Attentional modulation of unconscious inhibitory visuomotor processes: An EEG study

The present study examined the role of attention in unconscious inhibitory visuomotor processes in three experiments that employed a mixed paradigm including a spatial cueing task and masked prime task. Spatial attention to the prime was manipulated. Specifically, the valid‐cue condition (in which t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Psychophysiology 2020-08, Vol.57 (8), p.e13561-n/a
Main Authors: Wang, Yongchun, Di, Meilin, Zhao, Jingjing, Hu, Saisai, Yao, Zhao, Wang, Yonghui
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Attention task
attentional modulation
Electroencephalography
ERPs
Event-related potentials
negative compatibility effect
Sensorimotor integration
unconscious processing
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Summary:The present study examined the role of attention in unconscious inhibitory visuomotor processes in three experiments that employed a mixed paradigm including a spatial cueing task and masked prime task. Spatial attention to the prime was manipulated. Specifically, the valid‐cue condition (in which the prime obtained more attentional resources) and invalid‐cue condition (in which the prime obtained fewer attentional resources) were included. The behavioral results showed that the negative compatibility effect (a behavioral indicator of inhibitory visuomotor processing) in the valid‐cue condition was larger than that in the invalid‐cue condition. Most importantly, lateralized readiness potential results indicated that the prime‐related activation was stronger in the valid‐cue condition than in the invalid‐cue condition and that the followed inhibition in the compatible trials was also stronger in the valid‐cue condition than in the invalid‐cue condition. In line with the proposed attentional modulation model, unconscious visuomotor inhibitory processing is modulated by attentional resources. We investigate the attentional modulation of unconscious inhibitory visuomotor processes combining eye‐tracking and electroencephalogram. The results indicate that attention strengthens the prime‐related activation and followed inhibition in the absence of perception awareness. Our findings suggest that the automatic processing of unconscious stimuli is susceptible to top‐down control for optimizing intended information processing.
ISSN:0048-5772
1469-8986
1540-5958
DOI:10.1111/psyp.13561