areas that were previously associated with control (e.g. orbitofrontal cortex and cingulate cortex). In contrast, subliminal exposure was mainly related to activation in areas previously associated with sexual arousal. Men and women exhibited theoretically meaningful differences in patterns of activation associated with supra- and subliminal exposure. Findings are discussed with regard to sexual arousal and regulatory processes.

Subliminal stimuli modulate somatosensory perception rhythmically and provide evidence for discrete perception.

PubMed

Baumgarten, Thomas J; Königs, Sara; Schnitzler, Alfons; Lange, Joachim

2017-03-09

Despite being experienced as continuous, there is an ongoing debate if perception is an intrinsically discrete process, with incoming sensory information treated as a succession of single perceptual cycles. Here, we provide causal evidence that somatosensory perception is composed of discrete perceptual cycles. We used in humans an electrotactile temporal discrimination task preceded by a subliminal (i.e., below perceptual threshold) stimulus. Although not consciously perceived, subliminal stimuli are known to elicit neuronal activity in early sensory areas and modulate the phase of ongoing neuronal oscillations. We hypothesized that the subliminal stimulus indirectly, but systematically modulates the ongoing oscillatory phase in S1, thereby rhythmically shaping perception. The present results confirm that, without being consciously perceived, the subliminal stimulus critically influenced perception in the discrimination task. Importantly, perception was modulated rhythmically, in cycles corresponding to the beta-band (13-18 Hz). This can be compellingly explained by a model of discrete perceptual cycles.

Responses of chronic agoraphobics to subliminal and supraliminal phobic motion pictures.

PubMed

Lee, I; Tyrer, P

1980-01-01

Fifteen agoraphobics took part in a study to investigate their responses to repeated presentations of a phobic motion pciture. Five patients were shown the film supraliminally, five were shown it subliminally, and the remaining five formed a control group. Subjective feelings were assessed with visual analogue scales, and three physiological measures, heart rate, skin conductance, and respiratory rate, were recorded. An earlier report showed that both subliminal and supraliminal presentation produced significant improvements in phobic fear and avoidance, and the present results show that the subliminal group found the procedure much less stressful than the supraliminal group. The physiological changes during treatment showed no consistent pattern and appeared to be independent of clinical response. The results show that repeated exposure to subliminal phobic motion pictures is not anxiety provoking to agoraphobic patients and so may be appropriate therapy for those unable to tolerate other forms of treatment.

The Effects of Thematic Content of Rheostatically Controlled Visual Subliminals Upon the Receiving Level of the Affective Domain of Learners.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ledford, Bruce R.

The purpose of the study was to determine the effects of rheostatically controlled visual subliminals on the affective interrelations of a learning task of subjects within a classroom setting. Four groups of students were used. Subjects were unknowingly exposed to a rheostatically projected subliminal message for 30 minutes during otherwise normal…

Subliminal mere exposure and explicit and implicit positive affective responses.

PubMed

Hicks, Joshua A; King, Laura A

2011-06-01

Research suggests that repeated subliminal exposure to environmental stimuli enhances positive affective responses. To date, this research has primarily concentrated on the effects of repeated exposure on explicit measures of positive affect (PA). However, recent research suggests that repeated subliminal presentations may increase implicit PA as well. The present study tested this hypothesis. Participants were either subliminally primed with repeated presentations of the same stimuli or only exposed to each stimulus one time. Results confirmed predictions showing that repeated exposure to the same stimuli increased both explicit and implicit PA. Implications for the role of explicit and implicit PA in attitudinal judgements are discussed.

Failures to change stimulus evaluations by means of subliminal approach and avoidance training.

PubMed

Van Dessel, Pieter; De Houwer, Jan; Roets, Arne; Gast, Anne

2016-01-01

Previous research suggests that the repeated performance of approach and avoidance (AA) actions in response to a stimulus causes changes in stimulus evaluations. Kawakami, Phills, Steele, and Dovidio (2007) and Jones, Vilensky, Vasey, and Fazio (2013) provided evidence that these AA training effects occur even when stimuli are presented only subliminally. We also examined whether reliable AA training effects can be observed with subliminal stimulus presentations but added more sensitive checks of perceptual stimulus discriminability. Three experiments, including a direct replication of the study by Kawakami et al. (2007), failed to provide any evidence for effects of subliminal AA training on implicit or explicit evaluations. Bayesian analyses indicated that our data provide robust evidence that subliminal AA training does not cause changes in evaluations. In contrast, we observed changes in evaluations when participants were provided with (either correct or incorrect) information about the stimulus-action contingencies in the subliminal AA training task and when participants performed a supraliminal AA training task that allowed participants to detect these contingencies. These findings support the idea that contingency awareness is necessary for the occurrence of AA training effects. (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Immediate effect of subliminal priming with positive reward stimuli on standing balance in healthy individuals

PubMed Central

Aoyama, Yasuhiro; Uchida, Hiroyuki; Sugi, Yasuyuki; Kawakami, Akinobu; Fujii, Miki; Kiso, Kanae; Kono, Ryota; Takebayashi, Takashi; Hirao, Kazuki

2017-01-01

Abstract Background: Information received subconsciously can influence exercise performance; however, it remains unclear whether subliminal or supraliminal reward is more effective in improving standing balance ability when priming stimuli are subconsciously delivered. The present study aimed to compare the effects of subliminal priming-plus-subliminal reward stimuli (experimental) with subliminal priming-plus-supraliminal reward stimuli (control) on standing balance ability. Methods: This was a single-blind (outcome assessor), parallel-group, randomized controlled trial involving healthy young adults recruited from a university in Japan. Assessments were conducted at baseline and immediately after intervention. The primary outcome was the functional reach test (FRT) measurement. The secondary outcome was one-leg standing time (OLST) with eyes closed. Of the 52 participants screened, 25 were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups each. Results: Both interventions were effective for improving the FRT between the baseline and intervention; however, smaller improvements were observed in the experimental group. We found a large between-groups effect size immediately after the intervention for the FRT (d = −0.92). In contrast, there were no differences in improvements in OLST between the 2 groups (d = −0.06); furthermore, neither intervention was found to be effective for this parameter. Conclusion: We concluded that subliminal priming with conscious reward stimuli results in improvements in immediate-term forward reach ability, which is superior to that achieved by subliminal priming with subconscious reward stimuli. PMID:28700496

Subliminal stimulation research and its implications for psychoanalytic theory and treatment.

PubMed

Slipp, S

2000-01-01

As a tribute to Freud's genius, he was able to recognize not only the importance of implicit unconscious learning but also the way it currently impacts on the patient in psychoanalytic therapy. He prevented the patient from viewing the analyst's facial expressions by placing the patient on the couch. In addition, the analyst was instructed not to say too much, to be neutral, nonjudgmental, and calmly reflective. Thus the patient's response to the facial expressions and voice tone of the analyst, even when subliminally perceived, were minimized. This may be even more significant in women, who seem to be more sensitive to nonverbal cues of emotional states. Ferenczi further elaborated on the importance of establishing a connective empathic relationship, using a kindly, soothing voice tone and being emotionally available. Sandler and Sandler (1994) also emphasized the importance of tolerance and acceptance when making interpretations. These clinical instructions diminish external threats to survival and thereby minimize the activation of the amygdala. These procedures in psychoanalytic treatment seem similar to a subliminal MIO message and to the subliminal exposure of a happy face, as mentioned above in the fMRI study by Whalen et al. (1998). The empathic responses of the therapist need to create a condition of safety. In turn, this decreases the patient's vigilance and defensiveness and allows for the emergence of unconscious material that can be worked through verbally and rectified by explicit memory. Another fascinating finding is that Freud (1914) became aware, in his paper on the repetition compulsion, that repressed traumatic and conflictual relationships are acted out behaviorally outside of conscious awareness. He then considered that the focus of analysis should be on analyzing the transference relationship, where this enactment was manifested. Brockman (1998) notes that modern empirical findings confirm Freud's clinical hypotheses regarding the repetition compulsion. Repressed traumatic emotional memories are encoded in the amygdala, and they are unconsciously enacted through behavior, especially in the transference. In summary, childhood and other traumatic memories become encoded in the amygdala and are later enacted and expressed behaviorally, especially in the transference relationship. Working through of the emotional trauma makes these implicit memories explicit and exposes them to adult judgment. When the therapist creates a condition of safety, old memories are reexperienced and detoxified. The memories are experienced as nonthreatening now, thus calming the amygdala and diminishing its activity. Biologically, new neural pathways from the cortex to the amygdala can be established, since the cortex is plastic. This process is slow and may account for the need to repeatedly work through in analysis old conflicted relationships that had threatened security and survival. As imaging techniques improve, we may soon be able to evaluate therapy outcomes scientifically by measuring these actual brain changes. We are on the threshold of establishing a scientific psychoanalysis, as empirical research is providing us with data that integrate the mind and the brain. Subliminal stimulation and brain imaging techniques provide us with important tools for developing an empirical base for psychoanalytic theory and treatment. These techniques were not available to Freud at the turn of the last century, and as we center the new millennium Freud's dream of psychoanalysis having a firm scientific foundation is becoming a reality.

Further data on the effects of subliminal symbiotic stimulation on schizophrenics.

PubMed

Kaplan, R; Thornton, P; Silverman, L

1985-11-01

This investigation further examined the effects of activating unconscious symbiotic fantasies in schizophrenics. One hundred twenty-eight hospitalized schizophrenic men who qualified as "relatively differentiated" on the Adjective Rating Scale were randomly assigned to four groups. Each group was assessed for pathological thinking, pathological nonverbal behavior, and self-esteem before and after the subliminal exposure of an experimental and control stimulus. The control stimulus for all groups was the message PEOPLE ARE WALKING and the experimental stimuli were the messages MOMMY AND I ARE ONE, MOMMY IS ALWAYS WITH ME, MOMMY FEEDS ME WELL, and I CANNOT HURT MOMMY (one for each group). One half of each group was subliminally exposed to verbal messages only and one half to verbal messages accompanied by congruent pictures. The first stimulus (MOMMY AND I ARE ONE) was intended to activate unconscious symbiotic fantasies that in a number of prior studies reduced pathology in groups of relatively differentiated schizophrenics. The other stimuli were intended to activate reassuring unconscious fantasies about "mommy" that were not specifically symbiosis-related. Only the MOMMY AND I ARE ONE stimulus led to more adaptive behavior and did so on all three dependent variables. This supported the supposition, also borne out in two other studies, that it is specifically symbiosis-related gratifications that are ameliorative for schizophrenics. The above results were considerably stronger for the subgroup that was exposed to a picture accompanying the MOMMY AND I ARE ONE message. This was viewed as probably the result of the pictorial representation serving as a concretization of the more abstract verbal message and as such being more relevant to the relatively primitive mode of thinking in schizophrenia.

Subliminal stimuli modulate somatosensory perception rhythmically and provide evidence for discrete perception

PubMed Central

Baumgarten, Thomas J.; Königs, Sara; Schnitzler, Alfons; Lange, Joachim

2017-01-01

Despite being experienced as continuous, there is an ongoing debate if perception is an intrinsically discrete process, with incoming sensory information treated as a succession of single perceptual cycles. Here, we provide causal evidence that somatosensory perception is composed of discrete perceptual cycles. We used in humans an electrotactile temporal discrimination task preceded by a subliminal (i.e., below perceptual threshold) stimulus. Although not consciously perceived, subliminal stimuli are known to elicit neuronal activity in early sensory areas and modulate the phase of ongoing neuronal oscillations. We hypothesized that the subliminal stimulus indirectly, but systematically modulates the ongoing oscillatory phase in S1, thereby rhythmically shaping perception. The present results confirm that, without being consciously perceived, the subliminal stimulus critically influenced perception in the discrimination task. Importantly, perception was modulated rhythmically, in cycles corresponding to the beta-band (13–18 Hz). This can be compellingly explained by a model of discrete perceptual cycles. PMID:28276493

Cerebral bases of subliminal speech priming.

PubMed

Kouider, Sid; de Gardelle, Vincent; Dehaene, Stanislas; Dupoux, Emmanuel; Pallier, Christophe

2010-01-01

While the neural correlates of unconscious perception and subliminal priming have been largely studied for visual stimuli, little is known about their counterparts in the auditory modality. Here we used a subliminal speech priming method in combination with fMRI to investigate which regions of the cerebral network for language can respond in the absence of awareness. Participants performed a lexical decision task on target items preceded by subliminal primes, which were either phonetically identical or different from the target. Moreover, the prime and target could be spoken by the same speaker or by two different speakers. Word repetition reduced the activity in the insula and in the left superior temporal gyrus. Although the priming effect on reaction times was independent of voice manipulation, neural repetition suppression was modulated by speaker change in the superior temporal gyrus while the insula showed voice-independent priming. These results provide neuroimaging evidence of subliminal priming for spoken words and inform us on the first, unconscious stages of speech perception.

Independence between implicit and explicit processing as revealed by the Simon effect.

PubMed

Lo, Shih-Yu; Yeh, Su-Ling

2011-09-01

Studies showing human behavior influenced by subliminal stimuli mainly focus on implicit processing per se, and little is known about its interaction with explicit processing. We examined this by using the Simon effect, wherein a task-irrelevant spatial distracter interferes with lateralized response. Lo and Yeh (2008) found that the visual Simon effect, although it occurred when participants were aware of the visual distracters, did not occur with subliminal visual distracters. We used the same paradigm and examined whether subliminal and supra-threshold stimuli are processed independently by adding a supra-threshold auditory distracter to ascertain whether it would interact with the subliminal visual distracter. Results showed auditory Simon effect, but there was still no visual Simon effect, indicating that supra-threshold and subliminal stimuli are processed separately in independent streams. In contrast to the traditional view that implicit processing precedes explicit processing, our results suggest that they operate independently in a parallel fashion. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Effects of Subthreshold Priming Alerts on Pilots in the USAARL TH-67 Microsim

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-06-01

subthreshold priming, subliminal messaging, cockpit displays UNCLAS UNCLAS UNCLAS SAR 46 Loraine Parish St. Onge, PhD 334-255-6906 Reset...of subliminally alerting pilots of or preparing pilots for changing situations and trends without interrupting their primary cognitive task...results under certain priming durations. Three studies by Strahan, Spencer, and Zann (2002) suggest that subliminal priming can be used to enhance

Don't make me angry, you wouldn't like me when I'm angry: Volitional choices to act or inhibit are modulated by subliminal perception of emotional faces.

PubMed

Parkinson, Jim; Garfinkel, Sarah; Critchley, Hugo; Dienes, Zoltan; Seth, Anil K

2017-04-01

Volitional action and self-control-feelings of acting according to one's own intentions and in being control of one's own actions-are fundamental aspects of human conscious experience. However, it is unknown whether high-level cognitive control mechanisms are affected by socially salient but nonconscious emotional cues. In this study, we manipulated free choice decisions to act or withhold an action by subliminally presenting emotional faces: In a novel version of the Go/NoGo paradigm, participants made speeded button-press responses to Go targets, withheld responses to NoGo targets, and made spontaneous, free choices to execute or withhold the response for Choice targets. Before each target, we presented emotional faces, backwards masked to render them nonconscious. In Intentional trials, subliminal angry faces made participants more likely to voluntarily withhold the action, whereas fearful and happy faces had no effects. In a second experiment, the faces were made supraliminal, which eliminated the effects of angry faces on volitional choices. A third experiment measured neural correlates of the effects of subliminal angry faces on intentional choice using EEG. After replicating the behavioural results found in Experiment 1, we identified a frontal-midline theta component-associated with cognitive control processes-which is present for volitional decisions, and is modulated by subliminal angry faces. This suggests a mechanism whereby subliminally presented "threat" stimuli affect conscious control processes. In summary, nonconscious perception of angry faces increases choices to inhibit, and subliminal influences on volitional action are deep seated and ecologically embedded.

Subliminal Processing of Smoking-Related and Affective Stimuli in Tobacco Addiction

PubMed Central

Leventhal, Adam M.; Waters, Andrew J.; Breitmeyer, Bruno G.; Tapia, Evelina; Miller, Elizabeth; Li, Yisheng

2009-01-01

Cognitive processing biases toward smoking-related and affective cues may play a role in tobacco dependence. Because processing biases may occur outside conscious awareness, the current study examined processing of smoking-related and affective stimuli presented at subliminal conditions. A pictorial subliminal repetition priming task was administered to three groups: (1) Nonsmokers (n = 56); (2) Smokers (≥10 cigarettes/day) who had been deprived from smoking for 12 h (n = 47); and (3) Nondeprived smokers (n = 66). Prime stimuli were presented briefly (17 ms) and were followed by a mask (to render them unavailable to conscious awareness) and then a target. Participants were required to make a speeded classification to the target. A posttask awareness check was administered to ensure that participants could not consciously perceive the briefly presented primes (i.e., smoking paraphernalia, neutral office supplies, and happy, angry, and neutral facial expressions). The groups differed in the degree to which they exhibited a processing bias for smoking-related stimuli, F(2, 166) = 4.99, p = .008. Deprived smokers exhibited a bias toward processing smoking (vs. neutral office supply) stimuli, F(1, 46) = 5.67, p = .02, whereas nondeprived smokers and nonsmokers did not (ps > .22). The three groups did not differ in the degree to which they exhibited a subliminal processing bias for affective stimuli. Tobacco deprivation appears to increase smokers’ subliminal processing of smoking-related (vs. neutral) stimuli but does not influence subliminal processing of affective stimuli. Future research should investigate whether subliminal biases toward smoking-related stimuli influence relapse. PMID:18729684

Subliminal processing of smoking-related and affective stimuli in tobacco addiction.

PubMed

Leventhal, Adam M; Waters, Andrew J; Breitmeyer, Bruno G; Miller, Elizabeth K; Tapia, Evelina; Li, Yisheng

2008-08-01

Cognitive processing biases toward smoking-related and affective cues may play a role in tobacco dependence. Because processing biases may occur outside conscious awareness, the current study examined processing of smoking-related and affective stimuli presented at subliminal conditions. A pictorial subliminal repetition priming task was administered to three groups: (1) Nonsmokers (n = 56); (2) Smokers (> or =10 cigarettes/day) who had been deprived from smoking for 12 h (n = 47); and (3) Nondeprived smokers (n = 66). Prime stimuli were presented briefly (17 ms) and were followed by a mask (to render them unavailable to conscious awareness) and then a target. Participants were required to make a speeded classification to the target. A posttask awareness check was administered to ensure that participants could not consciously perceive the briefly presented primes (i.e., smoking paraphernalia, neutral office supplies, and happy, angry, and neutral facial expressions). The groups differed in the degree to which they exhibited a processing bias for smoking-related stimuli, F(2, 166) = 4.99, p = .008. Deprived smokers exhibited a bias toward processing smoking (vs. neutral office supply) stimuli, F(1, 46) = 5.67, p = .02, whereas nondeprived smokers and nonsmokers did not (ps > .22). The three groups did not differ in the degree to which they exhibited a subliminal processing bias for affective stimuli. Tobacco deprivation appears to increase smokers' subliminal processing of smoking-related (vs. neutral) stimuli but does not influence subliminal processing of affective stimuli. Future research should investigate whether subliminal biases toward smoking-related stimuli influence relapse.

Effects of vicarious pain on self-pain perception: investigating the role of awareness

PubMed Central

Terrighena, Esslin L; Lu, Ge; Yuen, Wai Ping; Lee, Tatia MC; Keuper, Kati

2017-01-01

The observation of pain in others may enhance or reduce self-pain, yet the boundary conditions and factors that determine the direction of such effects are poorly understood. The current study set out to show that visual stimulus awareness plays a crucial role in determining whether vicarious pain primarily activates behavioral defense systems that enhance pain sensitivity and stimulate withdrawal or appetitive systems that attenuate pain sensitivity and stimulate approach. We employed a mixed factorial design with the between-subject factors exposure time (subliminal vs optimal) and vicarious pain (pain vs no pain images), and the within-subject factor session (baseline vs trial) to investigate how visual awareness of vicarious pain images affects subsequent self-pain in the cold-pressor test. Self-pain tolerance, intensity and unpleasantness were evaluated in a sample of 77 healthy participants. Results revealed significant interactions of exposure time and vicarious pain in all three dependent measures. In the presence of visual awareness (optimal condition), vicarious pain compared to no-pain elicited overall enhanced self-pain sensitivity, indexed by reduced pain tolerance and enhanced ratings of pain intensity and unpleasantness. Conversely, in the absence of visual awareness (subliminal condition), vicarious pain evoked decreased self-pain intensity and unpleasantness while pain tolerance remained unaffected. These findings suggest that the activation of defense mechanisms by vicarious pain depends on relatively elaborate cognitive processes, while – strikingly – the appetitive system is activated in highly automatic manner independent from stimulus awareness. Such mechanisms may have evolved to facilitate empathic, protective approach responses toward suffering individuals, ensuring survival of the protective social group. PMID:28831270

Consciousness and arousal effects on emotional face processing as revealed by brain oscillations. A gamma band analysis.

PubMed

Balconi, Michela; Lucchiari, Claudio

2008-01-01

It remains an open question whether it is possible to assign a single brain operation or psychological function for facial emotion decoding to a certain type of oscillatory activity. Gamma band activity (GBA) offers an adequate tool for studying cortical activation patterns during emotional face information processing. In the present study brain oscillations were analyzed in response to facial expression of emotions. Specifically, GBA modulation was measured when twenty subjects looked at emotional (angry, fearful, happy, and sad faces) or neutral faces in two different conditions: supraliminal (10 ms) vs subliminal (150 ms) stimulation (100 target-mask pairs for each condition). The results showed that both consciousness and significance of the stimulus in terms of arousal can modulate the power synchronization (ERD decrease) during 150-350 time range: an early oscillatory event showed its peak at about 200 ms post-stimulus. GBA was enhanced by supraliminal more than subliminal elaboration, as well as more by high arousal (anger and fear) than low arousal (happiness and sadness) emotions. Finally a left-posterior dominance for conscious elaboration was found, whereas right hemisphere was discriminant in emotional processing of face in comparison with neutral face.

Neural Correlates of Subliminal Language Processing

PubMed Central

Axelrod, Vadim; Bar, Moshe; Rees, Geraint; Yovel, Galit

2015-01-01

Language is a high-level cognitive function, so exploring the neural correlates of unconscious language processing is essential for understanding the limits of unconscious processing in general. The results of several functional magnetic resonance imaging studies have suggested that unconscious lexical and semantic processing is confined to the posterior temporal lobe, without involvement of the frontal lobe—the regions that are indispensable for conscious language processing. However, previous studies employed a similarly designed masked priming paradigm with briefly presented single and contextually unrelated words. It is thus possible, that the stimulation level was insufficiently strong to be detected in the high-level frontal regions. Here, in a high-resolution fMRI and multivariate pattern analysis study we explored the neural correlates of subliminal language processing using a novel paradigm, where written meaningful sentences were suppressed from awareness for extended duration using continuous flash suppression. We found that subjectively and objectively invisible meaningful sentences and unpronounceable nonwords could be discriminated not only in the left posterior superior temporal sulcus (STS), but critically, also in the left middle frontal gyrus. We conclude that frontal lobes play a role in unconscious language processing and that activation of the frontal lobes per se might not be sufficient for achieving conscious awareness. PMID:24557638

The Instagram: A Novel Sounding Technique for Enhanced HF Propagation Advice

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-05-01

precautions are necessary before such a scheme is attempted, and an ultimate aim might be to have the technique as close to subliminal as possible...waveform on reception has been reduced to subliminal levels. Figure 4 PSD plot of the weighted instagram waveform as received on a...wideband system with simulated background noise level included. Although the signal appears subliminal to other users it can still be extracted with

Affective and cognitive reactions to subliminal flicker from fluorescent lighting.

PubMed

Knez, Igor

2014-05-01

This study renews the classical concept of subliminal perception (Peirce & Jastrow, 1884) by investigating the impact of subliminal flicker from fluorescent lighting on affect and cognitive performance. It was predicted that low compared to high frequency lighting (latter compared to former emits non-flickering light) would evoke larger changes in affective states and also impair cognitive performance. Subjects reported high rather than low frequency lighting to be more pleasant, which, in turn, enhanced their problem solving performance. This suggests that sensory processing can take place outside of conscious awareness resulting in conscious emotional consequences; indicating a role of affect in subliminal/implicit perception, and that positive affect may facilitate cognitive task performance. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Effects of subliminal backward-recorded messages on attitudes.

PubMed

Swart, L C; Morgan, C L

1992-12-01

This study was designed to measure the effects of subliminal backward messages on attitudes. It was hypothesized that subliminal backward-recorded messages would influence the attitudes of listeners. Three subliminal backward-recorded messages from a popular song were used. 82 undergraduates were randomly assigned to one of four conditions: a three-message group heard a tape containing the backward messages recorded three times in succession, a six-message group heard a tape with the same backward messages recorded six times in succession, two control groups heard nonbackward recorded music. No statistically significant differences were found between the groups on a posttape attitude questionnaire. The results are discussed in terms of unconscious processing and the tricomponent theory of attitudes and attitude change.

Subliminal unconscious conflict alpha power inhibits supraliminal conscious symptom experience.

PubMed

Shevrin, Howard; Snodgrass, Michael; Brakel, Linda A W; Kushwaha, Ramesh; Kalaida, Natalia L; Bazan, Ariane

2013-01-01

Our approach is based on a tri-partite method of integrating psychodynamic hypotheses, cognitive subliminal processes, and psychophysiological alpha power measures. We present ten social phobic subjects with three individually selected groups of words representing unconscious conflict, conscious symptom experience, and Osgood Semantic negative valence words used as a control word group. The unconscious conflict and conscious symptom words, presented subliminally and supraliminally, act as primes preceding the conscious symptom and control words presented as supraliminal targets. With alpha power as a marker of inhibitory brain activity, we show that unconscious conflict primes, only when presented subliminally, have a unique inhibitory effect on conscious symptom targets. This effect is absent when the unconscious conflict primes are presented supraliminally, or when the target is the control words. Unconscious conflict prime effects were found to correlate with a measure of repressiveness in a similar previous study (Shevrin et al., 1992, 1996). Conscious symptom primes have no inhibitory effect when presented subliminally. Inhibitory effects with conscious symptom primes are present, but only when the primes are supraliminal, and they did not correlate with repressiveness in a previous study (Shevrin et al., 1992, 1996). We conclude that while the inhibition following supraliminal conscious symptom primes is due to conscious threat bias, the inhibition following subliminal unconscious conflict primes provides a neurological blueprint for dynamic repression: it is only activated subliminally by an individual's unconscious conflict and has an inhibitory effect specific only to the conscious symptom. These novel findings constitute neuroscientific evidence for the psychoanalytic concepts of unconscious conflict and repression, while extending neuroscience theory and methods into the realm of personal, psychological meaning.

Subliminal presentation of emotionally negative vs positive primes increases the perceived beauty of target stimuli.

PubMed

Era, Vanessa; Candidi, Matteo; Aglioti, Salvatore Maria

2015-11-01

Emotions have a profound influence on aesthetic experiences. Studies using affective priming procedures demonstrate, for example, that inducing a conscious negative emotional state biases the perception of abstract stimuli towards the sublime (Eskine et al. Emotion 12:1071-1074, 2012. doi: 10.1037/a0027200). Moreover, subliminal happy facial expressions have a positive impact on the aesthetic evaluation of abstract art (Flexas et al. PLoS ONE 8:e80154, 2013). Little is known about how emotion influences aesthetic perception of non-abstract, representational stimuli, especially those that are particularly relevant for social behaviour, like human bodies. Here, we explore whether the subliminal presentation of emotionally charged visual primes modulates the explicit subjective aesthetic judgment of body images. Using a forward/backward masking procedure, we presented subliminally positive and negative, arousal-matched, emotional or neutral primes and measured their effect on the explicit evaluation of perceived beauty (high vs low) and emotion (positive vs negative) evoked by abstract and body images. We found that negative primes increased subjective aesthetic evaluations of target bodies or abstract images in comparison with positive primes. No influence of primes on the emotional dimension of the targets was found, thus ruling out an unspecific arousal effect and strengthening the link between emotional valence and aesthetic appreciation. More specifically, that subliminal negative primes increase beauty ratings compared to subliminal positive primes indicates a clear link between negative emotions and positive aesthetic evaluations and vice versa, suggesting a possible link between negative emotion and the experience of sublime in art. The study expands previous research by showing the effect of subliminal negative emotions on the subjective aesthetic evaluation not only of abstract but also of body images.

Subliminal unconscious conflict alpha power inhibits supraliminal conscious symptom experience

PubMed Central

Shevrin, Howard; Snodgrass, Michael; Brakel, Linda A. W.; Kushwaha, Ramesh; Kalaida, Natalia L.; Bazan, Ariane

2013-01-01

Our approach is based on a tri-partite method of integrating psychodynamic hypotheses, cognitive subliminal processes, and psychophysiological alpha power measures. We present ten social phobic subjects with three individually selected groups of words representing unconscious conflict, conscious symptom experience, and Osgood Semantic negative valence words used as a control word group. The unconscious conflict and conscious symptom words, presented subliminally and supraliminally, act as primes preceding the conscious symptom and control words presented as supraliminal targets. With alpha power as a marker of inhibitory brain activity, we show that unconscious conflict primes, only when presented subliminally, have a unique inhibitory effect on conscious symptom targets. This effect is absent when the unconscious conflict primes are presented supraliminally, or when the target is the control words. Unconscious conflict prime effects were found to correlate with a measure of repressiveness in a similar previous study (Shevrin et al., 1992, 1996). Conscious symptom primes have no inhibitory effect when presented subliminally. Inhibitory effects with conscious symptom primes are present, but only when the primes are supraliminal, and they did not correlate with repressiveness in a previous study (Shevrin et al., 1992, 1996). We conclude that while the inhibition following supraliminal conscious symptom primes is due to conscious threat bias, the inhibition following subliminal unconscious conflict primes provides a neurological blueprint for dynamic repression: it is only activated subliminally by an individual's unconscious conflict and has an inhibitory effect specific only to the conscious symptom. These novel findings constitute neuroscientific evidence for the psychoanalytic concepts of unconscious conflict and repression, while extending neuroscience theory and methods into the realm of personal, psychological meaning. PMID:24046743

Subliminally and Supraliminally Acquired Long-Term Memories Jointly Bias Delayed Decisions.

PubMed

Ruch, Simon; Herbert, Elizabeth; Henke, Katharina

2017-01-01

Common wisdom and scientific evidence suggest that good decisions require conscious deliberation. But growing evidence demonstrates that not only conscious but also unconscious thoughts influence decision-making. Here, we hypothesize that both consciously and unconsciously acquired memories guide decisions. Our experiment measured the influence of subliminally and supraliminally presented information on delayed (30-40 min) decision-making. Participants were presented with subliminal pairs of faces and written occupations for unconscious encoding. Following a delay of 20 min, participants consciously (re-)encoded the same faces now presented supraliminally along with either the same written occupations, occupations congruous to the subliminally presented occupations (same wage-category), or incongruous occupations (opposite wage-category). To measure decision-making, participants viewed the same faces again (with occupations absent) and decided on the putative income of each person: low, low-average, high-average, or high. Participants were encouraged to decide spontaneously and intuitively. Hence, the decision task was an implicit or indirect test of relational memory. If conscious thought alone guided decisions (= H 0 ), supraliminal information should determine decision outcomes independently of the encoded subliminal information. This was, however, not the case. Instead, both unconsciously and consciously encoded memories influenced decisions: identical unconscious and conscious memories exerted the strongest bias on income decisions, while both incongruous and congruous (i.e., non-identical) subliminally and supraliminally formed memories canceled each other out leaving no bias on decisions. Importantly, the increased decision bias following the formation of identical unconscious and conscious memories and the reduced decision bias following to the formation of non-identical memories were determined relative to a control condition, where conscious memory formation alone could influence decisions. In view of the much weaker representational strength of subliminally vs. supraliminally formed memories, their long-lasting impact on decision-making is noteworthy.

Subliminally and Supraliminally Acquired Long-Term Memories Jointly Bias Delayed Decisions

PubMed Central

Ruch, Simon; Herbert, Elizabeth; Henke, Katharina

2017-01-01

Common wisdom and scientific evidence suggest that good decisions require conscious deliberation. But growing evidence demonstrates that not only conscious but also unconscious thoughts influence decision-making. Here, we hypothesize that both consciously and unconsciously acquired memories guide decisions. Our experiment measured the influence of subliminally and supraliminally presented information on delayed (30–40 min) decision-making. Participants were presented with subliminal pairs of faces and written occupations for unconscious encoding. Following a delay of 20 min, participants consciously (re-)encoded the same faces now presented supraliminally along with either the same written occupations, occupations congruous to the subliminally presented occupations (same wage-category), or incongruous occupations (opposite wage-category). To measure decision-making, participants viewed the same faces again (with occupations absent) and decided on the putative income of each person: low, low-average, high-average, or high. Participants were encouraged to decide spontaneously and intuitively. Hence, the decision task was an implicit or indirect test of relational memory. If conscious thought alone guided decisions (= H0), supraliminal information should determine decision outcomes independently of the encoded subliminal information. This was, however, not the case. Instead, both unconsciously and consciously encoded memories influenced decisions: identical unconscious and conscious memories exerted the strongest bias on income decisions, while both incongruous and congruous (i.e., non-identical) subliminally and supraliminally formed memories canceled each other out leaving no bias on decisions. Importantly, the increased decision bias following the formation of identical unconscious and conscious memories and the reduced decision bias following to the formation of non-identical memories were determined relative to a control condition, where conscious memory formation alone could influence decisions. In view of the much weaker representational strength of subliminally vs. supraliminally formed memories, their long-lasting impact on decision-making is noteworthy. PMID:28955268

Cortical functional connectivity decodes subconscious, task-irrelevant threat-related emotion processing

PubMed Central

Pantazatos, Spiro P.; Talati, Ardesheer; Pavlidis, Paul; Hirsch, Joy

2012-01-01

It is currently unclear to what extent cortical structures are required for and engaged during subconscious processing of biologically salient affective stimuli (i.e. the ‘low-road’ vs. ‘many-roads’ hypotheses). Here we show that cortical-cortical and cortical-subcortical functional connectivity (FC) contain substantially more information, relative to subcortical-subcortical FC (i.e. ‘subcortical alarm’ and other limbic regions), that predicts subliminal fearful face processing within individuals using training data from separate subjects. A plot of classification accuracy vs. number of selected whole-brain FC features revealed 92% accuracy when learning was based on the top 8 features from each training set. The most informative FC was between right amygdala and precuneus, which increased during subliminal fear conditions, while left and right amygdala FC decreased, suggesting a bilateral decoupling of this key limbic region during processing of subliminal fear-related stimuli. Other informative FC included angular gyrus, middle temporal gyrus and cerebellum. These findings identify FC that decodes subliminally perceived, task-irrelevant affective stimuli, and suggest that cortical structures are actively engaged by and appear to be essential for subliminal fear processing. PMID:22484206

Cortical functional connectivity decodes subconscious, task-irrelevant threat-related emotion processing.

PubMed

Pantazatos, Spiro P; Talati, Ardesheer; Pavlidis, Paul; Hirsch, Joy

2012-07-16

It is currently unclear to what extent cortical structures are required for and engaged during subconscious processing of biologically salient affective stimuli (i.e. the 'low-road' vs. 'many-roads' hypotheses). Here we show that cortical-cortical and cortical-subcortical functional connectivity (FC) contain substantially more information, relative to subcortical-subcortical FC (i.e. 'subcortical alarm' and other limbic regions), that predicts subliminal fearful face processing within individuals using training data from separate subjects. A plot of classification accuracy vs. number of selected whole-brain FC features revealed 92% accuracy when learning was based on the top 8 features from each training set. The most informative FC was between right amygdala and precuneus, which increased during subliminal fear conditions, while left and right amygdala FC decreased, suggesting a bilateral decoupling of this key limbic region during processing of subliminal fear-related stimuli. Other informative FC included angular gyrus, middle temporal gyrus and cerebellum. These findings identify FC that decodes subliminally perceived, task-irrelevant affective stimuli, and suggest that cortical structures are actively engaged by and appear to be essential for subliminal fear processing. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Interaction of prime and target in the subliminal affective priming effect.

PubMed

Haneda, Kaoruko; Nomura, Michio; Iidaka, Tetsuya; Ohira, Hideki

2003-04-01

It has been found that an emotional stimulus such as a facial expression presented subliminally can affect subsequent information processing and behavior, usually by shifting evaluation of a subsequent stimulus to a valence congruent with the previous stimulus. This phenomenon is called subliminal affective priming. The present study was conducted to replicate and expand previous findings by investigating interaction of primes and targets in the affective priming effect. Two conditions were used. Prime (subliminal presentation 35 msec.) of an angry face of a woman and a No Prime control condition. Just after presentation of the prime, an ambiguous angry face or an emotionally neutral face was presented above the threshold of awareness (500 msec.). 12 female undergraduate women judged categories of facial expressions (Anger, Neutral, or Happiness) for the target faces. Analysis indicated that the Anger primes significantly facilitated judgment of anger for the ambiguous angry faces; however, the priming effect of the Anger primes was not observed for neutral faces. Consequently, the present finding suggested that a subliminal affective priming effect should be more prominent when affective valence of primes and targets is congruent.

Immediate increase in food intake following exercise messages.

PubMed

Albarracin, Dolores; Wang, Wei; Leeper, Joshua

2009-07-01

Communications to stimulate weight loss include exercise-promotion messages that often produce unsatisfactory results due to compensatory behavioral and metabolic mechanisms triggered by physical activity. This research investigated potential automatic facilitation of eating immediately after exercise messages in the absence of actual exercise. Two controlled experiments demonstrated greater than control food intake following exposure to print messages typical of exercise campaigns as well as subliminal presentation of action words associated with exercise (e.g., "active"). These inadvertent effects may explain the limited efficacy of exercise-promotion programs for weight loss, particularly when systematic dietary guidelines are absent.

Conditions affecting boundary response to messages out of awareness.

PubMed

Fisher, S

1976-05-01

Multiple studies evaluated the role of the following parameters in mediating the effects of auditory subliminal inputs upon the body boundary: being made aware that exposure to subliminal stimuli is occurring, nature of the priming preliminary to the input, length of exposure, competing sensory input, use of specialized content messages, tolerance for unrealistic experience, and masculinity-feminity. A test-retest design was typically employed that involved measuring the baseline Barrier score with the Holtzman bolts and then ascertaining the Barrier change when responding to a second series of Holtzman blots at the same time that subliminal input was occurring. Complex results emerged that defined in considerably new detail what facilitates and blocks the boundary-disrupting effects of subliminal messages in men and to a lesser degree in women.

Gender Difference in Event Related Potentials to Masked Emotional Stimuli in the Oddball Task

PubMed Central

Kim, Eun Young; Park, Gewnhi; Kim, Sangrae; Kim, Imyel; Chae, Jeong-Ho; Kim, Hyun Taek

2013-01-01

Objective We investigated gender differences in event-related potential (ERP) responses to subliminally presented threat-related stimuli. Methods Twenty-four participants were presented with threat-related and neutral pictures for a very brief period of time (17 ms). To explore gender differences in ERP responses to subliminally presented stimuli, we examined six ERP components [P1, N170, N250, P300, Early Posterior Negativity (EPN) and Late Positive Potential (LPP)]. Results The result revealed that only female participants showed significant increases in the N170 and the EPN in response to subliminally presented threat-related stimuli compared to neutral stimuli. Conclusion Our results suggest that female participants exhibit greater cortical processing of subliminally presented threat-related stimuli than male participants. PMID:23798965

Effects of subliminal hints on insight problem solving.

PubMed

Hattori, Masasi; Sloman, Steven A; Orita, Ryo

2013-08-01

Two experiments tested a total of 509 participants on insight problems (the radiation problem and the nine-dot problem). Half of the participants were first exposed to a 1-min movie that included a subliminal hint. The hint raised the solution rate of people who did not recognize it. In addition, the way they solved the problem was affected by the hint. In Experiment 3, a novel technique was introduced to address some methodological concerns raised by Experiments 1 and 2. A total of 80 participants solved the 10-coin problem, and half of them were exposed to a subliminal hint. The hint facilitated solving the problem, and it shortened the solution time. Some implications of subliminal priming for research on and theorizing about insight problem solving are discussed.

27 CFR 5.65 - Prohibited practices.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... insignia is associated. (h) Deceptive advertising techniques. Subliminal or similar techniques are prohibited. “Subliminal or similar techniques,” as used in this part, refers to any device or technique that...

27 CFR 5.65 - Prohibited practices.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... insignia is associated. (h) Deceptive advertising techniques. Subliminal or similar techniques are prohibited. “Subliminal or similar techniques,” as used in this part, refers to any device or technique that...

27 CFR 5.65 - Prohibited practices.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... insignia is associated. (h) Deceptive advertising techniques. Subliminal or similar techniques are prohibited. “Subliminal or similar techniques,” as used in this part, refers to any device or technique that...

27 CFR 5.65 - Prohibited practices.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... insignia is associated. (h) Deceptive advertising techniques. Subliminal or similar techniques are prohibited. “Subliminal or similar techniques,” as used in this part, refers to any device or technique that...

27 CFR 5.65 - Prohibited practices.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... insignia is associated. (h) Deceptive advertising techniques. Subliminal or similar techniques are prohibited. “Subliminal or similar techniques,” as used in this part, refers to any device or technique that...

Research in subliminal psychodynamic activation: note on Masling (1998).

PubMed

Fudin, R

1999-04-01

Masling (1998) questioned Malik, Apel, Nelham, Rutkowski, and Ladd's 1997 suggestion that subliminal psychodynamic activation research with MOMMY AND I ARE ONE should be restricted. Problems in Masling's paper and the scope of research with MOMMY AND I ARE ONE are discussed. His position that such research should not be restricted is supported on the condition that subliminal psychodynamic activation research with MOMMY AND I ARE ONE (and other messages) use Fudin's 1986 procedure that could clarify the interpretation of successful experimental outcomes.

ERPs reveal subliminal processing of fearful faces.

PubMed

Kiss, Monika; Eimer, Martin

2008-03-01

To investigate whether facial expression is processed in the absence of conscious awareness, ERPs were recorded in a task in which participants had to identify the expression of masked fearful and neutral target faces. On supraliminal trials (200 ms target duration), in which identification performance was high, a sustained positivity to fearful versus neutral target faces started 140 ms after target face onset. On subliminal trials (8 ms target duration), identification performance was at chance level, but ERPs still showed systematic fear-specific effects. An early positivity to fearful target faces was present but smaller than on supraliminal trials. A subsequent enhanced N2 to fearful faces was only present for subliminal trials. In contrast, a P3 enhancement to fearful faces was observed on supraliminal but not subliminal trials. Results demonstrate rapid emotional expression processing in the absence of awareness.

ERPs reveal subliminal processing of fearful faces

PubMed Central

Kiss, Monika; Eimer, Martin

2008-01-01

To investigate whether facial expression is processed in the absence of conscious awareness, ERPs were recorded in a task where participants had to identify the expression of masked fearful and neutral target faces. On supraliminal trials (200 ms target duration), where identification performance was high, a sustained positivity to fearful versus neutral target faces started 140 ms after target face onset. On subliminal trials (8 ms target duration), identification performance was at chance level, but ERPs still showed systematic fear-specific effects. An early positivity to fearful target faces was present but smaller than on supraliminal trials. A subsequent enhanced N2 to fearful faces was only present for subliminal trials. In contrast, a P3 enhancement to fearful faces was observed on supraliminal but not subliminal trials. Results demonstrate rapid emotional expression processing in the absence of awareness. PMID:17995905

Subliminal psychodynamic activation: methodological problems and questions in Silverman's experiments.

PubMed

Fudin, R

1999-08-01

Analyses of procedures in Lloyd H. Silverman's subliminal psychodynamic activation experiments identify problems and questions. Given the information provided, none of his experiments can be replicated, and none of his positive results were found under luminance conditions he reckoned in 1983 were typical of such outcomes. Furthermore, there is no evidence in any of his experiments that all stimuli were presented completely within the fovea, a condition critical to the production of positive findings (Silverman & Geisler, 1986). These considerations and the fact that no experiment using Silverman's procedures can yield unambiguous positive results (Fudin, 1986) underscore the need to start anew research in this area. Such research should be undertaken with a greater appreciation of methodological issues involved in exposing and encoding subliminal stimuli than that found in all but a few experiments on subliminal psychodynamic activation.

Space-valence priming with subliminal and supraliminal words.

PubMed

Ansorge, Ulrich; Khalid, Shah; König, Peter

2013-01-01

To date it is unclear whether (1) awareness-independent non-evaluative semantic processes influence affective semantics and whether (2) awareness-independent affective semantics influence non-evaluative semantic processing. In the current study, we investigated these questions with the help of subliminal (masked) primes and visible targets in a space-valence across-category congruence effect. In line with (1), we found that subliminal space prime words influenced valence classification of supraliminal target words (Experiment 1): classifications were faster with a congruent prime (e.g., the prime "up" before the target "happy") than with an incongruent prime (e.g., the prime "up" before the target "sad"). In contrast to (2), no influence of subliminal valence primes on the classification of supraliminal space targets into up- and down-words was found (Experiment 2). Control conditions showed that standard masked response priming effects were found with both subliminal prime types, and that an across-category congruence effect was also found with supraliminal valence primes and spatial target words. The final Experiment 3 confirmed that the across-category congruence effect indeed reflected priming of target categorization of a relevant meaning category. Together, the data jointly confirmed prediction (1) that awareness-independent non-evaluative semantic priming influences valence judgments.

Subliminal processing of emotional information in anxiety and depression.

PubMed

Mogg, K; Bradley, B P; Williams, R; Mathews, A

1993-05-01

The study investigated selective processing of emotional information in anxiety and depression using a modified Stroop color naming task. Anxious (n = 19), depressed (n = 18), and normal control (n = 18) subjects were required to name the background colors of anxiety-related, depression-related, positive, categorized, and uncategorized neutral words. Half of the words were presented supraliminally, half subliminally. Anxious subjects, compared with depressed and normal subjects, showed relatively slower color naming for both supraliminal and subliminal negative words. The results suggest a preattentive processing bias for negative information in anxiety.

Who does Red Bull give wings to? Sensation seeking moderates sensitivity to subliminal advertisement.

PubMed

Bustin, Gaëlle M; Jones, Daniel N; Hansenne, Michel; Quoidbach, Jordi

2015-01-01

This study assessed whether subliminal priming of a brand name of a drink can affect people's choices for the primed brand, and whether this effect is moderated by personality traits. Participants with different levels of sensation seeking were presented subliminally with the words Red Bull or Lde Ublr. Results revealed that being exposed to Red Bull lead on average to small increases in participants' preferences for the primed brand. However, this effect was twice as strong for participants high in sensation seeking and did not occur for participants low in sensation seeking. Going beyond previous research showing that situational factors (e.g., thirst, fatigue…) can increase people's sensitivity to subliminal advertisement, our results suggest that some dispositional factors could have the same potentiating effect. These findings highlight the necessity of taking personality into account in non-conscious persuasion research.

Long-Lasting Effects of Subliminal Affective Priming from Facial Expressions

PubMed Central

Sweeny, Timothy D.; Grabowecky, Marcia; Suzuki, Satoru; Paller, Ken A.

2009-01-01

Unconscious processing of stimuli with emotional content can bias affective judgments. Is this subliminal affective priming merely a transient phenomenon manifested in fleeting perceptual changes, or are long-lasting effects also induced? To address this question, we investigated memory for surprise faces 24 hours after they had been shown with 30-ms fearful, happy, or neutral faces. Surprise faces subliminally primed by happy faces were initially rated as more positive, and were later remembered better, than those primed by fearful or neutral faces. Participants likely to have processed primes supraliminally did not respond differentially as a function of expression. These results converge with findings showing memory advantages with happy expressions, though here the expressions were displayed on the face of a different person, perceived subliminally, and not present at test. We conclude that behavioral biases induced by masked emotional expressions are not ephemeral, but rather can last at least 24 hours. PMID:19695907

Exogenous attentional capture by subliminal abrupt-onset cues: evidence from contrast-polarity independent cueing effects.

PubMed

Fuchs, Isabella; Theeuwes, Jan; Ansorge, Ulrich

2013-08-01

In the present study, we tested whether subliminal abrupt-onset cues capture attention in a bottom-up or top-down controlled manner. For our tests, we varied the searched-for target-contrast polarity (i.e., dark or light targets against a gray background) over four experiments. In line with the bottom-up hypothesis, our results indicate that subliminal-onset cues capture attention independently of the searched-for target-contrast polarity (Experiment 1), and this effect is not stronger for targets that matched the searched-for target-contrast polarity (Experiment 2). In fact, even to-be-ignored cues associated with a no-go response captured attention in a salience-driven way (Experiment 3). For supraliminal cues, we found attentional capture only by cues with a matching contrast polarity, reflecting contingent capture (Experiment 4). The results point toward a specific role of subliminal abrupt onsets for attentional capture. 2013 APA, all rights reserved

Fear conditioning to subliminal fear relevant and non fear relevant stimuli.

PubMed

Lipp, Ottmar V; Kempnich, Clare; Jee, Sang Hoon; Arnold, Derek H

2014-01-01

A growing body of evidence suggests that conscious visual awareness is not a prerequisite for human fear learning. For instance, humans can learn to be fearful of subliminal fear relevant images--images depicting stimuli thought to have been fear relevant in our evolutionary context, such as snakes, spiders, and angry human faces. Such stimuli could have a privileged status in relation to manipulations used to suppress usually salient images from awareness, possibly due to the existence of a designated sub-cortical 'fear module'. Here we assess this proposition, and find it wanting. We use binocular masking to suppress awareness of images of snakes and wallabies (particularly cute, non-threatening marsupials). We find that subliminal presentations of both classes of image can induce differential fear conditioning. These data show that learning, as indexed by fear conditioning, is neither contingent on conscious visual awareness nor on subliminal conditional stimuli being fear relevant.

Who does Red Bull give wings to? Sensation seeking moderates sensitivity to subliminal advertisement

PubMed Central

Bustin, Gaëlle M.; Jones, Daniel N.; Hansenne, Michel; Quoidbach, Jordi

2015-01-01

This study assessed whether subliminal priming of a brand name of a drink can affect people’s choices for the primed brand, and whether this effect is moderated by personality traits. Participants with different levels of sensation seeking were presented subliminally with the words Red Bull or Lde Ublr. Results revealed that being exposed to Red Bull lead on average to small increases in participants’ preferences for the primed brand. However, this effect was twice as strong for participants high in sensation seeking and did not occur for participants low in sensation seeking. Going beyond previous research showing that situational factors (e.g., thirst, fatigue…) can increase people’s sensitivity to subliminal advertisement, our results suggest that some dispositional factors could have the same potentiating effect. These findings highlight the necessity of taking personality into account in non-conscious persuasion research. PMID:26150795

Test-retest reliability of subliminal facial affective priming.

