{"title":"Ontological conceptions of information cannot account for consciousness","authors":"Peter Ulric Tse","doi":"10.1016/j.concog.2024.103772","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.concog.2024.103772","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Epistemological and ontological conceptions of information are contrasted. The former are based on acts of decoding of extrinsic inputs that result in a decoder becoming informed. The latter are based on intrinsic states or state changes of the system independent of any external factors such as inputs to the system. Ontological conceptions of information, such as those that underlie integrated information theory or any theory that allies itself with panpsychism, are not able to account for consciousness. In the only physical systems that are known to be conscious, namely, animal brains, acts of decoding extrinsic inputs are central to creating consciousness and its contents. Moreover, only a very specific subset of decodings should realize consciousness, because consciousness in animals evolved to create an evaluative experience of what is intrinsically true about the world and the body, which is then used in a perception–action cycle that affords choices among options for behaving in the world in order to accomplish goals.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51358,"journal":{"name":"Consciousness and Cognition","volume":"126 ","pages":"Article 103772"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2024-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142548815","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Rafael Román-Caballero , Elisa Martín-Arévalo , Paulina del Carmen Martín-Sánchez , Juan Lupiáñez , Mariagrazia Capizzi
{"title":"Influence of rhythmic contexts on perception: No behavioral and eye-tracker evidence for rhythmic entrainment","authors":"Rafael Román-Caballero , Elisa Martín-Arévalo , Paulina del Carmen Martín-Sánchez , Juan Lupiáñez , Mariagrazia Capizzi","doi":"10.1016/j.concog.2024.103789","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.concog.2024.103789","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Entrainment theories propose that attention inherently oscillates between moments of attentional enhancement and disengagement. Consequently, perceptual and response benefits have been reported in tasks with a rhythmic structure. In the present study, we report two preregistered auditory experiments attempting to replicate previous supporting behavioral evidence of entrainment theories. In addition, we incorporated eye-tracker measures. Both Experiment 1 (duration discrimination task) and Experiment 2 (pitch discrimination task) showed no phase-specific benefit of rhythmic sequences compared to arrhythmic ones. Importantly, a tonic larger pupil size for arrhythmic conditions was observed irrespective of target phase, suggesting higher processing demands or arousal state imposed by a sustained uncertain context. Overall, the present results call into question whether the perceptual benefits predicted by entrainment theories are generalizable across all experimental designs and paradigms. On the contrary, our findings join a large group of studies that have failed to replicate the foundational results of attentional entrainment.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51358,"journal":{"name":"Consciousness and Cognition","volume":"126 ","pages":"Article 103789"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2024-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142702934","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Yangyang Sun , Keshuo Wang , Xingjie Liang , Peng Zhou , Yanliang Sun
{"title":"Unconscious temporal attention induced by invisible temporal association cues","authors":"Yangyang Sun , Keshuo Wang , Xingjie Liang , Peng Zhou , Yanliang Sun","doi":"10.1016/j.concog.2024.103786","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.concog.2024.103786","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Temporal attention is the ability to prioritize information based on timing. While conscious perception of temporally structured information is known to generate temporal attention, whether it occurs unconsciously remains uncertain. This study used a temporal cueing paradigm with masking techniques to explore the differences between conscious and unconscious temporal attention mechanisms. Experiment 1 found that both visible and invisible cues triggered temporal attention, with stronger effects for visible cues. Experiment 2, using electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings, showed that both visible and invisible cues evoked contingent negative variation (CNV) component, albeit smaller with invisible cues. The P300 component further supported this pattern. Hierarchical drift–diffusion modeling (HDDM) analysis demonstrated that both conscious and unconscious temporal attention effects involve non-perceptual decision-making processes. These findings both align and challenge the Global Workspace Theory, suggesting that while consciousness enhances conscious attention via global broadcasting, unconscious attention may rely on more localized neural networks.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51358,"journal":{"name":"Consciousness and Cognition","volume":"126 ","pages":"Article 103786"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2024-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142693801","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ankit Gupta , Yu-Hui Lo , Tony Cheng , Philip Tseng
