Unconscious and out of control: Subliminal priming is insensitive to observer expectations

• Published in: Consciousness and cognition 2013-09, Vol.22 (3), p.716-728
• Main Authors: Cressman, Erin K., Lam, Melanie Y., Franks, Ian M., Enns, James T., Chua, Romeo
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Action-trigger; Activity levels. Psychomotricity; Adolescent; Adult; Biological and medical sciences; Cognition & reasoning; Cognition. Intelligence; Consciousness; Cues; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Humans; Intention; Masked priming; Miscellaneous; Movement; Perceptual Masking; Photic Stimulation; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Psychomotor activities; Psychomotor Performance - physiology; Reaction Time; Repetition Priming - physiology; Subliminal Stimulation; Visual Perception - physiology; Young Adult
• ISSN: 1053-8100; 1090-2376
• DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2013.04.011

•Is the influence of an invisible prime on movement dependent on conscious movement expectations?•Participants reached to a target, which triggered a directional prime–mask arrow sequence.•Responses to the visible mask were influenced by participants’ intentional bias.•Responses were also influenced by both invisible primes, independent of the following mask.•Invisible stimuli automatically activate their associated responses. We asked whether the influence of an invisible prime on movement is dependent on conscious movement expectations. Participants reached to a central target, which triggered a directional prime–mask arrow sequence. Participants were instructed that the visible arrows (masks) would most often signal a movement modification in a specific (biased) direction. Kinematic analyses revealed that responses to the visible mask were influenced by participants’ intentional bias, as movements were fastest when the more probable mask was displayed. In addition, responses were influenced by the invisible prime without regard to its relationship to the more probable mask. Analysis of the time of initial trajectory modifications revealed that both primes influenced responses in a similar manner after accounting for participants’ bias. These results imply that invisible stimuli automatically activate their associated responses and that unconscious priming of the motor system is insensitive to the conscious expectations of the participant making the pointing movements.