PubMed

Dannlowski, Udo; Suslow, Thomas

2006-02-01

Since the seminal 1993 demonstrations o f Murphy an d Zajonc, researchers have replicated and extended findings concerning subliminal affective priming. So far, however, no data on test-retest reliability of affective priming effects are available. A subliminal facial affective priming task was administered to 22 healthy individuals (15 women and 7 men) twice about 7 wk. apart. Happy and sad facial expressions were used as affective primes and neutral Chinese ideographs served as target masks, which had to be evaluated. Neutral facial primes and a no-face condition served as baselines. All participants reported not having seen any of the prime faces at either testing session. Priming scores for affective faces compared to the baselines were computed. Acceptable test-retest correlations (rs) of up to .74 were found for the affective priming scores. Although measured almost 2 mo. apart, subliminal affective priming seems to be a temporally stable effect.

Detecting Analogies Unconsciously

PubMed Central

Reber, Thomas P.; Luechinger, Roger; Boesiger, Peter; Henke, Katharina

2014-01-01

Analogies may arise from the conscious detection of similarities between a present and a past situation. In this functional magnetic resonance imaging study, we tested whether young volunteers would detect analogies unconsciously between a current supraliminal (visible) and a past subliminal (invisible) situation. The subliminal encoding of the past situation precludes awareness of analogy detection in the current situation. First, participants encoded subliminal pairs of unrelated words in either one or nine encoding trials. Later, they judged the semantic fit of supraliminally presented new words that either retained a previously encoded semantic relation (“analog”) or not (“broken analog”). Words in analogs versus broken analogs were judged closer semantically, which indicates unconscious analogy detection. Hippocampal activity associated with subliminal encoding correlated with the behavioral measure of unconscious analogy detection. Analogs versus broken analogs were processed with reduced prefrontal but enhanced medial temporal activity. We conclude that analogous episodes can be detected even unconsciously drawing on the episodic memory network. PMID:24478656

Subliminal speech perception and auditory streaming.

PubMed

Dupoux, Emmanuel; de Gardelle, Vincent; Kouider, Sid

2008-11-01

Current theories of consciousness assume a qualitative dissociation between conscious and unconscious processing: while subliminal stimuli only elicit a transient activity, supraliminal stimuli have long-lasting influences. Nevertheless, the existence of this qualitative distinction remains controversial, as past studies confounded awareness and stimulus strength (energy, duration). Here, we used a masked speech priming method in conjunction with a submillisecond interaural delay manipulation to contrast subliminal and supraliminal processing at constant prime, mask and target strength. This delay induced a perceptual streaming effect, with the prime popping out in the supraliminal condition. By manipulating the prime-target interval (ISI), we show a qualitatively distinct profile of priming longevity as a function of prime awareness. While subliminal priming disappeared after half a second, supraliminal priming was independent of ISI. This shows that the distinction between conscious and unconscious processing depends on high-level perceptual streaming factors rather than low-level features (energy, duration).

Subliminal Gender Stereotypes: Who Can Resist?

PubMed

van Breen, Jolien A; Spears, Russell; Kuppens, Toon; de Lemus, Soledad

2018-05-01

We examine women's responses to subliminal gender stereotypes, that is, stereotypes present outside conscious awareness. Previous research suggests that subtle stereotypes elicit acceptance and assimilation, but we predict that subliminal exposure to gender stereotypes will trigger resistance in some women. Specifically, we expect resistance to occur among women who are relatively strongly identified with feminists, but not with the broader group of women. We predict that resistance takes the form of persistence in stereotypically masculine domains and (implicit) in-group bias. Indeed, we found that subliminal exposure to stereotypes (vs. counter-stereotypes) led women who identify relatively strongly with feminists, but less strongly with women, to (a) persist in a math task, (b) show increased willingness to sacrifice men in a Moral Choice Dilemma task, and (c) show implicit in-group bias on an evaluative priming task. This evidence of resistance suggests that members of devalued groups are more resilient than previously thought.

Subliminal mere exposure: specific, general, and diffuse effects.

PubMed

Monahan, J L; Murphy, S T; Zajonc, R B

2000-11-01

The present research examined the possibility that repeated exposure may simultaneously produce specific and diffuse effects. In Study 1, participants were presented with 5-ms exposures of 25 stimuli each shown once (single-exposure condition) or with five repetitions of 5 stimuli (repeated-exposure condition). Participants in the repeated-exposure condition subsequently rated their own mood more positively than those in the single-exposure condition. Study 2 examined whether affect generated by subliminal repeated exposures transfers to unrelated stimuli. After a subliminal exposure phase, affective reactions to previously exposed stimuli, to new but similar stimuli, and to stimuli from a different category were obtained. Previously exposed stimuli were rated most positively and novel different stimuli least positively. All stimuli were rated more positively in the repeated-exposure condition than in the single-exposure condition. These findings suggest that affect generated by subliminal repeated exposure is sufficiently diffuse to influence ratings of unrelated stimuli and mood.

Long-lasting effects of subliminal affective priming from facial expressions.

PubMed

Sweeny, Timothy D; Grabowecky, Marcia; Suzuki, Satoru; Paller, Ken A

2009-12-01

Unconscious processing of stimuli with emotional content can bias affective judgments. Is this subliminal affective priming merely a transient phenomenon manifested in fleeting perceptual changes, or are long-lasting effects also induced? To address this question, we investigated memory for surprise faces 24 h after they had been shown with 30-ms fearful, happy, or neutral faces. Surprise faces subliminally primed by happy faces were initially rated as more positive, and were later remembered better, than those primed by fearful or neutral faces. Participants likely to have processed primes supraliminally did not respond differentially as a function of expression. These results converge with findings showing memory advantages with happy expressions, though here the expressions were displayed on the face of a different person, perceived subliminally, and not present at test. We conclude that behavioral biases induced by masked emotional expressions are not ephemeral, but rather can last at least 24 h.

Neural Correlates of Subliminal Language Processing.

PubMed

Axelrod, Vadim; Bar, Moshe; Rees, Geraint; Yovel, Galit

2015-08-01

Language is a high-level cognitive function, so exploring the neural correlates of unconscious language processing is essential for understanding the limits of unconscious processing in general. The results of several functional magnetic resonance imaging studies have suggested that unconscious lexical and semantic processing is confined to the posterior temporal lobe, without involvement of the frontal lobe-the regions that are indispensable for conscious language processing. However, previous studies employed a similarly designed masked priming paradigm with briefly presented single and contextually unrelated words. It is thus possible, that the stimulation level was insufficiently strong to be detected in the high-level frontal regions. Here, in a high-resolution fMRI and multivariate pattern analysis study we explored the neural correlates of subliminal language processing using a novel paradigm, where written meaningful sentences were suppressed from awareness for extended duration using continuous flash suppression. We found that subjectively and objectively invisible meaningful sentences and unpronounceable nonwords could be discriminated not only in the left posterior superior temporal sulcus (STS), but critically, also in the left middle frontal gyrus. We conclude that frontal lobes play a role in unconscious language processing and that activation of the frontal lobes per se might not be sufficient for achieving conscious awareness. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press.

Influence of positive subliminal and supraliminal affective cues on goal pursuit in schizophrenia.

PubMed

Chaillou, Anne-Clémence; Giersch, Anne; Bonnefond, Anne; Custers, Ruud; Capa, Rémi L

2015-02-01

Goal pursuit is known to be impaired in schizophrenia, but nothing much is known in these patients about unconscious affective processes underlying goal pursuit. Evidence suggests that in healthy individuals positive subliminal cues are taken as a signal that goal pursuit is easy and therefore reduce the effort that is mobilized for goal attainment. Patients with schizophrenia and healthy controls were instructed that a long run of successive correct responses in a visual attention task would entitle them to a reward (the goal to attain). Affective pictures were displayed supraliminally or subliminally during each run and electrophysiological activity was recorded. Patients self-assessed the emotional content of the pictures correctly. However, differences between patients and controls emerged during the goal pursuit task. Healthy controls mobilized less effort for the positive than the neutral subliminal pictures, as suggested by increased error rates and the weaker contingent negative variation (CNV). For the patients, no influence of positive subliminal pictures was found on performance and on the CNV. Similarly the influence of positive pictures was absent or abnormal on components which are usually impaired in patients (fronto-central P2 and N2). In contrast, positive pictures influenced normally the parieto-occipital N2, related to a component of visual attention which has been proposed to be preserved in schizophrenia. The present study indicates the difficulties of patients to modulate effort mobilization during goal pursuit in the presence of positive subliminal cues. The results question the role of cognitive deficits on affective influences. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The effects of an auditory subliminal message upon the production of images and dreams.

PubMed

Kaser, V A

1986-07-01

The purpose of this research was to investigate what effect an auditory subliminal message, produced by speeding up the rate at which it was recorded, would have upon the imagery and dreams of a group of normal subjects. The auditory subliminal message was produced by speeding up a message that was sung until it could not be consciously understood. This message was mixed with a normal music recording and played to nine subjects in the experimental group. Nine subjects in the control group heard the normal music recording without the subliminal message. Both groups were asked to produce a pretest drawing before the tapes were played, an imagery drawing immediately after the tapes were played, and a dream drawing of any dreams they might have that night. A statistical analysis was performed from data collected on blind ratings given to all the drawings by two art therapists. The results indicated a significant difference between the dream drawings and the imagery drawings of the experimental group and the control group. When the drawings were examined, the effect of the subliminal message could be seen. Based on the statistical data and certain drawings collected in this study, it would appear that the auditory subliminal message did have an effect upon the imagery and dreams of the subjects in the experimental group. The results of this study appear to indicate that the unconscious/preconscious mind is able to perceive a recorded verbal message that cannot be consciously understood at the high rate of speed at which it was recorded.

Hemisphericity, Cognitive Set, and Susceptibility to Subliminal Perception

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sackeim, Harold A.; And Others

1977-01-01

Examines the role of hemisphericity, that is, the tendency habitually to activate one or the other cerebral hemispheres regardless of the appropriateness of that hemisphere for task demands, and cognitive set as moderating variables in susceptibility to subliminal perception. (Author/RK)

Subliminal Speech Perception and Auditory Streaming

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dupoux, Emmanuel; de Gardelle, Vincent; Kouider, Sid

2008-01-01

Current theories of consciousness assume a qualitative dissociation between conscious and unconscious processing: while subliminal stimuli only elicit a transient activity, supraliminal stimuli have long-lasting influences. Nevertheless, the existence of this qualitative distinction remains controversial, as past studies confounded awareness and…

Effects of subliminally presented auditory suggestions of itching on scratching behavior.

PubMed

Mitchell, C W

1995-02-01

This study investigated effects of masked verbal suggestions of itching, utilizing a design closely analogous to commercially available subliminal audiotapes. Students participated in 1 of 3 groups (n = 21): an experimental group listened to an audiotape with music masking suggestions of itching, Control Group 1 listened to an audiotape with music only, and Control Group 2 listened to suggestions of itching presented supraliminally. Dependent variables included both behavioral and self-report measures of itching. There was no evidence of influence from subliminal suggestion; however, results assessing the influence of supraliminally presented suggestions were mixed for self-report and behavioral measures.

The Basal Ganglia Striosomes Affect the Modulation of Conflicts by Subliminal Information-Evidence from X-Linked Dystonia Parkinsonism.

PubMed

Beste, Christian; Mückschel, Moritz; Rosales, Raymond; Domingo, Aloysius; Lee, Lillian; Ng, Arlene; Klein, Christine; Münchau, Alexander

2018-07-01

Cognitive control is relevant when distracting information induces behavioral conflicts. Such conflicts can be produced consciously and by subliminally processed information. Interestingly, both sources of conflict interact suggesting that they share neural mechanisms. Here, we ask whether conjoint effects between different sources of conflict are modulated by microstructural basal ganglia dysfunction. To this end, we carried out an electroencephalography study and examined event-related potentials (ERPs) including source localization using a combined flanker-subliminal priming task in patients with X-linked dystonia Parkinsonism (XDP) and a group of healthy controls. XDP in its early stages is known to predominantly affect the basal ganglia striosomes. The results suggest that conjoint effects between subliminal and conscious sources of conflicts are modulated by the striosomes and were stronger in XDP patients. The neurophysiological data indicate that this effect is related to modulations in conflict monitoring and response selection (N2 ERP) mechanisms engaging the anterior cingulate cortex. Bottom-up perceptual gating, attentional selection, and motor response activation processes in response to the stimuli (P1, N1, and lateralized readiness potential ERPs) were unaffected. Taken together, these data indicate that striosomes modulate the processing of conscious and subliminal sources of conflict suggesting that microstructural basal ganglia properties are relevant for cognitive control.

Exposure to subliminal arousing stimuli induces robust activation in the amygdala, hippocampus, anterior cingulate, insular cortex and primary visual cortex: a systematic meta-analysis of fMRI studies.

PubMed

Brooks, S J; Savov, V; Allzén, E; Benedict, C; Fredriksson, R; Schiöth, H B

2012-02-01

Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) demonstrates that the subliminal presentation of arousing stimuli can activate subcortical brain regions independently of consciousness-generating top-down cortical modulation loops. Delineating these processes may elucidate mechanisms for arousal, aberration in which may underlie some psychiatric conditions. Here we are the first to review and discuss four Activation Likelihood Estimation (ALE) meta-analyses of fMRI studies using subliminal paradigms. We find a maximum of 9 out of 12 studies using subliminal presentation of faces contributing to activation of the amygdala, and also a significantly high number of studies reporting activation in the bilateral anterior cingulate, bilateral insular cortex, hippocampus and primary visual cortex. Subliminal faces are the strongest modality, whereas lexical stimuli are the weakest. Meta-analyses independent of studies using Regions of Interest (ROI) revealed no biasing effect. Core neuronal arousal in the brain, which may be at first independent of conscious processing, potentially involves a network incorporating primary visual areas, somatosensory, implicit memory and conflict monitoring regions. These data could provide candidate brain regions for the study of psychiatric disorders associated with aberrant automatic emotional processing. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Space-Valence Priming with Subliminal and Supraliminal Words

PubMed Central

Ansorge, Ulrich; Khalid, Shah; König, Peter

2013-01-01

To date it is unclear whether (1) awareness-independent non-evaluative semantic processes influence affective semantics and whether (2) awareness-independent affective semantics influence non-evaluative semantic processing. In the current study, we investigated these questions with the help of subliminal (masked) primes and visible targets in a space-valence across-category congruence effect. In line with (1), we found that subliminal space prime words influenced valence classification of supraliminal target words (Experiment 1): classifications were faster with a congruent prime (e.g., the prime “up” before the target “happy”) than with an incongruent prime (e.g., the prime “up” before the target “sad”). In contrast to (2), no influence of subliminal valence primes on the classification of supraliminal space targets into up- and down-words was found (Experiment 2). Control conditions showed that standard masked response priming effects were found with both subliminal prime types, and that an across-category congruence effect was also found with supraliminal valence primes and spatial target words. The final Experiment 3 confirmed that the across-category congruence effect indeed reflected priming of target categorization of a relevant meaning category. Together, the data jointly confirmed prediction (1) that awareness-independent non-evaluative semantic priming influences valence judgments. PMID:23439863

Subliminal enhancement of predictive effects during syntactic processing in the left inferior frontal gyrus: an MEG study

PubMed Central

Iijima, Kazuki; Sakai, Kuniyoshi L.

2014-01-01

Predictive syntactic processing plays an essential role in language comprehension. In our previous study using Japanese object-verb (OV) sentences, we showed that the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) responses to a verb increased at 120–140 ms after the verb onset, indicating predictive effects caused by a preceding object. To further elucidate the automaticity of the predictive effects in the present magnetoencephalography study, we examined whether a subliminally presented verb (“subliminal verb”) enhanced the predictive effects on the sentence-final verb (“target verb”) unconsciously, i.e., without awareness. By presenting a subliminal verb after the object, enhanced predictive effects on the target verb would be detected in the OV sentences when the transitivity of the target verb matched with that of the subliminal verb (“congruent condition”), because the subliminal verb just after the object could determine the grammaticality of the sentence. For the OV sentences under the congruent condition, we observed significantly increased left IFG responses at 140–160 ms after the target verb onset. In contrast, responses in the precuneus and midcingulate cortex (MCC) were significantly reduced for the OV sentences under the congruent condition at 110–140 and 280–300 ms, respectively. By using partial Granger causality analyses for the OV sentences under the congruent condition, we revealed a bidirectional interaction between the left IFG and MCC at 60–160 ms, as well as a significant influence from the MCC to the precuneus. These results indicate that a top-down influence from the left IFG to the MCC, and then to the precuneus, is critical in syntactic decisions, whereas the MCC shares its task-set information with the left IFG to achieve automatic and predictive processes of syntax. PMID:25404899

Subliminal enhancement of predictive effects during syntactic processing in the left inferior frontal gyrus: an MEG study.

PubMed

Iijima, Kazuki; Sakai, Kuniyoshi L

2014-01-01

Predictive syntactic processing plays an essential role in language comprehension. In our previous study using Japanese object-verb (OV) sentences, we showed that the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) responses to a verb increased at 120-140 ms after the verb onset, indicating predictive effects caused by a preceding object. To further elucidate the automaticity of the predictive effects in the present magnetoencephalography study, we examined whether a subliminally presented verb ("subliminal verb") enhanced the predictive effects on the sentence-final verb ("target verb") unconsciously, i.e., without awareness. By presenting a subliminal verb after the object, enhanced predictive effects on the target verb would be detected in the OV sentences when the transitivity of the target verb matched with that of the subliminal verb ("congruent condition"), because the subliminal verb just after the object could determine the grammaticality of the sentence. For the OV sentences under the congruent condition, we observed significantly increased left IFG responses at 140-160 ms after the target verb onset. In contrast, responses in the precuneus and midcingulate cortex (MCC) were significantly reduced for the OV sentences under the congruent condition at 110-140 and 280-300 ms, respectively. By using partial Granger causality analyses for the OV sentences under the congruent condition, we revealed a bidirectional interaction between the left IFG and MCC at 60-160 ms, as well as a significant influence from the MCC to the precuneus. These results indicate that a top-down influence from the left IFG to the MCC, and then to the precuneus, is critical in syntactic decisions, whereas the MCC shares its task-set information with the left IFG to achieve automatic and predictive processes of syntax.

The Evolution of Protective Covers for Army Aviation and Missile Systems

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-02-01

reaction • Softening, melting and sublimination • Viscosity reduction and evaporation • Physical expansion • Decreased MTBF • Thermal aging: oxidation...structural change, chemical reaction • Softening, melting and sublimination • Viscosity reduction and evaporation • Physical expansion • Decreased MTBF

The power of subliminal and supraliminal eye contact on social decision making: An individual-difference perspective.

PubMed

Luo, Yiqi; Zhang, Shen; Tao, Ran; Geng, Haiyan

2016-02-01

We conducted two experiments to explore how social decision making is influenced by the interaction of eye contact and social value orientation (SVO). Specifically, participants with a Prosocial (Prosocials) or a Proself (Proselfs) SVO played Prisoner Dilemma games with a computer partner following supraliminal (Experiment 1) and subliminal (Experiment 2) direct gaze from that partner. Results showed that participants made more cooperative decisions after supraliminal eye contact than no eye contact, and the effect only existed for the Prosocials but not for the Proselfs. Nevertheless, when the computer partner made a subliminal eye contact with the participants, although more cooperative choices were found among the Prosocials following subliminal eye contact, relative to no contact, the Proselfs demonstrated reduced cooperation rates. These findings suggest that Prosocials and Proselfs interpreted eye contact in distinct ways at different levels of awareness, which led to various social decision making. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Subliminal perception of others' physical pain and pleasure.

PubMed

Chiesa, Patrizia Andrea; Liuzza, Marco Tullio; Acciarino, Adriano; Aglioti, Salvatore Maria

2015-08-01

Studies indicate that explicit and implicit processing of affectively charged stimuli may be reflected in specific behavioral markers and physiological signatures. This study investigated whether the pleasantness ratings of a neutral target were affected by subliminal perception of pleasant and painful facial expressions. Participants were presented images depicting face of non-famous models being slapped (painful condition), caressed (pleasant condition) or touched (neutral condition) by the right hand of another individual. In particular, we combined the continuous flash suppression technique with the affective misattribution procedure (AMP) to explore subliminal empathic processing. Measures of pupil reactivity along with empathy traits were also collected. Results showed that participants rated the neutral target as less or more likeable congruently with the painful or pleasant facial expression presented, respectively. Pupil dilation was associated both with the implicit attitudes (AMP score) and with empathic concern. Thus, the results provide behavioral and physiological evidence that state-related empathic reactivity can occur at an entirely subliminal level and that it is linked to autonomic responses and empathic traits.

Emotional priming with facial exposures in euthymic patients with bipolar disorder.

PubMed

Kim, Taek Su; Lee, Su Young; Ha, Ra Yeon; Kim, Eosu; An, Suk Kyoon; Ha, Kyooseob; Cho, Hyun-Sang

2011-12-01

People with bipolar disorder have abnormal emotional processing. We investigated the automatic and controlled emotional processing via a priming paradigm with subliminal and supraliminal facial exposure. We compared 20 euthymic bipolar patients and 20 healthy subjects on their performance in subliminal and supraliminal tasks. Priming tasks consisted of three different primes according to facial emotions (happy, sad, and neutral) followed by a neutral face as a target stimulus. The prime stimuli were presented subliminally (17 msec) or supraliminally (1000 msec). In subliminal tasks, both patients and controls judged the neutral target face as significantly more unpleasant (negative judgment shift) when presented with negative emotion primes compared with positive primes. In supraliminal tasks, bipolar subjects showed significant negative judgment shift, whereas healthy subjects did not. There was a significant group × emotion interaction for the judgment rate in supraliminal tasks. Our finding of persistent affective priming even at conscious awareness may suggest that bipolar patients have impaired cognitive control on emotional processing rather than automatically spreading activation of emotion.

On the effect of subliminal priming on subjective perception of images: a machine learning approach.

PubMed

Kumar, Parmod; Mahmood, Faisal; Mohan, Dhanya Menoth; Wong, Ken; Agrawal, Abhishek; Elgendi, Mohamed; Shukla, Rohit; Dauwels, Justin; Chan, Alice H D

2014-01-01

The research presented in this article investigates the influence of subliminal prime words on peoples' judgment about images, through electroencephalograms (EEGs). In this cross domain priming paradigm, the participants are asked to rate how much they like the stimulus images, on a 7-point Likert scale, after being subliminally exposed to masked lexical prime words, with EEG recorded simultaneously. Statistical analysis tools are used to analyze the effect of priming on behavior, and machine learning techniques to infer the primes from EEGs. The experiment reveals strong effects of subliminal priming on the participants' explicit rating of images. The subjective judgment affected by the priming makes visible change in event-related potentials (ERPs); results show larger ERP amplitude for the negative primes compared with positive and neutral primes. In addition, Support Vector Machine (SVM) based classifiers are proposed to infer the prime types from the average ERPs, which yields a classification rate of 70%.

Mechanisms of masked priming: a meta-analysis.

PubMed

Van den Bussche, Eva; Van den Noortgate, Wim; Reynvoet, Bert

2009-05-01

The extent to which unconscious information can influence behavior has been a topic of considerable debate throughout the history of psychology. A frequently used method for studying subliminal processing is the masked priming paradigm. The authors focused on studies in which this paradigm was used. Their aim was twofold: first, to assess the magnitude of subliminal priming across the literature and to determine whether subliminal primes are processed semantically, and second, to examine potential moderators of priming effects. The authors found significant priming in their analyses, indicating that unconsciously presented information can influence behavior. Furthermore, priming was observed under circumstances in which a nonsemantic interpretation could not fully explain the effects, suggesting that subliminally presented information can be processed semantically. Nonetheless, the nonsemantic processing of primes is enhanced and priming effects are boosted when the experimental context allows the formation of automatic stimulus-response mappings. This quantitative review also revealed several moderators that influence the strength of priming. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved).

Subliminal processes, dissociation and the 'I'.

PubMed

Bob, Petr

2003-06-01

The study of unconscious processes leads to the hypothesis of the limit of consciousness, which involves two main kinds of psychic activity. The first represents psychic contents which are subliminal for their low energy, the second subliminal contents which are inaccessible to consciousness because they are dissociated in the subliminal region. Dissociation is a concept introduced by Pierre Janet for splitting consciousness due to traumatic events or during hypnosis. It takes a more general form in Hilgard's neo-dissociation theory of hypnotic phenomena and also in Jung's theory of the collective unconscious. Further generalization links it to the modern findings of explicit and implicit perception, leading to a shift in dissociation from hypothesis to clinical, experimental and theoretical reality. Studies in hypnosis also point to the existence of an integrative psychic entity, that comprises the conscious 'I'. Hilgard called this the hidden observer, and his findings represent empirical confirmation of Jung's term for the Self as mirror 'I', which leads to many important consequences for self-discovery and the meaning of life.

Sleepiness induced by sleep-debt enhanced amygdala activity for subliminal signals of fear.

PubMed

Motomura, Yuki; Kitamura, Shingo; Oba, Kentaro; Terasawa, Yuri; Enomoto, Minori; Katayose, Yasuko; Hida, Akiko; Moriguchi, Yoshiya; Higuchi, Shigekazu; Mishima, Kazuo

2014-08-19

Emotional information is frequently processed below the level of consciousness, where subcortical regions of the brain are thought to play an important role. In the absence of conscious visual experience, patients with visual cortex damage discriminate the valence of emotional expression. Even in healthy individuals, a subliminal mechanism can be utilized to compensate for a functional decline in visual cognition of various causes such as strong sleepiness. In this study, sleep deprivation was simulated in healthy individuals to investigate functional alterations in the subliminal processing of emotional information caused by reduced conscious visual cognition and attention due to an increase in subjective sleepiness. Fourteen healthy adult men participated in a within-subject crossover study consisting of a 5-day session of sleep debt (SD, 4-h sleep) and a 5-day session of sleep control (SC, 8-h sleep). On the last day of each session, participants performed an emotional face-viewing task that included backward masking of nonconscious presentations during magnetic resonance scanning. Finally, data from eleven participants who were unaware of nonconscious face presentations were analyzed. In fear contrasts, subjective sleepiness was significantly positively correlated with activity in the amygdala, ventromedial prefrontal cortex, hippocampus, and insular cortex, and was significantly negatively correlated with the secondary and tertiary visual areas and the fusiform face area. In fear-neutral contrasts, subjective sleepiness was significantly positively correlated with activity of the bilateral amygdala. Further, changes in subjective sleepiness (the difference between the SC and SD sessions) were correlated with both changes in amygdala activity and functional connectivity between the amygdala and superior colliculus in response to subliminal fearful faces. Sleepiness induced functional decline in the brain areas involved in conscious visual cognition of facial expressions, but also enhanced subliminal emotional processing via superior colliculus as represented by activity in the amygdala. These findings suggest that an evolutionally old and auxiliary subliminal hazard perception system is activated as a compensatory mechanism when conscious visual cognition is impaired. In addition, enhancement of subliminal emotional processing might cause involuntary emotional instability during sleep debt through changes in emotional response to or emotional evaluation of external stimuli.

Psychophysiological changes following auditory subliminal suggestions for activation and deactivation.

PubMed

Borgeat, F; Goulet, J

1983-06-01

This study was to measure eventual psychophysiological changes resulting from auditory subliminal activation or deactivation suggestions. 18 subjects were alternately exposed to a control situation and to 25-dB activating and deactivating suggestions masked by a 40-dB white noise. Physiological measures (EMG, heart rate, skin-conductance levels and responses, and skin temperature) were recorded while subjects listened passively to the suggestions, during a stressing task that followed and after that task. Multivariate analysis of variance showed a significant effect of the activation subliminal suggestions during and following the stressing task. This result is discussed as indicating effects of consciously unrecognized perceptions on psychophysiological responses.

Spatiotemporal commonalities of fronto-parietal activation in attentional orienting triggered by supraliminal and subliminal gaze cues: An event-related potential study.

PubMed

Uono, Shota; Sato, Wataru; Sawada, Reiko; Kochiyama, Takanori; Toichi, Motomi

2018-05-04

Eye gaze triggers attentional shifts with and without conscious awareness. It remains unclear whether the spatiotemporal patterns of electric neural activity are the same for conscious and unconscious attentional shifts. Thus, the present study recorded event-related potentials (ERPs) and evaluated the neural activation involved in attentional orienting induced by subliminal and supraliminal gaze cues. Nonpredictive gaze cues were presented in the central field of vision, and participants were asked to detect a subsequent peripheral target. The mean reaction time was shorter for congruent gaze cues than for incongruent gaze cues under both presentation conditions, indicating that both types of cues reliably trigger attentional orienting. The ERP analysis revealed that averted versus straight gaze induced greater negative deflection in the bilateral fronto-central and temporal regions between 278 and 344 ms under both supraliminal and subliminal presentation conditions. Supraliminal cues, irrespective of gaze direction, induced a greater negative amplitude than did subliminal cues at the right posterior cortices at a peak of approximately 170 ms and in the 200-300 ms. These results suggest that similar spatial and temporal fronto-parietal activity is involved in attentional orienting triggered by both supraliminal and subliminal gaze cues, although inputs from different visual processing routes (cortical and subcortical regions) may trigger activity in the attentional network. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Neural evidence for the subliminal processing of facial trustworthiness in infancy.

PubMed

Jessen, Sarah; Grossmann, Tobias

2017-04-22

Face evaluation is thought to play a vital role in human social interactions. One prominent aspect is the evaluation of facial signs of trustworthiness, which has been shown to occur reliably, rapidly, and without conscious awareness in adults. Recent developmental work indicates that the sensitivity to facial trustworthiness has early ontogenetic origins as it can already be observed in infancy. However, it is unclear whether infants' sensitivity to facial signs of trustworthiness relies upon conscious processing of a face or, similar to adults, occurs also in response to subliminal faces. To investigate this question, we conducted an event-related brain potential (ERP) study, in which we presented 7-month-old infants with faces varying in trustworthiness. Facial stimuli were presented subliminally (below infants' face visibility threshold) for only 50ms and then masked by presenting a scrambled face image. Our data revealed that infants' ERP responses to subliminally presented faces differed as a function of trustworthiness. Specifically, untrustworthy faces elicited an enhanced negative slow wave (800-1000ms) at frontal and central electrodes. The current findings critically extend prior work by showing that, similar to adults, infants' neural detection of facial signs of trustworthiness occurs also in response to subliminal face. This supports the view that detecting facial trustworthiness is an early developing and automatic process in humans. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Subliminal Advertising and Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zanot, Eric J.; Maddox, Lynda M.

Claims that the academic community ignores the subject of subliminal advertising led to a study designed to ascertain the degree to which the topic is introduced in the classroom, what opinions professors offer concerning it, and the source with which they acquaint their students. A questionnaire containing a series of open- and close-ended…

Can Subliminal Influence Be Applied To Education/Training?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ogunyemi, Olatunde

1993-01-01

Explores the use of subliminal influence, where embedded stimuli, too small or too vague to be consciously recognized, are placed within text to influence student learning. Examines the technique's ability to improve learning/performance. Addresses such issues as the legality of using the technique, responsibilities of the trainer/instructor, and…

Review of the Subliminal Psychodynamic Activation Method.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hoffman, Janice Sue

The subliminal psychodynamic activation method (SPA), used in testing psychoanalytic propositions, has been subject to recent criticisms regarding methodological weaknesses. A review of the literature relating to this method can be helpful in determining the validity of these criticisms and the potential usefulness of the SPA method in testing…

Perceptual and Subliminal Communication: A Business Teacher's Dream.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gratz, Elizabeth W.; Gratz, J. E.

1983-01-01

Aims to increase awareness of and sensitivity to perceptual and subliminal communication by focusing on selected applications of them in present day society. The basic theories are (1) communication is used to try to change a person's behavior and (2) it is being used primarily for deception rather than information. (JOW)

Subliminal Self-Help Tapes and Academic Achievement: An Evaluation.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Russell, Tanya G.; And Others

1991-01-01

Investigated marketing claims of effectiveness in improving academic achievement through use of commercially prepared subliminal audiotapes in college students assigned to active treatment group (n=25), inactive treatment group (n=26), or control group (n=22). No treatment differences were found on final examination scores from class and current…

[The effects of subliminal and supraliminal presentation of trait-related words on person perception].

PubMed

Mori, T; Sakamoto, A

1997-12-01

The present experiment was conducted to investigate how prior information affects subsequent person perception and when perceivers can control such an effect. One of three types of trait related words (i.e., hostility-related, friendliness-related, and neutral words) was subliminally or supraliminally presented to subjects, and subsequently, subjects rated the impression of four targets: a hostile person, a friendly person, a neutral person and themselves. Although results did not show that supraliminally presented words affected targets' impressions, they showed that the impressions sometimes varied with the valence of subliminally presented words regardless of targets' valence. The mechanism and controllability of priming effects in person perception were discussed.

The Effects of Noxious Subliminal Suggestion upon Smoking Attitudes and Behavior.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dutto, Franklin N.; Galli, Nicholas

The efforts of smoking cessation programs have met with various degrees of success and fresh approaches to the problem are needed. An innovative technique that interrupts the psychogenic drives of smokers was employed to determine the effect of noxious subliminal suggestion on smoking attitudes and behavior. Adult smokers (N=60) were shown…

Subliminal Priming of Actions Influences Sense of Control over Effects of Action

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wenke, Dorit; Fleming, Stephen M.; Haggard, Patrick

2010-01-01

The experience of controlling one's own actions, and through them events in the outside world, is a pervasive feature of human mental life. Two experiments investigated the relation between this sense of control and the internal processes involved in action selection and cognitive control. Action selection was manipulated by subliminally priming…

Intensifying the Dominant Response II: Nonconscious Negative Affect, Cognitive Demand, and Conversations.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Monahan, Jennifer L.; Laliker, Melanie

2002-01-01

Examines mechanisms that may account for why evaluations made by participants involved in conversations are more influenced by subliminal negative cues than are evaluations made by observers. Explains three studies in which subliminal priming tasks were used with differing cognitive loads and self-preservation concerns among a group of…

Testing the Theory of Embodied Cognition with Subliminal Words

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ansorge, Ulrich; Kiefer, Marcus; Khalid, Shah; Grassl, Sylvia; Konig, Peter

2010-01-01

In the current study, we tested the embodied cognition theory (ECT). The ECT postulates mandatory sensorimotor processing of words when accessing their meaning. We test that prediction by investigating whether invisible (i.e., subliminal) spatial words activate responses based on their long-term and short-term meaning. Masking of the words is used…

Dissociations of subliminal and supraliminal self-face from other-face processing: behavioral and ERP evidence.

PubMed

Geng, Haiyan; Zhang, Shen; Li, Qi; Tao, Ran; Xu, Shan

2012-10-01

Self-related information has been found to be processed more quickly and accurately in studies with supraliminal self-stimuli and traditional paradigms such as masked priming. We conducted two experiments to investigate whether subliminal self-face processing enjoys this advantage and the neural correlates of processing self-faces at both subliminal and supraliminal levels. We found that self-faces were quicker than famous-other faces to gain dominance against dynamic noise patterns during prolonged interocular suppression to enter awareness (Experiment 1). Meanwhile, subliminal contrast of self- and famous-other face processing was reflected in a reduced early vertex positive potential (VPP) component, whereas supraliminal self-other face differentiation was reflected in an enhanced N170, as well as a more positive late component (300-580ms, Experiment 2) to the self-face. The clear dissociations of self- and other-face processing found across our two experiments validate the self advantage. Our findings also contribute to understandings of the mechanisms underlying self-face processing at different levels of awareness. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The cerebral correlates of subliminal emotions: an eleoencephalographic study with emotional hybrid faces.

PubMed

Prete, Giulia; Capotosto, Paolo; Zappasodi, Filippo; Laeng, Bruno; Tommasi, Luca

2015-12-01

In a high-resolution electroencephalographic study, participants evaluated the friendliness level of upright and inverted 'hybrid faces', i.e. facial photos containing a subliminal emotional core in the low spatial frequencies (< 6 cycles/image), superimposed on a neutral expression in the rest of the spatial frequencies. Upright happy and angry faces were judged as more friendly or less friendly than neutral faces, respectively. We observed the time course of cerebral correlates of these stimuli with event-related potentials (ERPs), confirming that hybrid faces elicited the posterior emotion-related and face-related components (P1, N170 and P2), previously shown to be engaged by non-subliminal emotional stimuli. In addition, these components were stronger in the right hemisphere and were both enhanced and delayed by face inversion. A frontal positivity (210-300 ms) was stronger for emotional than for neutral faces, and for upright than for inverted faces. Hence, hybrid faces represent an original approach in the study of subliminal emotions, which appears promising for investigating their electrophysiological correlates. © 2015 Federation of European Neuroscience Societies and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Prior cognitive activity implicitly modulates subsequent emotional responses to subliminally presented emotional stimuli.

PubMed

Iida, Saea; Nakao, Takashi; Ohira, Hideki

2012-06-01

It has been reported that engagement in several kinds of cognitive activity can successfully inhibit unpleasant emotions. In this study, we tried to replicate the previous finding that cognitive activity can modulate subsequent psychological and physiological emotional processes and to investigate whether prior cognitive activity can attenuate implicit emotional processes triggered by subliminal emotional stimuli. Sixty students were randomly divided into three groups (cognitive task group, noncognitive task group, control group). The cognitive task group was asked to engage in an n-back task, while the control group was asked to stay calm. The noncognitive task group was asked to do a handgrip-squeezing task. All participants then engaged in a version of a subliminal affective priming task where they were unconsciously exposed to affectively negative pictures. The cognitive task group showed lower negative experiences after the subliminal affective priming task and a substantial reduction in their heart rate responses, as compared with the other groups. These results provide evidence that engagement in cognitive activity can attenuate emotional processes in an automatic and unconscious manner.

Stimulus-driven attentional capture by subliminal onset cues.

PubMed

Schoeberl, Tobias; Fuchs, Isabella; Theeuwes, Jan; Ansorge, Ulrich

2015-04-01

In two experiments, we tested whether subliminal abrupt onset cues capture attention in a stimulus-driven way. An onset cue was presented 16 ms prior to the stimulus display that consisted of clearly visible color targets. The onset cue was presented either at the same side as the target (the valid cue condition) or on the opposite side of the target (the invalid cue condition). Because the onset cue was presented 16 ms before other placeholders were presented, the cue was subliminal to the participant. To ensure that this subliminal cue captured attention in a stimulus-driven way, the cue's features did not match the top-down attentional control settings of the participants: (1) The color of the cue was always different than the color of the non-singleton targets ensuring that a top-down set for a specific color or for a singleton would not match the cue, and (2) colored targets and distractors had the same objective luminance (measured by the colorimeter) and subjective lightness (measured by flicker photometry), preventing a match between the top-down set for target and cue contrast. Even though a match between the cues and top-down settings was prevented, in both experiments, the cues captured attention, with faster response times in valid than invalid cue conditions (Experiments 1 and 2) and faster response times in valid than the neutral conditions (Experiment 2). The results support the conclusion that subliminal cues capture attention in a stimulus-driven way.

Non-conscious visual cues related to affect and action alter perception of effort and endurance performance

PubMed Central

Blanchfield, Anthony; Hardy, James; Marcora, Samuele

2014-01-01

The psychobiological model of endurance performance proposes that endurance performance is determined by a decision-making process based on perception of effort and potential motivation. Recent research has reported that effort-based decision-making during cognitive tasks can be altered by non-conscious visual cues relating to affect and action. The effects of these non-conscious visual cues on effort and performance during physical tasks are however unknown. We report two experiments investigating the effects of subliminal priming with visual cues related to affect and action on perception of effort and endurance performance. In Experiment 1 thirteen individuals were subliminally primed with happy or sad faces as they cycled to exhaustion in a counterbalanced and randomized crossover design. A paired t-test (happy vs. sad faces) revealed that individuals cycled significantly longer (178 s, p = 0.04) when subliminally primed with happy faces. A 2 × 5 (condition × iso-time) ANOVA also revealed a significant main effect of condition on rating of perceived exertion (RPE) during the time to exhaustion (TTE) test with lower RPE when subjects were subliminally primed with happy faces (p = 0.04). In Experiment 2, a single-subject randomization tests design found that subliminal priming with action words facilitated a significantly longer TTE (399 s, p = 0.04) in comparison to inaction words. Like Experiment 1, this greater TTE was accompanied by a significantly lower RPE (p = 0.03). These experiments are the first to show that subliminal visual cues relating to affect and action can alter perception of effort and endurance performance. Non-conscious visual cues may therefore influence the effort-based decision-making process that is proposed to determine endurance performance. Accordingly, the findings raise notable implications for individuals who may encounter such visual cues during endurance competitions, training, or health related exercise. PMID:25566014

[Feasibility of auditory cortical stimulation for the treatment of tinnitus. Three case reports].

PubMed

Litré, C-F; Giersky, F; Theret, E; Leveque, M; Peruzzi, P; Rousseaux, P

2010-08-01

Tinnitus is a public health issue in France. Around 1 % of the population is affected and 30,000 people are handicapped in their daily life. The treatments available for disabling tinnitus have until now been disappointing. We report our experience on the treatment of these patients in neurosurgery. Between 2006 and 2008, transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) was performed following several supraliminal and subliminal protocols in 16 patients whose mean age was 47 years (range, 35-71). All patients underwent anatomical and functional MRI of the auditory cortex before and 18 h after rTMS, to straddle the primary and secondary auditory cortices. All patients underwent audiometric testing by an ENT physician. Nine patients responded with rTMS. After these investigations, two quadrapolar electrodes (Resume), connected to a stimulating device implanted under the skin (Synergy, from Medtronic), were extradurally implanted in three patients. The electrodes were placed between the primary and secondary auditory cortices. The mean follow-up was 25 months and significant improvement was found in these patients. The feasibility of cortical stimulation in symptomatic treatment of tinnitus was demonstrated by this preparatory work. The intermediate- and long-term therapeutic effects remain to be evaluated. Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Subliminal Advertising: Is it Still Being Taught in Advertising Programs?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Applegate, Edd

In 1974, 1976, and 1980 three best-selling books were published by Prentice Hall authored by Wilson Bryan Key. Key adopted the viewpoint that subliminal perception was a new phenomenon and that advertisers and advertising agencies were involved in manipulation of the public with the cooperation of the mass media. This study asks whether professors…

Subliminal Priming-State of the Art and Future Perspectives.

PubMed

Elgendi, Mohamed; Kumar, Parmod; Barbic, Skye; Howard, Newton; Abbott, Derek; Cichocki, Andrzej

2018-05-30

The influence of subliminal priming (behavior outside of awareness) in humans is an interesting phenomenon and its understanding is crucial as it can impact behavior, choices, and actions. Given this, research about the impact of priming continues to be an area of investigative interest, and this paper provides a technical overview of research design strengths and issues in subliminal priming research. Efficient experiments and protocols, as well as associated electroencephalographic and eye movement data analyses, are discussed in detail. We highlight the strengths and weaknesses of different priming experiments that have measured affective (emotional) and cognitive responses. Finally, very recent approaches and findings are described to summarize and emphasize state-of-the-art methods and potential future directions in research marketing and other commercial applications.

Effect of subliminal visual material on an auditory signal detection task.

PubMed

Moroney, E; Bross, M

1984-02-01

An experiment assessed the effect of subliminally embedded, visual material on an auditory detection task. 22 women and 19 men were presented tachistoscopically with words designated as "emotional" or "neutral" on the basis of prior GSRs and a Word Rating List under four conditions: (a) Unembedded Neutral, (b) Embedded Neutral, (c) Unembedded Emotional, and (d) Embedded Emotional. On each trial subjects made forced choices concerning the presence or absence of an auditory tone (1000 Hz) at threshold level; hits and false alarm rates were used to compute non-parametric indices for sensitivity (A') and response bias (B"). While over-all analyses of variance yielded no significant differences, further examination of the data suggests the presence of subliminally "receptive" and "non-receptive" subpopulations.

A subliminal inhibitory mechanism for the negative compatibility effect: a continuous versus threshold mechanism.

PubMed

Liu, Peng; Chen, Xuhai; Dai, Dongyang; Wang, Yongchun; Wang, Yonghui

2014-07-01

The current study investigated the mechanism underlying subliminal inhibition using the negative compatibility effect (NCE) paradigm. We hypothesized that a decrease in prime activation affects the subsequent inhibitory process, delaying onset of inhibition and reducing its strength. Two experiments tested this hypothesis using arrow stimuli as primes and targets. Two different irrelevant masks (i.e., a mask sharing no prime features) were presented in succession in each trial to not only ensure that primes were processed subliminally, but also avoid feature updating between primes and masks. Prime/target compatibility and prime background density were manipulated in Experiment 1. Results showed that under subliminal inhibitory condition, the NCE disappears when the density increases (i.e., pixel density in the prime's background of 25 %) in Experiment 1. However, when we fixed the prime's background at the density of 25 % and manipulated prime/target compatibility as well as inter-stimuli-interval (ISI) between mask and target in Experiment 2, behavioral results showed marginally significant NCEs in the 150-ms ISI condition. Electrophysiological evidence showed the lateralized readiness potential for compatible trials was significantly more positive than that for incompatible trials during the two consecutive time windows (i.e., 400-450 and 450-500 ms) in the 150-ms ISI condition. In addition, the NCE size was significant smaller in Experiment 2 than in Experiment 1. All of the results support predictions of the continuous subliminal inhibitory mechanism hypothesis which posits that decreases in prime activation strength lead to delay in inhibitory onset and decline in inhibitory strength.

Nipping cue reactivity in the bud: baclofen prevents limbic activation elicited by subliminal drug cues.

PubMed

Young, Kimberly A; Franklin, Teresa R; Roberts, David C S; Jagannathan, Kanchana; Suh, Jesse J; Wetherill, Reagan R; Wang, Ze; Kampman, Kyle M; O'Brien, Charles P; Childress, Anna Rose

2014-04-02

Relapse is a widely recognized and difficult to treat feature of the addictions. Substantial evidence implicates cue-triggered activation of the mesolimbic dopamine system as an important contributing factor. Even drug cues presented outside of conscious awareness (i.e., subliminally) produce robust activation within this circuitry, indicating the sensitivity and vulnerability of the brain to potentially problematic reward signals. Because pharmacological agents that prevent these early cue-induced responses could play an important role in relapse prevention, we examined whether baclofen-a GABAB receptor agonist that reduces mesolimbic dopamine release and conditioned drug responses in laboratory animals-could inhibit mesolimbic activation elicited by subliminal cocaine cues in cocaine-dependent individuals. Twenty cocaine-dependent participants were randomized to receive baclofen (60 mg/d; 20 mg t.i.d.) or placebo. Event-related BOLD fMRI and a backward-masking paradigm were used to examine the effects of baclofen on subliminal cocaine (vs neutral) cues. Sexual and aversive cues were included to examine specificity. We observed that baclofen-treated participants displayed significantly less activation in response to subliminal cocaine (vs neutral) cues, but not sexual or aversive (vs neutral) cues, than placebo-treated participants in a large interconnected bilateral cluster spanning the ventral striatum, ventral pallidum, amygdala, midbrain, and orbitofrontal cortex (voxel threshold p < 0.005; cluster corrected at p < 0.05). These results suggest that baclofen may inhibit the earliest type of drug cue-induced motivational processing-that which occurs outside of awareness-before it evolves into a less manageable state.

Nipping Cue Reactivity in the Bud: Baclofen Prevents Limbic Activation Elicited by Subliminal Drug Cues

PubMed Central

Young, Kimberly A.; Franklin, Teresa R.; Roberts, David C.S.; Jagannathan, Kanchana; Suh, Jesse J.; Wetherill, Reagan R.; Wang, Ze; Kampman, Kyle M.; O'Brien, Charles P.

2014-01-01

Relapse is a widely recognized and difficult to treat feature of the addictions. Substantial evidence implicates cue-triggered activation of the mesolimbic dopamine system as an important contributing factor. Even drug cues presented outside of conscious awareness (i.e., subliminally) produce robust activation within this circuitry, indicating the sensitivity and vulnerability of the brain to potentially problematic reward signals. Because pharmacological agents that prevent these early cue-induced responses could play an important role in relapse prevention, we examined whether baclofen—a GABAB receptor agonist that reduces mesolimbic dopamine release and conditioned drug responses in laboratory animals—could inhibit mesolimbic activation elicited by subliminal cocaine cues in cocaine-dependent individuals. Twenty cocaine-dependent participants were randomized to receive baclofen (60 mg/d; 20 mg t.i.d.) or placebo. Event-related BOLD fMRI and a backward-masking paradigm were used to examine the effects of baclofen on subliminal cocaine (vs neutral) cues. Sexual and aversive cues were included to examine specificity. We observed that baclofen-treated participants displayed significantly less activation in response to subliminal cocaine (vs neutral) cues, but not sexual or aversive (vs neutral) cues, than placebo-treated participants in a large interconnected bilateral cluster spanning the ventral striatum, ventral pallidum, amygdala, midbrain, and orbitofrontal cortex (voxel threshold p < 0.005; cluster corrected at p < 0.05). These results suggest that baclofen may inhibit the earliest type of drug cue-induced motivational processing—that which occurs outside of awareness—before it evolves into a less manageable state. PMID:24695721

De Vries-Weber gain control and dark adaptation in human vision

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bouman, Maarten A.

2002-02-01

Thresholds for seeing light from a stimulus are determined by a mechanism that pairs subliminal excitations from both halves of a twin unit. Such excitations stem from a package of k>=1 receptor responses. A half-unit contains one red or one green cone and P rods. The receptor's ``Weber machine'' controls the receptor's gain. Each half of a twin unit contains a ``de Vries machine,'' which controls the half's k number. In the dark the receptor's dark noise events reset its Weber machine and the receptor's relation to its de Vries machine. A pairing product for light perception also represents a direction event. The local time signs of the two subliminal excitations are crucial for the polarity, size, and pace of the direction event. In relation to the time when and the area in which the stimulus is presented, these signs have average latency periods that depend on intensity and average locations that depend on movement. Polarity depends on which of the two subliminal excitations happens to arrive first at the twin's pairing facility. The intra- and inter-twin pairings in a persepton for the perceptions of light, edge and movement and the probability summation of the pairing products of the mutually independent three sets of twins of the retrinet improve intensity discrimination. Cross-pairings of intra-receptor pairings in red and green cones of a trion for yellow improve visual discrimination further. Discrimination of stimuli that exploit the model's entire summation mechanisms and pairing facilities represents ``what the perfect human eye sees best.'' For the model this threshold of modulation in quantum absorption is the ideal limit that is prescribed by statistical physics. The lateral and meta interaction in a twin unit enhance the contrast of an edge and of a temporal transient. The precision of the local time sign of a half's stimulation determines the spatiotemporal hyperfunctions for location and speed. The model's design for the perfect retinal mosaic consists of red twins situated along clockwise and counterclockwise spirals and green twins along circles that are concentric with the fovea. The model's descriptions of discrimination, adaptation, and hyperfunctions agree with experimental data.