{"title":"The sustenance and retention of perspectival shape representations","authors":"Ankit Gupta , Yu-Hui Lo , Tony Cheng , Philip Tseng","doi":"10.1016/j.concog.2024.103788","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.concog.2024.103788","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>When we are presented with a coin rotated in depth, although we perceive its <em>objective</em> circular shape, the original <em>perspectival</em> shape is nonetheless represented in the visual system. Here we investigated the onset time and duration of such perspectival representation by systematically manipulating stimuli presentation time vs. post-stimuli retention time. Participants performed a speeded search task and had to find an oval target against a circle distractor that is either head-on (i.e., perspectivally dissimilar) or rotated leftward/rightward (i.e., perspectivally similar). We found that even when stimuli disappeared from view, participants still took more time in locating the oval target, suggesting robust and persistent perspectival interference (Experiment 1). This interference emerged as early as 100 ms (Experiment 2), and persisted for at least 1000 ms (Experiment 3). Together, these results suggest a 100 ms formation time and possibly 1000 ms or longer life span for perspectival representation.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51358,"journal":{"name":"Consciousness and Cognition","volume":"126 ","pages":"Article 103788"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2024-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142688507","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Action selection and simultaneously presented emotional sound and reward: Differential effects on implicit and explicit sense of agency","authors":"Wenyi Pan , Yi Lei , Jingyuan Lin , Hong Li","doi":"10.1016/j.concog.2024.103784","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.concog.2024.103784","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The sense of agency (SoA) refers to the subjective experience of influencing the external world through actions. This study explores how action selection and simultaneous affective outcomes impact implicit and explicit SoA. In two experiments, participants performed free or instructed key presses followed by simultaneously presenting a reward picture (gain, loss) with an emotional sound (positive, neutral, negative). Experiment 1 showed enhanced implicit SoA for free (vs. instructed) actions and positive (vs. negative) sound. Experiment 2 revealed enhanced explicit SoA for reward gain (vs. loss) and positive (vs. negative) sound. Results suggest that SoA formation at different consciousness levels depends on various cues’ absolute and relative strengths. Action selection only influenced implicit SoA, while affective outcomes showed differential effects: emotional sound impacted implicit SoA, and both reward and sound influenced explicit SoA, with motivation-related reward showing stronger effects. This research advances the understanding of cue integration mechanisms underlying SoA formation.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51358,"journal":{"name":"Consciousness and Cognition","volume":"126 ","pages":"Article 103784"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2024-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142632365","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The body mirroring thought: The relationship between thought transitions and fluctuations in autonomic nervous activity mediated by interoception","authors":"Mai Sakuragi , Kazushi Shinagawa , Yuri Terasawa , Satoshi Umeda","doi":"10.1016/j.concog.2024.103770","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.concog.2024.103770","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Our thought states change without intention. This study verified that the transition of thought states varies with fluctuations in autonomic nervous activity, and that this effect is modulated by interoceptive accuracy. The participants completed the heartbeat counting task (HCT) and vigilance task. We assessed the participants’ interoceptive accuracy based on their performance on the HCT. The vigilance task is a simple attention task, and during this task, we asked the participants to report the content and contemplation of their thoughts. Consequently, participants with accurate interoception were more likely to remain in a highly contemplative thought state when parasympathetic activity was suppressed. In contrast, the dominance of parasympathetic activity facilitated transitions to different thought states or experiences of less contemplative thought states in them. The results suggest that even subtle changes in bodily responses at rest can affect thought transitions in people with accurate interoception.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51358,"journal":{"name":"Consciousness and Cognition","volume":"125 ","pages":"Article 103770"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2024-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142445458","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Parnian Jalalian, Marius Golubickis, Yadvi Sharma, C. Neil Macrae
{"title":"The temporal profile of self-prioritization","authors":"Parnian Jalalian, Marius Golubickis, Yadvi Sharma, C. Neil Macrae","doi":"10.1016/j.concog.2024.103763","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.concog.2024.103763","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Personal relevance exerts a powerful influence on decisional processing, such that arbitrary stimuli associated with the self are classified more rapidly than identical material linked with other people. Notwithstanding numerous demonstrations of this facilitatory effect, it remains unclear whether self-prioritization is a temporally stable outcome of decision-making. Accordingly, using a shape-label matching task in combination with computational modeling, the current experiment investigated this matter. The results were informative. First, regardless of the target of comparison (i.e., friend or stranger), self-prioritization was a persistent product of decision-making across the testing session. Second, a variant of the standard drift diffusion model in which decisional boundaries collapsed gradually over the course of the task best fit the observed data. Third, whereas the efficiency of stimulus processing increased for other-related stimuli during the task, it decreased for self-related material. Collectively, these findings advance understanding of the temporal profile of self-prioritization.