18th Annual Student Research Conference
Social Science
The Role of Unconscious Thought During an Attentional Blink
Matthew I. Robertson
Dr. Terry Palmer, Faculty Mentor
The present study utilizes the phenomenon know as “attentional blink” (AB) to probe the role of the unconscious as an automatic organizer of incoming sensory information and its effect on decision making processes. A rapid series visual presentation (RSVP) paradigm will be used in a semantically oriented target-identification task. Following the target stimulus, a probe stimulus, semantically significant in relation to the target stimulus, will be presented unconsciously during the AB. Ss will then engage in a forced-choice response task involving target-word associations. Answering will either be immediate (control condition), delayed but consciously considered (conscious-decision condition), or delayed but unconsciously considered using an n-back task (unconscious-decision condition). It is expected that Ss in the unconscious-decision condition will be more likely to choose word associations relating to both target and probe whereas Ss in the conscious-decision condition will more frequently choose word associations relating only to the consciously perceived target stimulus.
Keywords: attentional blink, unconscious, decision making
Topic(s):Psychology
Presentation Type: Poster
Session: 29-79
Location: OP Lobby & Atrium
Time: 1:15