The Role of Attribution in the Experience of Crowding.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Worchel, Stephen; Yohai, Steven M. L.

Groups of subjects were placed in a room in which their personal space was violated or not violated. Some subjects were told that subliminal noise would be played into the room and that noise would either arouse or relax them. (Actually there was no noise.) Other subjects were told nothing about subliminal noise. The subjects worked on a number of…

Inhibition of Return Is Modulated by Negative Stimuli: Evidence from Subliminal Perception.

PubMed

Pan, Fada; Wu, Xiaogang; Zhang, Li; Ou, Yuhong

2017-01-01

Inhibition of return (IOR) is considered as a "blindness mechanism" that emotional stimuli have no impact on it. Most previous studies suggested that IOR was not modulated by emotional cues. However, one key question they ignored was that only supraliminal presentation of emotional stimuli was used in their experiments. The present experiment is aimed at exploring the possible interaction between the IOR effect and subliminal emotional process. We manipulated three different kinds of valence strength of negative stimuli (high negative, HN; moderate negative, MN; low negative, LN) which were presented under the subliminal perception level and an event-related potentials (ERPs) recording was adopted. The results showed that, compared to MN and HN, the IOR effect triggered by peripheral cues was more significant for LN with aspects of behavioral and electrophysiological data (a reduction P1 effect, more negative on cued trials than on uncued trials for both early posterior Nd and Nd components). This indicated that IOR can be modulated by emotionally relevant stimuli. The automatic processing that was triggered by subliminally negative stimuli of peripheral cues had an influence on the shifting of spatial attention that was triggered by IOR. These two mechanisms may occur in the perceptual stage simultaneously.

Differential priming effect for subliminal fear and disgust facial expressions.

PubMed

Lee, Su Young; Kang, Jee In; Lee, Eun; Namkoong, Kee; An, Suk Kyoon

2011-02-01

Compared to neutral or happy stimuli, subliminal fear stimuli are known to be well processed through the automatic pathway. We tried to examine whether fear stimuli could be processed more strongly than other negative emotional stimuli using a modified subliminal affective priming paradigm. Twenty-six healthy subjects participated in two separated sessions. Fear, disgust and neutral facial expressions were adopted as primes, and 50% happy facial stimuli were adopted as a target to let only stronger negative primes reveal a priming effect. Participants were asked to appraise the affect of target faces in the affect appraisal session and to appraise the genuineness of target faces in the genuineness appraisal session. The genuineness instruction was developed to help participants be sensitive to potential threats. In the affect appraisal, participants judged 50% happy target faces significantly more 'unpleasant' when they were primed by fear faces than primed by 50% happy control faces. In the genuineness appraisal, participants judged targets significantly more 'not genuine' when they were primed by fear and disgust faces than primed by controls. These findings suggest that there may be differential priming effects between subliminal fear and disgust expressions, which could be modulated by a sensitive context of potential threat.

Unconscious fearful priming followed by a psychosocial stress test results in higher cortisol levels.

PubMed

Hänsel, Alexander; von Känel, Roland

2013-10-01

Human perception of stress includes an automatic pathway that processes subliminal presented stimuli below the threshold of conscious awareness. Subliminal stimuli can therefore activate the physiologic stress system. Unconscious emotional signals were shown to significantly moderate reactions and responses to subsequent stimuli, an effect called 'priming'. We hypothesized that subliminal presentation of a fearful signal during the Stroop task compared with an emotionally neutral one will prime stress reactivity in a subsequently applied psychosocial stress task, thereby yielding a significant increase in salivary cortisol. Half of 36 participants were repeatedly presented either a fearful face or a neutral one. After this, all underwent a psychosocial stress task. The fearful group showed a significant increase in cortisol levels (p = 0.022). This change was not affected by sex, age and body mass index, and it also did not change when taking resting cortisol levels into account. Post-hoc analyses showed that the increase in cortisol in the fearful group started immediately after the psychosocial stress test. Hence, subliminal exposure to a fearful signal in combination with the Stroop and followed by a psychosocial stress test leads to an increase in stress reactivity. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Auditory-motor integration of subliminal phase shifts in tapping: better than auditory discrimination would predict.

PubMed

Kagerer, Florian A; Viswanathan, Priya; Contreras-Vidal, Jose L; Whitall, Jill

2014-04-01

Unilateral tapping studies have shown that adults adjust to both perceptible and subliminal changes in phase or frequency. This study focuses on the phase responses to abrupt/perceptible and gradual/subliminal changes in auditory-motor relations during alternating bilateral tapping. We investigated these responses in participants with and without good perceptual acuity as determined by an auditory threshold test. Non-musician adults (nine per group) alternately tapped their index fingers in synchrony with auditory cues set at a frequency of 1.4 Hz. Both groups modulated their responses (with no after-effects) to perceptible and to subliminal changes as low as a 5° change in phase. The high-threshold participants were more variable than the adults with low threshold in their responses in the gradual condition set. Both groups demonstrated a synchronization asymmetry between dominant and non-dominant hands associated with the abrupt condition and the later blocks of the gradual condition. Our findings extend previous work in unilateral tapping and suggest (1) no relationship between a discrimination threshold and perceptible auditory-motor integration and (2) a noisier sub-cortical circuitry in those with higher thresholds.

Auditory-motor integration of subliminal phase shifts in tapping: Better than auditory discrimination would predict

PubMed Central

Kagerer, Florian A.; Viswanathan, Priya; Contreras-Vidal, Jose L.; Whitall, Jill

2014-01-01

Unilateral tapping studies have shown that adults adjust to both perceptible and subliminal changes in phase or frequency. This study focuses on the phase responses to abrupt/perceptible and gradual/subliminal changes in auditory-motor relations during alternating bilateral tapping. We investigated these responses in participants with and without good perceptual acuity as determined by an auditory threshold test. Non-musician adults (9 per group) alternately tapped their index fingers in synchrony with auditory cues set at a frequency of 1.4 Hz. Both groups modulated their responses (with no after-effects) to perceptible and to subliminal changes as low as a 5° change in phase. The high threshold participants were more variable than the adults with low threshold in their responses in the gradual condition set (p=0.05). Both groups demonstrated a synchronization asymmetry between dominant and non-dominant hands associated with the abrupt condition and the later blocks of the gradual condition. Our findings extend previous work in unilateral tapping and suggest (1) no relationship between a discrimination threshold and perceptible auditory-motor integration and (2) a noisier subcortical circuitry in those with higher thresholds. PMID:24449013

Relationships Among Non-Invasive Predictors of Sudden Cardiac Death During Mental Stress and Exercise In Coronary Artery Disease Patients With Known Arrhythmic Vulnerability

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-12-16

because of the high noise of the ECG recordings, which is a subliminal level of physical exertion. Also, over 80% of the participants were on beta...in TWA assessment. As was stated in the Methods section, MMA-TWA was assessed only during the first stage of the exercise, which is a subliminal

A TMS Study of the Ventral Projections from V1 with Implications for the Finding of Neural Correlates of Consciousness

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Overgaard, Morten; Nielsen, Jorgen Feldbaek; Fuglsang-Frederiksen, Anders

2004-01-01

The study of subliminal perception in normal and brain lesioned subjects has long been of interest to scholars studying the neural mechanisms behind conscious vision. Using brief durations and a developed methodology of introspective reporting, we present an experiment with visual stimuli that gives rise to little or no subliminal perception under…

Enhanced subliminal emotional responses to dynamic facial expressions.

PubMed

Sato, Wataru; Kubota, Yasutaka; Toichi, Motomi

2014-01-01

Emotional processing without conscious awareness plays an important role in human social interaction. Several behavioral studies reported that subliminal presentation of photographs of emotional facial expressions induces unconscious emotional processing. However, it was difficult to elicit strong and robust effects using this method. We hypothesized that dynamic presentations of facial expressions would enhance subliminal emotional effects and tested this hypothesis with two experiments. Fearful or happy facial expressions were presented dynamically or statically in either the left or the right visual field for 20 (Experiment 1) and 30 (Experiment 2) ms. Nonsense target ideographs were then presented, and participants reported their preference for them. The results consistently showed that dynamic presentations of emotional facial expressions induced more evident emotional biases toward subsequent targets than did static ones. These results indicate that dynamic presentations of emotional facial expressions induce more evident unconscious emotional processing.

Rapid formation and flexible expression of memories of subliminal word pairs.

PubMed

Reber, Thomas P; Henke, Katharina

2011-01-01

Our daily experiences are incidentally and rapidly encoded as episodic memories. Episodic memories consist of numerous associations (e.g., who gave what to whom where and when) that can be expressed flexibly in new situations. Key features of episodic memory are speed of encoding, its associative nature, and its representational flexibility. Another defining feature of human episodic memory has been consciousness of encoding/retrieval. Here, we show that humans can rapidly form associations between subliminal words and minutes later retrieve these associations even if retrieval words were conceptually related to, but different from encoding words. Because encoding words were presented subliminally, associative encoding, and retrieval were unconscious. Unconscious association formation and retrieval were dependent on a preceding understanding of task principles. We conclude that key computations underlying episodic memory - rapid encoding and flexible expression of associations - can operate outside consciousness.

Motorists Vestibular Disorientation Syndrome Revisited

DTIC Science & Technology

2003-02-01

inappropriate behaviour: a susceptibility to subliminal percepts. Once sensitised to the intrinsic ambiguities of a complex environment it becomes difficult to...for example being disturbed by a subliminal presentation of a word such as "cancer". Here-we propose that a similar phenomenon may exist for ambiguous...various stimuli. Agressologie. 1977;18:335-9. 32: Marme-Karelse AM, Bles W. Circular vection and human posture, 11. Does the auditory system play a

Converging evidence that subliminal evaluative conditioning does not affect self‐esteem or cardiovascular activity

PubMed Central

Verkuil, Bart; Brosschot, Jos F.

2017-01-01

Abstract Self‐esteem moderates the relationship between stress and (cardiovascular) health, with low self‐esteem potentially exacerbating the impact of stressors. Boosting self‐esteem may therefore help to buffer against stress. Subliminal evaluative conditioning (SEC), which subliminally couples self‐words with positive words, has previously been successfully used to boost self‐esteem, but the existing studies are in need of replication. In this article, we aimed to replicate and extend previous SEC studies. The first 2 experiments simultaneously examined whether SEC increased self‐esteem (Experiment 1, n = 84) and reduced cardiovascular reactivity to a stressor in high worriers (Experiment 2, n = 77). On the basis of these results, the 3rd experiment was set up to examine whether an adjusted personalized SEC task increased self‐esteem and reduced cardiac activity in high worriers (n = 81). Across the 3 experiments, no effects were found of SEC on implicit or explicit self‐esteem or affect or on cardiovascular (re)activity compared to a control condition in which the self was coupled with neutral words. The results do not support the use of the subliminal intervention in its current format. As stress is highly prevalent, future studies should focus on developing other cost‐effective and evidence‐based interventions. PMID:28795525

Subliminal attention bias modification training in socially anxious individuals.

PubMed

Maoz, Keren; Abend, Rany; Fox, Nathan A; Pine, Daniel S; Bar-Haim, Yair

2013-01-01

Anxious individuals demonstrate threat-related attention biases both when threat stimuli are presented within conscious awareness and when presented below awareness threshold. Nevertheless, attention bias modification (ABM) research has rarely utilized sub-awareness protocols in an attempt to modify attention patterns and reduce anxiety. Exploring the potential of subliminal ABM is of interest, as it may target attention processes related to anxiety that are distinct from those engaged by supraliminal ABM. Here we examined the effect of a subliminal ABM training protocol on levels of social anxiety and stress vulnerability. Fifty-one socially anxious students were randomly assigned to either ABM or placebo condition, and completed a pre-training assessment, four training sessions, a social stressor task, and a post-training assessment. Results indicate that the subliminal ABM used here did not induce detectable changes in threat-related attention from pre- to post-training as measured by two independent attention tasks. Furthermore, the ABM and placebo groups did not differ on either self-reported social anxiety post-training or state anxiety following stress induction. Post-hoc auxiliary analyses suggest that ABM may be associated with smaller elevations in state anxiety during the stressor task only for participants who demonstrate attention bias toward threat at baseline. Implications and future research directions are discussed.

Subliminal attention bias modification training in socially anxious individuals

PubMed Central

Maoz, Keren; Abend, Rany; Fox, Nathan A.; Pine, Daniel S.; Bar-Haim, Yair

2013-01-01

Anxious individuals demonstrate threat-related attention biases both when threat stimuli are presented within conscious awareness and when presented below awareness threshold. Nevertheless, attention bias modification (ABM) research has rarely utilized sub-awareness protocols in an attempt to modify attention patterns and reduce anxiety. Exploring the potential of subliminal ABM is of interest, as it may target attention processes related to anxiety that are distinct from those engaged by supraliminal ABM. Here we examined the effect of a subliminal ABM training protocol on levels of social anxiety and stress vulnerability. Fifty-one socially anxious students were randomly assigned to either ABM or placebo condition, and completed a pre-training assessment, four training sessions, a social stressor task, and a post-training assessment. Results indicate that the subliminal ABM used here did not induce detectable changes in threat-related attention from pre- to post-training as measured by two independent attention tasks. Furthermore, the ABM and placebo groups did not differ on either self-reported social anxiety post-training or state anxiety following stress induction. Post-hoc auxiliary analyses suggest that ABM may be associated with smaller elevations in state anxiety during the stressor task only for participants who demonstrate attention bias toward threat at baseline. Implications and future research directions are discussed. PMID:23888138

A temporal dissociation of subliminal versus supraliminal fear perception: an event-related potential study.

PubMed

Liddell, Belinda J; Williams, Leanne M; Rathjen, Jennifer; Shevrin, Howard; Gordon, Evian

2004-04-01

Current theories of emotion suggest that threat-related stimuli are first processed via an automatically engaged neural mechanism, which occurs outside conscious awareness. This mechanism operates in conjunction with a slower and more comprehensive process that allows a detailed evaluation of the potentially harmful stimulus (LeDoux, 1998). We drew on the Halgren and Marinkovic (1995) model to examine these processes using event-related potentials (ERPs) within a backward masking paradigm. Stimuli used were faces with fear and neutral (as baseline control) expressions, presented above (supraliminal) and below (subliminal) the threshold for conscious detection. ERP data revealed a double dissociation for the supraliminal versus subliminal perception of fear. In the subliminal condition, responses to the perception of fear stimuli were enhanced relative to neutral for the N2 "excitatory" component, which is thought to represent orienting and automatic aspects of face processing. By contrast, supraliminal perception of fear was associated with relatively enhanced responses for the late P3 "inhibitory" component, implicated in the integration of emotional processes. These findings provide evidence in support of Halgren and Marinkovic's temporal model of emotion processing, and indicate that the neural mechanisms for appraising signals of threat may be initiated, not only automatically, but also without the need for conscious detection of these signals.

Subliminal convergence of Kanji and Kana words: further evidence for functional parcellation of the posterior temporal cortex in visual word perception.

PubMed

Nakamura, Kimihiro; Dehaene, Stanislas; Jobert, Antoinette; Le Bihan, Denis; Kouider, Sid

2005-06-01

Recent evidence has suggested that the human occipitotemporal region comprises several subregions, each sensitive to a distinct processing level of visual words. To further explore the functional architecture of visual word recognition, we employed a subliminal priming method with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during semantic judgments of words presented in two different Japanese scripts, Kanji and Kana. Each target word was preceded by a subliminal presentation of either the same or a different word, and in the same or a different script. Behaviorally, word repetition produced significant priming regardless of whether the words were presented in the same or different script. At the neural level, this cross-script priming was associated with repetition suppression in the left inferior temporal cortex anterior and dorsal to the visual word form area hypothesized for alphabetical writing systems, suggesting that cross-script convergence occurred at a semantic level. fMRI also evidenced a shared visual occipito-temporal activation for words in the two scripts, with slightly more mesial and right-predominant activation for Kanji and with greater occipital activation for Kana. These results thus allow us to separate script-specific and script-independent regions in the posterior temporal lobe, while demonstrating that both can be activated subliminally.

The Role of Representation Strength of the Prime in Subliminal Visuomotor Priming.

PubMed

Wang, Yongchun; Wang, Yonghui; Liu, Peng; Di, Meilin; Gong, Yanyan; Tan, Mengge

2017-11-01

This study investigated the role of representation strength of the prime in subliminal visuomotor priming in two experiments. Prime/target compatibility (compatible and incompatible) and preposed object type (jumbled lines, strong masking; and rectangular outlines, weak masking) were manipulated in Experiment 1. A significant negative compatibility effect (NCE) was observed in the rectangle condition, whereas no compatibility effect was found in the line condition. However, when a new variable, prime duration, was introduced in Experiment 2, the NCE was reversed with an increase in the prime duration in the rectangle condition, whereas the NCE was maintained in the line condition. This result is consistent with the claim that increasing the prime duration causes the prime representation to be too strong for inhibition in the rectangle condition but strong enough to reliably trigger inhibition in the line condition. The findings demonstrated that prime representation has a causal role in subliminal visuomotor priming.

Rapid Formation and Flexible Expression of Memories of Subliminal Word Pairs

PubMed Central

Reber, Thomas P.; Henke, Katharina

2011-01-01

Our daily experiences are incidentally and rapidly encoded as episodic memories. Episodic memories consist of numerous associations (e.g., who gave what to whom where and when) that can be expressed flexibly in new situations. Key features of episodic memory are speed of encoding, its associative nature, and its representational flexibility. Another defining feature of human episodic memory has been consciousness of encoding/retrieval. Here, we show that humans can rapidly form associations between subliminal words and minutes later retrieve these associations even if retrieval words were conceptually related to, but different from encoding words. Because encoding words were presented subliminally, associative encoding, and retrieval were unconscious. Unconscious association formation and retrieval were dependent on a preceding understanding of task principles. We conclude that key computations underlying episodic memory – rapid encoding and flexible expression of associations – can operate outside consciousness. PMID:22125545

Feeling of control of an action after supra and subliminal haptic distortions.

PubMed

Weibel, Sébastien; Poncelet, Patrick Eric; Delevoye-Turrell, Yvonne; Capobianco, Antonio; Dufour, André; Brochard, Renaud; Ott, Laurent; Giersch, Anne

2015-09-01

Here we question the mechanisms underlying the emergence of the feeling of control that can be modulated even when the feeling of being the author of one's own action is intact. With a haptic robot, participants made series of vertical pointing actions on a virtual surface, which was sometimes postponed by a small temporal delay (15 or 65 ms). Subjects then evaluated their subjective feeling of control. Results showed that after temporal distortions, the hand-trajectories were adapted effectively but that the feeling of control decreased significantly. This was observed even in the case of subliminal distortions for which subjects did not consciously detect the presence of a distortion. Our findings suggest that both supraliminal and subliminal temporal distortions that occur within a healthy perceptual-motor system impact the conscious experience of the feeling of control of self-initiated motor actions. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Elucidating unconscious processing with instrumental hypnosis

PubMed Central

Landry, Mathieu; Appourchaux, Krystèle; Raz, Amir

2014-01-01

Most researchers leverage bottom-up suppression to unlock the underlying mechanisms of unconscious processing. However, a top-down approach – for example via hypnotic suggestion – paves the road to experimental innovation and complementary data that afford new scientific insights concerning attention and the unconscious. Drawing from a reliable taxonomy that differentiates subliminal and preconscious processing, we outline how an experimental trajectory that champions top-down suppression techniques, such as those practiced in hypnosis, is uniquely poised to further contextualize and refine our scientific understanding of unconscious processing. Examining subliminal and preconscious methods, we demonstrate how instrumental hypnosis provides a reliable adjunct that supplements contemporary approaches. Specifically, we provide an integrative synthesis of the advantages and shortcomings that accompany a top-down approach to probe the unconscious mind. Our account provides a larger framework for complementing the results from core studies involving prevailing subliminal and preconscious techniques. PMID:25120504

Further evidence for unconscious learning: preliminary support for the conditioning of facial EMG to subliminal stimuli.

PubMed

Bunce, S C; Bernat, E; Wong, P S; Shevrin, H

1999-01-01

This study investigated the predictive validity of facial electromyograms (EMGs) in a subliminal conditioning paradigm. Two schematic faces (pleasant; CS- and unpleasant; CS+), were presented to eight right-handed males during supraliminal pre- and postconditioning phases. Subliminal conditioning consisted of 36 energy-masked presentations of each face pairing the CS+ with an aversive shock 800 ms poststimulus. A forced-choice recognition task established that the energy mask effectively precluded conscious recognition of stimuli. For the obicularis oculi and corrugator EMGs, significant face x condition interactions were found at 20-100 ms and 400-792 ms poststimulus. The results demonstrate the existence of an expressive motoric response related to affect operating in response to a learned but unconscious event. Subjects were not aware of a contingency between the CS+ and the US, suggesting emotional contingencies can be unconsciously acquired.

[Effects of subliminal mere exposure to group members on intergroup evaluation: category evaluation measured in the Implicit Association Test (IAT)].

PubMed

Kawakami, Naoaki; Yoshida, Fujio

2010-10-01

This study investigated the effects of subliminal mere exposure to ingroup or outgroup members on intergroup evaluation as measured in the Implicit Association Test (IAT). Participants first memorized the members of two groups. Then, they were assigned to either group by lot, and completed the IAT for intergroup evaluation (Time 1). In the next phase, half the participants were subliminally exposed to ingroup members and half to outgroup members. Upon completion of the exposure, the same IAT was administered at Time 2. The results showed that participants who were exposed to ingroup members evaluated the ingroup more positively at Time 2 than at Time 1. Participants who were exposed to outgroup members did not show an effect toward the outgroup. The finding that the mere exposure effect occurred only for the ingroup exposure condition suggests that unconscious awareness of the ingroup enhances the mere exposure effect.

Unconscious and conscious processing of negative emotions examined through affective priming.

PubMed

Okubo, Chisa; Ogawa, Toshiki

2013-04-01

This study investigated unconscious and conscious processes by which negative emotions arise. Participants (26 men, 47 women; M age = 20.3 yr.) evaluated target words that were primed with subliminally or supraliminally presented emotional pictures. Stimulus onset asynchrony was either 200 or 800 msec. With subliminal presentations, reaction times to negative targets were longer than reaction times to positive targets after negative primes for the 200-msec. stimulus onset asynchrony. Reaction times to positive targets after negative or positive primes were shorter when the stimulus onset asynchrony was 800 msec. For supraliminal presentations, reaction times were longer when evaluating targets that followed emotionally opposite primes. When emotional stimuli were consciously distinguished, the evoked emotional states might lead to emotional conflicts, although the qualitatively different effects might be caused when subliminally presented emotion evoking stimulus was appraised unconsciously; that possibility was discussed.

Unconscious affective reactions to masked happy versus angry faces influence consumption behavior and judgments of value.

PubMed

Winkielman, Piotr; Berridge, Kent C; Wilbarger, Julia L

2005-01-01

The authors explored three properties of basic, unconsciously triggered affective reactions: They can influence consequential behavior, they work without eliciting conscious feelings, and they interact with motivation. The authors investigated these properties by testing the influence of subliminally presented happy versus angry faces on pouring and consumption of beverage (Study 1), perception of beverage value (Study 2), and reports of conscious feelings (both studies). Consistent with incentive motivation theory, the impact of affective primes on beverage value and consumption was strongest for thirsty participants. Subliminal smiles caused thirsty participants to pour and consume more beverage (Study 1) and increased their willingness to pay and their wanting more beverage (Study 2). Subliminal frowns had the opposite effect. No feeling changes were observed, even in thirsty participants. The results suggest that basic affective reactions can be unconscious and interact with incentive motivation to influence assessment of value and behavior toward valenced objects.

The Effect of Eye Contact Is Contingent on Visual Awareness

PubMed Central

Xu, Shan; Zhang, Shen; Geng, Haiyan

2018-01-01

The present study explored how eye contact at different levels of visual awareness influences gaze-induced joint attention. We adopted a spatial-cueing paradigm, in which an averted gaze was used as an uninformative central cue for a joint-attention task. Prior to the onset of the averted-gaze cue, either supraliminal (Experiment 1) or subliminal (Experiment 2) eye contact was presented. The results revealed a larger subsequent gaze-cueing effect following supraliminal eye contact compared to a no-contact condition. In contrast, the gaze-cueing effect was smaller in the subliminal eye-contact condition than in the no-contact condition. These findings suggest that the facilitation effect of eye contact on coordinating social attention depends on visual awareness. Furthermore, subliminal eye contact might have an impact on subsequent social attention processes that differ from supraliminal eye contact. This study highlights the need to further investigate the role of eye contact in implicit social cognition. PMID:29467703

Converging evidence that subliminal evaluative conditioning does not affect self-esteem or cardiovascular activity.

PubMed

Versluis, Anke; Verkuil, Bart; Brosschot, Jos F

2018-04-01

Self-esteem moderates the relationship between stress and (cardiovascular) health, with low self-esteem potentially exacerbating the impact of stressors. Boosting self-esteem may therefore help to buffer against stress. Subliminal evaluative conditioning (SEC), which subliminally couples self-words with positive words, has previously been successfully used to boost self-esteem, but the existing studies are in need of replication. In this article, we aimed to replicate and extend previous SEC studies. The first 2 experiments simultaneously examined whether SEC increased self-esteem (Experiment 1, n = 84) and reduced cardiovascular reactivity to a stressor in high worriers (Experiment 2, n = 77). On the basis of these results, the 3rd experiment was set up to examine whether an adjusted personalized SEC task increased self-esteem and reduced cardiac activity in high worriers (n = 81). Across the 3 experiments, no effects were found of SEC on implicit or explicit self-esteem or affect or on cardiovascular (re)activity compared to a control condition in which the self was coupled with neutral words. The results do not support the use of the subliminal intervention in its current format. As stress is highly prevalent, future studies should focus on developing other cost-effective and evidence-based interventions. © 2017 The Authors. Stress and Health Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Effects of intentionality and subliminal information in free-choices to inhibit.

PubMed

Dall'Acqua, Tommaso; Begliomini, Chiara; Motta, Raffaella; Miotto, Diego; Castiello, Umberto

2018-01-31

Stopping an action at the very last moment is an important feature of human behavioural flexibility. Intentional inhibition has been defined as the ability to inhibit an action on the basis of an internal decision process. Without this ability, actions would be impulsive and would leave little space to correct misguided decisions. Previous research suggests that making a choice between action alternatives activates a specific "choice network" that includes the rostral cingulate zone (RCZ), the anterior insula (AI), the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and the inferior parietal lobe (IPL). The activity of this network has shown to be influenced by non-conscious (subliminal) stimuli. In this study, we tested whether the same regions are recruited by free-choices to inhibit and modulated by unconscious information as reported in the case of free-choices to act. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) we manipulated the degree of 'freedom' of the choice between acting and inhibiting an action by introducing explicit cues or leaving the participants free to choose between action alternatives. We included subliminal masked primes to test whether responses to targets were facilitated and/or obstructed by conditions of congruency and incongruency between primes and targets. Our findings confirmed higher activation of the "choice network" in free-choice trials when compared to cued choices. However subliminal priming failed to significantly influence participants' responses, in free-choice conditions. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Subliminal Emotional Words Impact Syntactic Processing: Evidence from Performance and Event-Related Brain Potentials.

PubMed

Jiménez-Ortega, Laura; Espuny, Javier; de Tejada, Pilar Herreros; Vargas-Rivero, Carolina; Martín-Loeches, Manuel

2017-01-01

Recent studies demonstrate that syntactic processing can be affected by emotional information and that subliminal emotional information can also affect cognitive processes. In this study, we explore whether unconscious emotional information may also impact syntactic processing. In an Event-Related brain Potential (ERP) study, positive, neutral and negative subliminal adjectives were inserted within neutral sentences, just before the presentation of the supraliminal adjective. They could either be correct (50%) or contain a morphosyntactic violation (number or gender disagreements). Larger error rates were observed for incorrect sentences than for correct ones, in contrast to most studies using supraliminal information. Strikingly, emotional adjectives affected the conscious syntactic processing of sentences containing morphosyntactic anomalies. The neutral condition elicited left anterior negativity (LAN) followed by a P600 component. However, a lack of anterior negativity and an early P600 onset for the negative condition were found, probably as a result of the negative subliminal correct adjective capturing early syntactic resources. Positive masked adjectives in turn prompted an N400 component in response to morphosyntactic violations, probably reflecting the induction of a heuristic processing mode involving access to lexico-semantic information to solve agreement anomalies. Our results add to recent evidence on the impact of emotional information on syntactic processing, while showing that this can occur even when the reader is unaware of the emotional stimuli.

A general magnitude system in human adults: Evidence from a subliminal priming paradigm.

PubMed

Lourenco, Stella F; Ayzenberg, Vladislav; Lyu, Jennifer

2016-08-01

Despite general agreement that number and other magnitudes share analog format, there is disagreement about the extent to which representations of numerical and non-numerical magnitude recruit common cognitive and neural resources. Cross-dimensional interactions between number and other magnitudes on Stroop-like tasks have been taken as evidence for integration across magnitudes, but such effects are subject to alternative interpretations that allow for differentiated representations. Here we use a subliminal priming paradigm to test for interactions between different magnitudes (number and area) when one magnitude is not consciously detectable. Across two experiments, we first provide evidence for the feasibility of this paradigm by demonstrating that transfer occurs within the dimension of number; that is, symbolic numerals (Arabic digits) that were subliminally primed affected judgments of non-symbolic numerosities in target displays. Crucially, we also found transfer across magnitudes-from subliminally primed numerals to target displays of cumulative surface area whether participants made an ordinal judgment (i.e., "which array is larger in area?") or judged whether two arrays were the same or different in area. These findings suggest that representations of number and area are not fully differentiated. Moreover, they provide unique support for a general magnitude system that includes direct connections, or overlap, between the neural codes for numerical and non-numerical magnitudes. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Subliminally perceived odours modulate female intrasexual competition: an eye movement study.

PubMed

Parma, Valentina; Tirindelli, Roberto; Bisazza, Angelo; Massaccesi, Stefano; Castiello, Umberto

2012-01-01

Evidence suggests that subliminal odorants influence human perception and behavior. It has been hypothesized that the human sex-steroid derived compound 4,16-androstadien-3-one (androstadienone) functions as a human chemosignal. The most intensively studied steroid compound, androstadienone is known to be biologically relevant since it seems to convey information about male mate quality to women. It is unclear if the effects of androstadienone are menstrual cycle related. In the first experiment, heterosexual women were exposed to androstadienone or a control compound and asked to view stimuli such as female faces, male faces and familiar objects while their eye movements were recorded. In the second experiment the same women were asked to rate the level of stimuli attractiveness following exposure to the study or control compound. The results indicated that women at high conception risk spent more time viewing the female than the male faces regardless of the compound administered. Women at a low conception risk exhibited a preference for female faces only following exposure to androstadienone. We contend that a woman's level of fertility influences her evaluation of potential competitors (e.g., faces of other women) during times critical for reproduction. Subliminally perceived odorants, such as androstadienone, might similarly enhance intrasexual competition strategies in women during fertility phases not critical for conception. These findings offer a substantial contribution to the current debate about the effects that subliminally perceived body odors might have on behavior.

Neural Mechanisms Underlying Conscious and Unconscious Gaze-Triggered Attentional Orienting in Autism Spectrum Disorder

PubMed Central

Sato, Wataru; Kochiyama, Takanori; Uono, Shota; Yoshimura, Sayaka; Toichi, Motomi

2017-01-01

Impaired joint attention represents the core clinical feature of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Behavioral studies have suggested that gaze-triggered attentional orienting is intact in response to supraliminally presented eyes but impaired in response to subliminally presented eyes in individuals with ASD. However, the neural mechanisms underlying conscious and unconscious gaze-triggered attentional orienting remain unclear. We investigated this issue in ASD and typically developing (TD) individuals using event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging. The participants viewed cue stimuli of averted or straight eye gaze direction presented either supraliminally or subliminally and then localized a target. Reaction times were shorter when eye-gaze cues were directionally valid compared with when they were neutral under the supraliminal condition in both groups; the same pattern was found in the TD group but not the ASD group under the subliminal condition. The temporo–parieto–frontal regions showed stronger activation in response to averted eyes than to straight eyes in both groups under the supraliminal condition. The left amygdala was more activated while viewing averted vs. straight eyes in the TD group than in the ASD group under the subliminal condition. These findings provide an explanation for the neural mechanisms underlying the impairment in unconscious but not conscious gaze-triggered attentional orienting in individuals with ASD and suggest possible neurological and behavioral interventions to facilitate their joint attention behaviors. PMID:28701942

Subliminal Emotional Words Impact Syntactic Processing: Evidence from Performance and Event-Related Brain Potentials

PubMed Central

Jiménez-Ortega, Laura; Espuny, Javier; de Tejada, Pilar Herreros; Vargas-Rivero, Carolina; Martín-Loeches, Manuel

2017-01-01

Recent studies demonstrate that syntactic processing can be affected by emotional information and that subliminal emotional information can also affect cognitive processes. In this study, we explore whether unconscious emotional information may also impact syntactic processing. In an Event-Related brain Potential (ERP) study, positive, neutral and negative subliminal adjectives were inserted within neutral sentences, just before the presentation of the supraliminal adjective. They could either be correct (50%) or contain a morphosyntactic violation (number or gender disagreements). Larger error rates were observed for incorrect sentences than for correct ones, in contrast to most studies using supraliminal information. Strikingly, emotional adjectives affected the conscious syntactic processing of sentences containing morphosyntactic anomalies. The neutral condition elicited left anterior negativity (LAN) followed by a P600 component. However, a lack of anterior negativity and an early P600 onset for the negative condition were found, probably as a result of the negative subliminal correct adjective capturing early syntactic resources. Positive masked adjectives in turn prompted an N400 component in response to morphosyntactic violations, probably reflecting the induction of a heuristic processing mode involving access to lexico-semantic information to solve agreement anomalies. Our results add to recent evidence on the impact of emotional information on syntactic processing, while showing that this can occur even when the reader is unaware of the emotional stimuli. PMID:28487640

Children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) can adapt to perceptible and subliminal rhythm changes but are more variable.

PubMed

Roche, Renuka; Viswanathan, Priya; Clark, Jane E; Whitall, Jill

2016-12-01

Children with DCD demonstrate impairments in bimanual finger tapping during self-paced tapping and tapping in synchrony to different frequencies. In this study, we investigated the ability of children with DCD to adapt motorically to perceptible or subliminal changes of the auditory stimuli without a change in frequency, and compared their performance to typically developing controls (TDC). Nineteen children with DCD between ages 6-11years (mean age±SD=114±21months) and 17 TDC (mean age±SD=113±21months) participated in this study. Auditory perceptual threshold was established. Children initially tapped bimanually to an antiphase beat and then to either a perceptible change in rhythm or to gradual subliminal changes in rhythm. Children with DCD were able to perceive changes in rhythm similar to TDC. They were also able to adapt to both perceptible and subliminal changes in rhythms similar to their age- and gender- matched TDC. However, these children were significantly more variable compared with TDC in all phasing conditions. The results suggest that the performance impairments in bilateral tapping are not a result of poor conscious or sub-conscious perception of the auditory cue. The increased motor variability may be associated with cerebellar dysfunction but further behavioral and neurophysiological studies are needed. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Intrinsic Connectivity Networks in post-traumatic stress disorder during sub- and supraliminal processing of threat-related stimuli.

PubMed

Rabellino, D; Tursich, M; Frewen, P A; Daniels, J K; Densmore, M; Théberge, J; Lanius, R A

2015-11-01

To investigate the functional connectivity of large-scale intrinsic connectivity networks (ICNs) in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) during subliminal and supraliminal presentation of threat-related stimuli. Group independent component analysis was utilized to study functional connectivity within the ICNs most correlated with the Default-mode Network (DMN), Salience Network (SN), and Central Executive Network (CEN) in PTSD participants (n = 26) as compared to healthy controls (n = 20) during sub- and supraliminal processing of threat-related stimuli. Comparing patients with PTSD with healthy participants, prefrontal and anterior cingulate cortex involved in top-down regulation showed increased integration during subliminal threat processing within the CEN and SN and during supraliminal threat processing within the DMN. The right amygdala showed increased connectivity with the DMN during subliminal processing in PTSD as compared to controls. Brain regions associated with self-awareness and consciousness exhibited decreased connectivity during subliminal threat processing in PTSD as compared to controls: the claustrum within the SN and the precuneus within the DMN. Key nodes of the ICNs showed altered functional connectivity in PTSD as compared to controls, and differential results characterized sub- and supraliminal processing of threat-related stimuli. These findings enhance our understanding of ICNs underlying PTSD at different levels of conscious threat perception. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Excessive coupling of the salience network with intrinsic neurocognitive brain networks during rectal distension in adolescents with irritable bowel syndrome: a preliminary report

PubMed Central

Liu, Xiaolin; Silverman, Alan; Kern, Mark; Ward, B. Douglas; Li, Shi-Jiang; Shaker, Reza; Sood, Manu R.

2015-01-01

Background The neural network mechanisms underlying visceral hypersensitivity in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) are incompletely understood. It has been proposed that an intrinsic salience network plays an important role in chronic pain and IBS symptoms. Using neuroimaging, we examined brain responses to rectal distension in adolescent IBS patients, focusing on determining the alteration of salience network integrity in IBS and its functional implications in current theoretical frameworks. We hypothesized that (1) brain responses to visceral stimulation in adolescents are similar to those in adults, and (2) IBS is associated with an altered salience network interaction with other neurocognitive networks, particularly the default mode network (DMN) and executive control network (ECN), as predicted by the theoretical models. Methods IBS patients and controls received subliminal and liminal rectal distension during imaging. Stimulus-induced brain activations were determined. Salience network integrity was evaluated by functional connectivity of its seed regions activated by rectal distension in the insular and cingulate cortices. Key Results Compared with controls, IBS patients demonstrated greater activation to rectal distension in neural structures of the homeostatic afferent and emotional arousal networks, especially the anterior cingulate and insular cortices. Greater brain responses to liminal vs. subliminal distension were observed in both groups. Particularly, IBS is uniquely associated with an excessive coupling of the salience network with the DMN and ECN in their key frontal and parietal node areas. Conclusions & Inferences Our study provided consistent evidence supporting the theoretical predictions of altered salience network functioning as a neuropathological mechanism of IBS symptoms. PMID:26467966

Subliminal modulation of voluntary action experience: A neuropsychological investigation.

PubMed

Khalighinejad, N; Kunnumpurath, A; Bertini, C; Ladavas, E; Haggard, P

2017-05-01

Human voluntary actions are often associated with a distinctive subjective experience termed 'sense of agency'. This experience could be a reconstructive inference triggered by monitoring one's actions and their outcomes, or a read-out of brain processes related to action preparation, or some hybrid of these. Participants pressed a key with the right index finger at a time of their own choice, while viewing a rotating clock. Occasionally they received a mild shock on the same finger. They were instructed to press the key as quickly as possible if they felt a shock. On some trials, trains of subliminal shocks were also delivered, to investigate whether such subliminal cues could influence the initiation of voluntary actions, or the subjective experience of such actions. Participants' keypress were always followed by a tone 250 ms later. At the end of each trial they reported the time of the keypress using the rotating clock display. Shifts in the perceived time of the action towards the following tone, compared to a baseline condition containing only a keypress but no tone, were taken as implicit measures of sense of agency. The subliminal shock train enhanced this "action binding" effect in healthy participants, relative to trials without such shocks. This difference could not be attributed to retrospective inference, since the perceptual events were identical in both trial types. Further, we tested the same paradigm in a patient with anarchic hand syndrome (AHS). Subliminal shocks again enhanced our measure of sense of agency in the unaffected hand, but had a reversed effect on the 'anarchic' hand. These findings suggest an interaction between internal volitional signals and external cues afforded by the external environment. Damage to the neural pathways that mediate interactions between internal states and the outside world may explain some of the clinical signs of AHS. Copyright © 2017 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

The impact of subliminal effect images in voluntary vs. stimulus-driven actions.

PubMed

Le Bars, Solène; Hsu, Yi-Fang; Waszak, Florian

2016-11-01

According to the ideomotor theory, actions are represented in terms of their sensory effects. In the current study we tested whether subliminal effect images influence action control (1) at early and/or late preparatory stages of (2) voluntary actions or stimulus-driven actions (3) with or without Stimulus-Response (S-R) compatibility. In Experiment 1, participants were presented at random with 50% of S-R compatible stimulus-driven action trials and 50% of voluntary action trials. The actions' effects (i.e. up- or down-pointing arrows) were presented subliminally before each action (i.e. a keypress). In voluntary actions, participants selected more often the action congruent with the prime when it was presented at long intervals before the action. Moreover they responded faster in prime-congruent than in prime-incongruent trials when primes were presented at short intervals before the action. In Experiment 2, participants were only presented with stimulus-driven action trials, with or without S-R compatibility. In stimulus-driven action trials with S-R compatibility (e.g., left-pointing arrow signaling a left keypress), subliminal action-effects did not generate any significant effect on RTs or error rates. On the other hand, in stimulus-driven action trials without S-R compatibility (e.g., letter "H" signaling a left keypress), participants were significantly faster in prime-congruent trials when primes were presented at the shortest time interval before the action. These results suggest that subliminal effect images facilitate voluntary action preparation on an early and a late level. Stimulus-driven action preparation is influenced on a late level only, and only if there is no compatibility between the stimulus and the motor response, that is when the response is not automatically triggered by the common properties existing between the stimulus and the required action. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Prevailing theories of consciousness are challenged by novel cross-modal associations acquired between subliminal stimuli.

PubMed

Scott, Ryan B; Samaha, Jason; Chrisley, Ron; Dienes, Zoltan

2018-06-01

While theories of consciousness differ substantially, the 'conscious access hypothesis', which aligns consciousness with the global accessibility of information across cortical regions, is present in many of the prevailing frameworks. This account holds that consciousness is necessary to integrate information arising from independent functions such as the specialist processing required by different senses. We directly tested this account by evaluating the potential for associative learning between novel pairs of subliminal stimuli presented in different sensory modalities. First, pairs of subliminal stimuli were presented and then their association assessed by examining the ability of the first stimulus to prime classification of the second. In Experiments 1-4 the stimuli were word-pairs consisting of a male name preceding either a creative or uncreative profession. Participants were subliminally exposed to two name-profession pairs where one name was paired with a creative profession and the other an uncreative profession. A supraliminal task followed requiring the timed classification of one of those two professions. The target profession was preceded by either the name with which it had been subliminally paired (concordant) or the alternate name (discordant). Experiment 1 presented stimuli auditorily, Experiment 2 visually, and Experiment 3 presented names auditorily and professions visually. All three experiments revealed the same inverse priming effect with concordant test pairs associated with significantly slower classification judgements. Experiment 4 sought to establish if learning would be more efficient with supraliminal stimuli and found evidence that a different strategy is adopted when stimuli are consciously perceived. Finally, Experiment 5 replicated the unconscious cross-modal association achieved in Experiment 3 utilising non-linguistic stimuli. The results demonstrate the acquisition of novel cross-modal associations between stimuli which are not consciously perceived and thus challenge the global access hypothesis and those theories embracing it. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Influence of biases in numerical magnitude allocation on human prosocial decision making.

PubMed

Arshad, Qadeer; Nigmatullina, Yuliya; Siddiqui, Shuaib; Franka, Mustafa; Mediratta, Saniya; Ramachandaran, Sanjeev; Lobo, Rhannon; Malhotra, Paresh A; Roberts, R E; Bronstein, Adolfo M

2017-12-01

Over the past decade neuroscientific research has attempted to probe the neurobiological underpinnings of human prosocial decision making. Such research has almost ubiquitously employed tasks such as the dictator game or similar variations (i.e., ultimatum game). Considering the explicit numerical nature of such tasks, it is surprising that the influence of numerical cognition on decision making during task performance remains unknown. While performing these tasks, participants typically tend to anchor on a 50:50 split that necessitates an explicit numerical judgement (i.e., number-pair bisection). Accordingly, we hypothesize that the decision-making process during the dictator game recruits overlapping cognitive processes to those known to be engaged during number-pair bisection. We observed that biases in numerical magnitude allocation correlated with the formulation of decisions during the dictator game. That is, intrinsic biases toward smaller numerical magnitudes were associated with the formulation of less favorable decisions, whereas biases toward larger magnitudes were associated with more favorable choices. We proceeded to corroborate this relationship by subliminally and systematically inducing biases in numerical magnitude toward either higher or lower numbers using a visuo-vestibular stimulation paradigm. Such subliminal alterations in numerical magnitude allocation led to proportional and corresponding changes to an individual's decision making during the dictator game. Critically, no relationship was observed between neither intrinsic nor induced biases in numerical magnitude on decision making when assessed using a nonnumerical-based prosocial questionnaire. Our findings demonstrate numerical influences on decisions formulated during the dictator game and highlight the necessity to control for confounds associated with numerical cognition in human decision-making paradigms. NEW & NOTEWORTHY We demonstrate that intrinsic biases in numerical magnitude can directly predict the amount of money donated by an individual to an anonymous stranger during the dictator game. Furthermore, subliminally inducing perceptual biases in numerical-magnitude allocation can actively drive prosocial choices in the corresponding direction. Our findings provide evidence for numerical influences on decision making during performance of the dictator game. Accordingly, without the implementation of an adequate control for numerical influences, the dictator game and other tasks with an inherent numerical component (i.e., ultimatum game) should be employed with caution in the assessment of human behavior. Copyright © 2017 the American Physiological Society.

A long-lasting improvement of tactile extinction after galvanic vestibular stimulation: two Sham-stimulation controlled case studies.

PubMed

Kerkhoff, Georg; Hildebrandt, Helmut; Reinhart, Stefan; Kardinal, Mareike; Dimova, Violeta; Utz, Kathrin S

2011-01-01

Sensory extinction is frequent and often persistent after brain damage. Previous studies have shown the transient influence of sensory stimulation on tactile extinction. In the present two case studies we investigated whether subliminal galvanic vestibular stimulation (GVS) modulates tactile extinction. GVS induces polarity-specific changes in cerebral excitability in the vestibular cortices and adjacent cortical areas in the temporo-parietal cortex via polarization of the vestibular nerves. Two patients (DL, CJ) with left-sided tactile extinction due to chronic (5 vs. 6 (1/2) years lesion age) right-hemisphere lesions (right fronto-parietal in DL, right frontal and discrete parietal in CJ) were examined. Both showed normal tactile sensitivity to light touch and yielded 90-100% correct identifications in unilateral tactile stimulations for both hands. In Baseline investigations without GVS and Sham-GVS both showed stable left-sided tactile extinction rates of 40-55% (DL) and 49-72% (CJ). In contrast, one session of right-cathodal GVS (intensity: 0.6 mA, duration: 20 min) permanently improved tactile identification of identical stimuli, while a second session with left-cathodal GVS significantly reduced left-sided extinction rates for different stimuli in DL. Patient CJ's left-sided tactile extinction was significantly improved by left-cathodal GVS (0.5 mA, 20 min) for different stimuli, while right-cathodal GVS induced a significant reduction for identical materials. In contrast, Sham-stimulation was ineffective. Improvements remained stable for at least 1 year (DL) resp. 3 weeks (CJ). Control experiments ruled out improvements in tactile extinction merely by retesting. In conclusion, chronic tactile extinction may be permanently improved by GVS in a polarity-specific way. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Individual Differences in Preventive Jealousy Determine Men's Jealousy after Subliminal Exposure to Rivals Wearing High- or Low-Status Clothes.

PubMed

Massar, Karlijn; Buunk, Abraham Bram P

2016-02-01

This study investigated sex differences in jealousy after subliminal exposure to rivals wearing high-status or low-status clothes. It was expected that individual differences in preventive jealousy would moderate the relationship between a rival's characteristics and jealousy. Participants (Men: n = 54, M age = 21.6 yr., SD = 3.5; women: n = 71, M age = 20.7 yr., SD = 1.9) completed a parafoveal subliminal priming paradigm as well as questionnaires about jealousy and preventive jealousy. As predicted, women were not affected by their rival's status, but women high in preventive jealousy reported more jealousy than women low in preventive jealousy. However, whereas men low in preventive jealousy reported equal amounts of jealousy after exposure to a high-status and a low-status rival, surprisingly, and contrary to the expectations, men high in preventive jealousy reported most jealousy after exposure to a low-status rival. To explain these unexpected results, threats to self-esteem were discussed.

Subliminal Gestalt grouping: evidence of perceptual grouping by proximity and similarity in absence of conscious perception.

PubMed

Montoro, Pedro R; Luna, Dolores; Ortells, Juan J

2014-04-01

Previous studies making use of indirect processing measures have shown that perceptual grouping can occur outside the focus of attention. However, no previous study has examined the possibility of subliminal processing of perceptual grouping. The present work steps forward in the study of perceptual organization, reporting direct evidence of subliminal processing of Gestalt patterns. In two masked priming experiments, Gestalt patterns grouped by proximity or similarity that induced either a horizontal or vertical global orientation of the stimuli were presented as masked primes and followed by visible targets that could be congruent or incongruent with the orientation of the primes. The results showed a reliable priming effect in the complete absence of prime awareness for both proximity and similarity grouping principles. These findings suggest that a phenomenal report of the Gestalt pattern is not mandatory to observe an effect on the response based on the global properties of Gestalt stimuli. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Behavior in Oblivion: The Neurobiology of Subliminal Priming

PubMed Central

Jacobs, Christianne; Sack, Alexander T.

2012-01-01

Subliminal priming refers to behavioral modulation by an unconscious stimulus, and can thus be regarded as a form of unconscious visual processing. Theories on recurrent processing have suggested that the neural correlate of consciousness (NCC) comprises of the non-hierarchical transfer of stimulus-related information. According to these models, the neural correlate of subliminal priming (NCSP) corresponds to the visual processing within the feedforward sweep. Research from cognitive neuroscience on these two concepts and the relationship between them is discussed here. Evidence favoring the necessity of recurrent connectivity for visual awareness is accumulating, although some questions, such as the need for global versus local recurrent processing, are not clarified yet. However, this is not to say that recurrent processing is sufficient for consciousness, as a neural definition of consciousness in terms of recurrent connectivity would imply. We argue that the limited interest cognitive neuroscience currently has for the NCSP is undeserved, because the discovery of the NCSP can give insight into why people do (and do not) express certain behavior. PMID:24962773

Perceiving a story outside of conscious awareness: When we infer narrative attributes from subliminal sequential stimuli.