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51358,"journal":{"name":"Consciousness and Cognition","volume":"125 ","pages":"Article 103763"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2024-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142382350","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Stretching the limits of automated symbolic orienting","authors":"Mario Dalmaso , Giovanni Galfano , Luigi Castelli","doi":"10.1016/j.concog.2024.103773","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.concog.2024.103773","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Arrows trigger reflexive shifts of attention and instantiate the prototypical example of automated symbolic orienting. We conducted four experiments to further test the boundary conditions of this phenomenon. Participants discriminated a peripheral target while spatially uninformative arrows, pointing leftwards or rightwards, appeared at fixation. In all experiments, arrow direction could either randomly vary (intermixed condition) or be kept constant within a block of trials (blocked condition). Moreover, in Experiments 3 and 4, a direction word presented at the beginning of the trial informed participants about the target location with 100% certainty. Overall, the results highlighted a significant arrow-driven orienting effect in both the blocked and the intermixed conditions. The present findings support the notion that automated symbolic orienting is resistant to suppression in that it endures even when the context should stress the uninformative nature of the arrows while also creating ideal conditions to boost participants’ tendency to ignore them.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51358,"journal":{"name":"Consciousness and Cognition","volume":"125 ","pages":"Article 103773"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2024-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142512684","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Benjamin Rebouillat , Nicolas Barascud , Sid Kouider
{"title":"Partial awareness during voluntary endogenous decision","authors":"Benjamin Rebouillat , Nicolas Barascud , Sid Kouider","doi":"10.1016/j.concog.2024.103769","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.concog.2024.103769","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Despite our feeling of control over decisions, our ability to consciously access choices before execution remains debated. Recent research reveals prospective access to intention to act, allowing potential vetoes of impending decisions. However, whether the content of impending decision can be accessed remain debated. Here we track neural signals during participants’ early deliberation in free decisions. Participants chose freely between two options but sometimes had to reject their current decision just before execution. The initially preferred option, tracked in real time, significantly predicts the upcoming choice, but remain mostly outside of conscious awareness. Participants often display overconfidence in their access to this content. Instead, confidence is associated with a neural marker of self-initiated decision, indicating a qualitative confusion in the confidence evaluation process. Our results challenge the notion of complete agency over choices, suggesting inflated awareness of forthcoming decisions and providing insights into metacognitive processes in free decision-making.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51358,"journal":{"name":"Consciousness and Cognition","volume":"125 ","pages":"Article 103769"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2024-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142438340","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Finding oneself in someone else’s shoes: The role of perspective in literary texts","authors":"Giorgia Tosi , Noemi Bonali , Daniele Romano","doi":"10.1016/j.concog.2024.103767","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.concog.2024.103767","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Embodiment refers to the possibility of processing external objects as part of one’s body. Similarly, absorption refers to the subjective experience of being absorbed in a narrative text and identifying with characters. Embodiment and absorption in literary texts have in common the idea of finding oneself in someone else’s shoes. Recent studies have shown that embodiment is influenced by the perspective used to induce the illusion. The present study aimed to assess whether absorption in literary texts was modulated by perspective too. We first confirmed the reliability of the absorption measure (Story World Absorption Scale − SWAS) in Italian. Then, we used a Bayesian approach to assess the impact of the story perspective on the perceived absorption. Our results showed that, unlike embodiment, the level of absorption is not influenced by the narrative’s perspective, suggesting that different processes underlie the two experiences of self-projection.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51358,"journal":{"name":"Consciousness and Cognition","volume":"125 ","pages":"Article 103767"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2024-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142407133","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}