Attentional sensitization of unconscious visual processing: Top-down influences on masked priming

Kiefer, Adams, Zovko · Advances in Cognitive Psychology · 2012 · cognitive-psychology · 10.5709/acp-0102-4 · record Kiefer2012-attentional-sensitization-of-unconscious-vis
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Where this record's text came from. faceted 2026-08 by reading the locally held text (xml); every evidence string verified as an exact substring of that text before merging. This is a theoretical review, so the record describes the model, not a single experiment; several studies it reports are described as unpublished at the time ('Adams & Kiefer, results not published yet'; 'Zovko & Kiefer, results not published yet'), which is one reason replication status is left untested. The article also claims broad robustness of the attentional effects it reviews ('Several attentional manipulations have been shown to reliably modulate subliminal priming effects.'), but that concerns the reviewed phenomenon rather than the sensitization model itself. 2026-08-18 schema-0.3 pass: every quote verified as an exact substring of the staged text and anchored at merge time; concept terms verified present; every edge endpoint an existing node.
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automaticity autonomous attentional sensitization top-down control subliminal priming task sets attentional resources Task representations raise the neuronal gain of task-relevant processing pathways and lower it in task-irrelevant ones, so unconscious stimuli are amplified or attenuated according to their congruence with the current task set Prefrontal top-down signals adjust the sensitivity of posterior processing pathways to incoming sensory input, whether or not that input reaches awareness Backward inhibition suppresses the just-abandoned task set while the next task is prepared, which reverses the direction of the sensitization effect at long intervals Attentional sensitization applies to unconscious and conscious stimuli alike, being blind to whether the stimulus is consciously perceived attentional sensitization model of unconscious cognition gain preemptive control reactive control task set conditional automaticity masked visuo-motor response priming masked semantic priming N400 ERP component induction task paradigm type of induction task RPI subliminal priming effect review

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conceptconceptsan idea the paper works with, quoted where the paper uses it
content tagcontent_tagsa finding, definition, quantity, statistic or variable named in the paper
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mechanismmechanismshow the reported effect is said to come about
methodmethodhow the paper produced its evidence
phenomenonphenomenonthe effect or regularity under study
sensesensesa distinct use of a term, quoted where the paper fixes it
transfertransfersa method or concept carried in from another field

The paper

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claim_relations 2 · claim_type 1 · concept_edges 4 · concepts 7 · content_tags 21 · limitations 2 · mechanisms 4 · method 1 · phenomenon 1 · senses 4 · transfers 1

Relations on this page carry a quotation for the claim. Where a relation was separately evidenced — and so tested against the vocabulary for its type — the row says so; none of 4 relations here carry that mark. The rest are the tagger’s reading of the sentence quoted beside them.