PubMed

Kawakami, Naoaki; Yoshida, Fujio

2015-05-01

Perceiving a story behind successive movements plays an important role in our lives. From a general perspective, such higher mental activity would seem to depend on conscious processes. Using a subliminal priming paradigm, we demonstrated that such story perception occurs without conscious awareness. In the experiments, participants were subliminally presented with sequential pictures that represented a story in which one geometrical figure was chased by the other figure, and in which one fictitious character defeated the other character in a tug-of-war. Although the participants could not report having seen the pictures, their automatic mental associations (i.e., associations that are activated unintentionally, difficult to control, and not necessarily endorsed at a conscious level) were shifted to line up with the story. The results suggest that story perception operates outside of conscious awareness. Implications for research on the unconscious were also briefly discussed. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

[Accumulative effects and long-term persistence of subliminal mere exposure].

PubMed

Kawakami, Naoaki; Yoshida, Fujio

2011-10-01

We examined the accumulative effects and long-term persistence of subliminal mere exposure. An accumulative exposure condition (100 exposures distributed over five days) and a massed exposure condition (100 exposures in one day) were used in a Go/No-go Association Task (GNAT), with assessments of likability from Time 1 (just after) to Time 6 (after three months). First, a single stimulus was shown subliminally for a total of 100 times. The results indicated that mere exposure effects occurred equally often at Time 1. However, after Time 2, likability gradually decreased under the massed exposure condition, while it did not decrease under the accumulative exposure condition until Time 6. Second, in order to investigate the effect of multiple exposure, five stimuli belonging to a common category were shown 20 times each, for a total of 100 times. An ANOVA suggested that massed exposure had an instantaneous effect on likability, whereas accumulative exposure had a long-term persistence effect. Also, multiple exposures strengthened the mere exposure effect.

Subliminal food images compromise superior working memory performance in women with restricting anorexia nervosa.

PubMed

Brooks, Samantha J; O'Daly, Owen G; Uher, Rudolf; Schiöth, Helgi B; Treasure, Janet; Campbell, Iain C

2012-06-01

Prefrontal cortex (PFC) is dysregulated in women with restricting anorexia nervosa (RAN). It is not known whether appetitive non-conscious stimuli bias cognitive responses in those with RAN. Thirteen women with RAN and 20 healthy controls (HC) completed a dorsolateral PFC (DLPFC) working memory task and an anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) conflict task, while masked subliminal food, aversive and neutral images were presented. During the DLPFC task, accuracy was higher in the RAN compared to the HC group, but superior performance was compromised when subliminal food stimuli were presented: errors positively correlated with self-reported trait anxiety in the RAN group. These effects were not observed in the ACC task. Appetitive activation is intact and anxiogenic in women with RAN, and non-consciously interacts with working memory processes associated with the DLPFC. This interaction mechanism may underlie cognitive inhibition of appetitive processes that are anxiety inducing, in people with AN. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Inducing unconscious stress: Cardiovascular activity in response to subliminal presentation of threatening and neutral words.

PubMed

van der Ploeg, Melanie M; Brosschot, Jos F; Verkuil, Bart; Gillie, Brandon L; Williams, DeWayne P; Koenig, Julian; Vasey, Michael W; Thayer, Julian F

2017-10-01

Stress-related cognitive processes may occur outside of awareness, here referred to as unconscious stress, and affect one's physiological state. Evidence supporting this idea would provide necessary clarification of the relationship between psychological stress and cardiovascular (CV) health problems. We tested the hypothesis that increases in mean arterial pressure (MAP) and total peripheral resistance (TPR) and decreases in heart rate variability (HRV) would be larger when threatening stimuli are presented outside of awareness, or subliminally, compared with neutral stimuli. Additionally, it was expected that trait worry and resting HRV, as common risk factors for CV disease, would moderate the effect. We presented a subliminal semantic priming paradigm to college students that were randomly assigned to the threat (n = 56) or neutral condition (n = 60) and assessed changes from baseline of MAP, TPR, and HRV. Level of trait worry was assessed with the Penn State Worry Questionnaire. The findings indicate that CV activity changed according to the hypothesized pattern: A higher MAP and TPR and a lower HRV in the threat condition compared with the neutral condition were found with practically meaningful effect sizes. However, these findings were only statistically significant for TPR. Furthermore, changes in CV activity were not moderated by trait worry or resting HRV. This is the first study to explicitly address the role of subliminally presented threat words on health-relevant outcome measures and suggests that unconscious stress can influence peripheral vascular resistance. © 2017 Society for Psychophysiological Research.

Influence of Temporal Expectations on Response Priming by Subliminal Faces

PubMed Central

Guex, Raphael; Vuilleumier, Patrik

2016-01-01

Unconscious processes are often assumed immune from attention influence. Recent behavioral studies suggest however that the processing of subliminal information can be influenced by temporal attention. To examine the neural mechanisms underlying these effects, we used a stringent masking paradigm together with fMRI to investigate how temporal attention modulates the processing of unseen (masked) faces. Participants performed a gender decision task on a visible neutral target face, preceded by a masked prime face that could vary in gender (same or different than target) and emotion expression (neutral or fearful). We manipulated temporal attention by instructing participants to expect targets to appear either early or late during the stimulus sequence. Orienting temporal attention to subliminal primes influenced response priming by masked faces, even when gender was incongruent. In addition, gender-congruent primes facilitated responses regardless of attention while gender-incongruent primes reduced accuracy when attended. Emotion produced no differential effects. At the neural level, incongruent and temporally unexpected primes increased brain response in regions of the fronto-parietal attention network, reflecting greater recruitment of executive control and reorienting processes. Congruent and expected primes produced higher activations in fusiform cortex, presumably reflecting facilitation of perceptual processing. These results indicate that temporal attention can influence subliminal processing of face features, and thus facilitate information integration according to task-relevance regardless of conscious awareness. They also suggest that task-congruent information between prime and target may facilitate response priming even when temporal attention is not selectively oriented to the prime onset time. PMID:27764124

[Does Emotional Context Affect Subliminal and Supraliminal Priming?].

PubMed

Baran, Zeynel; Cangöz, Banu; Salman, Funda

2016-01-01

Emotions are complex psychophysiological changes experienced during the interactions of internal and external processes. The stimuli that have emotional value have processing efficiency both in encoding and retrieval processes with respect to the neutral stimuli. Processing advantage is present also for implicit memory. Priming effect does not require conscious recollection and leads to changes in responding due to previous exposure to the stimulus. In this study, it was aimed to investigate the effect of presentation type and different emotional contexts on the priming. Sixty-volunteered-university-students were (Female: n=40, X age=19.03±1.23; Male: n=20, X age=19.70±1.92) randomly assigned to the experimental conditions. Presentation type (Subliminal and Supraliminal) was between subject and Emotional Context (pleasant, neutral, and unpleasant pictures) was within subject independent variables. Dependent variables were Word Stem Completion score and completion latencies. Unpleasant emotional context had more capacity to create priming effect than the other emotional contexts. Both Subliminal and Supraliminal conditions favored the priming. Controversially to the transfer appropriate processing approach, the priming effect that was produced by supraliminal condition significantly higher than the priming created by the subliminal condition. Unpleasant picture context produced more priming due to reason that evolutionarily important, i.e. thread-related, stimuli have processing priority and they capture the attention, utilize other cognitive resources easily. Even in priming, that is a phenomenon based heavily on data driven processes, concept driven processes are also effectual as indicated by levels-of-processing approach.

The impact of temporal contingencies between cue and target onset on spatial attentional capture by subliminal onset cues.

PubMed

Schoeberl, Tobias; Ansorge, Ulrich

2018-05-15

Prior research suggested that attentional capture by subliminal abrupt onset cues is stimulus driven. In these studies, reacting was faster when a searched-for target appeared at the location of a preceding abrupt onset cue compared to when the same target appeared at a location away from the cue (cueing effect), although the earlier onset of the cue was subliminal, because it appeared as one out of three horizontally aligned placeholders with a lead time that was too short to be noticed by the participants. Because the cueing effects seemed to be independent of top-down search settings for target features, the effect was attributed to stimulus-driven attentional capture. However, prior studies did not investigate if participants experienced the cues as useful temporal warning signals and, therefore, attended to the cues in a top-down way. Here, we tested to which extent search settings based on temporal contingencies between cue and target onset could be responsible for spatial cueing effects. Cueing effects were replicated, and we showed that removing temporal contingencies between cue and target onset did not diminish the cueing effects (Experiments 1 and 2). Neither presenting the cues in the majority of trials after target onset (Experiment 1) nor presenting cue and target unrelated to one another (Experiment 2) led to a significant reduction of the spatial cueing effects. Results thus support the hypothesis that the subliminal cues captured attention in a stimulus-driven way.

Dissociating the capture of attention from saccade activation by subliminal abrupt onsets.

PubMed

Schoeberl, Tobias; Ansorge, Ulrich

2017-10-01

Attentional capture and effects on saccade metrics by subliminal abrupt onset cues have been studied with peripheral cues at one out of several (two to four) display locations, swiftly followed by additional onsets at the other display locations. The lead time of the cue was too short to be seen. Here, we were interested in whether such subliminal onset cues influenced saccades primarily by way of attention or by way of direct saccade activation. In separate blocks, participants made speeded pro-saccades towards a black target or anti-saccades away from the target. Prior to the targets, an abrupt onset cue was presented either at the same side as the target (valid condition) or at the opposite side (invalid condition). If cues influenced performance by way of attentional capture, we expected facilitation of target processing in valid compared to invalid conditions (cueing effect) in the pro- as well as in the anti-saccade task. If the cues activated saccades in their direction, we expected the cueing effect to drop in the anti-saccade task compared to the pro-saccade task because in the anti-saccade task the invalid cue would activate the finally required response, whereas the valid cue would activate the alternative response, leading to interference. Results were in line with the former of these possibilities suggesting that subliminal abrupt onsets influenced saccades by way of attention with no or little direct activation of saccades.

Influence of Temporal Expectations on Response Priming by Subliminal Faces.

PubMed

Pichon, Swann; Guex, Raphael; Vuilleumier, Patrik

2016-01-01

Unconscious processes are often assumed immune from attention influence. Recent behavioral studies suggest however that the processing of subliminal information can be influenced by temporal attention. To examine the neural mechanisms underlying these effects, we used a stringent masking paradigm together with fMRI to investigate how temporal attention modulates the processing of unseen (masked) faces. Participants performed a gender decision task on a visible neutral target face, preceded by a masked prime face that could vary in gender (same or different than target) and emotion expression (neutral or fearful). We manipulated temporal attention by instructing participants to expect targets to appear either early or late during the stimulus sequence. Orienting temporal attention to subliminal primes influenced response priming by masked faces, even when gender was incongruent. In addition, gender-congruent primes facilitated responses regardless of attention while gender-incongruent primes reduced accuracy when attended. Emotion produced no differential effects. At the neural level, incongruent and temporally unexpected primes increased brain response in regions of the fronto-parietal attention network, reflecting greater recruitment of executive control and reorienting processes. Congruent and expected primes produced higher activations in fusiform cortex, presumably reflecting facilitation of perceptual processing. These results indicate that temporal attention can influence subliminal processing of face features, and thus facilitate information integration according to task-relevance regardless of conscious awareness. They also suggest that task-congruent information between prime and target may facilitate response priming even when temporal attention is not selectively oriented to the prime onset time.

Correction to: Dissociating the capture of attention from saccade activation by subliminal abrupt onsets.

PubMed

Schoeberl, Tobias; Ansorge, Ulrich

2018-01-01

Attentional capture and effects on saccade metrics by subliminal abrupt onset cues have been studied with peripheral cues at one out of several (two to four) display locations, swiftly followed by additional onsets at the other display locations. The lead time of the cue was too short to be seen. Here, we were interested in whether such subliminal onset cues influenced saccades primarily by way of attention or by way of direct saccade activation. In separate blocks, participants made speeded pro-saccades towards a black target or anti-saccades away from the target. Prior to the targets, an abrupt onset cue was presented either at the same side as the target (valid condition) or at the opposite side (invalid condition). If cues influenced performance by way of attentional capture, we expected facilitation of target processing in valid compared to invalid conditions (cueing effect) in the pro- as well as in the anti-saccade task. If the cues activated saccades in their direction, we expected the cueing effect to drop in the anti-saccade task compared to the pro-saccade task because in the anti-saccade task the invalid cue would activate the finally required response, whereas the valid cue would activate the alternative response, leading to interference. Results were in line with the former of these possibilities suggesting that subliminal abrupt onsets influenced saccades by way of attention with no or little direct activation of saccades.

Subliminally presented and stored objects capture spatial attention.

PubMed

Astle, Duncan E; Nobre, Anna C; Scerif, Gaia

2010-03-10

When objects disappear from view, we can still bring them to mind, at least for brief periods of time, because we can represent those objects in visual short-term memory (VSTM) (Sperling, 1960; Cowan, 2001). A defining characteristic of this representation is that it is topographic, that is, it preserves a spatial organization based on the original visual percept (Vogel and Machizawa, 2004; Astle et al., 2009; Kuo et al., 2009). Recent research has also shown that features or locations of visual items that match those being maintained in conscious VSTM automatically capture our attention (Awh and Jonides, 2001; Olivers et al., 2006; Soto et al., 2008). But do objects leave some trace that can guide spatial attention, even without participants intentionally remembering them? Furthermore, could subliminally presented objects leave a topographically arranged representation that can capture attention? We presented objects either supraliminally or subliminally and then 1 s later re-presented one of those objects in a new location, as a "probe" shape. As participants made an arbitrary perceptual judgment on the probe shape, their covert spatial attention was drawn to the original location of that shape, regardless of whether its initial presentation had been supraliminal or subliminal. We demonstrate this with neural and behavioral measures of memory-driven attentional capture. These findings reveal the existence of a topographically arranged store of "visual" objects, the content of which is beyond our explicit awareness but which nonetheless guides spatial attention.

Subliminally Perceived Odours Modulate Female Intrasexual Competition: An Eye Movement Study

PubMed Central

Parma, Valentina; Tirindelli, Roberto; Bisazza, Angelo; Massaccesi, Stefano; Castiello, Umberto

2012-01-01

Background Evidence suggests that subliminal odorants influence human perception and behavior. It has been hypothesized that the human sex-steroid derived compound 4,16-androstadien-3-one (androstadienone) functions as a human chemosignal. The most intensively studied steroid compound, androstadienone is known to be biologically relevant since it seems to convey information about male mate quality to women. It is unclear if the effects of androstadienone are menstrual cycle related. Methodology/Principal Findings In the first experiment, heterosexual women were exposed to androstadienone or a control compound and asked to view stimuli such as female faces, male faces and familiar objects while their eye movements were recorded. In the second experiment the same women were asked to rate the level of stimuli attractiveness following exposure to the study or control compound. The results indicated that women at high conception risk spent more time viewing the female than the male faces regardless of the compound administered. Women at a low conception risk exhibited a preference for female faces only following exposure to androstadienone. Conclusions/Significance We contend that a woman's level of fertility influences her evaluation of potential competitors (e.g., faces of other women) during times critical for reproduction. Subliminally perceived odorants, such as androstadienone, might similarly enhance intrasexual competition strategies in women during fertility phases not critical for conception. These findings offer a substantial contribution to the current debate about the effects that subliminally perceived body odors might have on behavior. PMID:22383968

Evidence of Nonconscious Stereotyping of Hispanic Patients by Nursing and Medical Students

PubMed Central

Bean, Meghan G.; Stone, Jeff; Badger, Terry A.; Focella, Elizabeth S.; Moskowitz, Gordon B.

2013-01-01

Background Current research on nonconscious stereotyping in health care is limited by an emphasis on practicing physicians’ beliefs about African American patients and by heavy reliance on a measure of nonconscious processes that allows participants to exert control over their behavior if they are motivated to appear nonbiased. Objectives The present research examined whether nursing and medical students exhibit nonconscious activation of stereotypes about Hispanic patients using a task that subliminally primes patient ethnicity. It was hypothesized that participants would exhibit greater activation of noncompliance and health risk stereotypes following subliminal exposure to Hispanic faces compared with non-Hispanic White faces and, because ethnicity was primed outside of conscious awareness, that explicit motivations to control prejudice would not moderate stereotype activation. Methods Nursing and medical students completed a sequential priming task that measured the speed with which they recognized words related to noncompliance and health risk following subliminal exposure to Hispanic and non-Hispanic White faces. They then completed explicit measures of their motivation to control prejudice against Hispanics. Results Both nursing and medical students exhibited greater activation of noncompliance and health risk words after subliminal exposure to Hispanic faces, compared with non-Hispanic White faces. Explicit motivations to control prejudice did not moderate stereotype activation. Discussion These findings show that, regardless of their motivation to treat Hispanics fairly, nursing and medical students exhibit nonconscious activation of negative stereotypes when they encounter Hispanics. Implications are discussed. PMID:23995470

Abnormal Amygdalar Activation and Connectivity in Adolescents With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

PubMed Central

Posner, Jonathan; Nagel, Bonnie J.; Maia, Tiago V.; Mechling, Anna; Oh, Milim; Wang, Zhishun; Peterson, Bradley S.

2011-01-01

Objective Emotional reactivity is one of the most disabling symptoms associated with ADHD. We aimed to identify neural substrates associated with emotional reactivity and assess the effects of stimulants on those substrates. Method We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to assess neural activity in adolescents with (N=15) and without (N=15) ADHD while they performed a task involving the subliminal presentation of fearful faces. Using dynamic causal modeling, we also examined the effective connectivity of two regions associated with emotional reactivity — the amygdala and the lateral prefrontal cortex (LPFC). The participants with ADHD were scanned both on and off stimulant medication in a counterbalanced fashion. Results During the task, we found that activity in the right amygdala was greater in adolescents with ADHD than in controls. Additionally, in adolescents with ADHD, greater connectivity was detected between the amygdala and LPFC. Stimulants had a normalizing effect on both the activity in the right amygdala and the connectivity between the amygdala and LPFC. Conclusions Our findings demonstrate that in adolescents with ADHD, a neural substrate of fear processing is atypical, as is the connectivity between the amygdala and LPFC. These findings suggest possible neural substrates for the emotional reactivity that is often present in youths with ADHD and provide putative neural targets for the development of novel therapeutic interventions for this condition. PMID:21784302

Perceived state of self during motion can differentially modulate numerical magnitude allocation.

PubMed

Arshad, Q; Nigmatullina, Y; Roberts, R E; Goga, U; Pikovsky, M; Khan, S; Lobo, R; Flury, A-S; Pettorossi, V E; Cohen-Kadosh, R; Malhotra, P A; Bronstein, A M

2016-09-01

Although a direct relationship between numerical allocation and spatial attention has been proposed, recent research suggests that these processes are not directly coupled. In keeping with this, spatial attention shifts induced either via visual or vestibular motion can modulate numerical allocation in some circumstances but not in others. In addition to shifting spatial attention, visual or vestibular motion paradigms also (i) elicit compensatory eye movements which themselves can influence numerical processing and (ii) alter the perceptual state of 'self', inducing changes in bodily self-consciousness impacting upon cognitive mechanisms. Thus, the precise mechanism by which motion modulates numerical allocation remains unknown. We sought to investigate the influence that different perceptual experiences of motion have upon numerical magnitude allocation while controlling for both eye movements and task-related effects. We first used optokinetic visual motion stimulation (OKS) to elicit the perceptual experience of either 'visual world' or 'self'-motion during which eye movements were identical. In a second experiment, we used a vestibular protocol examining the effects of perceived and subliminal angular rotations in darkness, which also provoked identical eye movements. We observed that during the perceptual experience of 'visual world' motion, rightward OKS-biased judgments towards smaller numbers, whereas leftward OKS-biased judgments towards larger numbers. During the perceptual experience of 'self-motion', judgments were biased towards larger numbers irrespective of the OKS direction. Contrastingly, vestibular motion perception was found not to modulate numerical magnitude allocation, nor was there any differential modulation when comparing 'perceived' vs. 'subliminal' rotations. We provide a novel demonstration that numerical magnitude allocation can be differentially modulated by the perceptual state of self during visual but not vestibular mediated motion. © 2016 Federation of European Neuroscience Societies and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Testing the attentional boundary conditions of subliminal semantic priming: the influence of semantic and phonological task sets

PubMed Central

Adams, Sarah C.; Kiefer, Markus

2012-01-01

Recent studies challenged the classical notion of automaticity and indicated that even unconscious automatic semantic processing is under attentional control to some extent. In line with our attentional sensitization model, these data suggest that a sensitization of semantic pathways by a semantic task set is necessary for subliminal semantic priming to occur while non-semantic task sets attenuate priming. In the present study, we tested whether masked semantic priming is also reduced by phonological task sets using the previously developed induction task paradigm. This would substantiate the notion that attention to semantics is necessary for eliciting unconscious semantic priming. Participants first performed semantic and phonological induction tasks that should either activate a semantic or a phonological task set. Subsequent to the induction task, a masked prime word, either associated or non-associated with the following lexical decision target word, was presented. Across two experiments, we varied the nature of the phonological induction task (word phonology vs. letter phonology) to assess whether the attentional focus on the entire word vs. single letters modulates subsequent masked semantic priming. In both experiments, subliminal semantic priming was only found subsequent to the semantic induction task, but was attenuated following either phonological induction task. These results indicate that attention to phonology attenuates subsequent semantic processing of unconsciously presented primes whether or not attention is directed to the entire word or to single letters. The present findings therefore substantiate earlier evidence that an attentional orientation toward semantics is necessary for subliminal semantic priming to be elicited. PMID:22952461

Modulation of self-esteem in self- and other-evaluations primed by subliminal and supraliminal faces.

PubMed

Tao, Ran; Zhang, Shen; Li, Qi; Geng, Haiyan

2012-01-01

Past research examining implicit self-evaluation often manipulated self-processing as task-irrelevant but presented self-related stimuli supraliminally. Even when tested with more indirect methods, such as the masked priming paradigm, participants' responses may still be subject to conscious interference. Our study primed participants with either their own or someone else's face, and adopted a new paradigm to actualize strict face-suppression to examine participants' subliminal self-evaluation. In addition, we investigated how self-esteem modulates one's implicit self-evaluation and validated the role of awareness in creating the discrepancy on past findings between measures of implicit self-evaluation and explicit self-esteem. Participants' own face or others' faces were subliminally presented with a Continuous Flash Suppression (CFS) paradigm in Experiment 1, but supraliminally presented in Experiment 2, followed by a valence judgment task of personality adjectives. Participants also completed the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale in each experiment. Results from Experiment 1 showed a typical bias of self-positivity among participants with higher self-esteem, but only a marginal self-positivity bias and a significant other-positivity bias among those with lower self-esteem. However, self-esteem had no modulating effect in Experiment 2: All participants showed the self-positivity bias. Our results provide direct evidence that self-evaluation manifests in different ways as a function of awareness between individuals with different self-views: People high and low in self-esteem may demonstrate different automatic reactions in the subliminal evaluations of the self and others; but the involvement of consciousness with supraliminally presented stimuli may reduce this dissociation.

Unconscious Processing of Facial Emotional Valence Relation: Behavioral Evidence of Integration between Subliminally Perceived Stimuli.

PubMed

Liu, Chengzhen; Sun, Zhiyi; Jou, Jerwen; Cui, Qian; Zhao, Guang; Qiu, Jiang; Tu, Shen

2016-01-01

Although a few studies have investigated the integration between some types of unconscious stimuli, no research has yet explored the integration between unconscious emotional stimuli. This study was designed to provide behavioral evidence for the integration between unconsciously perceived emotional faces (same or different valence relation) using a modified priming paradigm. In two experiments, participants were asked to decide whether two faces in the target, which followed two subliminally presented faces of same or different emotional expressions, were of the same or different emotional valence. The interstimulus interval (ISI) between the prime and the target was manipulated (0, 53, 163 ms). In Experiment 1, prime visibility was assessed post-experiment. In Experiment 2, it was assessed on each trial. Interestingly, in both experiments, unconsciously processed valence relation of the two faces in the prime generated a negative priming effect in the response to the supraliminally presented target, independent of the length of ISI. Further analyses suggested that the negative priming was probably caused by a motor response incongruent relation between the subliminally perceived prime and the supraliminally perceived target. The visual feature incongruent relation across the prime and target was not found to play a role in the negative priming. Because the negative priming was found at short ISI, an attention mechanism as well as a motor inhibition mechanism were proposed in the generation of the negative priming effect. Overall, this study indicated that the subliminal valence relation was processed, and that integration between different unconsciously perceived stimuli could occur.

Unconscious Processing of Facial Emotional Valence Relation: Behavioral Evidence of Integration between Subliminally Perceived Stimuli

PubMed Central

Jou, Jerwen; Cui, Qian; Zhao, Guang; Qiu, Jiang; Tu, Shen

2016-01-01

Although a few studies have investigated the integration between some types of unconscious stimuli, no research has yet explored the integration between unconscious emotional stimuli. This study was designed to provide behavioral evidence for the integration between unconsciously perceived emotional faces (same or different valence relation) using a modified priming paradigm. In two experiments, participants were asked to decide whether two faces in the target, which followed two subliminally presented faces of same or different emotional expressions, were of the same or different emotional valence. The interstimulus interval (ISI) between the prime and the target was manipulated (0, 53, 163 ms). In Experiment 1, prime visibility was assessed post-experiment. In Experiment 2, it was assessed on each trial. Interestingly, in both experiments, unconsciously processed valence relation of the two faces in the prime generated a negative priming effect in the response to the supraliminally presented target, independent of the length of ISI. Further analyses suggested that the negative priming was probably caused by a motor response incongruent relation between the subliminally perceived prime and the supraliminally perceived target. The visual feature incongruent relation across the prime and target was not found to play a role in the negative priming. Because the negative priming was found at short ISI, an attention mechanism as well as a motor inhibition mechanism were proposed in the generation of the negative priming effect. Overall, this study indicated that the subliminal valence relation was processed, and that integration between different unconsciously perceived stimuli could occur. PMID:27622600

ADHD patients fail to maintain task goals in face of subliminally and consciously induced cognitive conflicts.

PubMed

Gohil, K; Bluschke, A; Roessner, V; Stock, A-K; Beste, C

2017-07-01

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) patients have been reported to display deficits in action control processes. While it is known that subliminally and consciously induced conflicts interact and conjointly modulate action control in healthy subjects, this has never been investigated for ADHD. We investigated the (potential) interaction of subliminally and consciously triggered response conflicts in children with ADHD and matched healthy controls using neuropsychological methods (event-related potentials; ERPs) to identify the involved cognitive sub-processes. Unlike healthy controls, ADHD patients showed no interaction of subliminally and consciously triggered response conflicts. Instead, they only showed additive effects as their behavioural performance (accuracy) was equally impaired by each conflict and they showed no signs of task-goal shielding even in cases of low conflict load. Of note, this difference between ADHD and controls was not rooted in early bottom-up attentional stimulus processing as reflected by the P1 and N1 ERPs. Instead, ADHD showed either no or reversed modulations of conflict-related processes and response selection as reflected by the N2 and P3 ERPs. There are fundamental differences in the architecture of cognitive control which might be of use for future diagnostic procedures. Unlike healthy controls, ADHD patients do not seem to be endowed with a threshold which allows them to maintain high behavioural performance in the face of low conflict load. ADHD patients seem to lack sufficient top-down attentional resources to maintain correct response selection in the face of conflicts by shielding the response selection process from response tendencies evoked by any kind of distractor.

Mechanisms of subliminal response priming.

PubMed

Kiesel, Andrea; Kunde, Wilfried; Hoffmann, Joachim

2008-07-15

Subliminal response priming has been considered to operate on several stages, e.g. perceptual, central or motor stages might be affected. While primes' impact on target perception has been clearly demonstrated, semantic response priming recently has been thrown into doubt (e.g. Klinger, Burton, & Pitts, 2000). Finally, LRP studies have revealed that subliminal primes evoke motor processes. Yet, the premises for such prime-evoked motor activation are not settled. A transfer of priming to stimuli that have never been presented as targets appears particularly interesting because it suggests a level of processing that goes beyond a reactivation of previously acquired S-R links. Yet, such transfer has not always withstood empirical testing. To account for these contradictory results, we proposed a two-process model (Kunde, Kiesel, & Hoffmann, 2003): First, participants build up expectations regarding imperative stimuli for the required responses according to experience and/or instructions. Second, stimuli that match these "action triggers" directly activate the corresponding motor responses irrespective of their conscious identification. In line with these assumptions, recent studies revealed that non-target primes induce priming when they fit the current task intentions and when they are expected in the experimental setting.

Subliminal display of action words interferes with motor planning: a combined EEG and kinematic study.

PubMed

Boulenger, Véronique; Silber, Beata Y; Roy, Alice C; Paulignan, Yves; Jeannerod, Marc; Nazir, Tatjana A

2008-01-01

Recent evidence has shown that processing action-related language and motor action share common neural representations to a point that the two processes can interfere when performed concurrently. To support the assumption that language-induced motor activity contributes to action word understanding, the present study aimed at ruling out that this activity results from mental imagery of the movements depicted by the words. For this purpose, we examined cross-talk between action word processing and an arm reaching movement, using words that were presented too fast to be consciously perceived (subliminally). Encephalogram (EEG) and movement kinematics were recorded. EEG recordings of the "Readiness potential" ("RP", indicator of motor preparation) revealed that subliminal displays of action verbs during movement preparation reduced the RP and affected the subsequent reaching movement. The finding that motor processes were modulated by language processes despite the fact that words were not consciously perceived, suggests that cortical structures that serve the preparation and execution of motor actions are indeed part of the (action) language processing network.

Subliminal fear priming potentiates negative facial reactions to food pictures in women with anorexia nervosa.

PubMed

Soussignan, R; Jiang, T; Rigaud, D; Royet, J P; Schaal, B

2010-03-01

To investigate hedonic reactivity and the influence of unconscious emotional processes on the low sensitivity to positive reinforcement of food in anorexia nervosa (AN). AN and healthy women were exposed to palatable food pictures just after a subliminal exposure to facial expressions (happy, disgust, fear and neutral faces), either while fasting or after a standardized meal (hunger versus satiety). Both implicit [facial electromyographic (EMG) activity from zygomatic and corrugator muscles, skin conductance, heart rate, and videotaped facial behavior] and explicit (self-reported pleasure and desire) measures of affective processes were recorded. In contrast to healthy women, the AN patients did not display objective and subjective indices of pleasure to food pictures when they were in the hunger states. Pleasure to food cues (liking) was more affected than the desire to eat (wanting) in AN patients. Subliminal 'fear faces' increased corrugator muscle reactivity to food stimuli in fasting AN patients, as compared to controls. The results suggest that unconscious fear cues increase the negative appraisal of alimentary stimuli in AN patients and thus contribute to decreased energy intake.

Coupling between perception and action timing during sensorimotor synchronization.

PubMed

Serrien, Deborah J; Spapé, Michiel M

2010-12-17

Time is an important parameter in behaviour, especially when synchronization with external events is required. To evaluate the nature of the association between perception and action timing, this study introduced pitch accented tones during performance of a sensorimotor tapping task. Furthermore, regularity of the pacing cues was modified by small (subliminal) or large (conscious) timing perturbations. A global analysis across the intervals showed that repeated accented tones increased the tap-tone asynchrony in the regular (control) and irregular (subliminal) trials but not in the irregular trials with awareness of the perturbations. Asynchrony variability demonstrated no effect of accentuation in the regular and subliminal irregular trials, whereas it increased in the conscious irregular trials. A local analysis of the intervals showed that pitch accentuation lengthened the duration of the tapping responses, but only in the irregular trials with large timing perturbations. These data underline that common timing processes are automatically engaged for perception and action, although this arrangement can be overturned by cognitive intervention. Overall, the findings highlight a flexible association between perception and action timing within a functional information processing framework. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Influence of supraliminal reward information on unconsciously triggered response inhibition.

PubMed

Diao, Liuting; Ding, Cody; Qi, Senqing; Zeng, Qinghong; Huang, Bo; Xu, Mengsi; Fan, Lingxia; Yang, Dong

2014-01-01

Although executive functions (e.g., response inhibition) are often thought to interact consciously with reward, recent studies have demonstrated that they can also be triggered by unconscious stimuli. Further research has suggested a close relationship between consciously and unconsciously triggered response inhibition. To date, however, the effect of reward on unconsciously triggered response inhibition has not been explored. To address this issue, participants in this study performed runs of a modified Go/No-Go task during which they were exposed to both high and low value monetary rewards presented both supraliminally and subliminally. Participants were informed that they would earn the reward displayed if they responded correctly to each trial of the run. According to the results, when rewards were presented supraliminally, a greater unconsciously triggered response inhibition was observed for high-value rewards than for low-value rewards. In contrast, when rewards were presented subliminally, no enhanced unconsciously triggered response inhibition was observed. Results revealed that supraliminal and subliminal rewards have distinct effects on unconsciously triggered response inhibition. These findings have important implications for extending our understanding of the relationship between reward and response inhibition.

Physiological responses associated with cultural attachment.

PubMed

Yap, Wei Jie; Christopoulos, George I; Hong, Ying-Yi

2017-05-15

Cultural attachment (CA) suggests that cultural symbols can function as attachment figures, in a similar way to prototypical maternal attachment figures. In order to further understand the psychophysiological mechanisms of CA, we examine whether cultural symbols regulate peripheral physiological indicators of arousal in response to symbolic threats. We supraliminally expose participants to neutral or threatening stimuli, followed by the subliminal presentation of CA and control images, while recording their Skin Conductance Responses (SCR). In tandem with previous work, threat increased SCR when the subliminal image was a control. However, the subliminal presence of a cultural symbol reduced this typically high SCR to threat, potentially suggesting that the threat-related arousal was mitigated. Importantly, metrics related to the way an individual is related to the environment, i.e. the need for cognitive closure, affected physiological responses towards threat and cultural images. Overall, the present study sets the basis for potential emotional mechanisms that could explain how cultural symbols can act as extensions of the prototypical attachment figures and confer the sense of security in the face of threat. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Influence of Supraliminal Reward Information on Unconsciously Triggered Response Inhibition

PubMed Central

Diao, Liuting; Ding, Cody; Qi, Senqing; Zeng, Qinghong; Huang, Bo; Xu, Mengsi; Fan, Lingxia; Yang, Dong

2014-01-01

Although executive functions (e.g., response inhibition) are often thought to interact consciously with reward, recent studies have demonstrated that they can also be triggered by unconscious stimuli. Further research has suggested a close relationship between consciously and unconsciously triggered response inhibition. To date, however, the effect of reward on unconsciously triggered response inhibition has not been explored. To address this issue, participants in this study performed runs of a modified Go/No-Go task during which they were exposed to both high and low value monetary rewards presented both supraliminally and subliminally. Participants were informed that they would earn the reward displayed if they responded correctly to each trial of the run. According to the results, when rewards were presented supraliminally, a greater unconsciously triggered response inhibition was observed for high-value rewards than for low-value rewards. In contrast, when rewards were presented subliminally, no enhanced unconsciously triggered response inhibition was observed. Results revealed that supraliminal and subliminal rewards have distinct effects on unconsciously triggered response inhibition. These findings have important implications for extending our understanding of the relationship between reward and response inhibition. PMID:25268227

New methodological advice for research in subliminal psychodynamic activation.

PubMed

Birgegard, A; Sohlberg, S

1999-06-01

Recent integration among approaches to perception without awareness has brought the usefulness of Subliminal Psychodynamic Activation into renewed focus. Several authors have discussed the possible detrimental impact on interpretation when control phrases are used that for some participants may be less than affectively neutral (e.g., Fudin, 1986; Greenberg, 1997). In this continuing commentary, we argue that the neutrality of a substantive stimulus is an insoluble issue, and instead the suitability of controls for a given study should be emphasized. Also, we discuss the apparent confusion between experimental psychodynamics and efforts to answer Greenwald's 1992 "two-word challenge."

“Low road” to rehabilitation: a perspective on subliminal sensory neuroprosthetics

PubMed Central

Ghai, Shashank; Ghai, Ishan; Effenberg, Alfred O

2018-01-01

Fear can propagate parallelly through both cortical and subcortical pathways. It can instigate memory consolidation habitually and might allow internal simulation of movements independent of the cortical structures. This perspective suggests delivery of subliminal, aversive and kinematic audiovisual stimuli via neuroprosthetics in patients with neocortical dysfunctions. We suggest possible scenarios by which these stimuli might bypass damaged neocortical structures and possibly assisting in motor relearning. Anticipated neurophysiological mechanisms and methodological scenarios have been discussed in this perspective. This approach introduces novel perspectives into neuropsychology as to how subcortical pathways might be used to induce motor relearning. PMID:29398914

"Low road" to rehabilitation: a perspective on subliminal sensory neuroprosthetics.

PubMed

Ghai, Shashank; Ghai, Ishan; Effenberg, Alfred O

2018-01-01

Fear can propagate parallelly through both cortical and subcortical pathways. It can instigate memory consolidation habitually and might allow internal simulation of movements independent of the cortical structures. This perspective suggests delivery of subliminal, aversive and kinematic audiovisual stimuli via neuroprosthetics in patients with neocortical dysfunctions. We suggest possible scenarios by which these stimuli might bypass damaged neocortical structures and possibly assisting in motor relearning. Anticipated neurophysiological mechanisms and methodological scenarios have been discussed in this perspective. This approach introduces novel perspectives into neuropsychology as to how subcortical pathways might be used to induce motor relearning.

Automatic motor activation in the executive control of action

PubMed Central

McBride, Jennifer; Boy, Frédéric; Husain, Masud; Sumner, Petroc

2012-01-01

Although executive control and automatic behavior have often been considered separate and distinct processes, there is strong emerging and convergent evidence that they may in fact be intricately interlinked. In this review, we draw together evidence showing that visual stimuli cause automatic and unconscious motor activation, and how this in turn has implications for executive control. We discuss object affordances, alien limb syndrome, the visual grasp reflex, subliminal priming, and subliminal triggering of attentional orienting. Consideration of these findings suggests automatic motor activation might form an intrinsic part of all behavior, rather than being categorically different from voluntary actions. PMID:22536177

Preserved subliminal processing and impaired conscious access in schizophrenia

PubMed Central

Del Cul, Antoine; Dehaene, Stanislas; Leboyer, Marion

2006-01-01

Background Studies of visual backward masking have frequently revealed an elevated masking threshold in schizophrenia. This finding has frequently been interpreted as indicating a low-level visual deficit. However, more recent models suggest that masking may also involve late and higher-level integrative processes, while leaving intact early “bottom-up” visual processing. Objectives We tested the hypothesis that the backward masking deficit in schizophrenia corresponds to a deficit in the late stages of conscious perception, whereas the subliminal processing of masked stimuli is fully preserved. Method 28 patients with schizophrenia and 28 normal controls performed two backward-masking experiments. We used Arabic digits as stimuli and varied quasi-continuously the interval with a subsequent mask, thus allowing us to progressively “unmask” the stimuli. We finely quantified their degree of visibility using both objective and subjective measures to evaluate the threshold duration for access to consciousness. We also studied the priming effect caused by the variably masked numbers on a comparison task performed on a subsequently presented and highly visible target number. Results The threshold delay between digit and mask necessary for the conscious perception of the masked stimulus was longer in patients compared to control subjects. This higher consciousness threshold in patients was confirmed by an objective and a subjective measure, and both measures were highly correlated for patients as well as for controls. However, subliminal priming of masked numbers was effective and identical in patients compared to controls. Conclusions Access to conscious report of masked stimuli is impaired in schizophrenia, while fast bottom-up processing of the same stimuli, as assessed by subliminal priming, is preserved. These findings suggest a high-level origin of the masking deficit in schizophrenia, although they leave open for further research its exact relation to previously identified bottom-up visual processing abnormalities. PMID:17146006

Relational Memory Is Evident in Eye Movement Behavior despite the Use of Subliminal Testing Methods.

PubMed

Nickel, Allison E; Henke, Katharina; Hannula, Deborah E

2015-01-01

While it is generally agreed that perception can occur without awareness, there continues to be debate about the type of representational content that is accessible when awareness is minimized or eliminated. Most investigations that have addressed this issue evaluate access to well-learned representations. Far fewer studies have evaluated whether or not associations encountered just once prior to testing might also be accessed and influence behavior. Here, eye movements were used to examine whether or not memory for studied relationships is evident following the presentation of subliminal cues. Participants assigned to experimental or control groups studied scene-face pairs and test trials evaluated implicit and explicit memory for these pairs. Each test trial began with a subliminal scene cue, followed by three visible studied faces. For experimental group participants, one face was the studied associate of the scene (implicit test); for controls none were a match. Subsequently, the display containing a match was presented to both groups, but now it was preceded by a visible scene cue (explicit test). Eye movements were recorded and recognition memory responses were made. Participants in the experimental group looked disproportionately at matching faces on implicit test trials and participants from both groups looked disproportionately at matching faces on explicit test trials, even when that face had not been successfully identified as the associate. Critically, implicit memory-based viewing effects seemed not to depend on residual awareness of subliminal scene cues, as subjective and objective measures indicated that scenes were successfully masked from view. The reported outcomes indicate that memory for studied relationships can be expressed in eye movement behavior without awareness.

Effects of subliminal affective priming on helping behavior using the foot-in-the-door technique.

PubMed

Skandrani-Marzouki, Inès; Marzouki, Yousri; Joule, Robert-Vincent

2012-12-01

Two experiments examined the effect of subliminal affective priming on compliance using the foot-in-the-door (FITD) paradigm. Prior to the target request, participants were exposed to subliminal emotional expressions. FITD (presence vs. absence of initial request) was crossed with Priming (positive, negative, neutral, and absence of prime-blank screen) in a between-subjects design. 180 students volunteered as participants (M=22 years). 20 participants (10 females) were assigned to each of eight experimental conditions plus the control condition that neither involved the initial request nor the priming experiment. Participants were asked to judge whether target sentences were relevant or not for road safety instruction. In Experiment 1, emotional valence of prime stimuli affected both endorsement rate and time devoted to the target request but not participants' attitude. Affective priming effects did not interact significantly with the FITD effect. In experiment 2, in 180 more students, the attitude measure was replaced by an implicit recognition task. Results showed that regardless of priming condition, in the absence of FITD, participants recognized target sentences better than in the presence of FITD. Conversely, in the presence of the FITD, participants recognized more accurately previously seen sentences that were primed by positive emotions relative to other priming conditions. The latter result suggests that the presence of the FITD involves a significant amount of cognitive resources so that only stimuli emotionally relevant to the task's goal (i.e., positive) tend to be processed. Together, these results could explain how, contrary to helping behavior, compliant behavior that has no direct association with the prime stimuli was not easily influenced by the affective subliminal priming.

Modulation of Self-Esteem in Self- and Other-Evaluations Primed by Subliminal and Supraliminal Faces

PubMed Central

Tao, Ran; Zhang, Shen; Li, Qi; Geng, Haiyan

2012-01-01

Background Past research examining implicit self-evaluation often manipulated self-processing as task-irrelevant but presented self-related stimuli supraliminally. Even when tested with more indirect methods, such as the masked priming paradigm, participants' responses may still be subject to conscious interference. Our study primed participants with either their own or someone else's face, and adopted a new paradigm to actualize strict face-suppression to examine participants' subliminal self-evaluation. In addition, we investigated how self-esteem modulates one's implicit self-evaluation and validated the role of awareness in creating the discrepancy on past findings between measures of implicit self-evaluation and explicit self-esteem. Methodology/Principal Findings Participants' own face or others' faces were subliminally presented with a Continuous Flash Suppression (CFS) paradigm in Experiment 1, but supraliminally presented in Experiment 2, followed by a valence judgment task of personality adjectives. Participants also completed the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale in each experiment. Results from Experiment 1 showed a typical bias of self-positivity among participants with higher self-esteem, but only a marginal self-positivity bias and a significant other-positivity bias among those with lower self-esteem. However, self-esteem had no modulating effect in Experiment 2: All participants showed the self-positivity bias. Conclusions/Significance Our results provide direct evidence that self-evaluation manifests in different ways as a function of awareness between individuals with different self-views: People high and low in self-esteem may demonstrate different automatic reactions in the subliminal evaluations of the self and others; but the involvement of consciousness with supraliminally presented stimuli may reduce this dissociation. PMID:23091607

Relational Memory Is Evident in Eye Movement Behavior despite the Use of Subliminal Testing Methods

PubMed Central

Nickel, Allison E.; Henke, Katharina; Hannula, Deborah E.

2015-01-01

While it is generally agreed that perception can occur without awareness, there continues to be debate about the type of representational content that is accessible when awareness is minimized or eliminated. Most investigations that have addressed this issue evaluate access to well-learned representations. Far fewer studies have evaluated whether or not associations encountered just once prior to testing might also be accessed and influence behavior. Here, eye movements were used to examine whether or not memory for studied relationships is evident following the presentation of subliminal cues. Participants assigned to experimental or control groups studied scene-face pairs and test trials evaluated implicit and explicit memory for these pairs. Each test trial began with a subliminal scene cue, followed by three visible studied faces. For experimental group participants, one face was the studied associate of the scene (implicit test); for controls none were a match. Subsequently, the display containing a match was presented to both groups, but now it was preceded by a visible scene cue (explicit test). Eye movements were recorded and recognition memory responses were made. Participants in the experimental group looked disproportionately at matching faces on implicit test trials and participants from both groups looked disproportionately at matching faces on explicit test trials, even when that face had not been successfully identified as the associate. Critically, implicit memory-based viewing effects seemed not to depend on residual awareness of subliminal scene cues, as subjective and objective measures indicated that scenes were successfully masked from view. The reported outcomes indicate that memory for studied relationships can be expressed in eye movement behavior without awareness. PMID:26512726

The impact of subliminal haptic perception on the preference discrimination of roughness and compliance.

PubMed

Hilsenrat, Marcos; Reiner, Miriam

2011-06-30

It is well known that unaware exposure to a visual stimulus increases the preferability of the associated object. In this study we examine whether the same phenomena occur for haptic stimuli. Using a touch-enabled virtual environment, we tested whether people that touch two virtual surfaces, which differ by imperceptible differences in roughness or compliance, tend to choose rougher or smoother, softer or stiffer surfaces, in accordance with their natural tendency. In forced choice preference tests, participants were first asked to choose between two surfaces that differ by roughness/stiffness. Stimuli strength was above the aware perception limit. Then, the same test was performed for differences in stimuli strength, which was below the limit of awareness. Finally, we carried out a recognition test: participants were asked to choose between the surfaces presented in the previous step, and point at the smoother or softer surface, respectively. For each stimulus, two groups of 26 subjects participated. Results show that in the unaware preference tests, participants selected the surface in accordance with the aware preference tests, with significant difference from chance (59.5%, and 60.2% for roughness and compliance as a stimulus, respectively). The recognition tests in both experiments were at chance level, suggesting that participants were unaware of the difference in stimuli. These results show that subliminal perception of roughness and compliance strength affects texture preferences. Research data suggest that the amygdala is central in regulating emotional processing of visual stimuli, even if it is presented subliminally. Thus, the results of this study raise the question whether the amygdala also modulates emotional haptic stimuli when they are subliminally perceived. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

When less is more: the consequences of affective primacy for subliminal priming effects.

PubMed

Stapel, Diederik A; Koomen, Willem

2005-09-01

This research investigates the consequences of the notion that one can distinguish early-evaluative (when exposure is short) and late-descriptive reactions (when exposure is long) to subliminally primed trait concepts. In three studies, it was found that the evaluative effects instigated by short exposure to primed concepts were bigger than the evaluative + descriptive effects instigated by long exposure: Less is more. Only when exposure was short, target interpretations were accompanied by evaluative inferences (Studies 1 and 3). Similarly, only when exposure was short, descriptively inapplicable trait primes affected the interpretation of an ambiguous target (Studies 2 and 3).

Subliminal speech priming.

PubMed

Kouider, Sid; Dupoux, Emmanuel

2005-08-01

We present a novel subliminal priming technique that operates in the auditory modality. Masking is achieved by hiding a spoken word within a stream of time-compressed speechlike sounds with similar spectral characteristics. Participants were unable to consciously identify the hidden words, yet reliable repetition priming was found. This effect was unaffected by a change in the speaker's voice and remained restricted to lexical processing. The results show that the speech modality, like the written modality, involves the automatic extraction of abstract word-form representations that do not include nonlinguistic details. In both cases, priming operates at the level of discrete and abstract lexical entries and is little influenced by overlap in form or semantics.

Pop-rock music as precipitating cause in youth suicide.

PubMed

Litman, R E; Farberow, N L

1994-03-01

The plaintiffs in a law suit alleged that the heavy metal rock band Judas Priest, and its publisher CBS, were liable for damages to two youths who shot themselves after listening to the band's album. Crucial issues included "proximate cause" and "precipitating cause" in suicide, and the alleged role of subliminal messages. The judge ruled that although the "heavy metal" music might have had a toxic influence, the sounds and words are protected by the free speech first amendment. The influence of subliminal messages on behavior is unproven. There were many other elements in the personalities and situations of the victims to account for their self-destructive behavior.

Reversed Priming Effects May Be Driven by Misperception Rather than Subliminal Processing.

PubMed

Sand, Anders

2016-01-01

A new paradigm for investigating whether a cognitive process is independent of perception was recently suggested. In the paradigm, primes are shown at an intermediate signal strength that leads to trial-to-trial and inter-individual variability in prime perception. Here, I used this paradigm and an objective measure of perception to assess the influence of prime identification responses on Stroop priming. I found that sensory states producing correct and incorrect prime identification responses were also associated with qualitatively different priming effects. Incorrect prime identification responses were associated with reversed priming effects but in contrast to previous studies, I interpret this to result from the (mis-)perception of primes rather than from a subliminal process. Furthermore, the intermediate signal strength also produced inter-individual variability in prime perception that strongly influenced priming effects: only participants who on average perceived the primes were Stroop primed. I discuss how this new paradigm, with a wide range of d' values, is more appropriate when regression analysis on inter-individual identification performance is used to investigate perception-dependent processing. The results of this study, in line with previous results, suggest that drawing conclusions about subliminal processes based on data averaged over individuals may be unwarranted.

Dopamine modulates reward system activity during subconscious processing of sexual stimuli.

