NDLI: Conscious and unconscious processes in cognitive control: a theoretical perspective and a novel empirical approach

Content Provider	PubMed Central
Author	Horga, Guillermo Maia, Tiago V.
Copyright Year	2012
Abstract	Controlled processing is often referred to as “voluntary” or “willful” and therefore assumed to depend entirely on conscious processes. Recent studies using subliminal-priming paradigms, however, have started to question this assumption. Specifically, these studies have shown that subliminally presented stimuli can induce adjustments in control. Such findings are not immediately reconcilable with the view that conscious and unconscious processes are separate, with each having its own neural substrates and modus operandi. We propose a different theoretical perspective that suggests that conscious and unconscious processes might be implemented by the same neural substrates and largely perform the same neural computations, with the distinction between the two arising mostly from the quality of representations (although not all brain regions may be capable of supporting conscious representations). Thus, stronger and more durable neuronal firing would give rise to conscious processes; weaker or less durable neuronal firing would remain below the threshold of consciousness but still be causally efficacious in affecting behavior. We show that this perspective naturally explains the findings that subliminally presented primes induce adjustments in cognitive control. We also highlight an important gap in this literature: whereas subliminal-priming paradigms demonstrate that an unconsciously presented prime is sufficient to induce adjustments in cognitive control, they are uninformative about what occurs under standard task conditions. In standard tasks, the stimuli themselves are consciously perceived; however, the extent to which the processes that lead to adjustments in control are conscious or unconscious remains unexplored. We propose a new paradigm suitable to investigate these issues and to test important predictions of our hypothesis that conscious and unconscious processes both engage the same control machinery, differing mostly in the quality of the representations.
Related Links	http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2012.00199
Starting Page	199
File Format	PDF
ISSN	16625161
e-ISSN	16625161
Journal	Frontiers in Human Neuroscience
Volume Number	6
Language	English
Publisher	Frontiers Media S.A.
Publisher Date	2012-01-01
Access Restriction	Open
Rights Holder	Frontiers Media S.A.
Subject Keyword	Biological Psychiatry Behavioral Neuroscience Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology Neurology Psychiatry and Mental health Research in Higher Education
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Neurology Biological Psychiatry Behavioral Neuroscience Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology Psychiatry and Mental Health

Sl.	Authority	Responsibilities	Communication Details
1	Ministry of Education (GoI), Department of Higher Education	Sanctioning Authority	https://www.education.gov.in/ict-initiatives
2	Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	Host Institute of the Project: The host institute of the project is responsible for providing infrastructure support and hosting the project	https://www.iitkgp.ac.in
3	National Digital Library of India Office, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	The administrative and infrastructural headquarters of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in
4	Project PI / Joint PI	Principal Investigator and Joint Principal Investigators of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in Prof. Saswat Chakrabarti will be added soon
5	Website/Portal (Helpdesk)	Queries regarding NDLI and its services	support@ndl.gov.in
6	Contents and Copyright Issues	Queries related to content curation and copyright issues	content@ndl.gov.in
7	National Digital Library of India Club (NDLI Club)	Queries related to NDLI Club formation, support, user awareness program, seminar/symposium, collaboration, social media, promotion, and outreach	clubsupport@ndl.gov.in
8	Digital Preservation Centre (DPC)	Assistance with digitizing and archiving copyright-free printed books	dpc@ndl.gov.in
9	IDR Setup or Support	Queries related to establishment and support of Institutional Digital Repository (IDR) and IDR workshops	idr@ndl.gov.in

Disentangling conscious and unconscious processing: a subjective trial-based assessment approach

Subliminal unconscious conflict alpha power inhibits supraliminal conscious symptom experience

Executive control over unconscious cognition: attentional sensitization of unconscious information processing

Cognitive control and the non-conscious regulation of health behavior

Comparing the Neural Correlates of Conscious and Unconscious Conflict Control in a Masked Stroop Priming Task

The pervasive nature of unconscious social information processing in executive control

Brain mechanisms underlying automatic and unconscious control of motor action

Unconscious Errors Enhance Prefrontal-Occipital Oscillatory Synchrony

Society, organizations and the brain: building toward a unified cognitive neuroscience perspective

Conscious and unconscious processes in cognitive control: a theoretical perspective and a novel empirical approach

Similar Documents

Disentangling conscious and unconscious processing: a subjective trial-based assessment approach

Subliminal unconscious conflict alpha power inhibits supraliminal conscious symptom experience

Executive control over unconscious cognition: attentional sensitization of unconscious information processing

Cognitive control and the non-conscious regulation of health behavior

Comparing the Neural Correlates of Conscious and Unconscious Conflict Control in a Masked Stroop Priming Task

The pervasive nature of unconscious social information processing in executive control

Brain mechanisms underlying automatic and unconscious control of motor action

Unconscious Errors Enhance Prefrontal-Occipital Oscillatory Synchrony

Society, organizations and the brain: building toward a unified cognitive neuroscience perspective

Conscious and unconscious processes in cognitive control: a theoretical perspective and a novel empirical approach