Different subjective awareness measures demonstrate the influence of visual identification on perceptual awareness ratings

Michal Wierzchon, Borysław Paulewicz, Dariusz Asanowicz, Bert Timmermans, Axel Cleeremans

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

58 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We compare four subjective awareness measures in the context of a visual identification task and investigate quantitative differences in terms of scale use and correlation with task performance. We also analyse the effect of identification task decisions on subsequent subjective reports. Results show that awareness ratings strongly predict accuracy for all scale types, although the type of awareness measure may influence the reported level of perceptual awareness. Surprisingly, the overall relationship between awareness ratings and performance was weaker when participants rated their awareness before providing identification responses. Furthermore, the Perceptual Awareness Scale was most exhaustive only when used after the identification task, whereas confidence ratings were most exhaustive when used before the identification task. We conclude that the type of subjective measure applied may influence the reports on visual awareness. We also propose that identification task decisions may affect subsequent awareness ratings.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)109-120
Number of pages12
JournalConsciousness and Cognition
Volume27
Early online date20 May 2014
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jul 2014

Bibliographical note

Acknowledgments
M.W. was supported with SONATA BIS Program granted by National Science Centre for the research described in this paper (Grant 2012/07/E/HS6/01037). A.C. is a Research Director with the F.R.S.-FNRS (Belgium). The authors would like to thank Marta Siedlecka for her help with data collection.

Keywords

  • subjective measures of awareness
  • confidence ratings
  • perceptual awareness scale
  • post-decision wagering
  • feeling of warmth
  • visual identification task
  • consciousness
  • higher-order theories of consiousness

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