PubMed

Oei, Nicole Y L; Rombouts, Serge Arb; Soeter, Roelof P; van Gerven, Joop M; Both, Stephanie

2012-06-01

Dopaminergic medication influences conscious processing of rewarding stimuli, and is associated with impulsive-compulsive behaviors, such as hypersexuality. Previous studies have shown that subconscious subliminal presentation of sexual stimuli activates brain areas known to be part of the 'reward system'. In this study, it was hypothesized that dopamine modulates activation in key areas of the reward system, such as the nucleus accumbens, during subconscious processing of sexual stimuli. Young healthy males (n=53) were randomly assigned to two experimental groups or a control group, and were administered a dopamine antagonist (haloperidol), a dopamine agonist (levodopa), or placebo. Brain activation was assessed during a backward-masking task with subliminally presented sexual stimuli. Results showed that levodopa significantly enhanced the activation in the nucleus accumbens and dorsal anterior cingulate when subliminal sexual stimuli were shown, whereas haloperidol decreased activations in those areas. Dopamine thus enhances activations in regions thought to regulate 'wanting' in response to potentially rewarding sexual stimuli that are not consciously perceived. This running start of the reward system might explain the pull of rewards in individuals with compulsive reward-seeking behaviors such as hypersexuality and patients who receive dopaminergic medication.

Mechanisms of subliminal response priming

PubMed Central

Kiesel, Andrea; Kunde, Wilfried; Hoffmann, Joachim

2008-01-01

Subliminal response priming has been considered to operate on several stages, e.g. perceptual, central or motor stages might be affected. While primes’ impact on target perception has been clearly demonstrated, semantic response priming recently has been thrown into doubt (e.g. Klinger, Burton, & Pitts, 2000). Finally, LRP studies have revealed that subliminal primes evoke motor processes. Yet, the premises for such prime-evoked motor activation are not settled. A transfer of priming to stimuli that have never been presented as targets appears particularly interesting because it suggests a level of processing that goes beyond a reactivation of previously acquired S-R links. Yet, such transfer has not always withstood empirical testing. To account for these contradictory results, we proposed a two-process model (Kunde, Kiesel, & Hoffmann, 2003): First, participants build up expectations regarding imperative stimuli for the required responses according to experience and/or instructions. Second, stimuli that match these “action triggers” directly activate the corresponding motor responses irrespective of their conscious identification. In line with these assumptions, recent studies revealed that non-target primes induce priming when they fit the current task intentions and when they are expected in the experimental setting. PMID:20517516

Left-frontal brain potentials index conceptual implicit memory for words initially viewed subliminally.

PubMed

Chen, Jason C W; Li, Wen; Lui, Ming; Paller, Ken A

2009-08-18

Neural correlates of explicit and implicit memory tend to co-occur and are therefore difficult to measure independently, posing problems for understanding the unique nature of different types of memory processing. To circumvent this problem, we developed an experimental design wherein subjects acquired information from words presented in a subliminal manner, such that conscious remembering was minimized. Cross-modal word repetition was used so that perceptual implicit memory would also be limited. Healthy human subjects viewed subliminal words six times each and about 2 min later heard the same words interspersed with new words in a category-verification test. Electrophysiological correlates of word repetition included negative brain potentials over left-frontal locations beginning approximately 500 ms after word onset. Behavioral responses were slower for repeated words than for new words. Differential processing of word meaning in the absence of explicit memory was most likely responsible for differential electrical and behavioral responses to old versus new words. Moreover, these effects were distinct from neural correlates of explicit memory observed in prior experiments, and were observed here in two separate experiments, thus providing a foundation for further investigations of relationships and interactions between different types of memory engaged when words repeat.

Automatic integration of social information in emotion recognition.

PubMed

Mumenthaler, Christian; Sander, David

2015-04-01

This study investigated the automaticity of the influence of social inference on emotion recognition. Participants were asked to recognize dynamic facial expressions of emotion (fear or anger in Experiment 1 and blends of fear and surprise or of anger and disgust in Experiment 2) in a target face presented at the center of a screen while a subliminal contextual face appearing in the periphery expressed an emotion (fear or anger) or not (neutral) and either looked at the target face or not. Results of Experiment 1 revealed that recognition of the target emotion of fear was improved when a subliminal angry contextual face gazed toward-rather than away from-the fearful face. We replicated this effect in Experiment 2, in which facial expression blends of fear and surprise were more often and more rapidly categorized as expressing fear when the subliminal contextual face expressed anger and gazed toward-rather than away from-the target face. With the contextual face appearing for 30 ms in total, including only 10 ms of emotion expression, and being immediately masked, our data provide the first evidence that social influence on emotion recognition can occur automatically. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Subliminal action priming modulates the perceived intensity of sensory action consequences.

PubMed

Stenner, Max-Philipp; Bauer, Markus; Sidarus, Nura; Heinze, Hans-Jochen; Haggard, Patrick; Dolan, Raymond J

2014-02-01

The sense of control over the consequences of one's actions depends on predictions about these consequences. According to an influential computational model, consistency between predicted and observed action consequences attenuates perceived stimulus intensity, which might provide a marker of agentic control. An important assumption of this model is that these predictions are generated within the motor system. However, previous studies of sensory attenuation have typically confounded motor-specific perceptual modulation with perceptual effects of stimulus predictability that are not specific to motor action. As a result, these studies cannot unambiguously attribute sensory attenuation to a motor locus. We present a psychophysical experiment on auditory attenuation that avoids this pitfall. Subliminal masked priming of motor actions with compatible prime-target pairs has previously been shown to modulate both reaction times and the explicit feeling of control over action consequences. Here, we demonstrate reduced perceived loudness of tones caused by compatibly primed actions. Importantly, this modulation results from a manipulation of motor processing and is not confounded by stimulus predictability. We discuss our results with respect to theoretical models of the mechanisms underlying sensory attenuation and subliminal motor priming. Copyright © 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Subliminal action priming modulates the perceived intensity of sensory action consequences☆

PubMed Central

Stenner, Max-Philipp; Bauer, Markus; Sidarus, Nura; Heinze, Hans-Jochen; Haggard, Patrick; Dolan, Raymond J.

2014-01-01

The sense of control over the consequences of one’s actions depends on predictions about these consequences. According to an influential computational model, consistency between predicted and observed action consequences attenuates perceived stimulus intensity, which might provide a marker of agentic control. An important assumption of this model is that these predictions are generated within the motor system. However, previous studies of sensory attenuation have typically confounded motor-specific perceptual modulation with perceptual effects of stimulus predictability that are not specific to motor action. As a result, these studies cannot unambiguously attribute sensory attenuation to a motor locus. We present a psychophysical experiment on auditory attenuation that avoids this pitfall. Subliminal masked priming of motor actions with compatible prime–target pairs has previously been shown to modulate both reaction times and the explicit feeling of control over action consequences. Here, we demonstrate reduced perceived loudness of tones caused by compatibly primed actions. Importantly, this modulation results from a manipulation of motor processing and is not confounded by stimulus predictability. We discuss our results with respect to theoretical models of the mechanisms underlying sensory attenuation and subliminal motor priming. PMID:24333539

Reversed Priming Effects May Be Driven by Misperception Rather than Subliminal Processing

PubMed Central

Sand, Anders

2016-01-01

A new paradigm for investigating whether a cognitive process is independent of perception was recently suggested. In the paradigm, primes are shown at an intermediate signal strength that leads to trial-to-trial and inter-individual variability in prime perception. Here, I used this paradigm and an objective measure of perception to assess the influence of prime identification responses on Stroop priming. I found that sensory states producing correct and incorrect prime identification responses were also associated with qualitatively different priming effects. Incorrect prime identification responses were associated with reversed priming effects but in contrast to previous studies, I interpret this to result from the (mis-)perception of primes rather than from a subliminal process. Furthermore, the intermediate signal strength also produced inter-individual variability in prime perception that strongly influenced priming effects: only participants who on average perceived the primes were Stroop primed. I discuss how this new paradigm, with a wide range of d′ values, is more appropriate when regression analysis on inter-individual identification performance is used to investigate perception-dependent processing. The results of this study, in line with previous results, suggest that drawing conclusions about subliminal processes based on data averaged over individuals may be unwarranted. PMID:26925016

Neurotherapy of Traumatic Brain Injury/Post-Traumatic Stress Symptoms in Vietnam Veterans.

PubMed

Nelson, David V; Esty, Mary Lee

2015-10-01

Previous report suggested the beneficial effects of an adaptation of the Flexyx Neurotherapy System (FNS) for the amelioration of mixed traumatic brain injury/post-traumatic stress symptoms in veterans of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. As a novel variant of electroencephalograph biofeedback, FNS falls within the bioenergy domain of complementary and alternative medicine. Rather than learning voluntary control over the production/inhibition of brain wave patterns, FNS involves offsetting stimulation of brain wave activity by means of an external energy source, specifically, the conduction of electromagnetic energy stimulation via the connecting electroencephalograph cables. Essentially, these procedures subliminally induce strategic distortion of ongoing brain wave activity to presumably facilitate resetting of more adaptive patterns of activity. Reported herein are two cases of Vietnam veterans with mixed traumatic brain injury/post-traumatic stress symptoms, each treated with FNS for 25 sessions. Comparisons of pre- and post-treatment questionnaire assessments revealed notable decreases for all symptoms, suggesting improvements across the broad domains of cognition, pain, sleep, fatigue, and mood/emotion, including post-traumatic stress symptoms, as well as for overall activity levels. Findings suggest FNS treatment may be of potential benefit for the partial amelioration of symptoms, even in some individuals for whom symptoms have been present for decades. Reprint & Copyright © 2015 Association of Military Surgeons of the U.S.

[Unconscious Acoustical Stimuli Effects on Event-related Potentials in Humans].

PubMed

Kopeikina, E A; Choroshich, V V; Aleksandrov, A Y; Ivanova, V Y

2015-01-01

Unconscious perception essentially affects human behavior. The main results in this area obtained in experiments with visual stimuli. However, the acoustical stimuli play not less important role in behavior. The main idea of this paper is the electroencephalographic investigation of unconscious acoustical stimulation effects on electro-physiological activity of the brain. For this purpose, the event-related potentials were acquired under unconscious stimulus priming paradigm. The one syllable, three letter length, Russian words and pseudo-words with single letter substitution were used as primes and targets. As a result, we find out that repetition and alternative priming similarly affects the event-related potential's component with 200 ms latency after target application in frontal parietal and temporal areas. Under alternative priming the direction of potential amplitude modification nearby 400 ms was altered for word and semi-word targets. Alternative priming reliably increase ERP's amplitude in 400 ms locality with pseudo-word targets and decrease it under word targets. Taking into account, that all participants were unable to distinguish the applied prime stimuli, we can assume that the event-related potential changes evoked by unconscious perception of acoustical stimuli. The ERP amplitude dynamics revealed in current investigation demonstrate the opportunity of subliminal acoustical stimuli to modulate the electrical activity evoked by verbal acoustical stimulation.

Subliminal semantic priming in speech.

PubMed

Daltrozzo, Jérôme; Signoret, Carine; Tillmann, Barbara; Perrin, Fabien

2011-01-01

Numerous studies have reported subliminal repetition and semantic priming in the visual modality. We transferred this paradigm to the auditory modality. Prime awareness was manipulated by a reduction of sound intensity level. Uncategorized prime words (according to a post-test) were followed by semantically related, unrelated, or repeated target words (presented without intensity reduction) and participants performed a lexical decision task (LDT). Participants with slower reaction times in the LDT showed semantic priming (faster reaction times for semantically related compared to unrelated targets) and negative repetition priming (slower reaction times for repeated compared to semantically related targets). This is the first report of semantic priming in the auditory modality without conscious categorization of the prime.

Subliminal Semantic Priming in Speech

PubMed Central

Tillmann, Barbara; Perrin, Fabien

2011-01-01

Numerous studies have reported subliminal repetition and semantic priming in the visual modality. We transferred this paradigm to the auditory modality. Prime awareness was manipulated by a reduction of sound intensity level. Uncategorized prime words (according to a post-test) were followed by semantically related, unrelated, or repeated target words (presented without intensity reduction) and participants performed a lexical decision task (LDT). Participants with slower reaction times in the LDT showed semantic priming (faster reaction times for semantically related compared to unrelated targets) and negative repetition priming (slower reaction times for repeated compared to semantically related targets). This is the first report of semantic priming in the auditory modality without conscious categorization of the prime. PMID:21655277

HYPOTHALAMIC DIGOXIN AND SCHIZOPHRENIA - A MODEL FOR CONSCIOUS AND SUBLIMINAL PERCEPTION AND ITS DYSFUNCTION IN SCHIZOPHRENIA

PubMed Central

Kurup, Ravikumar A.; Augustine, Jyothi; Kurup, P.A.

1999-01-01

In view of reports of an upregulated cation pump in genetically related Bipolar Affective Disorders the role of hypothalamic digoxin, an endogenous regulator of the cation pump was studied with special reference to its role as a modulator of glycoprotein synthesis. The study demonstrated elevated serum digoxin levels, elevated HMG CoA reductase activity suggesting increased digoxin synthesis, reduced sodium-potassium ATPase activity and altered sugar residues of serum glycoprotein in schizophrenia. A hypothalamic digoxin mediated model for conscious and subliminal perception is proposed and the significance of its dysfunction due to abnormal glycoprotein induced synaptic connectivity defects in schizophrenia is discussed. PMID:21455390

Conscious, but not unconscious, logo priming of brands and related words.

PubMed

Brintazzoli, Gigliola; Soetens, Eric; Deroost, Natacha; Van den Bussche, Eva

2012-06-01

This study assessed whether real-life stimulus material can elicit conscious and unconscious priming. A typical masked priming paradigm was used, with brand logo primes. We used a rigorous method to assess participants' awareness of the subliminal information. Our results show that shortly presented and masked brand logos (e.g., logo of McDonald's) have the power to prime their brand names (e.g., "McDonald's") and, remarkably, words associated to the brand (e.g., "hamburger"). However, this only occurred when the logos could be categorized clearly above the consciousness threshold. Once the primes were presented close to the consciousness threshold, no subliminal influences on behavior were observed. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Sex-dependent neural effect of oxytocin during subliminal processing of negative emotion faces.

PubMed

Luo, Lizhu; Becker, Benjamin; Geng, Yayuan; Zhao, Zhiying; Gao, Shan; Zhao, Weihua; Yao, Shuxia; Zheng, Xiaoxiao; Ma, Xiaole; Gao, Zhao; Hu, Jiehui; Kendrick, Keith M

2017-11-15

In line with animal models indicating sexually dimorphic effects of oxytocin (OXT) on social-emotional processing, a growing number of OXT-administration studies in humans have also reported sex-dependent effects during social information processing. To explore whether sex-dependent effects already occur during early, subliminal, processing stages the present pharmacological fMRI-study combined the intranasal-application of either OXT or placebo (n = 86-43 males) with a backward-masking emotional face paradigm. Results showed that while OXT suppressed inferior frontal gyrus, dorsal anterior cingulate and anterior insula responses to threatening face stimuli in men it increased them in women. In women increased anterior cingulate reactivity during subliminal threat processing was also positively associated with trait anxiety. On the network level, sex-dependent effects were observed on amygdala, anterior cingulate and inferior frontal gyrus functional connectivity that were mainly driven by reduced coupling in women following OXT. Our findings demonstrate that OXT produces sex-dependent effects even at the early stages of social-emotional processing, and suggest that while it attenuates neural responses to threatening social stimuli in men it increases them in women. Thus in a therapeutic context OXT may potentially produce different effects on anxiety disorders in men and women. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Influences of unconscious priming on voluntary actions: Role of the rostral cingulate zone.

PubMed

Teuchies, Martyn; Demanet, Jelle; Sidarus, Nura; Haggard, Patrick; Stevens, Michaël A; Brass, Marcel

2016-07-15

The ability to make voluntary, free choices is fundamental to what it means to be human. A key brain region that is involved in free choices is the rostral cingulate zone (RCZ), which is part of the medial frontal cortex. Previous research has shown that activity in this brain region can be modulated by bottom-up information while making free choices. The current study extends those findings, and shows, for the first time, that activation in the RCZ can also be modulated by subliminal information. We used a subliminal response priming paradigm to bias free and cued choices. We observed more activation in the RCZ when participants made a choice that went against the prime's suggestion, compared to when they chose according to the prime. This shows that the RCZ plays an important role in overcoming externally-triggered conflict between different response options, even when the stimuli triggering this conflict are not consciously perceived. Our results suggest that an important mechanism of endogenous action in the RCZ may therefore involve exerting an internally-generated action choice against conflicting influences, such as external sensory evidence. We further found that subliminal information also modulated activity in the anterior insula and the supramarginal gyrus. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Visual motion disambiguation by a subliminal sound.

PubMed

Dufour, Andre; Touzalin, Pascale; Moessinger, Michèle; Brochard, Renaud; Després, Olivier

2008-09-01

There is growing interest in the effect of sound on visual motion perception. One model involves the illusion created when two identical objects moving towards each other on a two-dimensional visual display can be seen to either bounce off or stream through each other. Previous studies show that the large bias normally seen toward the streaming percept can be modulated by the presentation of an auditory event at the moment of coincidence. However, no reports to date provide sufficient evidence to indicate whether the sound bounce-inducing effect is due to a perceptual binding process or merely to an explicit inference resulting from the transient auditory stimulus resembling a physical collision of two objects. In the present study, we used a novel experimental design in which a subliminal sound was presented either 150 ms before, at, or 150 ms after the moment of coincidence of two disks moving towards each other. The results showed that there was an increased perception of bouncing (rather than streaming) when the subliminal sound was presented at or 150 ms after the moment of coincidence compared to when no sound was presented. These findings provide the first empirical demonstration that activation of the human auditory system without reaching consciousness affects the perception of an ambiguous visual motion display.

Anger in brain and body: the neural and physiological perturbation of decision-making by emotion

PubMed Central

Zorab, Emma; Navaratnam, Nakulan; Engels, Miriam; Mallorquí-Bagué, Núria; Minati, Ludovico; Dowell, Nicholas G.; Brosschot, Jos F.; Thayer, Julian F.; Critchley, Hugo D.

2016-01-01

Emotion and cognition are dynamically coupled to bodily arousal: the induction of anger, even unconsciously, can reprioritise neural and physiological resources toward action states that bias cognitive processes. Here we examine behavioural, neural and bodily effects of covert anger processing and its influence on cognition, indexed by lexical decision-making. While recording beat-to-beat blood pressure, the words ANGER or RELAX were presented subliminally just prior to rapid word/non-word reaction-time judgements of letter-strings. Subliminal ANGER primes delayed the time taken to reach rapid lexical decisions, relative to RELAX primes. However, individuals with high trait anger were speeded up by subliminal anger primes. ANGER primes increased systolic blood pressure and the magnitude of this increase predicted reaction time prolongation. Within the brain, ANGER trials evoked an enhancement of activity within dorsal pons and an attenuation of activity within visual occipitotemporal and attentional parietal cortices. Activity within periaqueductal grey matter, occipital and parietal regions increased linearly with evoked blood pressure changes, indicating neural substrates through which covert anger impairs semantic decisions, putatively through its expression as visceral arousal. The behavioural and physiological impact of anger states compromises the efficiency of cognitive processing through action-ready changes in autonomic response that skew regional neural activity. PMID:26253525

Social Anxiety Modulates Subliminal Affective Priming

PubMed Central

Paul, Elizabeth S.; Pope, Stuart A. J.; Fennell, John G.; Mendl, Michael T.

2012-01-01

Background It is well established that there is anxiety-related variation between observers in the very earliest, pre-attentive stage of visual processing of images such as emotionally expressive faces, often leading to enhanced attention to threat in a variety of disorders and traits. Whether there is also variation in early-stage affective (i.e. valenced) responses resulting from such images, however, is not yet known. The present study used the subliminal affective priming paradigm to investigate whether people varying in trait social anxiety also differ in their affective responses to very briefly presented, emotionally expressive face images. Methodology/Principal Findings Participants (n = 67) completed a subliminal affective priming task, in which briefly presented and smiling, neutral and angry faces were shown for 10 ms durations (below objective and subjective thresholds for visual discrimination), and immediately followed by a randomly selected Chinese character mask (2000 ms). Ratings of participants' liking for each Chinese character indicated the degree of valenced affective response made to the unseen emotive images. Participants' ratings of their liking for the Chinese characters were significantly influenced by the type of face image preceding them, with smiling faces generating more positive ratings than neutral and angry ones (F(2,128) = 3.107, p<0.05). Self-reported social anxiety was positively correlated with ratings of smiling relative to neutral-face primed characters (Pearson's r = .323, p<0.01). Individual variation in self-reported mood awareness was not associated with ratings. Conclusions Trait social anxiety is associated with individual variation in affective responding, even in response to the earliest, pre-attentive stage of visual image processing. However, the fact that these priming effects are limited to smiling and not angry (i.e. threatening) images leads us to propose that the pre-attentive processes involved in generating the subliminal affective priming effect may be different from those that generate attentional biases in anxious individuals. PMID:22615873

Social anxiety modulates subliminal affective priming.

PubMed

Paul, Elizabeth S; Pope, Stuart A J; Fennell, John G; Mendl, Michael T

2012-01-01

It is well established that there is anxiety-related variation between observers in the very earliest, pre-attentive stage of visual processing of images such as emotionally expressive faces, often leading to enhanced attention to threat in a variety of disorders and traits. Whether there is also variation in early-stage affective (i.e. valenced) responses resulting from such images, however, is not yet known. The present study used the subliminal affective priming paradigm to investigate whether people varying in trait social anxiety also differ in their affective responses to very briefly presented, emotionally expressive face images. Participants (n = 67) completed a subliminal affective priming task, in which briefly presented and smiling, neutral and angry faces were shown for 10 ms durations (below objective and subjective thresholds for visual discrimination), and immediately followed by a randomly selected Chinese character mask (2000 ms). Ratings of participants' liking for each Chinese character indicated the degree of valenced affective response made to the unseen emotive images. Participants' ratings of their liking for the Chinese characters were significantly influenced by the type of face image preceding them, with smiling faces generating more positive ratings than neutral and angry ones (F(2,128) = 3.107, p<0.05). Self-reported social anxiety was positively correlated with ratings of smiling relative to neutral-face primed characters (Pearson's r = .323, p<0.01). Individual variation in self-reported mood awareness was not associated with ratings. Trait social anxiety is associated with individual variation in affective responding, even in response to the earliest, pre-attentive stage of visual image processing. However, the fact that these priming effects are limited to smiling and not angry (i.e. threatening) images leads us to propose that the pre-attentive processes involved in generating the subliminal affective priming effect may be different from those that generate attentional biases in anxious individuals.

Impact of Emotion on Consciousness: Positive Stimuli Enhance Conscious Reportability

PubMed Central

Rømer Thomsen, Kristine; Lou, Hans C.; Joensson, Morten; Hyam, Jonathan A.; Holland, Peter; Parsons, Christine E.; Young, Katherine S.; Møller, Arne; Stein, Alan; Green, Alex L.; Kringelbach, Morten L.; Aziz, Tipu Z.

2011-01-01

Emotion and reward have been proposed to be closely linked to conscious experience, but empirical data are lacking. The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) plays a central role in the hedonic dimension of conscious experience; thus potentially a key region in interactions between emotion and consciousness. Here we tested the impact of emotion on conscious experience, and directly investigated the role of the ACC. We used a masked paradigm that measures conscious reportability in terms of subjective confidence and objective accuracy in identifying the briefly presented stimulus in a forced-choice test. By manipulating the emotional valence (positive, neutral, negative) and the presentation time (16 ms, 32 ms, 80 ms) we measured the impact of these variables on conscious and subliminal (i.e. below threshold) processing. First, we tested normal participants using face and word stimuli. Results showed that participants were more confident and accurate when consciously seeing happy versus sad/neutral faces and words. When stimuli were presented subliminally, we found no effect of emotion. To investigate the neural basis of this impact of emotion, we recorded local field potentials (LFPs) directly in the ACC in a chronic pain patient. Behavioural findings were replicated: the patient was more confident and accurate when (consciously) seeing happy versus sad faces, while no effect was seen in subliminal trials. Mirroring behavioural findings, we found significant differences in the LFPs after around 500 ms (lasting 30 ms) in conscious trials between happy and sad faces, while no effect was found in subliminal trials. We thus demonstrate a striking impact of emotion on conscious experience, with positive emotional stimuli enhancing conscious reportability. In line with previous studies, the data indicate a key role of the ACC, but goes beyond earlier work by providing the first direct evidence of interaction between emotion and conscious experience in the human ACC. PMID:21494569

Psychophysiological responses to masked auditory stimuli.

PubMed

Borgeat, F; Elie, R; Chaloult, L; Chabot, R

1985-02-01

Psychophysiological responses to masked auditory verbal stimuli of increasing intensities were studied in twenty healthy women. Two experimental sessions corresponding to two stimulation contents (neutral or emotional) were conducted. At each session, two different sets of instructions (attending or not attending to stimuli) were used successively. Verbal stimuli, masked by a 40-dB white noise, were presented to the subject at increasing intensities by increments of 5 dB starting at 0 dB. At each increment, frontal EMG, skin conductance and heart rate were recorded. The data were submitted to analyses of variance and covariance. Psychophysiological responses to stimuli below the thresholds of identification and detection were observed. The instruction not to attend the stimuli modified the patterns of physiological responses. The effect of the affective content of the stimuli on responses was stronger when not attending. The results show the possibility of psychophysiological responses to masked auditory stimuli and suggests that psychophysiological parameters can constitute objective and useful measures for research in auditory subliminal perception.

Anger in brain and body: the neural and physiological perturbation of decision-making by emotion.

PubMed

Garfinkel, Sarah N; Zorab, Emma; Navaratnam, Nakulan; Engels, Miriam; Mallorquí-Bagué, Núria; Minati, Ludovico; Dowell, Nicholas G; Brosschot, Jos F; Thayer, Julian F; Critchley, Hugo D

2016-01-01

Emotion and cognition are dynamically coupled to bodily arousal: the induction of anger, even unconsciously, can reprioritise neural and physiological resources toward action states that bias cognitive processes. Here we examine behavioural, neural and bodily effects of covert anger processing and its influence on cognition, indexed by lexical decision-making. While recording beat-to-beat blood pressure, the words ANGER or RELAX were presented subliminally just prior to rapid word/non-word reaction-time judgements of letter-strings. Subliminal ANGER primes delayed the time taken to reach rapid lexical decisions, relative to RELAX primes. However, individuals with high trait anger were speeded up by subliminal anger primes. ANGER primes increased systolic blood pressure and the magnitude of this increase predicted reaction time prolongation. Within the brain, ANGER trials evoked an enhancement of activity within dorsal pons and an attenuation of activity within visual occipitotemporal and attentional parietal cortices. Activity within periaqueductal grey matter, occipital and parietal regions increased linearly with evoked blood pressure changes, indicating neural substrates through which covert anger impairs semantic decisions, putatively through its expression as visceral arousal. The behavioural and physiological impact of anger states compromises the efficiency of cognitive processing through action-ready changes in autonomic response that skew regional neural activity. © The Author (2015). Published by Oxford University Press. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Effect of Subliminal Lexical Priming on the Subjective Perception of Images: A Machine Learning Approach.

PubMed

Mohan, Dhanya Menoth; Kumar, Parmod; Mahmood, Faisal; Wong, Kian Foong; Agrawal, Abhishek; Elgendi, Mohamed; Shukla, Rohit; Ang, Natania; Ching, April; Dauwels, Justin; Chan, Alice H D

2016-01-01

The purpose of the study is to examine the effect of subliminal priming in terms of the perception of images influenced by words with positive, negative, and neutral emotional content, through electroencephalograms (EEGs). Participants were instructed to rate how much they like the stimuli images, on a 7-point Likert scale, after being subliminally exposed to masked lexical prime words that exhibit positive, negative, and neutral connotations with respect to the images. Simultaneously, the EEGs were recorded. Statistical tests such as repeated measures ANOVAs and two-tailed paired-samples t-tests were performed to measure significant differences in the likability ratings among the three prime affect types; the results showed a strong shift in the likeness judgment for the images in the positively primed condition compared to the other two. The acquired EEGs were examined to assess the difference in brain activity associated with the three different conditions. The consistent results obtained confirmed the overall priming effect on participants' explicit ratings. In addition, machine learning algorithms such as support vector machines (SVMs), and AdaBoost classifiers were applied to infer the prime affect type from the ERPs. The highest classification rates of 95.0% and 70.0% obtained respectively for average-trial binary classifier and average-trial multi-class further emphasize that the ERPs encode information about the different kinds of primes.

Effect of Subliminal Lexical Priming on the Subjective Perception of Images: A Machine Learning Approach

PubMed Central

Mahmood, Faisal; Wong, Kian Foong; Agrawal, Abhishek; Elgendi, Mohamed; Shukla, Rohit; Ang, Natania; Ching, April; Dauwels, Justin; Chan, Alice H. D.

2016-01-01

The purpose of the study is to examine the effect of subliminal priming in terms of the perception of images influenced by words with positive, negative, and neutral emotional content, through electroencephalograms (EEGs). Participants were instructed to rate how much they like the stimuli images, on a 7-point Likert scale, after being subliminally exposed to masked lexical prime words that exhibit positive, negative, and neutral connotations with respect to the images. Simultaneously, the EEGs were recorded. Statistical tests such as repeated measures ANOVAs and two-tailed paired-samples t-tests were performed to measure significant differences in the likability ratings among the three prime affect types; the results showed a strong shift in the likeness judgment for the images in the positively primed condition compared to the other two. The acquired EEGs were examined to assess the difference in brain activity associated with the three different conditions. The consistent results obtained confirmed the overall priming effect on participants’ explicit ratings. In addition, machine learning algorithms such as support vector machines (SVMs), and AdaBoost classifiers were applied to infer the prime affect type from the ERPs. The highest classification rates of 95.0% and 70.0% obtained respectively for average-trial binary classifier and average-trial multi-class further emphasize that the ERPs encode information about the different kinds of primes. PMID:26866807

Your Students' Images of Mathematicians and Mathematics.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Picker, Susan H.; Berry, John S.

2001-01-01

Discusses the subliminal images that students might have of mathematicians. Presents the disparity between boys and girls in envisioning mathematicians of their own sex. Explores implications for pedagogy. (KHR)

[Effects of an implicit internal working model on attachment in information processing assessed using Go/No-Go Association Task].

PubMed

Fujii, Tsutomu; Uebuchi, Hisashi; Yamada, Kotono; Saito, Masahiro; Ito, Eriko; Tonegawa, Akiko; Uebuchi, Marie

2015-06-01

The purposes of the present study were (a) to use both a relational-anxiety Go/No-Go Association Task (GNAT) and an avoidance-of-intimacy GNAT in order to assess an implicit Internal Working Model (IWM) of attachment; (b) to verify the effects of both measured implicit relational anxiety and implicit avoidance of intimacy on information processing. The implicit IWM measured by GNAT differed from the explicit IWM measured by questionnaires in terms of the effects on information processing. In particular, in subliminal priming tasks involving with others, implicit avoidance of intimacy predicted accelerated response times with negative stimulus words about attachment. Moreover, after subliminally priming stimulus words about self, implicit relational anxiety predicted delayed response times with negative stimulus words about attachment.

When You Become a Superman: Subliminal Exposure to Death-Related Stimuli Enhances Men's Physical Force.

PubMed

Kawakami, Naoaki; Miura, Emi; Nagai, Masayoshi

2018-01-01

Research based on terror management theory (TMT) has consistently found that reminders to individuals about their mortality engender responses aimed at shoring up faith in their cultural belief system. Previous studies have focused on the critical role that the accessibility of death-related thought plays in these effects. Moreover, it has been shown that these effects occur even when death-related stimuli are presented without awareness, suggesting the unconscious effects of mortality salience. Because one pervasive cultural ideal for men is to be strong, we hypothesized that priming death-related stimuli would lead to increasing physical force for men, but not for women. Building on self-escape mechanisms from TMT, we propose that the mechanism that turns priming of death-related stimuli into physical exertion relies on the co-activation of the self with death-related concepts. To test this hypothesis, we subjected 123 participants to a priming task that enabled us to combine the subliminal priming of death-related words with briefly presented self-related words. Accordingly, three different conditions were created: a (control) condition in which only self-related stimuli were presented, a (priming) condition in which death-related words were subliminally primed but not directly paired with self-related stimuli, and a (priming-plus-self) condition in which death-related words were subliminally primed and immediately linked to self-related stimuli. We recorded handgrip force before and after the manipulations. Results showed that male participants in the priming-plus-self condition had a higher peak force output than the priming and control conditions, while this effect was absent among female participants. These results support the hypothesis that unconscious mortality salience, which is accompanied with self-related stimuli, increases physical force for men but not for women. The gender difference may reflect the cultural belief system, in which individuals are taught that men should be strong. Thus, the unconscious mortality salience produced by exposure to the death-related stimuli motivates need to conform to this internalized cultural standard.

When You Become a Superman: Subliminal Exposure to Death-Related Stimuli Enhances Men’s Physical Force

PubMed Central

Kawakami, Naoaki; Miura, Emi; Nagai, Masayoshi

2018-01-01

Research based on terror management theory (TMT) has consistently found that reminders to individuals about their mortality engender responses aimed at shoring up faith in their cultural belief system. Previous studies have focused on the critical role that the accessibility of death-related thought plays in these effects. Moreover, it has been shown that these effects occur even when death-related stimuli are presented without awareness, suggesting the unconscious effects of mortality salience. Because one pervasive cultural ideal for men is to be strong, we hypothesized that priming death-related stimuli would lead to increasing physical force for men, but not for women. Building on self-escape mechanisms from TMT, we propose that the mechanism that turns priming of death-related stimuli into physical exertion relies on the co-activation of the self with death-related concepts. To test this hypothesis, we subjected 123 participants to a priming task that enabled us to combine the subliminal priming of death-related words with briefly presented self-related words. Accordingly, three different conditions were created: a (control) condition in which only self-related stimuli were presented, a (priming) condition in which death-related words were subliminally primed but not directly paired with self-related stimuli, and a (priming-plus-self) condition in which death-related words were subliminally primed and immediately linked to self-related stimuli. We recorded handgrip force before and after the manipulations. Results showed that male participants in the priming-plus-self condition had a higher peak force output than the priming and control conditions, while this effect was absent among female participants. These results support the hypothesis that unconscious mortality salience, which is accompanied with self-related stimuli, increases physical force for men but not for women. The gender difference may reflect the cultural belief system, in which individuals are taught that men should be strong. Thus, the unconscious mortality salience produced by exposure to the death-related stimuli motivates need to conform to this internalized cultural standard. PMID:29541042

[Advertising].

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lombard, Jim

1979-01-01

The author presents examples of subliminal or indirect advertising in the mass media and suggests that advertising analysis be part of the elementary curriculum so that children can become sensitized to such nonverbal influences on their behavior. (SJL)

Effects of 10 Hz and 20 Hz Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation on Automatic Motor Control.

PubMed

Cappon, Davide; D'Ostilio, Kevin; Garraux, Gaëtan; Rothwell, John; Bisiacchi, Patrizia

2016-01-01

In a masked prime choice reaction task, presentation of a compatible prime increases the reaction time to the following imperative stimulus if the interval between mask and prime is around 80-250 ms. This is thought to be due to automatic suppression of the motor plan evoked by the prime, which delays reaction to the imperative stimulus. Oscillatory activity in motor networks around the beta frequency range of 20 Hz is important in suppression of movement. Transcranial alternating current at 20 Hz may be able to drive oscillations in the beta range. To investigate whether transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) at 20 Hz would increase automatic inhibition in a masked prime task. As a control we used 10 Hz tACS. Stimulation was delivered at alpha (10 Hz) and beta (20 Hz) frequency over the supplementary motor area and the primary motor cortex (simultaneous tACS of SMA-M1), which are part of the BG-cortical motor loop, during the execution of the subliminal masked prime left/right choice reaction task. We measured the effects on reaction times. Corticospinal excitability was assessed by measuring the amplitude of motor evoked potentials (MEPs) evoked in the first dorsal interosseous muscle by transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) over M1. The 10 and 20-Hz tACS over SMA-M1 had different effects on automatic inhibition. The 20 Hz tACS increased the duration of automatic inhibition whereas it was decreased by 10 Hz tACS. Neurophysiologically, 20 Hz tACS reduced the amplitude of MEPs evoked from M1, whereas there was no change after 10 Hz tACS. Automatic mechanisms of motor inhibition can be modulated by tACS over motor areas of cortex. tACS may be a useful additional tool to investigate the causal links between endogenous brain oscillations and specific cognitive processes. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

For Sale: Subliminal Bias in Textbooks

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Britton, Gwyneth E.; Lumpkin, Margaret C.

1977-01-01

Discusses the fact that, although publishers have acknowledged the problem of sex bias in textbooks in the United States, guidelines lack specifics, timetables, and procedures for monitoring content and enforcing compliance with the guidelines. (MB)

I like myself but I don't know why: enhancing implicit self-esteem by subliminal evaluative conditioning.

PubMed

Dijksterhuis, Ap

2004-02-01

On the basis of a conceptualization of implicit self-esteem as the implicit attitude toward the self, it was predicted that implicit self-esteem could be enhanced by subliminal evaluative conditioning. In 5 experiments, participants were repeatedly presented with trials in which the word I was paired with positive trait terms. Relative to control conditions, this procedure enhanced implicit self-esteem. The effects generalized across 3 measures of implicit self-esteem (Experiments 1-3). Furthermore, evaluative conditioning enhanced implicit self-esteem among people with low-temporal implicit self-esteem and among people with high-temporal implicit self-esteem (Experiment 4). In addition, it was shown that conditioning enhanced self-esteem to such an extent that it made participants insensitive to negative intelligence feedback (Experiments 5a and 5b). Various implications are discussed.

Musical duplex perception: perception of figurally good chords with subliminal distinguishing tones.

PubMed

Hall, M D; Pastore, R E

1992-08-01

In a variant of duplex perception with speech, phoneme perception is maintained when distinguishing components are presented below intensities required for separate detection, forming the basis for the claim that a phonetic module takes precedence over nonspeech processing. This finding is replicated with music chords (C major and minor) created by mixing a piano fifth with a sinusoidal distinguishing tone (E or E flat). Individual threshold intensities for detecting E or E flat in the context of the fixed piano tones are established. Chord discrimination thresholds defined by distinguishing tone intensity were determined. Experiment 2 verified masked detection thresholds and subliminal chord identification for experienced musicians. Accurate chord perception was maintained at distinguishing tone intensities nearly 20 dB below the threshold for separate detection. Speech and music findings are argued to demonstrate general perceptual principles.

The subliminal mere exposure effect does not generalize to structurally related stimuli.

PubMed

Newell, Ben R; Bright, James E H

2003-03-01

R.F. Bornstein (1994) questioned whether subliminal mere exposure effects might generalize to structurally related stimuli, thereby providing evidence for the existence of implicit learning. Two experiments examined this claim using letter string stimuli constructed according to the rules of an artificial grammar. Experiment 1 demonstrated that brief, masked exposure to grammatical strings impaired recognition but failed to produce a mere exposure effect on novel structurally related strings seen at test. Experiment 2 replicated this result but also demonstrated that a reliable mere exposure effect could be obtained, provided the same grammatical strings were presented at test. The results suggest that the structural relationship between training and test items prevents the mere exposure effect when participants are unaware of the exposure status of stimuli, and therefore provide no evidence for the existence of implicit learning.

Atypical parietal lobe activity to subliminal faces in youth with a family history of alcoholism

PubMed Central

Peraza, Jennifer; Cservenka, Anita; Herting, Megan M.; Nagel, Bonnie J.

2015-01-01

Background Adults with alcohol use disorders (AUDs) show different behavioral and neurological functioning during emotional processing tasks from healthy controls. Adults with a family history (FHP) of AUD also show different activation in limbic brain areas, such as the amygdala. However, it is unclear if this pattern exists during adolescence before any episodes of heavy alcohol use. Objectives We hypothesized that the amygdalar response to subliminally-presented fearful faces would be reduced in FHP adolescents compared to peers who were family history negative (FHN) for AUD. Method An adapted Masked Faces paradigm was used to examine blood oxygen level-dependent response to subliminal fearful vs. neutral faces in 14 FHP (6 females, 8 males) and 15 FHN (6 females, 9 males) youth, ages 11–15 years. Both FHP and FHN youth had no history of heavy alcohol consumption. Results A significant difference was seen between groups in the left superior parietal lobule FHN youth showed deactivation to fearful and neutral masked faces compared to baseline, whereas FHP youth showed deactivation only to fearful masked faces. No significant differences in amygdalar activation were seen between groups. Conclusion The left superior parietal lobule is part of the fronto-parietal network, which has been implicated in attentional control. Lack of reduced neural activity to neutral faces among FHP youth may represent differences in suppressing attention networks to less salient emotional stimuli, or perhaps, a higher threshold of saliency for emotional stimuli among at-risk youth. PMID:25268683

Gender differences in facial imitation and verbally reported emotional contagion from spontaneous to emotionally regulated processing levels.

PubMed

Sonnby-Borgström, Marianne; Jönsson, Peter; Svensson, Owe

2008-04-01

Previous studies on gender differences in facial imitation and verbally reported emotional contagion have investigated emotional responses to pictures of facial expressions at supraliminal exposure times. The aim of the present study was to investigate how gender differences are related to different exposure times, representing information processing levels from subliminal (spontaneous) to supraliminal (emotionally regulated). Further, the study aimed at exploring correlations between verbally reported emotional contagion and facial responses for men and women. Masked pictures of angry, happy and sad facial expressions were presented to 102 participants (51 men) at exposure times from subliminal (23 ms) to clearly supraliminal (2500 ms). Myoelectric activity (EMG) from the corrugator and the zygomaticus was measured and the participants reported their hedonic tone (verbally reported emotional contagion) after stimulus exposures. The results showed an effect of exposure time on gender differences in facial responses as well as in verbally reported emotional contagion. Women amplified imitative responses towards happy vs. angry faces and verbally reported emotional contagion with prolonged exposure times, whereas men did not. No gender differences were detected at the subliminal or borderliminal exposure times, but at the supraliminal exposure gender differences were found in imitation as well as in verbally reported emotional contagion. Women showed correspondence between their facial responses and their verbally reported emotional contagion to a greater extent than men. The results were interpreted in terms of gender differences in emotion regulation, rather than as differences in biologically prepared emotional reactivity.

Atypical parietal lobe activity to subliminal faces in youth with a family history of alcoholism.

PubMed

Peraza, Jennifer; Cservenka, Anita; Herting, Megan M; Nagel, Bonnie J

2015-03-01

Adults with alcohol use disorders (AUDs) show different behavioral and neurological functioning during emotional processing tasks from healthy controls. Adults with a family history (FHP) of AUD also show different activation in limbic brain areas, such as the amygdala. However, it is unclear if this pattern exists during adolescence before any episodes of heavy alcohol use. We hypothesized that the amygdalar response to subliminally-presented fearful faces would be reduced in FHP adolescents compared to peers who were family history negative (FHN) for AUD. An adapted Masked Faces paradigm was used to examine blood oxygen level-dependent response to subliminal fearful vs. neutral faces in 14 FHP (6 females, 8 males) and 15 FHN (6 females, 9 males) youth, ages 11-15 years. Both FHP and FHN youth had no history of heavy alcohol consumption. A significant difference was seen between groups in the left superior parietal lobule FHN youth showed deactivation to fearful and neutral masked faces compared to baseline, whereas FHP youth showed deactivation only to fearful masked faces. No significant differences in amygdalar activation were seen between groups. The left superior parietal lobule is part of the fronto-parietal network, which has been implicated in attentional control. Lack of reduced neural activity to neutral faces among FHP youth may represent differences in suppressing attention networks to less salient emotional stimuli, or perhaps, a higher threshold of saliency for emotional stimuli among at-risk youth.

My Brain Reads Pain in Your Face, Before Knowing Your Gender.

PubMed

Czekala, Claire; Mauguière, François; Mazza, Stéphanie; Jackson, Philip L; Frot, Maud

2015-12-01

Humans are expert at recognizing facial features whether they are variable (emotions) or unchangeable (gender). Because of its huge communicative value, pain might be detected faster in faces than unchangeable features. Based on this assumption, we aimed to find a presentation time that enables subliminal discrimination of pain facial expression without permitting gender discrimination. For 80 individuals, we compared the time needed (50, 100, 150, or 200 milliseconds) to discriminate masked static pain faces among anger and neutral faces with the time needed to discriminate male from female faces. Whether these discriminations were associated with conscious reportability was tested with confidence measures on 40 other individuals. The results showed that, at 100 milliseconds, 75% of participants discriminated pain above chance level, whereas only 20% of participants discriminated the gender. Moreover, this pain discrimination appeared to be subliminal. This priority of pain over gender might exist because, even if pain faces are complex stimuli encoding both the sensory and the affective component of pain, they signal a danger. This supports the evolution theory relating to the necessity of quickly reading aversive emotions to ensure survival but might also be at the basis of altruistic behavior such as help and compassion. This study shows that pain facial expression can be processed subliminally after brief presentation times, which might be helpful for critical emergency situations in clinical settings. Copyright © 2015 American Pain Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Basic instinct undressed: early spatiotemporal processing for primary sexual characteristics.

PubMed

Legrand, Lore B; Del Zotto, Marzia; Tyrand, Rémi; Pegna, Alan J

2013-01-01

This study investigates the spatiotemporal dynamics associated with conscious and non-conscious processing of naked and dressed human bodies. To this effect, stimuli of naked men and women with visible primary sexual characteristics, as well as dressed bodies, were presented to 20 heterosexual male and female participants while acquiring high resolution EEG data. The stimuli were either consciously detectable (supraliminal presentations) or were rendered non-conscious through backward masking (subliminal presentations). The N1 event-related potential component was significantly enhanced in participants when they viewed naked compared to dressed bodies under supraliminal viewing conditions. More importantly, naked bodies of the opposite sex produced a significantly greater N1 component compared to dressed bodies during subliminal presentations, when participants were not aware of the stimulus presented. A source localization algorithm computed on the N1 showed that the response for naked bodies in the supraliminal viewing condition was stronger in body processing areas, primary visual areas and additional structures related to emotion processing. By contrast, in the subliminal viewing condition, only visual and body processing areas were found to be activated. These results suggest that naked bodies and primary sexual characteristics are processed early in time (i.e., <200 ms) and activate key brain structures even when they are not consciously detected. It appears that, similarly to what has been reported for emotional faces, sexual features benefit from automatic and rapid processing, most likely due to their high relevance for the individual and their importance for the species in terms of reproductive success.

The Cognitive Unconscious.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kihlstrom, John F.

1987-01-01

Addresses implications drawn from contemporary research in cognitive psychology which deal with the impact of nonconscious mental structures and processes on an individual's experience, thought, and action. Discusses the information-processing perspective, automatic processes, subliminal perception, implicit memory, hypnotic alterations, and the…

Pupil Response and the Subliminal Mere Exposure Effect

PubMed Central

Yoshimoto, Sanae; Imai, Hisato; Kashino, Makio; Takeuchi, Tatsuto

2014-01-01

The subliminal mere exposure effect (SMEE) is the phenomenon wherein people tend to prefer patterns they have repeatedly observed without consciously identifying them. One popular explanation for the SMEE is that perceptual fluency within exposed patterns is misattributed to a feeling of preference for those patterns. Assuming that perceptual fluency is negatively correlated with the amount of mental effort needed to analyze perceptual aspects of incoming stimuli, pupil diameter should associate with SMEE strength since the former is known to reflect mental effort. To examine this hypothesis, we measured participants’ pupil diameter during exposure to subthreshold stimuli. Following exposure, a preference test was administered. Average pupil diameter throughout exposure was smaller when the SMEE was induced than when the SMEE was not induced. This supports the hypothesis that increasing perceptual fluency during mere exposure modulates autonomic nervous responses, such as pupil diameter, and eventually leads to preference. PMID:24587408

The Relationship between Reversed Masked Priming and the Tri-Phasic Pattern of the Lateralised Readiness Potential

PubMed Central

Seiss, Ellen; Klippel, Marie; Hope, Christopher; Boy, Frederic; Sumner, Petroc

2014-01-01

One of the potential explanations for negative compatibility effects (NCE) in subliminal motor priming tasks has been perceptual prime-target interactions. Here, we investigate whether the characteristic tri-phasic LRP pattern associated with the NCE is caused by these prime-target interactions. We found that both the prime-related phase and the critical reversal phase remain present even on trials where the target is omitted, confirming they are elicited by the prime and mask, not by prime-target interactions. We also report that shape and size of the reversal phase are associated with response speed, consistent with a causal role for the reversal for the subsequent response latency. Additionally, we analysed sequential modulation of the NCE by previous conflicting events, even though such conflict is subliminal. In accordance with previous literature, this modulation is small but significant. PMID:24728088

Subliminal Affect Valence Words Change Conscious Mood Potency but Not Valence: Is This Evidence for Unconscious Valence Affect?

PubMed Central

Shevrin, Howard; Panksepp, Jaak; Brakel, Linda A. W.; Snodgrass, Michael

2012-01-01

Whether or not affect can be unconscious remains controversial. Research claiming to demonstrate unconscious affect fails to establish clearly unconscious stimulus conditions. The few investigations that have established unconscious conditions fail to rule out conscious affect changes. We report two studies in which unconscious stimulus conditions were met and conscious mood changes measured. The subliminal stimuli were positive and negative affect words presented at the objective detection threshold; conscious mood changes were measured with standard manikin valence, potency, and arousal scales. We found and replicated that unconscious emotional stimuli produced conscious mood changes on the potency scale but not on the valence scale. Were positive and negative affects aroused unconsciously, but reflected consciously in potency changes? Or were the valence words unconscious cognitive causes of conscious mood changes being activated without unconscious affect? A thought experiment is offered as a way to resolve this dilemma. PMID:24961258

The dissociable effects of stereotype threat on older adults’ memory encoding and retrieval

PubMed Central

Krendl, Anne C.; Ambady, Nalini; Kensinger, Elizabeth A.

2015-01-01

The present study asks how subliminal exposure to negative stereotypes about age-related memory deficits affects older adults’ memory performance. Whereas prior research has focused on the effect of “stereotype threat” on older adults’ memory for neutral material, the present study additionally examines the effect on memory for positive and negative words, as well as whether the subliminal “threat” has a larger impact on memory performance when it occurs prior to encoding or prior to retrieval (as compared to a control condition). Results revealed that older adults’ memory impairments were most pronounced when the threat was placed prior to retrieval as compared to when the threat was placed prior to encoding or no threat occurred. Moreover, the threat specifically increased false memory rates, particularly for neutral items compared to positive and negative ones. These results emphasize that stereotype threat effects vary depending upon the phase of memory it impacts. PMID:26029498

Subliminal smells can guide social preferences.

PubMed

Li, Wen; Moallem, Isabel; Paller, Ken A; Gottfried, Jay A

2007-12-01

It is widely accepted that unconscious processes can modulate judgments and behavior, but do such influences affect one's daily interactions with other people? Given that olfactory information has relatively direct access to cortical and subcortical emotional circuits, we tested whether the affective content of subliminal odors alters social preferences. Participants rated the likeability of neutral faces after smelling pleasant, neutral, or unpleasant odors delivered below detection thresholds. Odor affect significantly shifted likeability ratings only for those participants lacking conscious awareness of the smells, as verified by chance-level trial-by-trial performance on an odor-detection task. Across participants, the magnitude of this priming effect decreased as sensitivity for odor detection increased. In contrast, heart rate responses tracked odor valence independently of odor awareness. These results indicate that social preferences are subject to influences from odors that escape awareness, whereas the availability of conscious odor information may disrupt such effects.

