scholarly journals Does Location Uncertainty Modulate Unconscious Processing Under Continuous Flash Suppression?

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-14
Author(s):  
Fenja Mareike Benthien ◽  
Guido Hesselmann
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Attention ◽  
Comparison Task ◽  
Target Number ◽  
Unconscious Processing ◽  
Continuous Flash Suppression ◽  
Attention Model ◽  
Location Uncertainty ◽  
Numerical Order ◽  
Prime Target ◽  
Prime Location

Previous research suggests that selective spatial attention is a determining factor for unconscious processing under continuous flash suppression (CFS), and specifically, that inattention toward stimulus location facilitates its unconscious processing by reducing the depth of CFS (Eo et al., 2016). The aim of our study was to further examine this modulation-by-attention model of CFS using a number priming paradigm. Participants (N = 26) performed a number comparison task on a visible target number (“compare target to five”). Prime-target pairs were either congruent (both smaller or larger than five) or incongruent. Spatial attention toward the primes was varied by manipulating the uncertainty of the primes’ location. Based on the modulation-by-attention model, we hypothesized the following: In trials with uncertain prime location, RTs for congruent prime-target pairs should be faster than for incongruent ones. In trials with certain prime location, RTs for congruent versus incongruent prime-target pairs should not differ. We analyzed our data with sequential Bayes factors (BFs). Our data showed no effect of location uncertainty on unconscious priming under CFS (BF0+ = 5.16). However, even visible primes only weakly influenced RTs. Possible reasons for the absence of robust number priming effects in our study are discussed. Based on exploratory analyses, we conclude that the numerical order of prime and target resulted in a response conflict and interfered with the predicted priming effect.

scholarly journals Convolutional Spatial Attention Model for Reading Comprehension with Multiple-Choice Questions

2019 ◽  
Vol 33 ◽  
pp. 6276-6283 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhipeng Chen ◽  
Yiming Cui ◽  
Wentao Ma ◽  
Shijin Wang ◽  
Guoping Hu
Keyword(s):  
Reading Comprehension ◽  
Mutual Information ◽  
Spatial Attention ◽  
State Of The Art ◽  
Multiple Choice ◽  
Multiple Choice Questions ◽  
Attention Model ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
Proposed Model ◽  
Machine Reading

Machine Reading Comprehension (MRC) with multiplechoice questions requires the machine to read given passage and select the correct answer among several candidates. In this paper, we propose a novel approach called Convolutional Spatial Attention (CSA) model which can better handle the MRC with multiple-choice questions. The proposed model could fully extract the mutual information among the passage, question, and the candidates, to form the enriched representations. Furthermore, to merge various attention results, we propose to use convolutional operation to dynamically summarize the attention values within the different size of regions. Experimental results show that the proposed model could give substantial improvements over various state-of- the-art systems on both RACE and SemEval-2018 Task11 datasets.

scholarly journals Quantitative and qualitative differences in the canonical and the reverse distance effect and their selective association with arithmetic and mathematical competencies

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephan Vogel ◽  
Thomas J. Faulkenberry ◽  
Roland H. Grabner
Keyword(s):  
Standardized Test ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Distance Effect ◽  
Numerical Magnitude ◽  
Numerical Comparison ◽  
Central Research ◽  
Comparison Task ◽  
Mathematical Competencies ◽  
Numerical Order ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms

