Investigating the relationship between attention and consciousness

2001 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary

• Project/Area Number: 12610086
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: 実験系心理学
• Research Institution: TOHOKU UNIVERSITY
• Principal Investigator: IWASAKI Syoichi TOHOKU UNIVERSITY, GRADUATE SCHOOL OF INFORMATION SCIENCES, PROFESSOR, 大学院・情報科学研究科, 教授 (90117656)
• Project Period (FY): 2000 – 2001
• Keywords: consciousness / attention / change-blindness / attentional capture

Research Abstract

In this year s research, we took advantage of the change-blindness situation; This experimental paradigm is well-known for its amazing difficulty in detecting a change that becomes so obvious after once having been noticed. The change is made during a flicker or an eye movement to suppress local change signal. In our research, the flicker paradigm was used) in which 12 animals positioned around an imaginary circle flickered repetitively. At the center of the circle Kana letters were presented in rapid succession. Subject' s task was to read an alphabet letter embedded in Kana letters. Due to high rate of alteration (90 ms / letter), the task demanded high concentration in subject, thus sparing little attentional capacity for other task. The change detection was a subsidiary task. Thus, subject was required to read a central letter and at the same time detect a change that occurred in the periphery. In spite of the well-known difficulty in detecting a change when it occurred in a naturalistic scene, in a simplified condition of the present experiment, subject was able to detect it with high accuracy. This finding suggests that the change blindness does not occur ubiquitously. It only occurs in a special condition in which no preattentive change signals are available. The change signal itself automatically leads to conscious detection without attention being directed to it.