Using masked priming to investigate the cognitive principles that govern unconscious processing and their effect on arithmetic fact retrieval

对看不见的刺激的无意识视觉加工容易调节知觉、认知和操作。掩蔽启动是研究无意识加工对外显行为影响的一种成熟方法。在这种方法中，参与者必须对前面有看不见的主要刺激的可见目标刺激进行分类。在启动前和启动后呈现掩蔽刺激会降低启动的可见性。尽管掩蔽会导致主观意识的缺乏，但启动可以影响外显行为。无意识加工在这个项目中有双重作用。首先，它将被用来作为一种工具来影响，从而调查在算术事实检索过程中发生的处理阶段。第二，无意识加工将是研究中的认知现象。本项目的第一个目标是检验关于支持乘法事实提取的认知结构的假设（即，通过从记忆中直接检索来解决简单乘法）。掩蔽启动方法将用于干扰乘法事实检索期间发生的特定处理阶段（基于相互作用的邻居模型; Verguts & Fias，2005 a）。其核心思想是，通过将检索过程的执行与由两位数组成的掩码素数的处理重叠，应该可以影响和调查检索过程。素数将被操纵以测试关于时间动态的假设（即，时间序列）或它们的底层表示格式（例如，使用掩蔽启动影响乘法事实提取的想法依赖于支持符号数字的无意识处理的机制。这个项目的第二个目标是研究如何无意识地处理一个被掩盖的启动。数字属性（例如，幅度、奇偶性和数字词语音特征）将被操纵以解决关于无意识刺激处理的基础原则的问题。素数是语义处理的吗？刺激-反应关联的发展是否允许绕过语义表征？对无意识刺激的认知操作是由自上而下的控制和执行功能决定的吗？无意识的刺激是否可以改变任务控制表征（例如，与任务相关的规则和目标）？研究结果也将有助于更好地理解无意识处理的刺激以外的数字。事实上，类似的机制可能会支持无意识处理，而不管刺激类别（例如数字，文字或图像）。

Unconscious visual processing of unseen stimuli is apt to modulate perception, cognition and performance. A well-established method to investigate the influence of unconscious processing on overt behavior is masked priming. In this method, participants have to classify a visible target stimulus that is preceded by an unseen prime stimulus. The visibility of the prime is reduced by presenting masking stimuli before and after it. Although the masking induces a subjective lack of awareness, the prime can influence overt behavior.Unconscious processing has a twofold role in this project. First, it will be used as a tool to influence and thus to investigate the processing stages occurring during arithmetic fact retrieval. Second, unconscious processing will be the cognitive phenomenon under investigation.The first objective of this project is to test hypotheses concerning the cognitive architecture that underpins multiplication fact retrieval (i.e., solving simple multiplications by means of direct retrieval from memory). The masked priming method will be used to interfere with specific processing stages that occur during the multiplication fact retrieval (based on the interacting neighbors model; Verguts & Fias, 2005a). The core idea is that it should be possible to influence and investigate the retrieval process by overlapping its execution with the processing of a masked prime consisting of a two-digit number. The prime will be manipulated to test assumptions concerning the temporal dynamics (i.e., temporal sequence) of the processing stages or their underlying representation format (e.g., componential vs. holistic representation).The idea of influencing multiplication fact retrieval using masked priming relies on the mechanisms that underpin the unconscious processing of symbolic numbers. The second objective of this project is to investigate how a masked prime is unconsciously processed. Number properties (e.g., magnitude, parity, and number words phonetical features) will be manipulated to address questions about the principles that underlie the processing of unconscious stimuli. Are primes semantically processed? Does the development of stimulus-response associations allow to by-pass the semantic representation? Are the cognitive operations applied to unconscious stimuli determined by top-down control and executive functions? Can an unconscious stimulus modify task-control representations (e.g., task-related rules and goals)? Results will also help to better understand the unconscious processing of stimuli other than numbers. In fact, similar mechanisms are likely to underpin unconscious processing regardless of the stimulus category (e.g. numbers, words or images).