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  • Connell & Lynott (2016)

    Rights statement: This article may not exactly replicate the final version published in the APA journal. It is not the copy of record

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Do we know what we're simulating?: information loss on transferring unconscious perceptual simulation to conscious imagery

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Do we know what we're simulating? information loss on transferring unconscious perceptual simulation to conscious imagery. / Connell, Louise; Lynott, Dermot.
In: Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, Vol. 42, No. 8, 08.2016, p. 1218-1232.

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Connell L, Lynott D. Do we know what we're simulating? information loss on transferring unconscious perceptual simulation to conscious imagery. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition. 2016 Aug;42(8):1218-1232. Epub 2016 Feb 11. doi: 10.1037/xlm0000245

Author

Connell, Louise ; Lynott, Dermot. / Do we know what we're simulating? information loss on transferring unconscious perceptual simulation to conscious imagery. In: Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition. 2016 ; Vol. 42, No. 8. pp. 1218-1232.

Bibtex

@article{4ef60da4b09d46759062534d47831176,
title = "Do we know what we're simulating?: information loss on transferring unconscious perceptual simulation to conscious imagery",
abstract = "Perceptual simulations are unconscious and automatic, whereas perceptual imagery is conscious and deliberate, but it is unclear how easily one can transfer perceptual information from unconscious to conscious awareness. We investigated whether it is possible to be aware of what one is mentally representing; that is, whether it is possible to consciously examine the contents of a perceptual simulation without information being lost. Studies 1 and 2 found that people cannot accurately evaluate the perceptual content of a representation unless attention is explicitly drawn to each modality individually. In particular, when asked to consider sensory experience as a whole, modality-specific auditory, gustatory, and haptic information is neglected, and olfactory and visual information distorted. Moreover, information loss is greatest for perceptually complex, multimodal simulations. Study 3 examined if such information loss leads to behavioral consequences by examining performance during lexical decision, a task whose semantic effects emerge from automatic access to the full potential of unconscious perceptual simulation. Results showed that modality-specific perceptual strength consistently outperformed modality-general sensory experience ratings in predicting latency and accuracy, which confirms that the effects of Studies 1 and 2 are indeed due to information being lost in the transfer to conscious awareness. These findings suggest that people indeed have difficulty in transferring perceptual information from unconscious simulation to conscious imagery. People cannot be aware of the full contents of a perceptual simulation because the act of bringing it to awareness leads to systematic loss of information.",
author = "Louise Connell and Dermot Lynott",
note = "This article may not exactly replicate the final version published in the APA journal. It is not the copy of record",
year = "2016",
month = aug,
doi = "10.1037/xlm0000245",
language = "English",
volume = "42",
pages = "1218--1232",
journal = "Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition",
issn = "0278-7393",
publisher = "AMER PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOC",
number = "8",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - Do we know what we're simulating?

T2 - information loss on transferring unconscious perceptual simulation to conscious imagery

AU - Connell, Louise

AU - Lynott, Dermot

N1 - This article may not exactly replicate the final version published in the APA journal. It is not the copy of record

PY - 2016/8

Y1 - 2016/8

N2 - Perceptual simulations are unconscious and automatic, whereas perceptual imagery is conscious and deliberate, but it is unclear how easily one can transfer perceptual information from unconscious to conscious awareness. We investigated whether it is possible to be aware of what one is mentally representing; that is, whether it is possible to consciously examine the contents of a perceptual simulation without information being lost. Studies 1 and 2 found that people cannot accurately evaluate the perceptual content of a representation unless attention is explicitly drawn to each modality individually. In particular, when asked to consider sensory experience as a whole, modality-specific auditory, gustatory, and haptic information is neglected, and olfactory and visual information distorted. Moreover, information loss is greatest for perceptually complex, multimodal simulations. Study 3 examined if such information loss leads to behavioral consequences by examining performance during lexical decision, a task whose semantic effects emerge from automatic access to the full potential of unconscious perceptual simulation. Results showed that modality-specific perceptual strength consistently outperformed modality-general sensory experience ratings in predicting latency and accuracy, which confirms that the effects of Studies 1 and 2 are indeed due to information being lost in the transfer to conscious awareness. These findings suggest that people indeed have difficulty in transferring perceptual information from unconscious simulation to conscious imagery. People cannot be aware of the full contents of a perceptual simulation because the act of bringing it to awareness leads to systematic loss of information.

AB - Perceptual simulations are unconscious and automatic, whereas perceptual imagery is conscious and deliberate, but it is unclear how easily one can transfer perceptual information from unconscious to conscious awareness. We investigated whether it is possible to be aware of what one is mentally representing; that is, whether it is possible to consciously examine the contents of a perceptual simulation without information being lost. Studies 1 and 2 found that people cannot accurately evaluate the perceptual content of a representation unless attention is explicitly drawn to each modality individually. In particular, when asked to consider sensory experience as a whole, modality-specific auditory, gustatory, and haptic information is neglected, and olfactory and visual information distorted. Moreover, information loss is greatest for perceptually complex, multimodal simulations. Study 3 examined if such information loss leads to behavioral consequences by examining performance during lexical decision, a task whose semantic effects emerge from automatic access to the full potential of unconscious perceptual simulation. Results showed that modality-specific perceptual strength consistently outperformed modality-general sensory experience ratings in predicting latency and accuracy, which confirms that the effects of Studies 1 and 2 are indeed due to information being lost in the transfer to conscious awareness. These findings suggest that people indeed have difficulty in transferring perceptual information from unconscious simulation to conscious imagery. People cannot be aware of the full contents of a perceptual simulation because the act of bringing it to awareness leads to systematic loss of information.

U2 - 10.1037/xlm0000245

DO - 10.1037/xlm0000245

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 26866656

VL - 42

SP - 1218

EP - 1232

JO - Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition

JF - Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition

SN - 0278-7393

IS - 8

ER -