Connell, Louise and Lynott, Dermot (2016) Do we know what we’re simulating? Information loss on transferring unconscious perceptual simulation to conscious imagery. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 42 (8). pp. 1218-1232. ISSN 0278-7393
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Abstract
Perceptual simulations are unconscious and automatic, whereas perceptual imagery is conscious and
deliberate, but it is unclear how easily one can transfer perceptual information from unconscious to
conscious awareness. We investigated whether it is possible to be aware of what one is mentally
representing; that is, whether it is possible to consciously examine the contents of a perceptual simulation
without information being lost. Studies 1 and 2 found that people cannot accurately evaluate the
perceptual content of a representation unless attention is explicitly drawn to each modality individually.
In particular, when asked to consider sensory experience as a whole, modality-specific auditory,
gustatory, and haptic information is neglected, and olfactory and visual information distorted. Moreover,
information loss is greatest for perceptually complex, multimodal simulations. Study 3 examined if such
information loss leads to behavioral consequences by examining performance during lexical decision, a
task whose semantic effects emerge from automatic access to the full potential of unconscious perceptual
simulation. Results showed that modality-specific perceptual strength consistently outperformed
modality-general sensory experience ratings in predicting latency and accuracy, which confirms that the
effects of Studies 1 and 2 are indeed due to information being lost in the transfer to conscious awareness.
These findings suggest that people indeed have difficulty in transferring perceptual information from
unconscious simulation to conscious imagery. People cannot be aware of the full contents of a perceptual
simulation because the act of bringing it to awareness leads to systematic loss of information.
Item Type: | Article |
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Keywords: | perceptual simulation; imagery; modality-specific perceptual strength; sensory experience ratings; lexical decision; |
Academic Unit: | Faculty of Science and Engineering > Psychology |
Item ID: | 15651 |
Identification Number: | 10.1037/xlm0000245 |
Depositing User: | Dermot Lynott |
Date Deposited: | 09 Mar 2022 12:41 |
Journal or Publication Title: | Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition |
Publisher: | American Psychological Association |
Refereed: | Yes |
Related URLs: | |
URI: | https://mural.maynoothuniversity.ie/id/eprint/15651 |
Use Licence: | This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here |
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