Emotion elicitor or emotion messenger? Subliminal priming reveals two faces of facial expressions.

PubMed

Ruys, Kirsten I; Stapel, Diederik A

2008-06-01

Facial emotional expressions can serve both as emotional stimuli and as communicative signals. The research reported here was conducted to illustrate how responses to both roles of facial emotional expressions unfold over time. As an emotion elicitor, a facial emotional expression (e.g., a disgusted face) activates a response that is similar to responses to other emotional stimuli of the same valence (e.g., a dirty, nonflushed toilet). As an emotion messenger, the same facial expression (e.g., a disgusted face) serves as a communicative signal by also activating the knowledge that the sender is experiencing a specific emotion (e.g., the sender feels disgusted). By varying the duration of exposure to disgusted, fearful, angry, and neutral faces in two subliminal-priming studies, we demonstrated that responses to faces as emotion elicitors occur prior to responses to faces as emotion messengers, and that both types of responses may unfold unconsciously.

Phase correction, phase resetting, and phase shifts after subliminal timing perturbations in sensorimotor synchronization.

PubMed

Repp, B H

2001-06-01

Recent studies of synchronized finger tapping have shown that perceptually subliminal phase shifts in an auditory sequence are rapidly compensated for in the motor activity (B. H. Repp, 2000a). Experiment 1 used a continuation-tapping task to confirm that this compensation is indeed a phase correction, not an adjustment of the central timekeeper period. Experiments 2-5 revealed that this phase correction occurs even when there is no ordinary sensorimotor asynchrony--when the finger taps are in antiphase or arbitrary phase relative to the auditory sequence (Experiments 2 and 3) or when the tap coinciding with the sequence phase shift is withheld (Experiments 4 and 5). The phase correction observed in the latter conditions was instantaneous, which suggests that phase resetting occurs when the motor activity is discontinuous. A prolonged phase shift suggestive of overcompensation was observed in some conditions, which poses a challenge to pure phase correction models.

Pupil response and the subliminal mere exposure effect.

PubMed

Yoshimoto, Sanae; Imai, Hisato; Kashino, Makio; Takeuchi, Tatsuto

2014-01-01

The subliminal mere exposure effect (SMEE) is the phenomenon wherein people tend to prefer patterns they have repeatedly observed without consciously identifying them. One popular explanation for the SMEE is that perceptual fluency within exposed patterns is misattributed to a feeling of preference for those patterns. Assuming that perceptual fluency is negatively correlated with the amount of mental effort needed to analyze perceptual aspects of incoming stimuli, pupil diameter should associate with SMEE strength since the former is known to reflect mental effort. To examine this hypothesis, we measured participants' pupil diameter during exposure to subthreshold stimuli. Following exposure, a preference test was administered. Average pupil diameter throughout exposure was smaller when the SMEE was induced than when the SMEE was not induced. This supports the hypothesis that increasing perceptual fluency during mere exposure modulates autonomic nervous responses, such as pupil diameter, and eventually leads to preference.

Men's sex-dominance inhibition: do men automatically refrain from sexually dominant behavior?

PubMed

Kiefer, Amy K; Sanchez, Diana T

2007-12-01

Men receive conflicting messages about their sexual roles in heterosexual relationships. Men are socialized to initiate and direct sexual activities with women; yet societal norms also proscribe the sexual domination and coercion of women. The authors test these competing hypotheses by assessing whether men inhibit the link between sex and dominance. In Studies 1a and b, using a subliminal priming procedure embedded in a lexical decision task, the authors demonstrate that men automatically suppress the concept of dominance following exposure to subliminal sex primes relative to neutral primes. In Studies 2 and 3, the authors show that men who are less likely to perceive sexual assertiveness as necessary, to refrain from dominant sexual behavior, and who do not invest in masculine gender ideals are more likely to inhibit dominant thoughts following sex primes. Implications for theories of automatic cognitive networks and gender-based sexual roles are discussed.

Visual perception from the perspective of a representational, non-reductionistic, level-dependent account of perception and conscious awareness

PubMed Central

Overgaard, Morten; Mogensen, Jesper

2014-01-01

This article proposes a new model to interpret seemingly conflicting evidence concerning the correlation of consciousness and neural processes. Based on an analysis of research of blindsight and subliminal perception, the reorganization of elementary functions and consciousness framework suggests that mental representations consist of functions at several different levels of analysis, including truly localized perceptual elementary functions and perceptual algorithmic modules, which are interconnections of the elementary functions. We suggest that conscious content relates to the ‘top level’ of analysis in a ‘situational algorithmic strategy’ that reflects the general state of an individual. We argue that conscious experience is intrinsically related to representations that are available to guide behaviour. From this perspective, we find that blindsight and subliminal perception can be explained partly by too coarse-grained methodology, and partly by top-down enhancing of representations that normally would not be relevant to action. PMID:24639581

Basic Instinct Undressed: Early Spatiotemporal Processing for Primary Sexual Characteristics

PubMed Central

Legrand, Lore B.; Del Zotto, Marzia; Tyrand, Rémi; Pegna, Alan J.

2013-01-01

This study investigates the spatiotemporal dynamics associated with conscious and non-conscious processing of naked and dressed human bodies. To this effect, stimuli of naked men and women with visible primary sexual characteristics, as well as dressed bodies, were presented to 20 heterosexual male and female participants while acquiring high resolution EEG data. The stimuli were either consciously detectable (supraliminal presentations) or were rendered non-conscious through backward masking (subliminal presentations). The N1 event-related potential component was significantly enhanced in participants when they viewed naked compared to dressed bodies under supraliminal viewing conditions. More importantly, naked bodies of the opposite sex produced a significantly greater N1 component compared to dressed bodies during subliminal presentations, when participants were not aware of the stimulus presented. A source localization algorithm computed on the N1 showed that the response for naked bodies in the supraliminal viewing condition was stronger in body processing areas, primary visual areas and additional structures related to emotion processing. By contrast, in the subliminal viewing condition, only visual and body processing areas were found to be activated. These results suggest that naked bodies and primary sexual characteristics are processed early in time (i.e., <200 ms) and activate key brain structures even when they are not consciously detected. It appears that, similarly to what has been reported for emotional faces, sexual features benefit from automatic and rapid processing, most likely due to their high relevance for the individual and their importance for the species in terms of reproductive success. PMID:23894532

Tobacco mosaic virus replication in resistant and susceptible plants: in some resistant species virus is confined to a small number of initially infected cells.

PubMed

Sulzinski, M A; Zaitlin, M

1982-08-01

Only small amounts of tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) are recoverable from directly inoculated leaves of some plant species, a phenomenon investigated by P. C. Cheo (1970, Phytopathology 60, 41-46) and termed subliminal infection. To interpret this phenomenon in two varieties of cowpea (Vigna sinensis Emil.), primary leaves were inoculated on their lower surfaces with TMV (common strain), and at various times postinoculation, mesophyll protoplasts were isolated, incubated for 36 hr, and stained with a TMV-specific fluorescent-labeled antibody. It was determined that only 1 in 50,000 to 150,000 protoplasts contained TMV antigen; this number remained essentially unchanged for experimental periods of from immediately after inoculation to up to 11 days postinoculation (the longest period examined). Cytological staining of epidermis from another subliminally infected host, cotton, also revealed infection of only a few cells. These data suggest that leaves of subliminally infected plants support TMV replication in those cells which receive virus during mechanical inoculation, but that the infectious principle is unable to move from those original centers in these hosts. Control experiments with tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L. cv. Turkish Samsun), in which virus spreads extensively in the inoculated leaves, suggest that a rapid cell-to-cell movement of the infectious entity begins after about 6 hr following inoculation. An unexpected observation was that some cowpea and tobacco mesophyll cells become infected immediately upon mechanical inoculation, suggesting that mesophyll cells can be primary sites of viral ingress into the leaf.

For Cooperating Teachers Only: How to Avoid the Communication Gap.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Polivka, John B.

1979-01-01

Describes four approaches which cooperating teachers may take in maintaining close communication with student teachers: informal conferences, formal conferences, written comments on lesson plans, and subtle or subliminal communication. Journal availability: see SO 506 831. (AV)

Spatiotemporal configuration dependent pairing of nerve events in dark-adapted human vision

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bouman, Maarten A.

2002-02-01

In the model presented here, in the dark any single quantum absorption in a rod or cone produces a subliminal excitation. Subliminal excitations from both halves of a twin unit pair in the retina for the perception of light from the stimulus. A twin unit contains either two red or two green cones. The twin units are intertwined in triples of two red units and one green unit in a hexagon called a trion. P satellite rods surround each cone, P being approximately proportional to the square of eccentricity. A successful pairing for light perception represents-through the points of time and locations of the creation of its partners in the retina-a direction event with two possible polarities and with the orientation of the elongated shape of the twin unit. The polarity of the event depends on which of the two partners arrives first at the twin's pairing facility. Simultaneous events and successive events with the same polarity in adjacent units that are aligned along one of the three orientations of the hexagonal retinal mosaic pair in the cortex for the perception of edge and of movement. Inter-twin pairing products of the three differently oriented sets of aligned twins are independent of each other and sum vectorially in the cortex. This system of three sub-retinas is called the retrinet. Two one-quantum excitations in any of a twin's receptors make the percept colored. The odd blue cone produces already a blue signal for a single one-quantum excitation. Intra-receptor pairing in a rod, a red cone and a green cone is for white, red, and green respectively. Red and green cone products of a trion cross-pair in the retina and produce a yellow signal. Red and green cone products of a hexagon of adjacent trions cross-pair in the cortex and produce a white signal. This large hexagon with a total of seven trions is called a persepton. After subliminal excitations in a twin have paired successfully, further subliminal receptor excitations in neighboring and aligned twins are expressed to a certain extent in the percept's area, duration and color. Earlier experiments on absolute and color thresholds are the basis for this theory, which is developed in this paper.

Racism and Surplus Repression.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johnson, Howard

1983-01-01

Explores the relationship between Herbert Marcuse's theory of "surplus repression" and Freud's theory of the "unconscious" with respect to latent, hidden, covert, or subliminal aspects of racism in the United States. Argues that unconscious racism, manifested in evasion/avoidance, acting out/projection, and attempted…

The Presentation: A New Genre in Business Communication.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carney, Thomas F.

1992-01-01

Discusses the value and importance of presentation graphics. Deals with using storyboards to design presentations, design principles and construction guidelines, subliminals (overtext, intertextuality, and color), choosing a medium for visuals, choosing a computer program to generate visuals, and design similarities between presentation visuals…

Hippocampus Is Place of Interaction between Unconscious and Conscious Memories

PubMed Central

Züst, Marc Alain; Colella, Patrizio; Reber, Thomas Peter; Vuilleumier, Patrik; Hauf, Martinus; Ruch, Simon; Henke, Katharina

2015-01-01

Recent evidence suggests that humans can form and later retrieve new semantic relations unconsciously by way of hippocampus—the key structure also recruited for conscious relational (episodic) memory. If the hippocampus subserves both conscious and unconscious relational encoding/retrieval, one would expect the hippocampus to be place of unconscious-conscious interactions during memory retrieval. We tested this hypothesis in an fMRI experiment probing the interaction between the unconscious and conscious retrieval of face-associated information. For the establishment of unconscious relational memories, we presented subliminal (masked) combinations of unfamiliar faces and written occupations (“actor” or “politician”). At test, we presented the former subliminal faces, but now supraliminally, as cues for the reactivation of the unconsciously associated occupations. We hypothesized that unconscious reactivation of the associated occupation—actor or politician—would facilitate or inhibit the subsequent conscious retrieval of a celebrity’s occupation, which was also actor or politician. Depending on whether the reactivated unconscious occupation was congruent or incongruent to the celebrity’s occupation, we expected either quicker or delayed conscious retrieval process. Conscious retrieval was quicker in the congruent relative to a neutral baseline condition but not delayed in the incongruent condition. fMRI data collected during subliminal face-occupation encoding confirmed previous evidence that the hippocampus was interacting with neocortical storage sites of semantic knowledge to support relational encoding. fMRI data collected at test revealed that the facilitated conscious retrieval was paralleled by deactivations in the hippocampus and neocortical storage sites of semantic knowledge. We assume that the unconscious reactivation has pre-activated overlapping relational representations in the hippocampus reducing the neural effort for conscious retrieval. This finding supports the notion of synergistic interactions between conscious and unconscious relational memories in a common, cohesive hippocampal-neocortical memory space. PMID:25826338

Effects of cognitive-behavioral therapy on brain responses to subliminal and supraliminal threat and their functional significance in specific phobia.

PubMed

Lipka, Judith; Hoffmann, Marius; Miltner, Wolfgang H R; Straube, Thomas

2014-12-01

Neurocircuitry models of anxiety disorders suggest dysregulated mechanisms encompassing both automatic and elaborate threat processing. However, the extent to which these processes might be differentially modified by psychotherapy and the neural basis of such changes are unknown. We examined the effects of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) in patients with anxiety disorder on brain responses to subliminal and supraliminal threat. 3-Tesla functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to assess neural responses to disorder-related stimuli, presented during two backward-masking conditions employed to manipulate stimulus awareness. In 28 spider-phobic patients randomly assigned to a therapy group or a waiting-list control group scanning was performed before and after completing CBT or a waiting period. Scanning was performed one time in 16 healthy control subjects. Self-report and behavioral measures were used to relate CBT-mediated brain activation changes with symptom improvement. Untreated patients demonstrated abnormal hyperactivation in the amygdala, fusiform gyrus, insula, anterior cingulate cortex, and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex. Successful CBT was reflected in an overall downregulation in these fear circuitry structures, especially in the right amygdala and anterior cingulate cortex, with reductions in amygdala responsiveness associated with self-reported symptom improvement. However, subliminal threat induced a pattern of right-lateralized hyperactivation in the amygdala and fusiform gyrus that was subject to intersession habituation across groups without showing significant sensitivity to CBT. These results challenge prevailing models that emphasize a role for amygdala automaticity in the maintenance of anxiety. Our results suggest CBT-related changes in neural activation associated with fear responses to consciously perceived threat. © 2013 Society of Biological Psychiatry Published by Society of Biological Psychiatry All rights reserved.

Age differences in conscious versus subconscious social perception: the influence of face age and valence on gaze following.

PubMed

Bailey, Phoebe E; Slessor, Gillian; Rendell, Peter G; Bennetts, Rachel J; Campbell, Anna; Ruffman, Ted

2014-09-01

Gaze following is the primary means of establishing joint attention with others and is subject to age-related decline. In addition, young but not older adults experience an own-age bias in gaze following. The current research assessed the effects of subconscious processing on these age-related differences. Participants responded to targets that were either congruent or incongruent with the direction of gaze displayed in supraliminal and subliminal images of young and older faces. These faces displayed either neutral (Study 1) or happy and fearful (Study 2) expressions. In Studies 1 and 2, both age groups demonstrated gaze-directed attention by responding faster to targets that were congruent as opposed to incongruent with gaze-cues. In Study 1, subliminal stimuli did not attenuate the age-related decline in gaze-cuing, but did result in an own-age bias among older participants. In Study 2, gaze-cuing was reduced for older relative to young adults in response to supraliminal stimuli, and this could not be attributed to reduced visual acuity or age group differences in the perceived emotional intensity of the gaze-cue faces. Moreover, there were no age differences in gaze-cuing when responding to subliminal faces that were emotionally arousing. In addition, older adults demonstrated an own-age bias for both conscious and subconscious gaze-cuing when faces expressed happiness but not fear. We discuss growing evidence for age-related preservation of subconscious relative to conscious social perception, as well as an interaction between face age and valence in social perception. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved.

Quercetin and pioglitazone synergistically reverse endothelial dysfunction in isolated aorta from fructose-streptozotocin (F-STZ)-induced diabetic rats.

PubMed

Kunasegaran, Thubasni; Mustafa, Mohd Rais; Achike, Francis I; Murugan, Dharmani Devi

2017-03-15

Pioglitazone is an anti-diabetic drug with potential to cause adverse effects following prolonged use. This study, therefore, investigated the effects of combination treatment of a subliminal concentration of pioglitazone and quercetin, a potent antioxidant, on vascular reactivity of aorta isolated from fructose-streptozotocin (F-STZ)-induced diabetic rats. Relaxation to acetylcholine and sodium nitroprusside, and contraction to phenylephrine were tested in organ bath chambers following pre-incubation with vehicle (DMSO; 0.05%), quercetin (10-7 M), pioglitazone (10-7 M), or their combination (P+Q; 10-7 M each drug). Subliminal concentration of quercetin or pioglitazone did not alter the acetylcholine- induced relaxation nor the phenylephrine-induced contraction in both normal rat and diabetic F-STZ induced tissues. However, P+Q combination synergistically improved the impaired acetylcholine-induced relaxation and decreased the elevated phenylephrine-induced contraction in aortic rings from diabetic, but not in the normal rats. Neither mono nor combination treatment altered sodium nitroprusside-induced relaxation. The combination also synergistically decreased superoxide anion and increased nitric oxide production compared to the individual treatments in aorta from diabetic rats. Overall, these data demonstrated a synergistic effect, in which, a combination (P+Q; 10-7 M each drug) caused a significantly greater effect than 10-6 M of either agent in improving endothelial function of isolated diabetic aorta. In conclusion, a combination of subliminal concentrations of pioglitazone and quercetin is able to decrease oxidative stress and provide synergistic vascular protection in type 2 diabetes mellitus and thus the possibility of using quercetin as a supplement to pioglitazone in the treatment of diabetes with the goal of reducing pioglitazone toxicity. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Long-lasting effects of performance-contingent unconscious and conscious reward incentives during cued task-switching.

PubMed

Capa, Rémi L; Bouquet, Cédric A; Dreher, Jean-Claude; Dufour, André

2013-01-01

Motivation is often thought to interact consciously with executive control, although recent studies have indicated that motivation can also be unconscious. To date, however, the effects of unconscious motivation on high-order executive control functions have not been explored. Only a few studies using subliminal stimuli (i.e., those not related to motivation, such as an arrow to prime a response) have reported short-lived effects on high-order executive control functions. Here, building on research on unconscious motivation, in which a behavior of perseverance is induced to attain a goal, we hypothesized that subliminal motivation can have long-lasting effects on executive control processes. We investigated the impact of unconscious/conscious monetary reward incentives on evoked potentials and neural activity dynamics during cued task-switching performance. Participants performed long runs of task-switching. At the beginning of each run, a reward (50 cents or 1 cent) was displayed, either subliminally or supraliminally. Participants earned the reward contingent upon their correct responses to each trial of the run. A higher percentage of runs was achieved with higher (conscious and unconscious) than lower rewards, indicating that unconscious high rewards have long-lasting behavioral effects. Event-related potential (ERP) results indicated that unconscious and conscious rewards influenced preparatory effort in task preparation, as suggested by a greater fronto-central contingent negative variation (CNV) starting at cue-onset. However, a greater parietal P3 associated with better reaction times (RTs) was observed only under conditions of conscious high reward, suggesting a larger amount of working memory invested during task performance. Together, these results indicate that unconscious and conscious motivations are similar at early stages of task-switching preparation but differ during task performance. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Celebrity, Illusion, and Middle School Culture

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Briggs, Judith

2007-01-01

Visual images create desire. As artifacts from contemporary visual culture, visual images inform everyone about society, telling everyone who they are and what they value. They register subliminally within everyone's psyches and alter everyone's perceptions, sometimes without everyone's knowledge. Visual images seem to keep coming and often…

The role of attention in subliminal semantic processing: A mouse tracking study.

PubMed

Xiao, Kunchen; Yamauchi, Takashi

2017-01-01

Recent evidence suggests that top-down attention facilitates unconscious semantic processing. To clarify the role of attention in unconscious semantic processing, we traced trajectories of the computer mouse in a semantic priming task and scrutinized the extent to which top-down attention enhances unconscious semantic processing in four different stimulus-onset asynchrony (SOA: 50, 200, 500, or 1000ms) conditions. Participants judged whether a target digit (e.g., "6") was larger or smaller than five, preceded by a masked priming digit (e.g., "9"). The pre-prime duration changed randomly from trial to trial to disrupt participants' top-down attention in an uncued condition (in a cued condition, a green square cue was presented to facilitate participants' top-down attention). The results show that top-down attention modifies the time course of subliminal semantic processing, and the temporal attention window lasts more than 1000ms; attention facilitated by the cue may amplify semantic priming to some extent, yet the amplification effect of attention is relatively minor.

Neural correlates of subliminally presented visual sexual stimuli.

PubMed

Wernicke, Martina; Hofter, Corinna; Jordan, Kirsten; Fromberger, Peter; Dechent, Peter; Müller, Jürgen L

2017-03-01

In the context of forensic psychiatry, it is crucial that diagnoses of deviant sexual interests are resistant to manipulation. In a first attempt to promote the development of such tools, the current fMRI study focusses on the examination of hemodynamic responses to preferred, in contrast to non-preferred, sexual stimuli with and without explicit sexual features in 24 healthy heterosexual subjects. The subliminal stimulus presentation of sexual stimuli could be a new approach to reduce vulnerability to manipulation. Meaningful images and scrambled images were applied as masks. Recognition performance was low, but interestingly, sexual preference and explicitness modulated stimulus visibility, suggesting interactions between networks of sexual arousal and consciousness. With scrambled masks, higher activations for sexually preferred images and for explicit images were found in areas associated with sexual arousal (Stoleru, Fonteille, Cornelis, Joyal, & Moulier, 2012). We conclude that masked sexual stimuli can evoke activations in areas associated with supraliminal induced sexual arousal. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Preattentive processing of heart cues and the perception of heart symptoms in congenital heart disease.

PubMed

Karsdorp, Petra A; Kindt, Merel; Everaerd, Walter; Mulder, Barbara J M

2007-08-01

The present study was aimed at clarifying whether preattentive processing of heart cues results in biased perception of heart sensations in patients with congenital heart disease (ConHD) who are also highly trait anxious. Twenty-six patients with ConHD and 22 healthy participants categorized heart-related (heart rate) or neutral sensations (constant vibration) as either heart or neutral. Both sensations were evoked using a bass speaker that was attached on the chest of the participant. Before each physical sensation, a subliminal heart-related or neutral prime was presented. Biased perception of heart-sensations would become evident by a delayed categorization of the heart-related sensations. In line with the prediction, a combination of high trait anxiety and ConHD resulted in slower responses after a heart-related sensation that was preceded by a subliminal heart cue. Preattentive processing of harmless heart cues may easily elicit overperception of heart symptoms in highly trait anxious patients with ConHD.

Flexible establishment of functional brain networks supports attentional modulation of unconscious cognition.

PubMed

Ulrich, Martin; Adams, Sarah C; Kiefer, Markus

2014-11-01

In classical theories of attention, unconscious automatic processes are thought to be independent of higher-level attentional influences. Here, we propose that unconscious processing depends on attentional enhancement of task-congruent processing pathways implemented by a dynamic modulation of the functional communication between brain regions. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we tested our model with a subliminally primed lexical decision task preceded by an induction task preparing either a semantic or a perceptual task set. Subliminal semantic priming was significantly greater after semantic compared to perceptual induction in ventral occipito-temporal (vOT) and inferior frontal cortex, brain areas known to be involved in semantic processing. The functional connectivity pattern of vOT varied depending on the induction task and successfully predicted the magnitude of behavioral and neural priming. Together, these findings support the proposal that dynamic establishment of functional networks by task sets is an important mechanism in the attentional control of unconscious processing. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Emergence of unreported stimuli into imagery as a function of laterality of presentation: a replication and extension of research by Henley & Dixon (1974).

PubMed

Mykel, N; Daves, W F

1979-05-01

In Expt. 1, the research by Henley & Dixon (1974) was replicated. Two experimental groups (n=8 each) received subliminal words to the right ear and 8 min of music to the left ear or vice versa. Each group had its own control (n=8 each) with only music to one ear. Categorization and ranking of imagery reported, as well as performance on a checklist containing critical, associated, and non-related words, showed that emergence was greater with words to the right ear than with no words. There was no difference between experimental and control groups with words to the left ear. In Expt. 2, the music was eliminated, and subjects received subliminal words to the right ear (n=8) or no words. A significant difference between groups was found when the reported imagery was ranked as to emergence, and on the checklist, but not when the reports were categorized by judges.

Subliminal access to abstract face representations does not rely on attention.

PubMed

Harry, Bronson; Davis, Chris; Kim, Jeesun

2012-03-01

The present study used masked repetition priming to examine whether face representations can be accessed without attention. Two experiments using a face recognition task (fame judgement) presented masked repetition and control primes in spatially unattended locations prior to target onset. Experiment 1 (n=20) used the same images as primes and as targets and Experiment 2 (n=17) used different images of the same individual as primes and targets. Repetition priming was observed across both experiments regardless of whether spatial attention was cued to the location of the prime. Priming occurred for both famous and non-famous targets in Experiment 1 but was only reliable for famous targets in Experiment 2, suggesting that priming in Experiment 1 indexed access to view-specific representations whereas priming in Experiment 2 indexed access to view-invariant, abstract representations. Overall, the results indicate that subliminal access to abstract face representations does not rely on attention. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Co-occurrence frequency evaluated with large language corpora boosts semantic priming effects.

PubMed

Brunellière, Angèle; Perre, Laetitia; Tran, ThiMai; Bonnotte, Isabelle

2017-09-01

In recent decades, many computational techniques have been developed to analyse the contextual usage of words in large language corpora. The present study examined whether the co-occurrence frequency obtained from large language corpora might boost purely semantic priming effects. Two experiments were conducted: one with conscious semantic priming, the other with subliminal semantic priming. Both experiments contrasted three semantic priming contexts: an unrelated priming context and two related priming contexts with word pairs that are semantically related and that co-occur either frequently or infrequently. In the conscious priming presentation (166-ms stimulus-onset asynchrony, SOA), a semantic priming effect was recorded in both related priming contexts, which was greater with higher co-occurrence frequency. In the subliminal priming presentation (66-ms SOA), no significant priming effect was shown, regardless of the related priming context. These results show that co-occurrence frequency boosts pure semantic priming effects and are discussed with reference to models of semantic network.

[Effects of mere subliminal exposure on trait judgments and the role of stereotyped knowledge].

PubMed

Yamada, Ayumi

2004-06-01

This study investigated the effects of repeated exposures to male and female targets on trait impressions and the role of stereotyped knowledge for the target's social category in impression formation process. The participants were repeatedly exposed to slides of male and female faces for subliminal durations. For each of 12 pairs containing both previously presented slide and newly presented slide, the participants made forced-choice liking judgments (Experiment 1), trait judgments (Experiment 2) and recognition judgments (Experiments 1 and 2). It was found that participants' attitude toward the targets became more positive, even though target recognition was not significantly greater than the chance level. Yet, when the dimension of judgment was stereotypically associated with the target's social category, exposure effects were obtained for the targets whose social category and its dimension were inferentially matched, but not obtained for the targets whose social category and its dimension were not inferentially matched. Some theoretical implications of the role of social category information in the mere exposure phenomenon are discussed.

Unconscious Semantic Activation Depends on Feature-Specific Attention Allocation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Spruyt, Adriaan; De Houwer, Jan; Everaert, Tom; Hermans, Dirk

2012-01-01

We examined whether semantic activation by subliminally presented stimuli is dependent upon the extent to which participants assign attention to specific semantic stimulus features and stimulus dimensions. Participants pronounced visible target words that were preceded by briefly presented, masked prime words. Both affective and non-affective…

Right Hemispheric Dominance in Processing of Unconscious Negative Emotion

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sato, Wataru; Aoki, Satoshi

2006-01-01

Right hemispheric dominance in unconscious emotional processing has been suggested, but remains controversial. This issue was investigated using the subliminal affective priming paradigm combined with unilateral visual presentation in 40 normal subjects. In either left or right visual fields, angry facial expressions, happy facial expressions, or…

Set Straight on Bullies.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Greenbaum, Stuart; And Others

Bullying, perhaps the most underrated problem in America's schools today, distracts minds and inhibits the learning process; if left unchecked, it can destroy lives and place society at risk. Bullying is defined as one or more individuals inflicting physical, verbal, or emotional abuse upon another individual or individuals. Subliminal abuses…

The Four Curricula of the Gifted and Talented: Toward a Total Learning Environment.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Passow, A. Harry

1981-01-01

The author reviews varied concepts of differentiated curricula for gifted students and identified four curricula which must be considered: the general education curriculum, the specialized curriculum, the subliminal/covert curriculum (including affective factors), and the curriculum of nonschool educative settings. Factors involved in each of the…

The Role of Consciousness in Second Language Learning.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schmidt, Richard W.

1990-01-01

Summarizes recent psychological research and theory on the topic of consciousness, and looks at three questions in second-language learning related to the role of consciousness in input processing. The discussion involves the requirement in learning a second language of subliminal learning, implicit learning, and incidental learning. (142…

Bulletin Boards: The Great Corkboard Wasteland.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reith, James W.

1970-01-01

A successful classroom bulletin board display should not only be decorative, but also must have clear-cut purposes and functions: informational (i.e., post current school news), instructional (i.e., expand on classroom units), and motivational (i.e., tap subliminal awareness). Some suggested techniques include (1) using space other than the…

Evaluating the Relationship Between Neuropsychological Function and Cognitive Performance

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-08-01

Larry.Moore.ctr2@wpafb.af.mil) L3 Communications 5950 East Sossaman Road, Suite 102, Mesa, AZ 85212 USA Abstract The last 2 decades have...Viard, A., Schürhoff, F., Recasens, C., Martinot, M. L. P., Leboyer, M., & Martinot, J-L. (2003). Conscious and subliminal conflicts in normal

Overview 2010 of ARL Program on Network Science for Human Decision Making

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-01-01

pressure and subliminal seduction; but always through a sequence of decisions, either conscious or not. Network characteristics cannot be deduced from the...Time, Communication , and the Nervous System”, in Norbert Wiener: Collected Works, Volume IV, pp.220-252, The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA (1985). 16. P

Selected Alternative Training Techniques in HRD. [and] Invited Reaction. [and] Final Word: A Rejoinder.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Von Bergen, C. W.; Soper, Barlow; Rosenthal, Gary T.; Wilkinson, Lamar V.; Watkins, Karen E.

1997-01-01

Von Bergen, Soper, Rosenthal, and Wilkinson examine four alternative training methods (subliminal self-help, meditation, mental imagery/practice, and neurolinguistic programming), concluding that only mental practice is supported by scientific evidence. Watkins takes issue with their dismissal of qualitative evidence. Their rejoinder asserts the…

Rapid Parallel Semantic Processing of Numbers without Awareness

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Van Opstal, Filip; de Lange, Floris P.; Dehaene, Stanislas

2011-01-01

In this study, we investigate whether multiple digits can be processed at a semantic level without awareness, either serially or in parallel. In two experiments, we presented participants with two successive sets of four simultaneous Arabic digits. The first set was masked and served as a subliminal prime for the second, visible target set.…

Unconscious Reward Cues Increase Invested Effort, but Do Not Change Speed-Accuracy Tradeoffs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bijleveld, Erik; Custers, Ruud; Aarts, Henk

2010-01-01

While both conscious and unconscious reward cues enhance effort to work on a task, previous research also suggests that conscious rewards may additionally affect speed-accuracy tradeoffs. Based on this idea, two experiments explored whether reward cues that are presented above (supraliminal) or below (subliminal) the threshold of conscious…

Instrument Development Procedures for Rapid Reading Rate Measures. Technical Report # 08-05

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liu, Kimy; Carling, Kristy; Geller, Leanne Ketterlin; Tindal, Gerald

2008-01-01

In this study, we describe the development of rapid reading measures, sentences presented to students in a nearly subliminal manner, with a literal comprehension question asked following their removal. After administering alternate forms of these measures to students, we present the results from three statistical analyses to ascertain their…

Generalization of the Euler-type solution to the wave equation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Borisov, Victor V.

2001-08-01

Generalization of the Euler-type solution to the wave equation is given. Peculiarities of the space-time structure of obtained waves are considered. For some particular cases interpretation of these waves as `subliminal' and `superluminal' is discussed. The possibility of description of electromagnetic waves by means of the scalar solutions is shown.

Automatic Processing of Emotional Faces in High-Functioning Pervasive Developmental Disorders: An Affective Priming Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kamio, Yoko; Wolf, Julie; Fein, Deborah

2006-01-01

This study examined automatic processing of emotional faces in individuals with high-functioning Pervasive Developmental Disorders (HFPDD) using an affective priming paradigm. Sixteen participants (HFPDD and matched controls) were presented with happy faces, fearful faces or objects in both subliminal and supraliminal exposure conditions, followed…

Mechanisms of Masked Priming: A Meta-Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Van den Bussche, Eva; Van den Noortgate, Wim; Reynvoet, Bert

2009-01-01

The extent to which unconscious information can influence behavior has been a topic of considerable debate throughout the history of psychology. A frequently used method for studying subliminal processing is the masked priming paradigm. The authors focused on studies in which this paradigm was used. Their aim was twofold: first, to assess the…

Rapid Learning of Syllable Classes from a Perceptually Continuous Speech Stream

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Endress, Ansgar D.; Bonatti, Luca L.

2007-01-01

To learn a language, speakers must learn its words and rules from fluent speech; in particular, they must learn dependencies among linguistic classes. We show that when familiarized with a short artificial, subliminally bracketed stream, participants can learn relations about the structure of its words, which specify the classes of syllables…

The Subliminal Impact and Hidden Agendas of Training.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Costley, Dan L.; Moore, Faye A.

1986-01-01

The author suggests that training program developers be upfront about the training purpose, be sure the training creates a positive experience for trainees, consider not only what happens during the training, but what occurs before and after, and ensure that program content is something the trainees will choose to put into practice. (CT)

Atypical Social Modulation of Imitation in Autism Spectrum Conditions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cook, Jennifer L.; Bird, Geoffrey

2012-01-01

Appropriate modulation of imitation according to social context is important for successful social interaction. In the present study we subliminally primed high-functioning adults with ASC and age- and IQ-matched controls with either a pro- or non- social attitude. Following priming, an automatic imitation paradigm was used to acquire an index of…

Automatic evaluations and exercise setting preference in frequent exercisers.

PubMed

Antoniewicz, Franziska; Brand, Ralf

2014-12-01

The goals of this study were to test whether exercise-related stimuli can elicit automatic evaluative responses and whether automatic evaluations reflect exercise setting preference in highly active exercisers. An adapted version of the Affect Misattribution Procedure was employed. Seventy-two highly active exercisers (26 years ± 9.03; 43% female) were subliminally primed (7 ms) with pictures depicting typical fitness center scenarios or gray rectangles (control primes). After each prime, participants consciously evaluated the "pleasantness" of a Chinese symbol. Controlled evaluations were measured with a questionnaire and were more positive in participants who regularly visited fitness centers than in those who reported avoiding this exercise setting. Only center exercisers gave automatic positive evaluations of the fitness center setting (partial eta squared = .08). It is proposed that a subliminal Affect Misattribution Procedure paradigm can elicit automatic evaluations to exercising and that, in highly active exercisers, these evaluations play a role in decisions about the exercise setting rather than the amounts of physical exercise. Findings are interpreted in terms of a dual systems theory of social information processing and behavior.

The role of attention in subliminal semantic processing: A mouse tracking study

PubMed Central

Xiao, Kunchen; Yamauchi, Takashi

2017-01-01

Recent evidence suggests that top-down attention facilitates unconscious semantic processing. To clarify the role of attention in unconscious semantic processing, we traced trajectories of the computer mouse in a semantic priming task and scrutinized the extent to which top-down attention enhances unconscious semantic processing in four different stimulus-onset asynchrony (SOA: 50, 200, 500, or 1000ms) conditions. Participants judged whether a target digit (e.g., “6”) was larger or smaller than five, preceded by a masked priming digit (e.g., “9”). The pre-prime duration changed randomly from trial to trial to disrupt participants’ top-down attention in an uncued condition (in a cued condition, a green square cue was presented to facilitate participants’ top-down attention). The results show that top-down attention modifies the time course of subliminal semantic processing, and the temporal attention window lasts more than 1000ms; attention facilitated by the cue may amplify semantic priming to some extent, yet the amplification effect of attention is relatively minor. PMID:28609460

Equilibrium disorders in workers exposed to mixed solvents.

PubMed

Giorgianni, Concetto; Tanzariello, Mariagiuseppina; De Pasquale, Domenico; Brecciaroli, Renato; Spatari, Giovanna

2018-02-06

Organic solvents cause diseases of the vestibular system. However, little is known regarding the correlation between vestibular damage and exposure to organic solvents below threshold limit values. The best measure by which to evaluate vestibular disorders is static and dynamic posturography. The aim of this study was to evaluate equilibrium disorders via static and dynamic posturography in workers without clear symptoms and exposed to low doses of mixed solvents. 200 subjects were selected. Using an Otometrics device (Madsen, Denmark), all subjects endured static and dynamic posturography testing with both eyes-open and eyes-closed conditions. Results were compared with a control group of unexposed individuals. Based on the obtained data, the following results can be drawn: (a) subjects exposed to mixtures of solvents show highly significant differences regarding all static and dynamic posturography parameters in comparison to the control group; (b) posturography testing has proven to be a valid means by which to detect subliminal equilibrium disorders in subjects exposed to solvents. We can confirm that refinery workers exposed to mixtures of solvents can present subliminal equilibrium disorders. Early diagnosis of the latter is made possible by static and dynamic posturography.

Is there any electrophysiological evidence for subliminal error processing?

PubMed

Shalgi, Shani; Deouell, Leon Y

2013-08-29

The role of error awareness in executive control and modification of behavior is not fully understood. In line with many recent studies showing that conscious awareness is unnecessary for numerous high-level processes such as strategic adjustments and decision making, it was suggested that error detection can also take place unconsciously. The Error Negativity (Ne) component, long established as a robust error-related component that differentiates between correct responses and errors, was a fine candidate to test this notion: if an Ne is elicited also by errors which are not consciously detected, it would imply a subliminal process involved in error monitoring that does not necessarily lead to conscious awareness of the error. Indeed, for the past decade, the repeated finding of a similar Ne for errors which became aware and errors that did not achieve awareness, compared to the smaller negativity elicited by correct responses (Correct Response Negativity; CRN), has lent the Ne the prestigious status of an index of subliminal error processing. However, there were several notable exceptions to these findings. The study in the focus of this review (Shalgi and Deouell, 2012) sheds new light on both types of previous results. We found that error detection as reflected by the Ne is correlated with subjective awareness: when awareness (or more importantly lack thereof) is more strictly determined using the wagering paradigm, no Ne is elicited without awareness. This result effectively resolves the issue of why there are many conflicting findings regarding the Ne and error awareness. The average Ne amplitude appears to be influenced by individual criteria for error reporting and therefore, studies containing different mixtures of participants who are more confident of their own performance or less confident, or paradigms that either encourage or don't encourage reporting low confidence errors will show different results. Based on this evidence, it is no longer possible to unquestioningly uphold the notion that the amplitude of the Ne is unrelated to subjective awareness, and therefore, that errors are detected without conscious awareness.

Domain learning naming game for color categorization.

PubMed

Li, Doujie; Fan, Zhongyan; Tang, Wallace K S

2017-01-01

Naming game simulates the evolution of vocabulary in a population of agents. Through pairwise interactions in the games, agents acquire a set of vocabulary in their memory for object naming. The existing model confines to a one-to-one mapping between a name and an object. Focus is usually put onto name consensus in the population rather than knowledge learning in agents, and hence simple learning model is usually adopted. However, the cognition system of human being is much more complex and knowledge is usually presented in a complicated form. Therefore, in this work, we extend the agent learning model and design a new game to incorporate domain learning, which is essential for more complicated form of knowledge. In particular, we demonstrate the evolution of color categorization and naming in a population of agents. We incorporate the human perceptive model into the agents and introduce two new concepts, namely subjective perception and subliminal stimulation, in domain learning. Simulation results show that, even without any supervision or pre-requisition, a consensus of a color naming system can be reached in a population solely via the interactions. Our work confirms the importance of society interactions in color categorization, which is a long debate topic in human cognition. Moreover, our work also demonstrates the possibility of cognitive system development in autonomous intelligent agents.

Unconscious classical conditioning of sexual arousal: evidence for the conditioning of female genital arousal to subliminally presented sexual stimuli.

PubMed

Both, Stephanie; Spiering, Mark; Laan, Ellen; Belcome, Sarah; van den Heuvel, Birre; Everaerd, Walter

2008-01-01

Although the assumption that sexual behavior is at least partly learned is common across theories of sexual behavior, classical conditioning of sexual response in women has been seldom studied. The study of unconscious classical conditioning of appetitive sexual responses in women. Vaginal pulse amplitude assessed by vaginal photoplethysmography, and ratings of sexual affective value. Pavlovian conditioning was examined in 18 sexually functional women by using two erotic pictures as conditional stimuli (CSs) and genital vibrotactile stimulation as unconditional stimulus (US). During the acquisition phase, the CSs were presented briefly (30 ms) and were masked by an immediately following masking stimulus. Only one CS (the CS+) was followed by the US during the acquisition phase. Conditioned responses were assessed during the extinction phase with supraliminal presentations of the CS+ and the CS-. Vaginal pulse amplitude was higher in response to the CS+ than during the CS- during the first extinction trial. There was no conditioning effect on ratings of affective value. The experiment demonstrates evidence for unconscious conditioning of genital responses in women, but no evidence for evaluative conditioning. The results add to the limited evidence for classical conditioning of sexual arousal in women, and to increasing evidence for associative emotional learning without awareness.

Domain learning naming game for color categorization

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

Naming game simulates the evolution of vocabulary in a population of agents. Through pairwise interactions in the games, agents acquire a set of vocabulary in their memory for object naming. The existing model confines to a one-to-one mapping between a name and an object. Focus is usually put onto name consensus in the population rather than knowledge learning in agents, and hence simple learning model is usually adopted. However, the cognition system of human being is much more complex and knowledge is usually presented in a complicated form. Therefore, in this work, we extend the agent learning model and design a new game to incorporate domain learning, which is essential for more complicated form of knowledge. In particular, we demonstrate the evolution of color categorization and naming in a population of agents. We incorporate the human perceptive model into the agents and introduce two new concepts, namely subjective perception and subliminal stimulation, in domain learning. Simulation results show that, even without any supervision or pre-requisition, a consensus of a color naming system can be reached in a population solely via the interactions. Our work confirms the importance of society interactions in color categorization, which is a long debate topic in human cognition. Moreover, our work also demonstrates the possibility of cognitive system development in autonomous intelligent agents. PMID:29136661

Awareness Is Necessary for Extracting Patterns in Working Memory but Not for Directing Spatial Attention

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hsieh, Po-Jang; Colas, Jaron T.

2012-01-01

The contents of working memory (WM) have predominantly been viewed as necessarily conscious. However, recent findings suggest otherwise. Here we investigate whether visual WM can represent subliminal stimuli, such that the positions of an invisible moving object can be extrapolated or learned about in terms of their task-relevant predictive power.…

Unconscious Addition: When We Unconsciously Initiate and Follow Arithmetic Rules

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ric, Francois; Muller, Dominique

2012-01-01

This research shows that people can unconsciously initiate and follow arithmetic rules (e.g., addition). Participants were asked to detect whether a symbol was a digit. This symbol was preceded by 2 digits and a subliminal instruction: "add" or a control instruction. Participants were faster at identifying a symbol as a number when the…

It's Not Always Good For You: Theatre Is Not Supposed To Be Medicine.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gregg, Stephen

2002-01-01

Suggests that theatre's capacity to educate is often overstated. Notes theatre created by and for teenagers is especially guilty of proselytizing. Argues the real danger is that the cumulative, subliminal message is that theater is medicine. Suggests that playwrights, directors, and artistic directors leave the education for the classroom and take…

I Don't Know It but I Like You: The Influence of Nonconscious Affect on Person Perception.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Monahan, Jennifer L.

1998-01-01

Proposes a model of unconscious affect. Tests predictions about the influence of nonconscious affect on evaluations made of undergraduate student conversational interactants. Uses a subliminal priming task to induce a positive nonconscious affective response toward the target persons. Rates primed target as more likable and attractive yet not more…

Incidental Learning of S-R Contingencies in the Masked Prime Task

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schlaghecken, Friederike; Blagrove, Elisabeth; Maylor, Elizabeth A.

2007-01-01

Subliminal motor priming effects in the masked prime paradigm can only be obtained when primes are part of the task set. In 2 experiments, the authors investigated whether the relevant task set feature needs to be explicitly instructed or could be extracted automatically in an incidental learning paradigm. Primes and targets were symmetrical…

Subliminal Seduction: An Essay on the Rhetoric of the Unconscious.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

D'Angelo, Frank J.

1986-01-01

Argues that English departments should be concerned with critical reading and writing of all kinds of texts. Suggests that the same kind of careful criticism used in the study of advertising should be used to evaluate literature, music, movies, and the other arts, with the immediate goal being a more self-conscious awareness of verbal and…

Mexico: Failing State or Emerging Democracy?

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-03-01

were dominated by The Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI. Mexican politics largely resembled the subliminally oppressive conditions... communications equipment, while Mexican security forces have only austere capabilities.27 The Mexican Federal Police and the Mexican Army killed...economic and government institutions. Mexico joins a community U.S. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral

Interests as a Component of Adult Course Preferences: Four Australian Case Studies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Athanasou, James A.

2013-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to examine the subliminal role of interest in preferences for 50 courses available at a community college. This is an idiographic study of educational decisions. It employed a sample of situations and a representative design. Four adults participated in an educational-vocational assessment and in the process of…

East Meets West: Cultural Confrontation and Exchange after the First Crusade

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Florean, Dana

2007-01-01

The events that occurred during the Crusades, the encounter of Western and Eastern civilisations, led to certain modes of thinking and representations that are still evident today, overtly or subliminally. By revisiting some of the Western and Eastern chronicles of the first Crusade, we hope to capture the source of some of these images and to see…

Emergence of Unreported Stimuli into Imagery as a Function of Laterality of Presentation: A Replication and Extension of Research by Henley & Dixon.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mykel, Nan; Daves, Walter F.

1979-01-01

Right-handed subjects listened to music with one ear and received subliminal words in the other. The words emerged in subjects' reported imagery of the music more when the words were presented to the right ear (left brain hemisphere). A second experiment eliminated the music. (SJL)

SPEECH TO FACULTY OF HARVARD-BOSTON SUMMER PROGRAM AT PREPLANNING MEETINGS.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

HAIZLIP, HAROLD

THE AREA TO WHICH THIS GROUP OF TEACHERS WILL BE SENT IS CHARACTERIZED BY ITS LARGE INFLUX OF POOR NEGRO FAMILIES WITH POOR CULTURAL BACKGROUNDS. SOME OF THE PROBLEMS OF THIS AREA WILL REQUIRE A BROAD-SCALE, CAREFULLY ANALYZED, AND PLANNED ATTACK WITHIN AND BY PUBLIC SCHOOLS. EVERY SCHOOL HAS A HIDDEN OR SUBLIMINAL CURRICULUM WHICH TEACHES, IN…

Response Activation in Overlapping Tasks and the Response-Selection Bottleneck

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schubert, Torsten; Fischer, Rico; Stelzel, Christine

2008-01-01

The authors investigated the impact of response activation on dual-task performance by presenting a subliminal prime before the stimulus in Task 2 (S2) of a psychological refractory period (PRP) task. Congruence between prime and S2 modulated the reaction times in Task 2 at short stimulus onset asynchrony despite a PRP effect. This Task 2…

Doppler effect of subluminal and superluminal sources in eight dimensions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chandola, H. C.; Rajput, B. S.

1984-06-01

The study of the relativistic Doppler effect of subliminal and superluminal sources has been undertaken in the eight-dimensional space. It has been shown that correct Doppler shifts are obtained in the external spaces of these sources and the conformal correspondence between Doppler effect curves holds in case of approaching and receeding sources but not in the transverse case.

The Breast Health Intervention Evaluation Study

DTIC Science & Technology

2001-08-01

content due to its subtle almost subliminal impact even though this issue did not surface in the various pre-tests during video development. A third...A. (1990). Involuntary attention and physiological arousal evoked by structural features and emotional content in TV commercials. Communication...Human communication research, 13, 399-420. Pezdek, K., and Stevens, E. (1984). Children=s memory for auditory and visual information on television

The Effects of Various Fidelity Factors on Simulated Helicopter Hover

DTIC Science & Technology

1981-01-01

18 VISUAL DISPLAY ....... ....................... ... 20 §. AUDITORY CUES ........... ........................ 23 • SHIP MOTION MODEL...and DiCarlo, 1974), the evaluation of visual, auditory , and motion cues for helicopter simulation (Parrish, Houck, and Martin, 1977), and the...supply the cue. As the tilt should be supplied subliminally , a forward/aft translation must be used to cue the acceleration’s onset. If only rotation

SDI Software Technology Program Plan Version 1.5

DTIC Science & Technology

1987-06-01

computer generation of auditory communication of meaningful speech. Most speech synthesizers are based on mathematical models of the human vocal tract, but...oral/ auditory and multimodal communications. Although such state-of-the-art interaction technology has not fully matured, user experience has...superior I pattern matching capabilities and the subliminal intuitive deduction capability. The error performance of humans can be helped by careful

An empirical study of Freud's penis-baby equation.

PubMed

Jones, R L

1994-03-01

One hypothesis of traditional psychoanalytic theory holds that a cardinal aspect of the "natural" development of femininity involves the woman's substitution of the wish for a baby in place of her original wish for a penis. The current study modified and extended earlier research examining the validity of Freud's this "penis-baby" theory. College-aged women and men were presented with either subliminal or supraliminal auditory messages concerned with either pregnancy or penetration themes. Subjects' written responses to Holtzman ink-blots, obtained both before and after exposure to an auditory message, were content-coded for phallic imagery and sexual imagery. Consistent with Freud's speculations about the phallic significance of pregnancy for women, female subjects who were exposed to the subliminal pregnancy message produced significantly more phallic imagery responses to ink-blots than did women in any of the other experimental conditions (p < .01). The phallic imagery production of males did not vary significantly as a function of message condition. Implications of these findings are discussed in the context of modern revisions to Freud's psychology of women and the current psychoanalytic conceptualization of penis envy as a highly condensed mental product with many layers of meaning.