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facettagfieldconf.whose words
claim_typemechanism
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claim_typethe paper's words
phenomenonsubliminal masked priming
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phenomenonthe paper's words
methodreview
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methodthe paper's words
mechanismsmechanisms
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mechanisms[0]the tagger's words
mechanismsmechanisms
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mechanisms[1]the tagger's words
mechanismsmechanisms
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mechanisms[2]the tagger's words
mechanismsmechanisms
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mechanisms[3]the tagger's words
limitationsThe model's central neural assumption, a prefrontal top-down signal modulating posterior pathway sensitivity, has not yet been tested in detail.
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limitations[0]the tagger's words
limitationsThe theory is not yet formally specified, so its predictions about the dynamics of attentional control remain imprecise.
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limitations[1]the tagger's words
transfersThe gain parameter of neural network models, together with attentional gain modulation observed in primate single-cell recordings, is imported as the computational mechanism of the psychological attentional sensitization model
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transfers[0]the tagger's words
conceptsautomaticity
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also in: automaticity
concepts[0]0.95the paper's words
conceptsautonomous
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also in: autonomous
concepts[1]0.95the paper's words
conceptsattentional sensitization
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concepts[2]0.95the paper's words
conceptstop-down control
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concepts[3]0.95the paper's words
conceptssubliminal priming
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concepts[4]0.95the paper's words
conceptstask sets
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also in: task sets
concepts[5]0.95the paper's words
conceptsattentional resources
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concepts[6]0.95the paper's words
sensesautomaticity, CLASSICAL - and the sense worth recording is the OPERATIONAL consequence rather than the phrasing: if automatic processes are autonomous, then a behavioural or neurophysiological effect `has to be INVARIANT in order to index a truly automatic process`. The definition dictates a test, the test is invariance, and invariance is what gets measured. A conceptual assumption turned into an experimental criterion
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senses[0]0.95the tagger's words
sensesA DEFINITION REJECTED BECAUSE ITS EXTENSION IS EMPTY. Attention and task demands modulate nearly every effect that has been looked at, so `it is difficult to identify processes that actually meet the classical criteria` - and `the apparent lack of processes that fully meet the criteria of automaticity renders the classical view UNSATISFACTORY`. Not refuted by a counter-example: retired because nothing in the world satisfies it. That is a distinct way for a term to change and the corpus should be able to find the cases
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senses[1]0.95the tagger's words
sensesautomaticity, REVISED - the same word with one criterion removed: automatic now means `does not depend on conscious awareness` and `is initiated without deliberate intention`, and no longer means unmodulable. The paper states the consequence explicitly - unconscious automatic processing and attentional control `is NOT A CONTRADICTION as it has been previously thought`. Two criteria kept, one dropped, and the dropped one is the one that was selecting nothing
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senses[2]0.95the tagger's words
sensessubliminal priming used as the HARD CASE for a general claim about automaticity: it is the field's prototypical automatic process, so showing four separate top-down influences on it - attentional resources, stimulus expectations, action intentions, task sets - is an argument about automaticity in general rather than about priming. The corpus's central phenomenon serving as somebody else's test object
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senses[3]0.95the tagger's words
claim_relationscontradicts → classical theories of automaticity (Posner & Snyder, 1975; Schneider & Shiffrin, 1977)
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claim_relations[0]the tagger's words
claim_relationsbuilds-on → Kiefer & Martens, 2010
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claim_relations[1]the tagger's words
concept_edgesattentional sensitization —contrasted-with→ autonomous
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differs in: WHETHER AN UNCONSCIOUS PROCESS CAN BE REACHED FROM ABOVE - the classical account makes autonomy definitional, this one makes prior attentional configuration a PRECONDITION for the process running at all. Not a weaker version of the same claim: the direction of dependence is reversed · strength of the relation: 0.95 · note: THE PAPER'S ARGUMENT, and the abstract states both sides in one sentence pair - 'In contrast to these classical conceptions'. Confidence 0.95.
concept_edges[0]0.95the tagger's words
concept_edgestop-down control —causes→ subliminal priming
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direction on the measure: increases · strength of the relation: 0.9 · note: The direction is recorded as 'increases' because the paper's own summary is 'enhances OR attenuates' - attention moves the effect in either direction depending on congruence with the task set, which is the point. A 'no-change' reading would be wrong and a purely positive one incomplete; the quote carries both words. Audit 2026-09-28: DOUBTFUL - read against its full span and kept, but attentional manipulations 'MODULATE' subliminal priming; the 'increases' sign is not stated.
concept_edges[1]0.95the tagger's words
concept_edgestask sets —causes→ subliminal priming
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direction on the measure: increases · strength of the relation: 0.9 · note: One of the four enumerated influences, kept as its own edge because 'what the participant is set up to do changes what an unseen stimulus does' is the concrete form of the configuration claim. Audit 2026-09-28: DOUBTFUL - read against its full span and kept, but subliminal priming 'is modulated by task sets' and attention 'enhances or attenuates'; the 'increases' sign is not stated.
concept_edges[2]0.95the tagger's words
concept_edgesattentional resources —causes→ subliminal priming
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direction on the measure: increases · strength of the relation: 0.9 · note: The sharpest of the four against the classical view: a process that consumes attentional resources is not autonomous by anybody's definition.
concept_edges[3]0.85the tagger's words
content_tagsA semantic induction task performed shortly before a masked prime enhanced subsequent subliminal semantic priming in both reaction time and N400, whereas a perceptual induction task attenuated it.
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content_tags.findings[0]the tagger's words
content_tagsThe pattern reversed at the long response-prime interval, with priming present after the perceptual but not the semantic induction task.
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content_tags.findings[1]the tagger's words
content_tagsSemantic and visuo-motor priming were doubly dissociated by induction task type, with visuo-motor priming appearing only after the perceptual task.
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content_tags.findings[2]the tagger's words
content_tagsAttentional sensitization operates even within the perceptual domain: only a shape induction task, not a colour one, produced occipito-parietal ERP priming.
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content_tags.findings[3]the tagger's words
content_tagsA phonological letter-classification induction task, which discourages word reading, abolished subsequent subliminal semantic priming.
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content_tags.findings[4]the tagger's words
content_tagsattentional sensitization model of unconscious cognition
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content_tags.definitions[0]the tagger's words
content_tagsgain
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also in: gain
content_tags.definitions[1]the tagger's words
content_tagspreemptive control
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content_tags.definitions[2]the tagger's words
content_tagsreactive control
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content_tags.definitions[3]the tagger's words
content_tagstask set
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also in: task set
content_tags.definitions[4]the tagger's words
content_tagsconditional automaticity
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content_tags.definitions[5]the tagger's words
content_tagsmasked visuo-motor response priming
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content_tags.definitions[6]the tagger's words
content_tagsmasked semantic priming
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content_tags.definitions[7]the tagger's words
content_tagsN400 ERP component
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content_tags.definitions[8]the tagger's words
content_tagsinduction task paradigm
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content_tags.definitions[9]the tagger's words
content_tagstype of induction task
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content_tags.variables[0]the tagger's words
content_tagsRPI
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also in: RPI
content_tags.variables[1]the tagger's words
content_tagssubliminal priming effect
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content_tags.variables[2]the tagger's words
content_tags200 or 800 ms — The two response-prime intervals between the induction-task response and masked prime onset, manipulated to track how the task set decays
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content_tags.quantities[0]the tagger's words
content_tagsabout 600 ms — Duration a task representation is claimed (from the task-switching literature) to remain active after task completion, motivating the choice of the two RPIs
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content_tags.quantities[1]the tagger's words
content_tags40 targets — Large target set size in the cited Kiesel et al. expectancy manipulation, contrasted with a small four-target set
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content_tags.quantities[2]the tagger's words

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