Understanding the relationship between symbolic numerical abilities and individual differences in mathematical competencies has become a central research endeavor in the last years. Evidence on this foundational relationship is often based on two behavioral signatures of numerical magnitude and numerical order processing: the canonical and the reverse distance effect. The former indicates faster reaction times for the comparison of numerals that are far in distance (e.g., 2 8) compared to numerals that are close in distance (e.g., 2 3). The latter indicates faster reaction times for the ordinal judgment of numerals (i.e., are numerals in ascending/descending order) that are close in distance (e.g., 2 3 4) compared to numerals that are far in distance (e.g., 2 4 6). While a substantial body of literature has reported consistent associations between the canonical distance effect and arithmetic abilities, rather inconsistent findings have been found for the reverse distance effect. Here, we tested the hypothesis that estimates of the reverse distance effect show qualitative differences (i.e., not all participants show a reverse distance effect in the expected direction) rather than quantitative differences (i.e., all individuals show a reverse distance effect, but to a different degree), and that inconsistent findings might be a consequence of this variation. We analyzed data from 397 adults who performed a computerized numerical comparison task, a computerized numerical order verification task (i.e., are three numerals presented in order or not), a paper pencil test of arithmetic fluency, as well as a standardized test to assess more complex forms of mathematical competencies. We found discriminatory evidence for the two distance effects. While estimates of the canonical distance effect showed quantitative differences, estimates of the reverse distance effect showed qualitative differences. Comparisons between individuals who demonstrated an effect and individuals who demonstrated no reverse distance effect confirmed a significant moderation on the correlation with mathematical abilities. Significantly larger effects were found in the group who showed an effect. These findings confirm that estimates of the reverse distance effect are subject to qualitative differences and that we need to better characterize the underlying mechanisms/strategies that might lead to these qualitative differences.

Unconscious semantic priming from pictures under backward masking and continuous flash suppression

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timo Stein ◽  
Vanessa Utz ◽  
Filip Van Opstal
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Priming ◽  
Statistical Power ◽  
Priming Effect ◽  
Semantic Processing ◽  
Conscious Awareness ◽  
Backward Masking ◽  
Unconscious Processing ◽  
Continuous Flash Suppression ◽  
Sufficient Statistical Power ◽  
Target Words

It is debated which perceptual functions can take place unconsciously and which depend on conscious awareness. Here, we tested whether the meaning of invisible pictures can be processed unconsciously, and whether this would depend on the psychophysical technique used to render these images invisible. We measured whether pictures of animals or objects presented under backward masking or continuous flash suppression could prime the subsequent categorization of target words into animal or non-animal. The backward masking experiment failed to replicate the priming effect reported in two previous studies, despite sufficient statistical power. Similarly, the continuous flash suppression experiment provided no evidence for a priming effect. Thus, our experiments failed to demonstrate unconscious semantic processing of pictures. These results support the emerging view that unconscious processing is rather limited in scope.

scholarly journals Large-scale Image Classification with Explainable deep learning scheme

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bin Wu ◽  
Yuhong Fan ◽  
Li Mao
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Deep Learning ◽  
Spatial Attention ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Spatial Dimension ◽  
Main Function ◽  
Learning Approaches ◽  
Attention Model ◽  
Object Decision ◽  
The Arts

Abstract For the uncertainty and complexity in object decision making and the differences of decision makers ' reliabilities, an object decision making method based on deep learning theory is proposed. However, traditional deep learning approaches optimize the parameters in an "end-to-end" mode by annotating large amounts of data to propagate the errors backwards. The learning method could be considered to be as a "black box", which is weak in explainability. Explainability refers to an algorithm that gives a clear summary of a particular task and connects it to defined principles or principles in the human world. This paper proposes an explainable attention model consisting of channel attention module and spatial attention module. The proposed module derives attention graphs from channel dimension and spatial dimension respectively, then the input features are selectively learned according to the importance of the features. For different channels, the higher the weight, the higher the correlation which required more attention. The main function of spatial attention is to capture the most informative part in the local feature graph, which is a supplement to channel attention. We evaluate our proposed module based on the ImageNet-1K and Cifar-100 respectively. Experimental results show that our algorithm is superior in both accuracy and robustness compared with the state of the arts.

scholarly journals Unconscious Masked Priming Depends on Temporal Attention

2002 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 416-424 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lionel Naccache ◽  
Elise Blandin ◽  
Stanislas Dehaene
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Repetition Priming ◽  
Time Window ◽  
Masked Priming ◽  
Target Pair ◽  
Temporal Attention ◽  
Behavioral Experiments ◽  
Comparison Task ◽  
Number Comparison ◽  
Prime Target

The cognitive processes at work in masked priming experiments are usually considered automatic and independent of attention. We provide evidence against this view. Three behavioral experiments demonstrate that the occurrence of unconscious priming in a number-comparison task is determined by the allocation of temporal attention to the time window during which the prime-target pair is presented. Both response-congruity priming and physical repetition priming vanish when temporal attention is focused away from this time window. These findings are inconsistent with the concept of a purely automatic spreading of activation during masked priming.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document