Subliminal influence on preferences? A test of evaluative conditioning for brief visual conditioned stimuli using auditory unconditioned stimuli

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

In the field of evaluative conditioning (EC), two opposing theories—propositional single-process theory versus dual-process theory—are currently being discussed in the literature. The present set of experiments test a crucial prediction to adjudicate between these two theories: Dual-process theory postulates that evaluative conditioning can occur without awareness of the contingency between conditioned stimulus (CS) and unconditioned stimulus (US); in contrast, single-process propositional theory postulates that EC requires CS-US contingency awareness. In a set of three studies, we experimentally manipulate contingency awareness by presenting the CSs very briefly, thereby rendering it unlikely to be processed consciously. We address potential issues with previous studies on EC with subliminal or near-threshold CSs that limited their interpretation. Across two experiments, we consistently found an EC effect for CSs presented for 1000 ms and consistently failed to find an EC effect for briefly presented CSs. In a third pre-registered experiment, we again found evidence for an EC effect with CSs presented for 1000 ms, and we found some indication for an EC effect for CSs presented for 20 ms. PMID:28989730

Subliminal influence on preferences? A test of evaluative conditioning for brief visual conditioned stimuli using auditory unconditioned stimuli.

PubMed

Heycke, Tobias; Aust, Frederik; Stahl, Christoph

2017-09-01

In the field of evaluative conditioning (EC), two opposing theories-propositional single-process theory versus dual-process theory-are currently being discussed in the literature. The present set of experiments test a crucial prediction to adjudicate between these two theories: Dual-process theory postulates that evaluative conditioning can occur without awareness of the contingency between conditioned stimulus (CS) and unconditioned stimulus (US); in contrast, single-process propositional theory postulates that EC requires CS-US contingency awareness. In a set of three studies, we experimentally manipulate contingency awareness by presenting the CSs very briefly, thereby rendering it unlikely to be processed consciously. We address potential issues with previous studies on EC with subliminal or near-threshold CSs that limited their interpretation. Across two experiments, we consistently found an EC effect for CSs presented for 1000 ms and consistently failed to find an EC effect for briefly presented CSs. In a third pre-registered experiment, we again found evidence for an EC effect with CSs presented for 1000 ms, and we found some indication for an EC effect for CSs presented for 20 ms.

Effects of facial color on the subliminal processing of fearful faces.

PubMed

Nakajima, K; Minami, T; Nakauchi, S

2015-12-03

Recent studies have suggested that both configural information, such as face shape, and surface information is important for face perception. In particular, facial color is sufficiently suggestive of emotional states, as in the phrases: "flushed with anger" and "pale with fear." However, few studies have examined the relationship between facial color and emotional expression. On the other hand, event-related potential (ERP) studies have shown that emotional expressions, such as fear, are processed unconsciously. In this study, we examined how facial color modulated the supraliminal and subliminal processing of fearful faces. We recorded electroencephalograms while participants performed a facial emotion identification task involving masked target faces exhibiting facial expressions (fearful or neutral) and colors (natural or bluish). The results indicated that there was a significant interaction between facial expression and color for the latency of the N170 component. Subsequent analyses revealed that the bluish-colored faces increased the latency effect of facial expressions compared to the natural-colored faces, indicating that the bluish color modulated the processing of fearful expressions. We conclude that the unconscious processing of fearful faces is affected by facial color. Copyright © 2015 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Emotional intelligence is associated with reduced insula responses to masked angry faces.

PubMed

Alkozei, Anna; Killgore, William D S

2015-07-08

High levels of emotional intelligence (EI) have been associated with increased success in the workplace, greater quality of personal relationships, and enhanced wellbeing. Evidence suggests that EI is mediated extensively by the interplay of key emotion regions including the amygdala, insula, and ventromedial prefrontal cortex, among others. The insula, in particular, is important for processing interoceptive and somatic cues that are interpreted as emotional responses. We investigated the association between EI and functional brain responses within the aforementioned neurocircuitry in response to subliminal presentations of social threat. Fifty-four healthy adults completed the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT) and underwent functional magnetic brain imaging while viewing subliminal presentations of faces displaying anger, using a backward masked facial affect paradigm to minimize conscious awareness of the expressed emotion. In response to masked angry faces, the total MSCEIT scores correlated negatively with a cluster of activation located within the left insula, but not with activation in any other region of interest. Considering the insula's role in the processing of interoceptive emotional cues, the results suggest that greater EI is associated with reduced emotional visceral reactivity and/or more accurate interoceptive prediction when confronted with stimuli indicative of social threat.

Subliminal Salience Search Illustrated: EEG Identity and Deception Detection on the Fringe of Awareness

PubMed Central

Bowman, Howard; Filetti, Marco; Janssen, Dirk; Su, Li; Alsufyani, Abdulmajeed; Wyble, Brad

2013-01-01

We propose a novel deception detection system based on Rapid Serial Visual Presentation (RSVP). One motivation for the new method is to present stimuli on the fringe of awareness, such that it is more difficult for deceivers to confound the deception test using countermeasures. The proposed system is able to detect identity deception (by using the first names of participants) with a 100% hit rate (at an alpha level of 0.05). To achieve this, we extended the classic Event-Related Potential (ERP) techniques (such as peak-to-peak) by applying Randomisation, a form of Monte Carlo resampling, which we used to detect deception at an individual level. In order to make the deployment of the system simple and rapid, we utilised data from three electrodes only: Fz, Cz and Pz. We then combined data from the three electrodes using Fisher's method so that each participant was assigned a single p-value, which represents the combined probability that a specific participant was being deceptive. We also present subliminal salience search as a general method to determine what participants find salient by detecting breakthrough into conscious awareness using EEG. PMID:23372697

[Multiple mere exposure effect: category evaluation measured in the Go/No-go association task (GNAT)].

PubMed

Kawakami, Naoaki; Yoshida, Fujio

2011-12-01

The effect on likability of multiple subliminal exposures to the same person was investigated. Past studies on the mere exposure effect indicated a correlation between the frequency of repeated exposure to the same stimulus and likability. We proposed that exposure to various stimuli of the same person would have a stronger effect on likability. Participants were subliminally exposed to photographs of a person's face taken from seven angles (multi-angle-exposure) three times each (Experiment 1), or photographs of a person with seven facial expressions (multi-expression-exposure) three times each (Experiment 2). Then, the likability toward the exposed person was measured using the Go/No-go Association Task. The results indicated that the effect of the multiple exposures from various angles was equivalent to exposure to only one full-face photograph shown 21 times (Experiment 1). Moreover, likability was significantly higher in the case of exposure to various facial expressions than for exposure to only a single facial expression (Experiment 2). The results suggest that exposure to various stimuli in a category is more effective than repeated exposure to a single stimulus for increasing likability.

Pain, dissociation and subliminal self-representations.

PubMed

Bob, Petr

2008-03-01

According to recent evidence, neurophysiological processes coupled to pain are closely related to the mechanisms of consciousness. This evidence is in accordance with findings that changes in states of consciousness during hypnosis or traumatic dissociation strongly affect conscious perception and experience of pain, and markedly influence brain functions. Past research indicates that painful experience may induce dissociated state and information about the experience may be stored or processed unconsciously. Reported findings suggest common neurophysiological mechanisms of pain and dissociation and point to a hypothesis of dissociation as a defense mechanism against psychological and physical pain that substantially influences functions of consciousness. The hypothesis is also supported by findings that information can be represented in the mind/brain without the subject's awareness. The findings of unconsciously present information suggest possible binding between conscious contents and self-functions that constitute self-representational dimensions of consciousness. The self-representation means that certain inner states of own body are interpreted as mental and somatic identity, while other bodily signals, currently not accessible to the dominant interpreter's access are dissociated and may be defined as subliminal self-representations. In conclusion, the neurophysiological aspects of consciousness and its integrative role in the therapy of painful traumatic memories are discussed.

No reduction using sublimination of cyanuric acid

DOEpatents

Perry, Robert A.

1996-01-01

A method of reducing the NO content of a gas stream comprises contacting the gas stream with an amount of HNCO at a temperature effective for heat-induced decomposition of cyanuric acid, said amount and temperature being effective for the resultant lowering of the NO content of the gas stream, said cyanuric acid being particulate and having a particle size of less than 90 .mu.m.

Is there any electrophysiological evidence for subliminal error processing?

PubMed Central

Shalgi, Shani; Deouell, Leon Y.

2013-01-01

The role of error awareness in executive control and modification of behavior is not fully understood. In line with many recent studies showing that conscious awareness is unnecessary for numerous high-level processes such as strategic adjustments and decision making, it was suggested that error detection can also take place unconsciously. The Error Negativity (Ne) component, long established as a robust error-related component that differentiates between correct responses and errors, was a fine candidate to test this notion: if an Ne is elicited also by errors which are not consciously detected, it would imply a subliminal process involved in error monitoring that does not necessarily lead to conscious awareness of the error. Indeed, for the past decade, the repeated finding of a similar Ne for errors which became aware and errors that did not achieve awareness, compared to the smaller negativity elicited by correct responses (Correct Response Negativity; CRN), has lent the Ne the prestigious status of an index of subliminal error processing. However, there were several notable exceptions to these findings. The study in the focus of this review (Shalgi and Deouell, 2012) sheds new light on both types of previous results. We found that error detection as reflected by the Ne is correlated with subjective awareness: when awareness (or more importantly lack thereof) is more strictly determined using the wagering paradigm, no Ne is elicited without awareness. This result effectively resolves the issue of why there are many conflicting findings regarding the Ne and error awareness. The average Ne amplitude appears to be influenced by individual criteria for error reporting and therefore, studies containing different mixtures of participants who are more confident of their own performance or less confident, or paradigms that either encourage or don't encourage reporting low confidence errors will show different results. Based on this evidence, it is no longer possible to unquestioningly uphold the notion that the amplitude of the Ne is unrelated to subjective awareness, and therefore, that errors are detected without conscious awareness. PMID:24009548

Vehicle energy conservation indicating device and process for use

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Crump, J.M.

A vehicle energy conservation indicating device comprises an integrated instrument cluster functioning basically as a nomographic computing mechanism. The odometer distance traveled indicator computing mechanism is linked with the fuel indicating gauge mechanism such that a three variable equation computing mechanism is obtained. The three variables are distance traveled, quantity of fuel consumed and distance traveled per unit of fuel consumed. Energy conservation is achieved by operating the vehicle under such performance conditions as to produce the highest possible value for distance traveled per unit of fuel consumed. The instrument panel cluster brings the operator's attention to focus upon andmore » continuously stimulated to conserving energy. Furthermore, the vehicle energy conservation indicating device can be adapted for recording these performance variables on tape type print out. The speedometer advises the vehicle operator when he is obeying or breaking the speed laws which are enforced and monitored by the police with specific punishment prescribed for violations of the law. At this time there is no comparable procedure for enforcing vehicle energy conservation. Thus, this direct read out of distance traveled per unit of energy will moderate the operation in an analogous manner similar to subliminal advertising. This device becomes the focal point of the instrument panel along with the speedometer, thereby providing constant motivation to obey both the speed and energy conservation laws.« less

The Future of NATO and an Evolving European Security Interest

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-03-03

Secondly, how can NATO engage Russia in a binding and mutually beneficial relationship with Europe and the wider North Atlantic community ? Thirdly, how...Atlantic community faces a terrorist network whose main weapons are of more psychological than military character, fuelled by religious ideology, and...periphery. Former Communist countries, fueled by a subliminal fear of the Soviet “bear”, looked immediately for NATO membership, which implied the nuclear

Nonverbal Communication in the Contemporary Operating Environment

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-01-01

expression once an emotion is aroused : no inhibitions (emotion expressed just as it is), amplifying, deamplifying, neutralizing, qualifying, or masking. For...to South Africans, the “victory” sign for Europeans was a sexual insult to South Africans, and the gesture meaning “effeminate” to Europeans meant...alarm‟ system for subliminal signals of fear. NeuroImage, 24(1), 235-243. Lyman, S. & Scott, M.B. (1967). Territoriality: A neglected sociological

Enhancing Soldier Performance: A Nonlinear Model of Performance to Improve Selection Testing and Training

DTIC Science & Technology

1994-07-01

psychological refractory period 15. Two-flash threshold 16. Critical flicker fusion (CFF) 17. Steady state visually evoked response 18. Auditory brain stem...States of awareness I: Subliminal erceoption relationships to situational awareness (AL-TR-1992-0085). Brooks Air Force BaSe, TX: Armstrong...the signals required different inputs (e.g., visual versus auditory ) (Colley & Beech, 1989). Despite support of this theory from such experiments

Human sensorimotor tracking of continuous subliminal deviations from isochrony.

PubMed

Madison, Guy; Merker, Björn

2004-11-03

We show that people continuously react to time perturbations in the range 3-96 ms in otherwise isochronous sound sequences. Musically trained and untrained participants were asked to synchronize with a sequence of sounds, and these two groups performed almost equally below the threshold for conscious detection of the perturbations. Above this threshold the motor reactions accounted for a larger proportion of the stimulus deviations in musically trained participants.

Misunderstanding Jung: the afterlife of legends.

PubMed

Shamdasani, S

2000-07-01

F. X. Charet's article, 'Understanding Jung: recent biographies and scholarship', is full of errors and legends. In this article, I demonstrate the tendentiousness of his criticisms of the historical work of Eugene Taylor and myself concerning Jung's linkages with the subliminal psychology of Théodore Flournoy, William James, and F. W. H. Myers, and the fallaciousness of his criticism of my claim that Memories, Dreams, Reflections was not Jung's autobiography.

Expecting yoghurt drinks to taste sweet or pleasant increases liking.

PubMed

Kuenzel, Johanna; Zandstra, Elizabeth H; El Deredy, Wael; Blanchette, Isabelle; Thomas, Anna

2011-02-01

This experiment studied the effect of cues on liking of yoghurt drinks. We examined how hedonic (degrees of like/dislike) and sensory (level of sweetness/saltiness) cues affected liking ratings. In the learning phase, thirty-nine participants learned to associate cues with yoghurt drinks. Cues were learned for mildly and highly salty and sweet yoghurts. Sweet yoghurts were used as liked, salty yoghurts as disliked stimuli. Half the participants associated the cues with yoghurt liking (i.e. hedonic cues), the other half with the sweetness or saltiness of the yoghurt drink (i.e. sensory cues). In the test phase a cue was presented to participants subliminally (20 ms) or supraliminally (500 ms) before they tasted and rated liking of one of three yoghurt drinks in each category. The three yoghurt drinks consisted of the trained samples and a new third drink situated approximately half-way in between. The cue-drink combination was either congruent (the cued drink was given) or incongruent (two degrees of incongruence). For sweet yoghurt drinks cue-following assimilation effects were found for the supraliminal but not the subliminal cue presentations. For salty yoghurts, no effects of cue were found. This indicates that the nature of the drinks itself plays a critical role in modulating assimilation. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

How Does Awareness Modulate Goal-Directed and Stimulus-Driven Shifts of Attention Triggered by Value Learning?

PubMed Central

Bourgeois, Alexia; Neveu, Rémi; Vuilleumier, Patrik

2016-01-01

In order to behave adaptively, attention can be directed in space either voluntarily (i.e., endogenously) according to strategic goals, or involuntarily (i.e., exogenously) through reflexive capture by salient or novel events. The emotional or motivational value of stimuli can also strongly influence attentional orienting. However, little is known about how reward-related effects compete or interact with endogenous and exogenous attention mechanisms, particularly outside of awareness. Here we developed a visual search paradigm to study subliminal value-based attentional orienting. We systematically manipulated goal-directed or stimulus-driven attentional orienting and examined whether an irrelevant, but previously rewarded stimulus could compete with both types of spatial attention during search. Critically, reward was learned without conscious awareness in a preceding phase where one among several visual symbols was consistently paired with a subliminal monetary reinforcement cue. Our results demonstrated that symbols previously associated with a monetary reward received higher attentional priority in the subsequent visual search task, even though these stimuli and reward were no longer task-relevant, and despite reward being unconsciously acquired. Thus, motivational processes operating independent of conscious awareness may provide powerful influences on mechanisms of attentional selection, which could mitigate both stimulus-driven and goal-directed shifts of attention. PMID:27483371

Mechanisms of masked evaluative priming: task sets modulate behavioral and electrophysiological priming for picture and words differentially

PubMed Central

Liegel, Nathalie; Zovko, Monika; Wentura, Dirk

2017-01-01

Abstract Research with the evaluative priming paradigm has shown that affective evaluation processes reliably influence cognition and behavior, even when triggered outside awareness. However, the precise mechanisms underlying such subliminal evaluative priming effects, response activation vs semantic processing, are matter of a debate. In this study, we determined the relative contribution of semantic processing and response activation to masked evaluative priming with pictures and words. To this end, we investigated the modulation of masked pictorial vs verbal priming by previously activated perceptual vs semantic task sets and assessed the electrophysiological correlates of priming using event-related potential (ERP) recordings. Behavioral and electrophysiological effects showed a differential modulation of pictorial and verbal subliminal priming by previously activated task sets: Pictorial priming was only observed during the perceptual but not during the semantic task set. Verbal priming, in contrast, was found when either task set was activated. Furthermore, only verbal priming was associated with a modulation of the N400 ERP component, an index of semantic processing, whereas a priming-related modulation of earlier ERPs, indexing visuo-motor S-R activation, was found for both picture and words. The results thus demonstrate that different neuro-cognitive processes contribute to unconscious evaluative priming depending on the stimulus format. PMID:27998994

Subliminal trauma reminders impact neural processing of cognitive control in adults with developmental earthquake trauma: a preliminary report.

PubMed

Du, Xue; Li, Yu; Ran, Qian; Kim, Pilyoung; Ganzel, Barbara L; Liang, GuangSheng; Hao, Lei; Zhang, Qinglin; Meng, Huaqing; Qiu, Jiang

2016-03-01

Little is known about the effects of developmental trauma on the neural basis of cognitive control among adults who do not have posttraumatic stress disorder. To examine this question, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to compare the effect of subliminal priming with earthquake-related images on attentional control during a Stroop task in survivors of the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake in China (survivor group, survivors were adolescents at the time of the earthquake) and in matched controls (control group). We found that the survivor group showed greater activation in the left ventral anterior cingulate cortex (vACC) and the bilateral parahippocampal gyrus during the congruent versus incongruent condition, as compared to the control group. Depressive symptoms were positively correlated with left vACC activation during the congruent condition. Moreover, psychophysiological interaction results showed that the survivor group had stronger functional connectivity between the left parahippocampal gyrus and the left vACC than the control group under the congruent-incongruent condition. These results suggested that trauma-related information was linked to abnormal activity in brain networks associated with cognitive control (e.g., vACC-parahippocampal gyrus). This may be a potential biomarker for depression following developmental trauma, and it may also provide a mechanism linking trauma reminders with depression.

Evidence for a Role of a Cortico-Subcortical Network for Automatic and Unconscious Motor Inhibition of Manual Responses

PubMed Central

D’Ostilio, Kevin; Collette, Fabienne; Phillips, Christophe; Garraux, Gaëtan

2012-01-01

It is now clear that non-consciously perceived stimuli can bias our decisions. Although previous researches highlighted the importance of automatic and unconscious processes involved in voluntary action, the neural correlates of such processes remain unclear. Basal ganglia dysfunctions have long been associated with impairment in automatic motor control. In addition, a key role of the medial frontal cortex has been suggested by administrating a subliminal masked prime task to a patient with a small lesion restricted to the supplementary motor area (SMA). In this task, invisible masked arrows stimuli were followed by visible arrow targets for a left or right hand response at different interstimuli intervals (ISI), producing a traditional facilitation effect for compatible trials at short ISI and a reversal inhibitory effect at longer ISI. Here, by using fast event-related fMRI and a weighted parametric analysis, we showed BOLD related activity changes in a cortico-subcortical network, especially in the SMA and the striatum, directly linked to the individual behavioral pattern. This new imaging result corroborates previous works on subliminal priming using lesional approaches. This finding implies that one of the roles of these regions was to suppress a partially activated movement below the threshold of awareness. PMID:23110158

Thermal facial reactivity patterns predict social categorization bias triggered by unconscious and conscious emotional stimuli.

PubMed

Ponsi, Giorgia; Panasiti, Maria Serena; Rizza, Giulia; Aglioti, Salvatore Maria

2017-08-30

Members of highly social species decode, interpret, and react to the emotion of a conspecific depending on whether the other belongs to the same (ingroup) or different (outgroup) social group. While studies indicate that consciously perceived emotional stimuli drive social categorization, information about how implicit emotional stimuli and specific physiological signatures affect social categorization is lacking. We addressed this issue by exploring whether subliminal and supraliminal affective priming can influence the categorization of neutral faces as ingroup versus outgroup. Functional infrared thermal imaging was used to investigate whether the effect of affective priming on the categorization decision was moderated by the activation of the sympathetic nervous system (SNS). During the subliminal condition, we found that stronger SNS activation after positive or negative affective primes induced ingroup and outgroup face categorization, respectively. The exact opposite pattern (i.e. outgroup after positive and ingroup after negative primes) was observed in the supraliminal condition. We also found that misattribution effects were stronger in people with low emotional awareness, suggesting that this trait moderates how one recognizes SNS signals and employs them for unrelated decisions. Our results allow the remarkable implication that low-level affective reactions coupled with sympathetic activation may bias social categorization. © 2017 The Author(s).

Evidence for a role of a cortico-subcortical network for automatic and unconscious motor inhibition of manual responses.

PubMed

D'Ostilio, Kevin; Collette, Fabienne; Phillips, Christophe; Garraux, Gaëtan

2012-01-01

It is now clear that non-consciously perceived stimuli can bias our decisions. Although previous researches highlighted the importance of automatic and unconscious processes involved in voluntary action, the neural correlates of such processes remain unclear. Basal ganglia dysfunctions have long been associated with impairment in automatic motor control. In addition, a key role of the medial frontal cortex has been suggested by administrating a subliminal masked prime task to a patient with a small lesion restricted to the supplementary motor area (SMA). In this task, invisible masked arrows stimuli were followed by visible arrow targets for a left or right hand response at different interstimuli intervals (ISI), producing a traditional facilitation effect for compatible trials at short ISI and a reversal inhibitory effect at longer ISI. Here, by using fast event-related fMRI and a weighted parametric analysis, we showed BOLD related activity changes in a cortico-subcortical network, especially in the SMA and the striatum, directly linked to the individual behavioral pattern. This new imaging result corroborates previous works on subliminal priming using lesional approaches. This finding implies that one of the roles of these regions was to suppress a partially activated movement below the threshold of awareness.

Neural signatures of conscious and unconscious emotional face processing in human infants.

PubMed

Jessen, Sarah; Grossmann, Tobias

2015-03-01

Human adults can process emotional information both with and without conscious awareness, and it has been suggested that the two processes rely on partly distinct brain mechanisms. However, the developmental origins of these brain processes are unknown. In the present event-related brain potential (ERP) study, we examined the brain responses of 7-month-old infants in response to subliminally (50 and 100 msec) and supraliminally (500 msec) presented happy and fearful facial expressions. Our results revealed that infants' brain responses (Pb and Nc) over central electrodes distinguished between emotions irrespective of stimulus duration, whereas the discrimination between emotions at occipital electrodes (N290 and P400) only occurred when faces were presented supraliminally (above threshold). This suggests that early in development the human brain not only discriminates between happy and fearful facial expressions irrespective of conscious perception, but also that, similar to adults, supraliminal and subliminal emotion processing relies on distinct neural processes. Our data further suggest that the processing of emotional facial expressions differs across infants depending on their behaviorally shown perceptual sensitivity. The current ERP findings suggest that distinct brain processes underpinning conscious and unconscious emotion perception emerge early in ontogeny and can therefore be seen as a key feature of human social functioning. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The architecture of intuition: Fluency and affect determine intuitive judgments of semantic and visual coherence and judgments of grammaticality in artificial grammar learning.

PubMed

Topolinski, Sascha; Strack, Fritz

2009-02-01

People can intuitively detect whether a word triad has a common remote associate (coherent) or does not have one (incoherent) before and independently of actually retrieving the common associate. The authors argue that semantic coherence increases the processing fluency for coherent triads and that this increased fluency triggers a brief and subtle positive affect, which is the experiential basis of these intuitions. In a series of 11 experiments with 3 different fluency manipulations (figure-ground contrast, repeated exposure, and subliminal visual priming) and 3 different affect inductions (short-timed facial feedback, subliminal facial priming, and affect-laden word triads), high fluency and positive affect independently and additively increased the probability that triads would be judged as coherent, irrespective of actual coherence. The authors could equalize and even reverse coherence judgments (i.e., incoherent triads were judged to be coherent more frequently than were coherent triads). When explicitly instructed, participants were unable to correct their judgments for the influence of affect, although they were aware of the manipulation. The impact of fluency and affect was also generalized to intuitions of visual coherence and intuitions of grammaticality in an artificial grammar learning paradigm. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved).

Rapid processing of emotional expressions without conscious awareness.

PubMed

Smith, Marie L

2012-08-01

Rapid accurate categorization of the emotional state of our peers is of critical importance and as such many have proposed that facial expressions of emotion can be processed without conscious awareness. Typically, studies focus selectively on fearful expressions due to their evolutionary significance, leaving the subliminal processing of other facial expressions largely unexplored. Here, I investigated the time course of processing of 3 facial expressions (fearful, disgusted, and happy) plus an emotionally neutral face, during objectively unaware and aware perception. Participants completed the challenging "which expression?" task in response to briefly presented backward-masked expressive faces. Although participant's behavioral responses did not differentiate between the emotional content of the stimuli in the unaware condition, activity over frontal and occipitotemporal (OT) brain regions indicated an emotional modulation of the neuronal response. Over frontal regions this was driven by negative facial expressions and was present on all emotional trials independent of later categorization. Whereas the N170 component, recorded on lateral OT electrodes, was enhanced for all facial expressions but only on trials that would later be categorized as emotional. The results indicate that emotional faces, not only fearful, are processed without conscious awareness at an early stage and highlight the critical importance of considering categorization response when studying subliminal perception.

Alpha synchronization as a brain model for unconscious defense: An overview of the work of Howard Shevrin and his team.

PubMed

Bazan, Ariane

2017-10-01

Howard Shevrin and his team have developed a stringent subliminal priming methodology, which experimentally approximates a situation of an internal, mental triggering of unconscious defense. Through a series of four studies they thus are able to bring evidence for this type of unconscious defense. With event-related potentials, three clinical studies show how synchronization of a specific brain wave, the alpha wave, known for its inhibitory function, is also induced by subliminally presented conflictual subject-specific stimuli. Therefore, alpha synchronization could serve as the brain mechanism of unconscious defense. The results only make sense if we suppose the existence of a dynamic unconscious, which has inherited childhood conflicts, and with privileged connections to neurotic symptom characteristics. Moreover, by showing that the unconscious conflict phrases, inferred by clinicians from clinical interviews, have a similar brain behavior, Shevrin and his team provide evidence that these inferences are not simply clinician-dependent subjective interpretations but also imply some form of independent mental reality. Finally, interpretation of the results has led us to propose two distinct physiological mechanisms for defense: one, unconscious defense, by alpha synchronization in connection with the drive derivatives, and another, repression, based on the indications of reality in connection with the ego. Copyright © 2017 Institute of Psychoanalysis.

The role of the cerebellum in sub- and supraliminal error correction during sensorimotor synchronization: evidence from fMRI and TMS.

PubMed

Bijsterbosch, Janine D; Lee, Kwang-Hyuk; Hunter, Michael D; Tsoi, Daniel T; Lankappa, Sudheer; Wilkinson, Iain D; Barker, Anthony T; Woodruff, Peter W R

2011-05-01

Our ability to interact physically with objects in the external world critically depends on temporal coupling between perception and movement (sensorimotor timing) and swift behavioral adjustment to changes in the environment (error correction). In this study, we investigated the neural correlates of the correction of subliminal and supraliminal phase shifts during a sensorimotor synchronization task. In particular, we focused on the role of the cerebellum because this structure has been shown to play a role in both motor timing and error correction. Experiment 1 used fMRI to show that the right cerebellar dentate nucleus and primary motor and sensory cortices were activated during regular timing and during the correction of subliminal errors. The correction of supraliminal phase shifts led to additional activations in the left cerebellum and right inferior parietal and frontal areas. Furthermore, a psychophysiological interaction analysis revealed that supraliminal error correction was associated with enhanced connectivity of the left cerebellum with frontal, auditory, and sensory cortices and with the right cerebellum. Experiment 2 showed that suppression of the left but not the right cerebellum with theta burst TMS significantly affected supraliminal error correction. These findings provide evidence that the left lateral cerebellum is essential for supraliminal error correction during sensorimotor synchronization.

The cognitive architecture for chaining of two mental operations.

PubMed

Sackur, Jérôme; Dehaene, Stanislas

2009-05-01

A simple view, which dates back to Turing, proposes that complex cognitive operations are composed of serially arranged elementary operations, each passing intermediate results to the next. However, whether and how such serial processing is achieved with a brain composed of massively parallel processors, remains an open question. Here, we study the cognitive architecture for chained operations with an elementary arithmetic algorithm: we required participants to add (or subtract) two to a digit, and then compare the result with five. In four experiments, we probed the internal implementation of this task with chronometric analysis, the cued-response method, the priming method, and a subliminal forced-choice procedure. We found evidence for an approximately sequential processing, with an important qualification: the second operation in the algorithm appears to start before completion of the first operation. Furthermore, initially the second operation takes as input the stimulus number rather than the output of the first operation. Thus, operations that should be processed serially are in fact executed partially in parallel. Furthermore, although each elementary operation can proceed subliminally, their chaining does not occur in the absence of conscious perception. Overall, the results suggest that chaining is slow, effortful, imperfect (resulting partly in parallel rather than serial execution) and dependent on conscious control.

Subliminal repetition primes help detection of phonemes in a picture: Evidence for a phonological level of the priming effects.

PubMed

Manoiloff, Laura; Segui, Juan; Hallé, Pierre

2016-01-01

In this research, we combine a cross-form word-picture visual masked priming procedure with an internal phoneme monitoring task to examine repetition priming effects. In this paradigm, participants have to respond to pictures whose names begin with a prespecified target phoneme. This task unambiguously requires retrieving the word-form of the target picture's name and implicitly orients participants' attention towards a phonological level of representation. The experiments were conducted within Spanish, whose highly transparent orthography presumably promotes fast and automatic phonological recoding of subliminal, masked visual word primes. Experiments 1 and 2 show that repetition primes speed up internal phoneme monitoring in the target, compared to primes beginning with a different phoneme from the target, or sharing only their first phoneme with the target. This suggests that repetition primes preactivate the phonological code of the entire target picture's name, hereby speeding up internal monitoring, which is necessarily based on such a code. To further qualify the nature of the phonological code underlying internal phoneme monitoring, a concurrent articulation task was used in Experiment 3. This task did not affect the repetition priming effect. We propose that internal phoneme monitoring is based on an abstract phonological code, prior to its translation into articulation.

Visual search for verbal material in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder.

PubMed

Botta, Fabiano; Vibert, Nicolas; Harika-Germaneau, Ghina; Frasca, Mickaël; Rigalleau, François; Fakra, Eric; Ros, Christine; Rouet, Jean-François; Ferreri, Florian; Jaafari, Nematollah

2018-06-01

This study aimed at investigating attentional mechanisms in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) by analysing how visual search processes are modulated by normal and obsession-related distracting information in OCD patients and whether these modulations differ from those observed in healthy people. OCD patients were asked to search for a target word within distractor words that could be orthographically similar to the target, semantically related to the target, semantically related to the most typical obsessions/compulsions observed in OCD patients, or unrelated to the target. Patients' performance and eye movements were compared with those of individually matched healthy controls. In controls, the distractors that were visually similar to the target mostly captured attention. Conversely, patients' attention was captured equally by all kinds of distractor words, whatever their similarity with the target, except obsession-related distractors that attracted patients' attention less than the other distractors. OCD had a major impact on the mostly subliminal mechanisms that guide attention within the search display, but had much less impact on the distractor rejection processes that take place when a distractor is fixated. Hence, visual search in OCD is characterized by abnormal subliminal, but not supraliminal, processing of obsession-related information and by an impaired ability to inhibit task-irrelevant inputs. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Altered cortical and subcortical connectivity due to infrasound administered near the hearing threshold - Evidence from fMRI.

PubMed

Weichenberger, Markus; Bauer, Martin; Kühler, Robert; Hensel, Johannes; Forlim, Caroline Garcia; Ihlenfeld, Albrecht; Ittermann, Bernd; Gallinat, Jürgen; Koch, Christian; Kühn, Simone

2017-01-01

In the present study, the brain's response towards near- and supra-threshold infrasound (IS) stimulation (sound frequency < 20 Hz) was investigated under resting-state fMRI conditions. The study involved two consecutive sessions. In the first session, 14 healthy participants underwent a hearing threshold-as well as a categorical loudness scaling measurement in which the individual loudness perception for IS was assessed across different sound pressure levels (SPL). In the second session, these participants underwent three resting-state acquisitions, one without auditory stimulation (no-tone), one with a monaurally presented 12-Hz IS tone (near-threshold) and one with a similar tone above the individual hearing threshold corresponding to a 'medium loud' hearing sensation (supra-threshold). Data analysis mainly focused on local connectivity measures by means of regional homogeneity (ReHo), but also involved independent component analysis (ICA) to investigate inter-regional connectivity. ReHo analysis revealed significantly higher local connectivity in right superior temporal gyrus (STG) adjacent to primary auditory cortex, in anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and, when allowing smaller cluster sizes, also in the right amygdala (rAmyg) during the near-threshold, compared to both the supra-threshold and the no-tone condition. Additional independent component analysis (ICA) revealed large-scale changes of functional connectivity, reflected in a stronger activation of the right amygdala (rAmyg) in the opposite contrast (no-tone > near-threshold) as well as the right superior frontal gyrus (rSFG) during the near-threshold condition. In summary, this study is the first to demonstrate that infrasound near the hearing threshold may induce changes of neural activity across several brain regions, some of which are known to be involved in auditory processing, while others are regarded as keyplayers in emotional and autonomic control. These findings thus allow us to speculate on how continuous exposure to (sub-)liminal IS could exert a pathogenic influence on the organism, yet further (especially longitudinal) studies are required in order to substantialize these findings.

Determinations of the combined effect of toxic substances in predictions of atmospheric pollution (in Russian)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gusey, M.I.; Gil'denskiol'd, R.S.; Baikov, B.K.

There have recently been several investigations of the combined effect of several pollutants present simultaneously in the atmosphere. As a rule the combined effect of toxic substances in the atmosphere at the levels of liminal and subliminal concentrations are in accordance with the principle of simple summation. There is a definite gap between theory and practice in the establishment of standards for atmospheric pollutants. 17 references, 1 table.

Cumulative effects from repeated exposures to ultraviolet radiation

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kaidbey, K.H.; Kligman, A.M.

Repeated exposures to subliminal doses of UVR, given at 24-hr intervals, resulted in a lowering of the erythema threshold dose. At erythemogenically equivalent doses, UV-A was the most effective and UV-C the least. A similar and more pronounced effect was observed following repeated exposures to subthreshold doses of UV-A and topically applied 8-methoxypsoralen. These findings provide quantitative evidence for the cumulative nature of acute UVR damage in human skin.

Amygdala Reactivity to Emotional Faces in the Prediction of General and Medication-Specific Responses to Antidepressant Treatment in the Randomized iSPOT-D Trial.

PubMed

Williams, Leanne M; Korgaonkar, Mayuresh S; Song, Yun C; Paton, Rebecca; Eagles, Sarah; Goldstein-Piekarski, Andrea; Grieve, Stuart M; Harris, Anthony W F; Usherwood, Tim; Etkin, Amit

2015-09-01

Although the cost of poor treatment outcomes of depression is staggering, we do not yet have clinically useful methods for selecting the most effective antidepressant for each depressed person. Emotional brain activation is altered in major depressive disorder (MDD) and implicated in treatment response. Identifying which aspects of emotional brain activation are predictive of general and specific responses to antidepressants may help clinicians and patients when making treatment decisions. We examined whether amygdala activation probed by emotion stimuli is a general or differential predictor of response to three commonly prescribed antidepressants, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). A test-retest design was used to assess patients with MDD in an academic setting as part of the International Study to Predict Optimized Treatment in Depression. A total of 80 MDD outpatients were scanned prior to treatment and 8 weeks after randomization to the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors escitalopram and sertraline and the serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor, venlafaxine-extended release (XR). A total of 34 matched controls were scanned at the same timepoints. We quantified the blood oxygen level-dependent signal of the amygdala during subliminal and supraliminal viewing of facial expressions of emotion. Response to treatment was defined by ⩾50% symptom improvement on the 17-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale. Pre-treatment amygdala hypo-reactivity to subliminal happy and threat was a general predictor of treatment response, regardless of medication type (Cohen's d effect size 0.63 to 0.77; classification accuracy, 75%). Responders showed hypo-reactivity compared to controls at baseline, and an increase toward 'normalization' post-treatment. Pre-treatment amygdala reactivity to subliminal sadness was a differential moderator of non-response to venlafaxine-XR (Cohen's d effect size 1.5; classification accuracy, 81%). Non-responders to venlafaxine-XR showed pre-treatment hyper-reactivity, which progressed to hypo-reactivity rather than normalization post-treatment, and hypo-reactivity post-treatment was abnormal compared to controls. Impaired amygdala activation has not previously been highlighted in the general vs differential prediction of antidepressant outcomes. Amygdala hypo-reactivity to emotions signaling reward and threat predicts the general capacity to respond to antidepressants. Amygdala hyper-reactivity to sad emotion is involved in a specific non-response to a serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor. The findings suggest amygdala probes may help inform the personal selection of antidepressant treatments.

Does unconscious information affect cognitive activity?: a study using experimental priming.

PubMed

Filippova, Margarita G

2011-05-01

In a series of three experiments the influence that information unrecognised by the subjects has on the effectiveness of occurring cognitive activity is studied. With this aim 3 types of stimulus were compared which for one reason or another were not afforded sufficient attention, namely: unconscious meanings of polysemantic information, stimuli presented at the subliminal level, and intentionally ignored distractors. All the listed types of stimuli are united in that the subjects were not able to give an account of them, i.e., these stimuli were not processed attentively. It is assumed that each of the types of stimuli studied is in actuality perceived, which can be judged by the impact they have on occurring cognitive activity. The purpose of the present research is the comparison of this impact: apart from the determination of the impact of unperceived stimuli on the information directly associated with them (priming-effect registration), also identified is the presence/absence of an overall interference effect rendered by the unperceived stimuli on the performance of occurring cognitive activity. To this end, each experiment had a control condition the aim of which was the creation of the possibility for the subjects to perceive stimuli unnoticed under experimental conditions. An experimental priming paradigm was used in combination with image-classification and lexical-decision tasks. The results of the experiments conducted demonstrate that all types of stimuli 'slipping the attention' are assimilated, but their effect on occurring cognitive activity is varied. Thus, subliminally presented information aids, and distractors, on the contrary, hinder the solution of tasks associated with them, whereas unperceived meanings of polysemantic information hinder not only the solution of the tasks directly associated with them, but also the performance of any other cognitive activity for which they serve as a context. The effect of subliminal stimuli on occurring cognitive activity in the present research is explained by the spreading activation in the memory, the effect of distractors--by the inhibition of irrelevant representations in the information-processing system. For an explanation of the consequence of unperceived meanings of polysemanticity, not only an inhibition model was used, but also an unconscious negative choice model which assumed the necessity of making a special decision on non-perception.

Attachment anxiety benefits from security priming: Evidence from working memory performance

PubMed Central

2018-01-01

The present study investigates the relationship between the attachment dimensions (anxious vs. avoidance) and the cognitive performance of individuals, specifically whether the attachment dimensions would predict the working memory (WM) performance. In the n-back task, reflecting the WM capacity, both attachment related and non-attachment related words were used. Participants were randomly assigned into two groups that received either the secure or the neutral subliminal priming. In the secure priming condition, the aim was to induce sense of security by presenting secure attachment words prior to the n-back task performance. In neutral priming condition, neutral words that did not elicit sense of security were presented. Structural equation modeling revealed divergent patterns for attachment anxiety and avoidance dimensions under the different priming conditions. In neutral priming condition, WM performance declined in terms of capacity in the n-back task for individuals who rated higher levels of attachment anxiety. However in the secure priming condition, WM performance was boosted in the n-back task for individuals who rated higher levels of attachment anxiety. In other words, the subliminal priming of the security led to increased WM capacity of individuals who rated higher levels of attachment anxiety. This effect, however, was not observed for higher levels of attachment avoidance. Results are discussed along the lines of hyperactivation and deactivation strategies of the attachment system. PMID:29522549

Subliminal encoding and flexible retrieval of objects in scenes.

PubMed

Wuethrich, Sergej; Hannula, Deborah E; Mast, Fred W; Henke, Katharina

2018-04-27

Our episodic memory stores what happened when and where in life. Episodic memory requires the rapid formation and flexible retrieval of where things are located in space. Consciousness of the encoding scene is considered crucial for episodic memory formation. Here, we question the necessity of consciousness and hypothesize that humans can form unconscious episodic memories. Participants were presented with subliminal scenes, i.e., scenes invisible to the conscious mind. The scenes displayed objects at certain locations for participants to form unconscious object-in-space memories. Later, the same scenes were presented supraliminally, i.e., visibly, for retrieval testing. Scenes were presented absent the objects and rotated by 90°-270° in perspective to assess the representational flexibility of unconsciously formed memories. During the test phase, participants performed a forced-choice task that required them to place an object in one of two highlighted scene locations and their eye movements were recorded. Evaluation of the eye tracking data revealed that participants remembered object locations unconsciously, irrespective of changes in viewing perspective. This effect of gaze was related to correct placements of objects in scenes, and an intuitive decision style was necessary for unconscious memories to influence intentional behavior to a significant degree. We conclude that conscious perception is not mandatory for spatial episodic memory formation. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Mechanisms of masked evaluative priming: task sets modulate behavioral and electrophysiological priming for picture and words differentially.

PubMed

Kiefer, Markus; Liegel, Nathalie; Zovko, Monika; Wentura, Dirk

2017-04-01

Research with the evaluative priming paradigm has shown that affective evaluation processes reliably influence cognition and behavior, even when triggered outside awareness. However, the precise mechanisms underlying such subliminal evaluative priming effects, response activation vs semantic processing, are matter of a debate. In this study, we determined the relative contribution of semantic processing and response activation to masked evaluative priming with pictures and words. To this end, we investigated the modulation of masked pictorial vs verbal priming by previously activated perceptual vs semantic task sets and assessed the electrophysiological correlates of priming using event-related potential (ERP) recordings. Behavioral and electrophysiological effects showed a differential modulation of pictorial and verbal subliminal priming by previously activated task sets: Pictorial priming was only observed during the perceptual but not during the semantic task set. Verbal priming, in contrast, was found when either task set was activated. Furthermore, only verbal priming was associated with a modulation of the N400 ERP component, an index of semantic processing, whereas a priming-related modulation of earlier ERPs, indexing visuo-motor S-R activation, was found for both picture and words. The results thus demonstrate that different neuro-cognitive processes contribute to unconscious evaluative priming depending on the stimulus format. © The Author (2016). Published by Oxford University Press. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

The Neural Signature of Subliminal Visuomotor Priming: Brain Activity and Functional Connectivity Profiles.

PubMed

Ulrich, Martin; Kiefer, Markus

2016-06-01

Unconscious visuomotor priming defined as the advantage in reaction time (RT) or accuracy for target shapes mapped to the same (congruent condition) when compared with a different (incongruent condition) motor response as a preceding subliminally presented prime shape has been shown to modulate activity within a visuomotor network comprised of parietal and frontal motor areas in previous functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies. The present fMRI study investigated whether, in addition to changes in brain activity, unconscious visuomotor priming results in a modulation of functional connectivity profiles. Activity associated with congruent compared with incongruent trials was lower in the bilateral inferior and medial superior frontal gyri, in the inferior parietal lobules, and in the right caudate nucleus and adjacent portions of the thalamus. Functional connectivity increased under congruent relative to incongruent conditions between ventral visual stream areas (e.g., calcarine, fusiform, and lingual gyri), the precentral gyrus, the supplementary motor area, posterior parietal areas, the inferior frontal gyrus, and the caudate nucleus. Our findings suggest that an increase in coupling between visuomotor regions, reflecting higher efficiency of processing, is an important neural mechanism underlying unconscious visuomotor priming, in addition to changes in the magnitude of activation. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Automaticity of higher cognitive functions: neurophysiological evidence for unconscious syntactic processing of masked words.

PubMed

Jiménez-Ortega, Laura; García-Milla, Marcos; Fondevila, Sabela; Casado, Pilar; Hernández-Gutiérrez, David; Martín-Loeches, Manuel

2014-12-01

Models of language comprehension assume that syntactic processing is automatic, at least at early stages. However, the degree of automaticity of syntactic processing is still controversial. Evidence of automaticity is either indirect or has been observed for pairs of words, which might provide a poor syntactic context in comparison to sentences. The present study investigates the automaticity of syntactic processing using event-related brain potentials (ERPs) during sentence processing. To this end, masked adjectives that could either be syntactically correct or incorrect relative to a sentence being processed appeared just prior to the presentation of supraliminal adjectives. The latter could also be correct or incorrect. According to our data, subliminal gender agreement violations embedded in a sentence trigger an early anterior negativity-like modulation, whereas supraliminal gender agreement violations elicited a later anterior negativity. First-pass syntactic parsing thus appears to be unconsciously and automatically elicited. Interestingly, a P600-like modulation of short duration and early latency could also be observed for masked violations. In addition, masked violations also modulated the P600 component elicited by unmasked targets, probably reflecting that the mechanisms of revising a structural mismatch appear affected by subliminal information. According to our findings, both conscious and unconscious processes apparently contribute to syntactic processing. These results are discussed in line with most recent theories of automaticity and syntactic processing. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Suicide on Instagram - Content Analysis of a German Suicide-Related Hashtag.

PubMed

Arendt, Florian

2018-06-21

Suicide is the second leading cause of death among 15-29-year-olds globally. Unfortunately, the suicide-related content on Instagram, a popular social media platform for youth, has not received the scholarly attention it deserves. The present study provides a content analysis of posts tagged as #selbstmord, a German suicide-related hashtag. These posts were created between July 5 and July 11, 2017. Approximately half of all posts included words or visuals related to suicide. Cutting was by far the most prominent method. Although sadness was the dominant emotion, self-hate and loneliness also appeared regularly. Importantly, inconsistency - a gap between one's inner mental state (e.g., sadness) and one's overtly expressed behavior (e.g., smiling) - was also a recurring theme. Conversely, help-seeking, death wishes, and professional awareness-intervention material were very rare. An explorative analysis revealed that some videos relied on very fast cutting techniques. We provide tentative evidence that users may be exposed to purposefully inserted suicide-related subliminal messages (i.e., exposure to content without the user's conscious awareness). We only investigated the content of posts on one German hashtag, and the sample size was rather small. Suicide prevention organizations may consider posting more awareness-intervention materials. Future research should investigate suicide-related subliminal messages in social media video posts. Although tentative, this finding should raise a warning flag for suicide prevention scholars.

Task-dependent activation of distinct fast and slow(er) motor pathways during motor imagery.

PubMed

Keller, Martin; Taube, Wolfgang; Lauber, Benedikt

2018-02-22

Motor imagery and actual movements share overlapping activation of brain areas but little is known about task-specific activation of distinct motor pathways during mental simulation of movements. For real contractions, it was demonstrated that the slow(er) motor pathways are activated differently in ballistic compared to tonic contractions but it is unknown if this also holds true for imagined contractions. The aim of the present study was to assess the activity of fast and slow(er) motor pathways during mentally simulated movements of ballistic and tonic contractions. H-reflexes were conditioned with transcranial magnetic stimulation at different interstimulus intervals to assess the excitability of fast and slow(er) motor pathways during a) the execution of tonic and ballistic contractions, b) motor imagery of these contraction types, and c) at rest. In contrast to the fast motor pathways, the slow(er) pathways displayed a task-specific activation: for imagined ballistic as well as real ballistic contractions, the activation was reduced compared to rest whereas enhanced activation was found for imagined tonic and real tonic contractions. This study provides evidence that the excitability of fast and slow(er) motor pathways during motor imagery resembles the activation pattern observed during real contractions. The findings indicate that motor imagery results in task- and pathway-specific subliminal activation of distinct subsets of neurons in the primary motor cortex. Copyright © 2018 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Annotated Bibliography of Research Relevant to the Development and Validation of the Situational Test of Aircrew Response Styles Inventory

DTIC Science & Technology

1997-08-01

have difficulties dealing with the stress of the flight training environment. The DMT presents subjects with repeated subliminal exposure to a...ability (i.e., visual and auditory ) and flight training performance. Also, there have been some reports of success for using a variety of tests (e.g...has reported moderate correlations (.22 to .54) between a measure of dual-tasking ability (i.e., visual and auditory ) and flight training performance

Distinctions in manifestation of the hemorrhagic syndrome related to chronic, long-term and acute irradiation. [Rats;. gamma. rays

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Arlashchenko, N.I.; Gorlov, V.G.; Maksimova, E.N.

Two phenomena, decrease in strength of the vascular wall and decreased amount of thrombocytes in blood, must coincide for manifestation of the hemorrhagic syndrome. Either almost simultaneous injury to the vascular wall and thrombocyte function (with acute irradiation) or dissociation of these two processes (with long-term irradiation) may be observed, depending on the radiation dose. Chronic exposure at low (subliminal) dose rates does not elicit hemorrhagic manifestations or death of rats due to pathological bleeding.

Group velocity of the light pulse in an open V-type system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Jingjuan; Fan, Xijun; Tian, Shufen; Liu, Chengpu; Gong, Shangqing; Xu, Zhizhan

2007-04-01

We investigate the group velocity of the probe light pulse in an open V-type system with spontaneously generated coherence. We find that, not only varying the relative phase between the probe and driving pulses can but varying the atomic exit rate or incoherent pumping rate also can manipulate dramatically the group velocity, even make the pulse propagation switching from subluminal to superluminal; the subliminal propagation can be companied with gain or absorption, but the superluminal propagation is always companied with absorption.

Intuition: A Needed Component of Leadership for Decision-making in Today’s Technology Driven Air Force

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-12-15

technology‘s influence. She states, ―We treat technology as a family member…‖. Email replaced the Post Office with instant communication worldwide. We can...how or why the conclusion was reached in a rational sense. As Rowan states, ―Not being able to articulate a hazy, indistinct, subliminal impression...decisions and act independently, Kennan was not able to communicate his message and idea to senior leadership for years after his intuition led him

Proceedings of the Symposium on the Role of Behavioral Science in Physical Security (5th Annual) Held at Gaithersburg, Maryland, June 11-12, 1980

DTIC Science & Technology

1981-06-01

targets that have been cali- brated for different types of search tasks. Recognition tests might include visual recognition of site personnel, auditory ...Strength o Physiological processes o Auditory processes o Visual processes o Tactile sense o Psychomotor processes o Tolerance to environment o Learning...sensitive" to an easily measurable degree, and another third at a more subliminal level. This sensitivity is even further height- ened in individuals by the

Combat Veterans with PTSD after Mild TBI Exhibit Greater ERPs from Posterior-medial Cortical Areas While Appraising Facial Features

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-01-01

K.Y., Kim, D.W., Im, C.H., Lee, S.H., 2011. Source imaging of P300 auditory evoked potentials and clinical correlations in patients with posttraumatic...Neural correlates of memories of childhood sexual abuse in womenwith and without posttraumatic stress disorder. Am. J. Psychiatry 156, 1787–1795...S., Zhang, Q., 2011. Neural mechanisms of subliminal priming for traumatic episodic memory: an ERP study. Neurosci. Lett. 498, 10–14. Zhang, K

Multichannel audio monitor for detecting electrical signals.

PubMed

Friesen, W O; Stent, G S

1978-12-01

The multichannel audio monitor (MUCAM) permits the simultaneous auditory monitoring of concurrent trains of electrical signals generated by as many as eight different sources. The basic working principle of this device is the modulation of the amplitude of a given pure tone by the incoming signals of each input channel. The MUCAM thus converts a complex, multichannel, temporal signal sequence into a musical melody suitable for instant, subliminal pattern analysis by the human ear. Neurophysiological experiments requiring multi-electrode recordings have provided one useful application of the MUCAM.

Application of Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery Techniques to Enhance Binary Target Detection and Decision-Making for Compromised Visual Images

DTIC Science & Technology

2004-11-01

affords exciting opportunities in target detection. The input signal may be a sum of sine waves, it could be an auditory signal, or possibly a visual...rendering of a scene. Since image processing is an area in which the original data are stationary in some sense ( auditory signals suffer from...11 Example 1 of SR - Identification of a Subliminal Signal below a Threshold .......................... 13 Example 2 of SR

Of two minds or one? A registered replication of Rydell et al. (2006).

PubMed

Heycke, Tobias; Gehrmann, Sarah; Haaf, Julia M; Stahl, Christoph

2018-01-31

Evaluative conditioning (EC) is proposed as a mechanism of automatic preference acquisition in dual-process theories of attitudes (Gawronski, B., & Bodenhausen, G. V. (2006). Associative and propositional processes in evaluation: An integrative review of implicit and explicit attitude change. Psychological Bulletin, 132(5), 692-731. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.132.5.692). Evidence for the automaticity of EC comes from studies claiming EC effects for subliminally presented stimuli. An impression-formation study showed a selective influence of briefly presented primes on implicitly measured attitudes, whereas supraliminally presented behavioural information about the target person was reflected in explicit ratings (Rydell, R. J., McConnell, A. R., Mackie, D. M., & Strain, L. M. (2006). Of two minds forming and changing valence-inconsistent implicit and explicit attitudes. Psychological Science, 17(11), 954-958. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2006.01811.x) This finding is considered one of the strongest pieces of evidence for dual process theories (Sweldens, S., Corneille, O., & Yzerbyt, V. (2014). The role of awareness in attitude formation through evaluative conditioning. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 18(2), 187-209. doi:10.1177/1088868314527832), and it is therefore crucial to assess its reliability and robustness. The present study presents two registered replications of the Rydell et al. (2006) study. In contrast to the original findings, the implicit measures did not reflect the valence of the subliminal primes in both studies.

Response inhibition triggered by the briefly viewed image of a hand: Behavioural and electrophysiological evidence.

PubMed

Vainio, L; Alén, H; Hiltunen, S; Lehikoinen, K; Lindbäck, H; Patrikainen, A; Paavilainen, P

2013-02-01

Previous research has shown that subliminally presented arrows produce negative priming effect in which responses are performed slower when primes and targets are calling for the same response than different response. This phenomenon has been attributed to self-inhibitory mechanisms of response processes. Similar negative priming was recently observed when participants responded to the direction of the target arrow and the prime was a briefly displayed image of a left or right hand. Responses were made slower when the left-right identity of the viewed hand was compatible with the responding hand. This was suggested to demonstrate that the proposed motor self-inhibition is a general and basic functional principle in manual control processes. However, the behavioural evidence observed in that study was not capable of showing whether the negative priming associated with a briefly displayed hand could reflect other inhibitory processes than the motor self-inhibition. The present study uses an electrophysiological indicator of automatic response priming, the lateralized readiness potential (LRP), to investigate whether the negative priming triggered by the identity of the viewed hand does indeed reflect motor self-inhibition processes. The LRP revealed a pattern of motor activation that was in line with the motor self-inhibition hypothesis. Thus, the finding supports the view that the self-inhibition mechanisms are not restricted to arrow stimuli that are presented subliminally. Rather, they are general sensorimotor mechanisms that operate in planning and control of manual actions. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Subliminal presentation of other faces (but not own face) primes behavioral and evoked cortical processing of empathy for pain.

PubMed

Ibáñez, Agustín; Hurtado, Esteban; Lobos, Alejandro; Escobar, Josefina; Trujillo, Natalia; Baez, Sandra; Huepe, David; Manes, Facundo; Decety, Jean

2011-06-29

Current research on empathy for pain emphasizes the overlap in the neural response between the first-hand experience of pain and its perception in others. However, recent studies suggest that the perception of the pain of others may reflect the processing of a threat or negative arousal rather than an automatic pro-social response. It can thus be suggested that pain processing of other-related, but not self-related, information could imply danger rather than empathy, due to the possible threat represented in the expressions of others (especially if associated with pain stimuli). To test this hypothesis, two experiments considering subliminal stimuli were designed. In Experiment 1, neutral and semantic pain expressions previously primed with own or other faces were presented to participants. When other-face priming was used, only the detection of semantic pain expressions was facilitated. In Experiment 2, pictures with pain and neutral scenarios previously used in ERP and fMRI research were used in a categorization task. Those pictures were primed with own or other faces following the same procedure as in Experiment 1 while ERPs were recorded. Early (N1) and late (P3) cortical responses between pain and no-pain were modulated only in the other-face priming condition. These results support the threat value of pain hypothesis and suggest the necessity for the inclusion of own- versus other-related information in future empathy for pain research. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Dysfunctional Incidental Olfaction in Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI): An Electroencephalography (EEG) Study

PubMed Central

Walla, Peter; Duregger, Cornelia; Deecke, Lüder; Dal-Bianco, Peter

2011-01-01

Our study provides evidence that Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) is associated with olfactory dysfunction on both conscious and non-conscious levels. MCI patients and age-matched controls underwent a face processing task during which sympathy decisions had to be made via button presses. Incidentally, some of the faces were associated with a simultaneously presented odour. Although attention was paid to faces, brain activities were analysed with respect to odour versus no-odour conditions. Behavioural differences were found related to overall face recognition performance, but these were not statistically significant. However, odour-related neurophysiology differed between both groups. Normal controls demonstrated brain activity differences between odour and no-odour conditions that resemble difference activity patterns in healthy young participants as described in a previous magnetoencephalography (MEG) study [1]. They showed odour-related activity patterns between about 160 ms and 320 ms after stimulus onset and between about 640 ms and 720 ms. On the other hand, the patient group did not show any such difference activities. Based on previous research we interpret the early odour-related brain activity pattern in controls as being associated with subliminal olfaction and the later activity pattern with conscious olfaction. None of these were found in MCI patients, although it has to be emphasised that our sample size was rather small. We confirm previous findings about olfactory related dysfunction in patients with MCI and conclude from our findings that even subliminal odour-related information processing is impaired. PMID:24962612

Amygdala Reactivity to Emotional Faces in the Prediction of General and Medication-Specific Responses to Antidepressant Treatment in the Randomized iSPOT-D Trial

PubMed Central

Williams, Leanne M; Korgaonkar, Mayuresh S; Song, Yun C; Paton, Rebecca; Eagles, Sarah; Goldstein-Piekarski, Andrea; Grieve, Stuart M; Harris, Anthony W F; Usherwood, Tim; Etkin, Amit

2015-01-01

Although the cost of poor treatment outcomes of depression is staggering, we do not yet have clinically useful methods for selecting the most effective antidepressant for each depressed person. Emotional brain activation is altered in major depressive disorder (MDD) and implicated in treatment response. Identifying which aspects of emotional brain activation are predictive of general and specific responses to antidepressants may help clinicians and patients when making treatment decisions. We examined whether amygdala activation probed by emotion stimuli is a general or differential predictor of response to three commonly prescribed antidepressants, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). A test–retest design was used to assess patients with MDD in an academic setting as part of the International Study to Predict Optimized Treatment in Depression. A total of 80 MDD outpatients were scanned prior to treatment and 8 weeks after randomization to the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors escitalopram and sertraline and the serotonin–norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor, venlafaxine-extended release (XR). A total of 34 matched controls were scanned at the same timepoints. We quantified the blood oxygen level-dependent signal of the amygdala during subliminal and supraliminal viewing of facial expressions of emotion. Response to treatment was defined by ⩾50% symptom improvement on the 17-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale. Pre-treatment amygdala hypo-reactivity to subliminal happy and threat was a general predictor of treatment response, regardless of medication type (Cohen's d effect size 0.63 to 0.77; classification accuracy, 75%). Responders showed hypo-reactivity compared to controls at baseline, and an increase toward ‘normalization' post-treatment. Pre-treatment amygdala reactivity to subliminal sadness was a differential moderator of non-response to venlafaxine-XR (Cohen's d effect size 1.5; classification accuracy, 81%). Non-responders to venlafaxine-XR showed pre-treatment hyper-reactivity, which progressed to hypo-reactivity rather than normalization post-treatment, and hypo-reactivity post-treatment was abnormal compared to controls. Impaired amygdala activation has not previously been highlighted in the general vs differential prediction of antidepressant outcomes. Amygdala hypo-reactivity to emotions signaling reward and threat predicts the general capacity to respond to antidepressants. Amygdala hyper-reactivity to sad emotion is involved in a specific non-response to a serotonin–norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor. The findings suggest amygdala probes may help inform the personal selection of antidepressant treatments. PMID:25824424

Altered cortical and subcortical connectivity due to infrasound administered near the hearing threshold – Evidence from fMRI

PubMed Central

Weichenberger, Markus; Bauer, Martin; Kühler, Robert; Hensel, Johannes; Forlim, Caroline Garcia; Ihlenfeld, Albrecht; Ittermann, Bernd; Gallinat, Jürgen; Koch, Christian; Kühn, Simone

2017-01-01

In the present study, the brain’s response towards near- and supra-threshold infrasound (IS) stimulation (sound frequency < 20 Hz) was investigated under resting-state fMRI conditions. The study involved two consecutive sessions. In the first session, 14 healthy participants underwent a hearing threshold—as well as a categorical loudness scaling measurement in which the individual loudness perception for IS was assessed across different sound pressure levels (SPL). In the second session, these participants underwent three resting-state acquisitions, one without auditory stimulation (no-tone), one with a monaurally presented 12-Hz IS tone (near-threshold) and one with a similar tone above the individual hearing threshold corresponding to a ‘medium loud’ hearing sensation (supra-threshold). Data analysis mainly focused on local connectivity measures by means of regional homogeneity (ReHo), but also involved independent component analysis (ICA) to investigate inter-regional connectivity. ReHo analysis revealed significantly higher local connectivity in right superior temporal gyrus (STG) adjacent to primary auditory cortex, in anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and, when allowing smaller cluster sizes, also in the right amygdala (rAmyg) during the near-threshold, compared to both the supra-threshold and the no-tone condition. Additional independent component analysis (ICA) revealed large-scale changes of functional connectivity, reflected in a stronger activation of the right amygdala (rAmyg) in the opposite contrast (no-tone > near-threshold) as well as the right superior frontal gyrus (rSFG) during the near-threshold condition. In summary, this study is the first to demonstrate that infrasound near the hearing threshold may induce changes of neural activity across several brain regions, some of which are known to be involved in auditory processing, while others are regarded as keyplayers in emotional and autonomic control. These findings thus allow us to speculate on how continuous exposure to (sub-)liminal IS could exert a pathogenic influence on the organism, yet further (especially longitudinal) studies are required in order to substantialize these findings. PMID:28403175

Optical properties of InGaN grown by MOCVD on sapphire and on bulk GaN

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Osinski, Marek; Eliseev, Petr G.; Lee, Jinhyun; Smagley, Vladimir A.; Sugahara, Tamoya; Sakai, Shiro

1999-11-01

Experimental data on photoluminescence of various bulk and quantum-well epitaxial InGaN/GaN structures grown by MOCVD are interpreted in terms of a band-tail model of inhomogeneously broadened radiative recombination. The anomalous temperature-induced blue spectral is shown to result from band-tail recombination under non-degenerate conditions. Significant differences are observed between epilayers grown on sapphire substrates and on GaN substrates prepared by the sublimination method, with no apparent evidence of band tails in homoepitaxial structures, indicating their higher crystalline quality.

Subliminal expansion in NGC1275

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Backer, Donald C.

The neraby, active galaxy NGC 1275 (3C 84, z = 0.018) has been the subject of many investigations in the past 20 years. The author reviews the evolution of the microwave flux density and the structure seen in 10.7 GHz VLBI images. Then he summarizes recent VLBI observations at 22 GHz and 90 GHz. Rapid changes in the core and the presence of a "hot spot" in the outflowing material are prominent features of these short-wavelength VLBI data. The case for subluminal proper velocities of the outflow is strong.

Executive control over unconscious cognition: attentional sensitization of unconscious information processing

PubMed Central

Kiefer, Markus

2012-01-01

Unconscious priming is a prototypical example of an automatic process, which is initiated without deliberate intention. Classical theories of automaticity assume that such unconscious automatic processes occur in a purely bottom-up driven fashion independent of executive control mechanisms. In contrast to these classical theories, our attentional sensitization model of unconscious information processing proposes that unconscious processing is susceptible to executive control and is only elicited if the cognitive system is configured accordingly. It is assumed that unconscious processing depends on attentional amplification of task-congruent processing pathways as a function of task sets. This article provides an overview of the latest research on executive control influences on unconscious information processing. I introduce refined theories of automaticity with a particular focus on the attentional sensitization model of unconscious cognition which is specifically developed to account for various attentional influences on different types of unconscious information processing. In support of the attentional sensitization model, empirical evidence is reviewed demonstrating executive control influences on unconscious cognition in the domains of visuo-motor and semantic processing: subliminal priming depends on attentional resources, is susceptible to stimulus expectations and is influenced by action intentions and task sets. This suggests that even unconscious processing is flexible and context-dependent as a function of higher-level executive control settings. I discuss that the assumption of attentional sensitization of unconscious information processing can accommodate conflicting findings regarding the automaticity of processes in many areas of cognition and emotion. This theoretical view has the potential to stimulate future research on executive control of unconscious processing in healthy and clinical populations. PMID:22470329

Executive control over unconscious cognition: attentional sensitization of unconscious information processing.

PubMed

Kiefer, Markus

2012-01-01

Unconscious priming is a prototypical example of an automatic process, which is initiated without deliberate intention. Classical theories of automaticity assume that such unconscious automatic processes occur in a purely bottom-up driven fashion independent of executive control mechanisms. In contrast to these classical theories, our attentional sensitization model of unconscious information processing proposes that unconscious processing is susceptible to executive control and is only elicited if the cognitive system is configured accordingly. It is assumed that unconscious processing depends on attentional amplification of task-congruent processing pathways as a function of task sets. This article provides an overview of the latest research on executive control influences on unconscious information processing. I introduce refined theories of automaticity with a particular focus on the attentional sensitization model of unconscious cognition which is specifically developed to account for various attentional influences on different types of unconscious information processing. In support of the attentional sensitization model, empirical evidence is reviewed demonstrating executive control influences on unconscious cognition in the domains of visuo-motor and semantic processing: subliminal priming depends on attentional resources, is susceptible to stimulus expectations and is influenced by action intentions and task sets. This suggests that even unconscious processing is flexible and context-dependent as a function of higher-level executive control settings. I discuss that the assumption of attentional sensitization of unconscious information processing can accommodate conflicting findings regarding the automaticity of processes in many areas of cognition and emotion. This theoretical view has the potential to stimulate future research on executive control of unconscious processing in healthy and clinical populations.

Amygdala excitability to subliminally presented emotional faces distinguishes unipolar and bipolar depression: an fMRI and pattern classification study.

PubMed

Grotegerd, Dominik; Stuhrmann, Anja; Kugel, Harald; Schmidt, Simone; Redlich, Ronny; Zwanzger, Peter; Rauch, Astrid Veronika; Heindel, Walter; Zwitserlood, Pienie; Arolt, Volker; Suslow, Thomas; Dannlowski, Udo

2014-07-01

Bipolar disorder and Major depressive disorder are difficult to differentiate during depressive episodes, motivating research for differentiating neurobiological markers. Dysfunctional amygdala responsiveness during emotion processing has been implicated in both disorders, but the important rapid and automatic stages of emotion processing in the amygdala have so far never been investigated in bipolar patients. fMRI data of 22 bipolar depressed patients (BD), 22 matched unipolar depressed patients (MDD), and 22 healthy controls (HC) were obtained during processing of subliminal sad, happy and neutral faces. Amygdala responsiveness was investigated using standard univariate analyses as well as pattern-recognition techniques to differentiate the two clinical groups. Furthermore, medication effects on amygdala responsiveness were explored. All subjects were unaware of the emotional faces. Univariate analysis revealed a significant group × emotion interaction within the left amygdala. Amygdala responsiveness to sad>neutral faces was increased in MDD relative to BD. In contrast, responsiveness to happy>neutral faces showed the opposite pattern, with higher amygdala activity in BD than in MDD. Most of the activation patterns in both clinical groups differed significantly from activation patterns of HC--and therefore represent abnormalities. Furthermore, pattern classification on amygdala activation to sad>happy faces yielded almost 80% accuracy differentiating MDD and BD patients. Medication had no significant effect on these findings. Distinct amygdala excitability during automatic stages of the processing of emotional faces may reflect differential pathophysiological processes in BD versus MDD depression, potentially representing diagnosis-specific neural markers mostly unaffected by current psychotropic medication. Copyright © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Sex differences in neural responses to subliminal sad and happy faces in healthy individuals: Implications for depression.

PubMed

Victor, Teresa A; Drevets, Wayne C; Misaki, Masaya; Bodurka, Jerzy; Savitz, Jonathan

2017-01-02

Twice as many women as men suffer from mood and anxiety disorders, yet the biological underpinnings of this phenomenon have been understudied and remain unclear. We and others have shown that the hemodynamic response to subliminally presented sad or happy faces during functional MRI (fMRI) is a robust biomarker for the attentional bias toward negative information classically observed in major depression. Here we used fMRI to compare the performance of healthy females (n = 28) and healthy males (n = 28) on a backward masking task using a fast event-related design with gradient-recalled, echoplanar imaging with sensitivity encoding. The image data were compared across groups using a region-of-interest analysis with small-volume correction to control for multiple testing (P corrected  < 0.05, cluster size ≥ 20 voxels). Notably, compared with males, females showed greater BOLD activity in the subgenual anterior cingulate cortex (sgACC) and the right hippocampus when viewing masked sad vs. masked happy faces. Furthermore, females displayed reduced BOLD activity in the right pregenual ACC and left amygdala when viewing masked happy vs. masked neutral faces. Given that we have previously reported similar findings for depressed participants compared with healthy controls (regardless of gender), our results raise the possibility that on average healthy females show subtle emotional processing biases that conceivably reflect a subgroup of women predisposed to depression. Nevertheless, we note that the differences between males and females were small and derived from region-of-interest rather than voxelwise analyses. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Can Achievement Goals be Primed in Competitive Tasks?

PubMed Central

Greenlees, Iain; Figgins, Sean; Kearney, Philip

2014-01-01

This study examined whether achievement goal priming effects would be observed within an overtly competitive setting. Male soccer players (N = 66) volunteered to participate in a soccer penalty-kick taking competition during which they took 20 penalty-kicks on 2 occasions. Following a pretest, participants were allocated to 1 of 5 priming conditions. Immediately prior to the posttest, participants in the priming conditions were asked to complete what was presented as an ostensibly unrelated task that took the form of either a computer task (subliminal priming) or wordsearch task (supraliminal priming). Results revealed that priming had no significant influence on performance. PMID:25031692

Amplitude tests of direct channel resonances: The dibaryon

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goldstein, G. R.; Moravosik, M. J.; Arash, F.

1985-02-01

A recently formulated polarization amplitude test for the existence of one-particle-exchange mechanisms is modified to deal with direct-channel resonances. The results are applied to proton-proton elastic scattering at and around 800 MeV to test the suggested existence of a dibaryon resonance. This test is sensitive to somewhat different circumstances and parameters than the methods used in the past to find dibaryon resonances. The evidence, on the basis of the SAID data set, is negative for a resonance in any singlet partial wave, but is tantalizingly subliminal for a 3F3 resonance.

Amplitude tests of direct channel resonances: the dibaryon

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Goldstein, G.R.; Moravcsik, M.J.; Arash, F.

A recently formulated polarization amplitude test for the existence of one-particle-exchange mechanisms is modified to deal with direct-channel resonances. The results are applied to proton-proton elastic scattering at and around 800 MeV to test the suggested existence of a dibaryon resonance. This test is sensitive to somewhat different circumstances and parameters than the methods used in the past to find dibaryon resonances. The evidence, on the basis of the SAID data set, is negative for a resonance in any singlet partial wave, but is tantalizingly subliminal for a /sup 3/F/sub 3/ resonance. 7 refs., 4 figs.

Implications on visual apperception: energy, duration, structure and synchronization.

PubMed

Bókkon, I; Vimal, Ram Lakhan Pandey

2010-07-01

Although primary visual cortex (V1 or striate) activity per se is not sufficient for visual apperception (normal conscious visual experiences and conscious functions such as detection, discrimination, and recognition), the same is also true for extrastriate visual areas (such as V2, V3, V4/V8/VO, V5/M5/MST, IT, and GF). In the lack of V1 area, visual signals can still reach several extrastriate parts but appear incapable of generating normal conscious visual experiences. It is scarcely emphasized in the scientific literature that conscious perceptions and representations must have also essential energetic conditions. These energetic conditions are achieved by spatiotemporal networks of dynamic mitochondrial distributions inside neurons. However, the highest density of neurons in neocortex (number of neurons per degree of visual angle) devoted to representing the visual field is found in retinotopic V1. It means that the highest mitochondrial (energetic) activity can be achieved in mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase-rich V1 areas. Thus, V1 bear the highest energy allocation for visual representation. In addition, the conscious perceptions also demand structural conditions, presence of adequate duration of information representation, and synchronized neural processes and/or 'interactive hierarchical structuralism.' For visual apperception, various visual areas are involved depending on context such as stimulus characteristics such as color, form/shape, motion, and other features. Here, we focus primarily on V1 where specific mitochondrial-rich retinotopic structures are found; we will concisely discuss V2 where smaller riches of these structures are found. We also point out that residual brain states are not fully reflected in active neural patterns after visual perception. Namely, after visual perception, subliminal residual states are not being reflected in passive neural recording techniques, but require active stimulation to be revealed.

When does Subliminal Affective Image Priming Influence the Ability of Schizophrenic Patients to Perceive Face Emotions?

PubMed Central

Vaina, Lucia M.; Rana, Kunjan D.; Cotos, Ionela; Li-Yang, Chen; Huang, Melissa A.; Podea, Delia

2014-01-01

Background Deficits in face emotion perception are among the most pervasive aspects of schizophrenia impairments which strongly affects interpersonal communication and social skills. Material/Methods Schizophrenic patients (PSZ) and healthy control subjects (HCS) performed 2 psychophysical tasks. One, the SAFFIMAP test, was designed to determine the impact of subliminally presented affective or neutral images on the accuracy of face-expression (angry or neutral) perception. In the second test, FEP, subjects saw pictures of face-expression and were asked to rate them as angry, happy, or neutral. The following clinical scales were used to determine the acute symptoms in PSZ: Positive and Negative Syndrome (PANSS), Young Mania Rating (YMRS), Hamilton Depression (HAM-D), and Hamilton Anxiety (HAM-A). Results On the SAFFIMAP test, different from the HCS group, the PSZ group tended to categorize the neutral expression of test faces as angry and their response to the test-face expression was not influenced by the affective content of the primes. In PSZ, the PANSS-positive score was significantly correlated with correct perception of angry faces for aggressive or pleasant primes. YMRS scores were strongly correlated with PSZ’s tendency to recognize angry face expressions when the prime was a pleasant or a neutral image. The HAM-D score was positively correlated with categorizing the test-faces as neutral, regardless of the affective content of the prime or of the test-face expression (angry or neutral). Conclusions Despite its exploratory nature, this study provides the first evidence that conscious perception and categorization of facial emotions (neutral or angry) in PSZ is directly affected by their positive or negative symptoms of the disease as defined by their individual scores on the clinical diagnostic scales. PMID:25537115

When does subliminal affective image priming influence the ability of schizophrenic patients to perceive face emotions?

PubMed

Vaina, Lucia Maria; Rana, Kunjan D; Cotos, Ionela; Li-Yang, Chen; Huang, Melissa A; Podea, Delia

2014-12-24

Deficits in face emotion perception are among the most pervasive aspects of schizophrenia impairments which strongly affects interpersonal communication and social skills. Schizophrenic patients (PSZ) and healthy control subjects (HCS) performed 2 psychophysical tasks. One, the SAFFIMAP test, was designed to determine the impact of subliminally presented affective or neutral images on the accuracy of face-expression (angry or neutral) perception. In the second test, FEP, subjects saw pictures of face-expression and were asked to rate them as angry, happy, or neutral. The following clinical scales were used to determine the acute symptoms in PSZ: Positive and Negative Syndrome (PANSS), Young Mania Rating (YMRS), Hamilton Depression (HAM-D), and Hamilton Anxiety (HAM-A). On the SAFFIMAP test, different from the HCS group, the PSZ group tended to categorize the neutral expression of test faces as angry and their response to the test-face expression was not influenced by the affective content of the primes. In PSZ, the PANSS-positive score was significantly correlated with correct perception of angry faces for aggressive or pleasant primes. YMRS scores were strongly correlated with PSZ's tendency to recognize angry face expressions when the prime was a pleasant or a neutral image. The HAM-D score was positively correlated with categorizing the test-faces as neutral, regardless of the affective content of the prime or of the test-face expression (angry or neutral). Despite its exploratory nature, this study provides the first evidence that conscious perception and categorization of facial emotions (neutral or angry) in PSZ is directly affected by their positive or negative symptoms of the disease as defined by their individual scores on the clinical diagnostic scales.

Effects of reference analgesics and psychoactive drugs on the noxious heat threshold of mice measured by an increasing-temperature water bath.

PubMed

Boros, Melinda; Benkó, Rita; Bölcskei, Kata; Szolcsányi, János; Barthó, Loránd; Pethő, Gábor

2013-12-01

The study aimed at validating an increasing-temperature water bath suitable for determining the noxious heat threshold for use in mice. The noxious heat threshold was determined by immersing the tail of the gently held awake mouse into a water container whose temperature was near-linearly increased at a rate of 24°C/min. until the animal withdrew its tail, that is, heating attained the noxious threshold. The effects of standard analgesic, neuroleptic and anxiolytic drugs were investigated in a parallel way on both the noxious heat threshold and the psychomotor activity assessed by the open field test. Morphine, diclofenac and metamizol (dipyrone) elevated the heat threshold of mice with minimum effective doses of 6, 30 and 1000 mg/kg i.p., respectively. These doses of morphine and diclofenac failed to induce any remarkable effect on psychomotor activity in the open field test while that of metamizol exerted a profound inhibition. The anxiolytic diazepam and the neuroleptic droperidol at doses evoking a mild and moderate, respectively, psychomotor inhibition failed to alter the heat threshold. Combination of a subliminal dose of morphine (regarding both antinociceptive and psychomotor inhibitory action) with diclofenac, metamizol, diazepam or droperidol at doses also subliminal regarding the thermal antinociceptive effect elevated the noxious heat threshold without major additional effects in the open field test. It is concluded that the increasing-temperature water bath is suitable for studying the thermal antinociceptive effects of morphine and diclofenac as well as the morphine-sparing action of diclofenac, metamizol, droperidol and diazepam. Behavioural testing is recommended when testing analgesics. © 2013 Nordic Pharmacological Society. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Mood-congruent amygdala responses to subliminally presented facial expressions in major depression: associations with anhedonia

PubMed Central

Stuhrmann, Anja; Dohm, Katharina; Kugel, Harald; Zwanzger, Peter; Redlich, Ronny; Grotegerd, Dominik; Rauch, Astrid Veronika; Arolt, Volker; Heindel, Walter; Suslow, Thomas; Zwitserlood, Pienie; Dannlowski, Udo

2013-01-01

Background Anhedonia has long been recognized as a key feature of major depressive disorders, but little is known about the association between hedonic symptoms and neurobiological processes in depressed patients. We investigated whether amygdala mood-congruent responses to emotional stimuli in depressed patients are correlated with anhedonic symptoms at automatic levels of processing. Methods We measured amygdala responsiveness to subliminally presented sad and happy facial expressions in depressed patients and matched healthy controls using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Amygdala responsiveness was compared between patients and healthy controls within a 2 (group) × 2 (emotion) design. In addition, we correlated patients’ amygdala responsiveness to sad and happy facial stimuli with self-report questionnaire measures of anhedonia. Results We included 35 patients and 35 controls in our study. As in previous studies, we observed a strong emotion × group interaction in the bilateral amygdala: depressed patients showed greater amygdala responses to sad than happy faces, whereas healthy controls responded more strongly to happy than sad faces. The lack of automatic right amygdala responsiveness to happy faces in depressed patients was associated with higher physical anhedonia scores. Limitations Almost all depressed patients were taking antidepressant medications. Conclusion We replicated our previous finding of depressed patients showing automatic amygdala mood-congruent biases in terms of enhanced reactivity to negative emotional stimuli and reduced activity to positive emotional stimuli. The altered amygdala processing of positive stimuli in patients was associated with anhedonia scores. The results indicate that reduced amygdala responsiveness to positive stimuli may contribute to an-hedonic symptoms due to reduced/inappropriate salience attribution to positive information at very early processing levels. PMID:23171695

Glued to Which Face? Attentional Priority Effect of Female Babyface and Male Mature Face

PubMed Central

Zheng, Wenwen; Luo, Ting; Hu, Chuan-Peng; Peng, Kaiping

2018-01-01

A more babyfaced individual is perceived as more child-like and this impression from babyface, as known as babyface effect, has an impact on social life among various age groups. In this study, the influence of babyfaces on visual selective attention was tested by cognitive task, demonstrating that the female babyface and male mature face would draw participants’ attention so that they take their eyes off more slowly. In Experiment 1, a detection task was applied to test the influence of babyfaces on visual selective attention. In this experiment, a babyface and a mature face with the same gender were presented simultaneously with a letter on one of them. The reaction time was shorter when the target letter was overlaid with a female babyface or male mature face, suggesting an attention capture effect. To explore how this competition influenced by attentional resources, we conducted Experiment 2 with a spatial cueing paradigm and controlled the attentional resources by cueing validity and inter-stimulus interval. In this task, the female babyface and male mature face prolonged responses to the spatially separated targets under the condition of an invalid and long interval pre-cue. This observation replicated the result of Experiment 1. This indicates that the female babyface and male mature face glued visual selective attention once attentional resources were directed to them. To further investigate the subliminal influence from a babyface, we used continuous flash suppression paradigm in Experiment 3. The results, again, showed the advantage of the female babyfaces and male mature faces: they broke the suppression faster than other faces. Our results provide primary evidence that the female babyfaces and male mature faces can reliably glue the visual selective attention, both supra- and sub-liminally. PMID:29559946

Glued to Which Face? Attentional Priority Effect of Female Babyface and Male Mature Face.

PubMed

Zheng, Wenwen; Luo, Ting; Hu, Chuan-Peng; Peng, Kaiping

2018-01-01

A more babyfaced individual is perceived as more child-like and this impression from babyface, as known as babyface effect, has an impact on social life among various age groups. In this study, the influence of babyfaces on visual selective attention was tested by cognitive task, demonstrating that the female babyface and male mature face would draw participants' attention so that they take their eyes off more slowly. In Experiment 1, a detection task was applied to test the influence of babyfaces on visual selective attention. In this experiment, a babyface and a mature face with the same gender were presented simultaneously with a letter on one of them. The reaction time was shorter when the target letter was overlaid with a female babyface or male mature face, suggesting an attention capture effect. To explore how this competition influenced by attentional resources, we conducted Experiment 2 with a spatial cueing paradigm and controlled the attentional resources by cueing validity and inter-stimulus interval. In this task, the female babyface and male mature face prolonged responses to the spatially separated targets under the condition of an invalid and long interval pre-cue. This observation replicated the result of Experiment 1. This indicates that the female babyface and male mature face glued visual selective attention once attentional resources were directed to them. To further investigate the subliminal influence from a babyface, we used continuous flash suppression paradigm in Experiment 3. The results, again, showed the advantage of the female babyfaces and male mature faces: they broke the suppression faster than other faces. Our results provide primary evidence that the female babyfaces and male mature faces can reliably glue the visual selective attention, both supra- and sub-liminally.

Ultrabaric relativistic superfluids

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Papini, G.; Weiss, M.

1985-09-01

Ultrabaric superfluid solutions are obtained for Einstein's equations to examine the possibility of the existence of superluminal sound speeds. The discussion is restricted only by requiring the energy-momentum tensor and the equation of state of matter to be represented by full relativistic equations. Only a few universes are known to satisfy the conditions, and those exhibit tension and are inflationary. Superluminal sound velocities are shown, therefore, to be possible for the interior Schwarzchild metric, which has been used to explain the red shift of quasars, and the Stephiani solution (1967). The latter indicates repeated transitions between superluminal and subliminal sound velocities in the hyperbaric superfluid of the early universe.

Can implicit appraisal concepts produce emotion-specific effects? A focus on unfairness and anger.

PubMed

Tong, Eddie M W; Tan, Deborah H; Tan, Yan Lin

2013-06-01

This research examined whether the non-conscious activation of an implicit appraisal concept could affect responses associated with the corresponding emotion as predicted by appraisal theories. Explicit and implicit emotional responses were examined. We focused on implicit unfairness and its effect on anger. The results show that subliminal activation of implicit unfairness affected implicit anger responses (anger facial expression and latency responses to anger words) but not explicit anger feelings (i.e., reported anger). The non-conscious effect of implicit unfairness was specific to anger, as no effect on sadness, fear, and guilt was found. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Detection thresholds for gaps, overlaps, and no-gap-no-overlaps.

PubMed

Heldner, Mattias

2011-07-01

Detection thresholds for gaps and overlaps, that is acoustic and perceived silences and stretches of overlapping speech in speaker changes, were determined. Subliminal gaps and overlaps were categorized as no-gap-no-overlaps. The established gap and overlap detection thresholds both corresponded to the duration of a long vowel, or about 120 ms. These detection thresholds are valuable for mapping the perceptual speaker change categories gaps, overlaps, and no-gap-no-overlaps into the acoustic domain. Furthermore, the detection thresholds allow generation and understanding of gaps, overlaps, and no-gap-no-overlaps in human-like spoken dialogue systems. © 2011 Acoustical Society of America

The Evil Animal: A Terror Management Theory Perspective on the Human Tendency to Kill Animals.

PubMed

Lifshin, Uri; Greenberg, Jeff; Zestcott, Colin A; Sullivan, Daniel

2017-06-01

This research tested whether support for the killing of animals serves a terror management function. In five studies, death primes caused participants to support the killing of animals more than control primes, unless the participants' self-esteem had been elevated (Study 4). This effect was not moderated by gender, preexisting attitudes toward killing animals or animal rights, perceived human-animal similarity, religiosity, political orientation, or by the degree to which the killing was justified. Support for killing animals after subliminal death primes was also associated with an increased sense of power and invulnerability (Study 5). Implications and future directions are discussed.

The Stereotype-Matching Effect: Greater Influence on Functioning When Age Stereotypes Correspond to Outcomes

PubMed Central

Levy, Becca R.; Leifheit-Limson, Erica

2009-01-01

Older individuals assimilate, and are targeted by, contradictory positive and negative age stereotypes. It was unknown whether the influence of stereotype valence is stronger when the stereotype content corresponds to the outcome domain. We randomly assigned older individuals to either positive-cognitive, negative-cognitive, positive-physical, or negative-physical subliminal-age-stereotype groups and assessed cognitive and physical outcomes. As predicted, when the age stereotypes corresponded to the outcome domains, their valence had a significantly greater impact on cognitive and physical performance. This suggests that if a match occurs, it is more likely to generate expectations that become self-fulfilling prophecies. PMID:19290757

Framing political messages to fit the audience's regulatory orientation: how to improve the efficacy of the same message content.

PubMed

Mannetti, Lucia; Brizi, Ambra; Giacomantonio, Mauro; Higgins, E Tory

2013-01-01

This research investigates how the impact of persuasive messages in the political domain can be improved when fit is created by subliminally priming recipients' regulatory focus (either promotion or prevention) and by linguistic framing of the message (either strategic approach framing or strategic avoidance framing). Results of two studies show that regulatory fit: a) increases the impact of a political message favoring nuclear energy on implicit attitudes of the target audience (Study 1); and b) induces a more positive evaluation of, and intentions to vote for, the political candidate who is delivering a message concerning immigration policies (Study 2).

Attentional Bias for Threat in Older Adults: Moderation of the Positivity Bias by Trait Anxiety and Stimulus Modality

PubMed Central

Lee, Lewina O.; Knight, Bob G.

2009-01-01

Socioemotional selectivity theory suggests that emotion regulation goals motivate older adults to preferentially allocate attention to positive stimuli and away from negative stimuli. This study examined whether anxiety moderates the effect of the positivity bias on attention for threat. We employed the dot probe task to compare subliminal and supraliminal attention for threat in 103 young and 44 older adults. Regardless of anxiety, older but not younger adults demonstrated a vigilant-avoidant response to angry faces. Anxiety influenced older adults’ attention such that anxious individuals demonstrated a vigilant-avoidant reaction to sad faces, but an avoidant-vigilant reaction to negative words. PMID:19739931

A data mining approach to intelligence operations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Memon, Nasrullah; Hicks, David L.; Harkiolakis, Nicholas

2008-03-01

In this paper we examine the latest thinking, approaches and methodologies in use for finding the nuggets of information and subliminal (and perhaps intentionally hidden) patterns and associations that are critical to identify criminal activity and suspects to private and government security agencies. An emphasis in the paper is placed on Social Network Analysis and Investigative Data Mining, and the use of these technologies in the counterterrorism domain. Tools and techniques from both areas are described, along with the important tasks for which they can be used to assist with the investigation and analysis of terrorist organizations. The process of collecting data about these organizations is also considered along with the inherent difficulties that are involved.

Amplification of intrinsic fluctuations by the Lorenz equations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fox, Ronald F.; Elston, T. C.

1993-07-01

Macroscopic systems (e.g., hydrodynamics, chemical reactions, electrical circuits, etc.) manifest intrinsic fluctuations of molecular and thermal origin. When the macroscopic dynamics is deterministically chaotic, the intrinsic fluctuations may become amplified by several orders of magnitude. Numerical studies of this phenomenon are presented in detail for the Lorenz model. Amplification to macroscopic scales is exhibited, and quantitative methods (binning and a difference-norm) are presented for measuring macroscopically subliminal amplification effects. In order to test the quality of the numerical results, noise induced chaos is studied around a deterministically nonchaotic state, where the scaling law relating the Lyapunov exponent to noise strength obtained for maps is confirmed for the Lorenz model, a system of ordinary differential equations.

Resonant generation of internal waves on the soft sea bed by a surface water wave

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wen, Feng

1995-08-01

The nonlinear response of an initially flat sea bed to a monochromatic surface progressive wave was studied using the multiple scale perturbation method. Two opposite-traveling subliminal internal ``mud'' waves are selectively excited and form a resonant triad with the surface wave. The amplitudes of the internal waves grow on a time scale much longer than the period of the surface wave. It was found that the sea bed response is critically dependent on the density ratio of water and soil, depth of water, and depth and viscosity of the saturated soil. The result of instability analysis is in qualitative agreement with the result of a wave flume experiment.

Moments of Weakness: The Implicit Context Dependencies of Temptations

PubMed Central

Leander, N. Pontus; Shah, James Y.; Chartrand, Tanya L.

2013-01-01

The implicit appeal of temptations may vary by the social and self-regulatory contexts in which they are encountered. In each of four studies, participants were subliminally primed with the name of someone associated with either drug use or drug abstinence, after which their own motives toward drug use were assessed. Results indicate that the appeal of this temptation often depended on participants' chronicity of indulgence (Study 1), relationship closeness with the tempter (Study 2), self-regulatory effectiveness (Study 3), and goal disengagement tendencies (Study 4). Although the influence of tempters may be automatic, it is also a dynamic process and these findings suggest that the appeal of temptations varies both situationally and motivationally. PMID:19386767

Framing Political Messages to Fit the Audience’s Regulatory Orientation: How to Improve the Efficacy of the Same Message Content

PubMed Central

Mannetti, Lucia; Brizi, Ambra; Giacomantonio, Mauro; Higgins, E. Tory

2013-01-01

This research investigates how the impact of persuasive messages in the political domain can be improved when fit is created by subliminally priming recipients’ regulatory focus (either promotion or prevention) and by linguistic framing of the message (either strategic approach framing or strategic avoidance framing). Results of two studies show that regulatory fit: a) increases the impact of a political message favoring nuclear energy on implicit attitudes of the target audience (Study 1); and b) induces a more positive evaluation of, and intentions to vote for, the political candidate who is delivering a message concerning immigration policies (Study 2). PMID:24130831

Can We Distinguish Emotions from Faces? Investigation of Implicit and Explicit Processes of Peak Facial Expressions.

PubMed

Xiao, Ruiqi; Li, Xianchun; Li, Lin; Wang, Yanmei

2016-01-01

Most previous studies on facial expression recognition have focused on the moderate emotions; to date, few studies have been conducted to investigate the explicit and implicit processes of peak emotions. In the current study, we used transiently peak intense expression images of athletes at the winning or losing point in competition as materials, and investigated the diagnosability of peak facial expressions at both implicit and explicit levels. In Experiment 1, participants were instructed to evaluate isolated faces, isolated bodies, and the face-body compounds, and eye-tracking movement was recorded. The results revealed that the isolated body and face-body congruent images were better recognized than isolated face and face-body incongruent images, indicating that the emotional information conveyed by facial cues was ambiguous, and the body cues influenced facial emotion recognition. Furthermore, eye movement records showed that the participants displayed distinct gaze patterns for the congruent and incongruent compounds. In Experiment 2A, the subliminal affective priming task was used, with faces as primes and bodies as targets, to investigate the unconscious emotion perception of peak facial expressions. The results showed that winning face prime facilitated reaction to winning body target, whereas losing face prime inhibited reaction to winning body target, suggesting that peak facial expressions could be perceived at the implicit level. In general, the results indicate that peak facial expressions cannot be consciously recognized but can be perceived at the unconscious level. In Experiment 2B, revised subliminal affective priming task and a strict awareness test were used to examine the validity of unconscious perception of peak facial expressions found in Experiment 2A. Results of Experiment 2B showed that reaction time to both winning body targets and losing body targets was influenced by the invisibly peak facial expression primes, which indicated the unconscious perception of peak facial expressions.

Can We Distinguish Emotions from Faces? Investigation of Implicit and Explicit Processes of Peak Facial Expressions

PubMed Central

Xiao, Ruiqi; Li, Xianchun; Li, Lin; Wang, Yanmei

2016-01-01

Most previous studies on facial expression recognition have focused on the moderate emotions; to date, few studies have been conducted to investigate the explicit and implicit processes of peak emotions. In the current study, we used transiently peak intense expression images of athletes at the winning or losing point in competition as materials, and investigated the diagnosability of peak facial expressions at both implicit and explicit levels. In Experiment 1, participants were instructed to evaluate isolated faces, isolated bodies, and the face-body compounds, and eye-tracking movement was recorded. The results revealed that the isolated body and face-body congruent images were better recognized than isolated face and face-body incongruent images, indicating that the emotional information conveyed by facial cues was ambiguous, and the body cues influenced facial emotion recognition. Furthermore, eye movement records showed that the participants displayed distinct gaze patterns for the congruent and incongruent compounds. In Experiment 2A, the subliminal affective priming task was used, with faces as primes and bodies as targets, to investigate the unconscious emotion perception of peak facial expressions. The results showed that winning face prime facilitated reaction to winning body target, whereas losing face prime inhibited reaction to winning body target, suggesting that peak facial expressions could be perceived at the implicit level. In general, the results indicate that peak facial expressions cannot be consciously recognized but can be perceived at the unconscious level. In Experiment 2B, revised subliminal affective priming task and a strict awareness test were used to examine the validity of unconscious perception of peak facial expressions found in Experiment 2A. Results of Experiment 2B showed that reaction time to both winning body targets and losing body targets was influenced by the invisibly peak facial expression primes, which indicated the unconscious perception of peak facial expressions. PMID:27630604

Processing of a Subliminal Rebus during Sleep: Idiosyncratic Primary versus Secondary Process Associations upon Awakening from REM- versus Non-REM-Sleep

PubMed Central

Steinig, Jana; Bazan, Ariane; Happe, Svenja; Antonetti, Sarah; Shevrin, Howard

2017-01-01

Primary and secondary processes are the foundational axes of the Freudian mental apparatus: one horizontally as a tendency to associate, the primary process, and one vertically as the ability for perspective taking, the secondary process. Primary process mentation is not only supposed to be dominant in the unconscious but also, for example, in dreams. The present study tests the hypothesis that the mental activity during REM-sleep has more characteristics of the primary process, while during non-REM-sleep more secondary process operations take place. Because the solving of a rebus requires the ability to non-contexually condensate the literal reading of single stimuli into a new one, rebus solving is a primary process operation by excellence. In a replication of the dream-rebus study of Shevrin and Fisher (1967), a rebus, which consisted of an image of a comb (German: “Kamm”) and an image of a raft (German: “Floß”), resulting in the German rebus word “kampflos” (Engl.: without a struggle), was flashed subliminally (at 1 ms) to 20 participants before going to sleep. Upon consecutive awakenings participants were asked for a dream report, free associations and an image description. Based on objective association norms, there were significantly more conceptual associations referring to Kamm and Floß indexing secondary process mentation when subjects were awakened from non-REM sleep as compared to REM-awakenings. There were not significantly more rebus associations referring to kampflos indexing primary process mentation when awakened from REM-sleep as compared to non-REM awakenings. However, when the associations were scored on the basis of each subject’s individual norms, there was a rebus effect with more idiosyncratic rebus associations in awakenings after REM than after non-REM-sleep. Our results support the general idea that REM-sleep is characterized by primary process thinking, while non-REM-sleep mentation follows the rules of the secondary process. PMID:29209244

A model of the atmospheric metal deposition by cosmic dust particles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McNeil, W. J.

1993-11-01

We have developed a model of the deposition of meteoric metals in Earth's atmosphere. The model takes as input the total mass influx of material to the Earth and calculates the deposition rate at all altitudes through solution of the drag and subliminal equations in a Monte Carlo-type computation. The diffusion equation is then solved to give steady state concentration of complexes of specific metal species and kinetics are added to calculate the concentration of individual complexes. Concentrating on sodium, we calculate the Na(D) nightglow predicted by the model, and by introduction of seasonal variations in lower tropospheric ozone based on experimental results, we are able to duplicate the seasonal variation of mid-latitude nightglow data.

Infrared spectrum of Io, 2.8-5.2 microns

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cruikshank, D. P.

1980-02-01

The reflectance spectrum of Io is presented from 2.8 to 5.2 microns demonstrating the full extent of the broad and deep spectral absorption between 3.5 and 4.8 microns. Laboratory spectra of nitrates and carbonates diluted with sulfur do not satisfactorily reproduce the Io spectrum, but new information based on recently discovered volcanic activity on the satellite lead to consideration of other classes of compounds reported by Fanale et al. (1979). It is concluded that the variability of the supply of condensible SO2 gas to the surface of Io, its removal by sublimination, and the temporal variations in the strength of the SO2 band may provide an index of volcanic activity on Io that can be monitored from the earth.

Investigation of nonlinear motion simulator washout schemes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Riedel, S. A.; Hofmann, L. G.

1978-01-01

An overview is presented of some of the promising washout schemes which have been devised. The four schemes presented fall into two basic configurations; crossfeed and crossproduct. Various nonlinear modifications further differentiate the four schemes. One nonlinear scheme is discussed in detail. This washout scheme takes advantage of subliminal motions to speed up simulator cab centering. It exploits so-called perceptual indifference thresholds to center the simulator cab at a faster rate whenever the input to the simulator is below the perceptual indifference level. The effect is to reduce the angular and translational simulation motion by comparison with that for the linear washout case. Finally, the conclusions and implications for further research in the area of nonlinear washout filters are presented.

Local endwall heat/mass-transfer distributions in pin fin channels

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lau, S. C.; Kim, Y. S.; Han, J. C.

1987-10-01

Naphthalene sublimination experiments were conducted to study the effects of the pin configuration, the pin length-to-diameter ratio, and the entrance length on local endwall heat/mass transfer in a channel with short pin fins (pin length-to-diameter ratios of 0.5 and 1.0). The detailed distributions of the local endwall heat/mass-transfer coefficient were obtained for staggered and aligned arrays of pin fins, for the spanwise pin spacing-to-diameter ratio of 2.5, and for streamwise pin spacing-to-diameter ratios of 1.25 and 2.5. The Reynolds numbers were kept at about 33,000. Overall- and row-averaged Nusselt numbers compared very well with those from previous heat-transfer studies.

Anxiety and the interpretation of ambiguous information: beyond the emotion-congruent effect.

PubMed

Blanchette, Isabelle; Richards, Anne

2003-06-01

The authors investigated how anxiety influences the use of contextual information in the resolution of ambiguity. Participants heard ambiguous homophones (threat/neutral, positive/neural, and neutral/neutral) with related contextual information. State anxiety was manipulated experimentally. The interpretations of anxious participants were influenced by context to a greater extent than those of control participants. Some mood-incongruent effects were observed where anxious participants were more likely to adopt neutral interpretations of potentially threatening stimuli. Effects were observed in a spelling task (Experiments 1 and 2) and in a lexical decision task (Experiment 3), with supraliminal, and subliminal presentation of contextual cues, and with 2 different anxiety-induction procedures. Results show how anxiety affects both the content and the process of resolution of ambiguity.