Alexandra Vlassova | The University of New South Wales (original) (raw)
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Universidad Nacional de Colombia (National University of Colombia)
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Papers by Alexandra Vlassova
The controversial idea that information can be processed and evaluated unconsciously to change be... more The controversial idea that information can be processed and evaluated unconsciously to change behavior has had a particularly impactful history. Here, we extend a simple model of conscious decision-making to explain both conscious and unconscious accumulation of decisional evidence. Using a novel dichoptic suppression paradigm to titrate conscious and unconscious evidence, we show that unconscious information can be accumulated over time and integrated with conscious elements presented either before or after to boost or diminish decision accuracy. The unconscious information could only be used when some conscious decision-relevant information was also present. These data are fit well by a simple diffusion model in which the rate and variability of evidence accumulation is reduced but not eliminated by the removal of conscious awareness. Surprisingly, the unconscious boost in accuracy was not accompanied by corresponding increases in confidence, suggesting that we have poor metacognition for unconscious decisional evidence.
Traditionally, theories regarding the mechanisms underlying sensory decision making have focused ... more Traditionally, theories regarding the mechanisms underlying sensory decision making have focused on the processes that occur during the presentation of an actual stimulus. In the laboratory, these decision processes are often studied through the use of noisy sensory stimuli, which subjects are asked to make a simple decision about. These stimuli provide a particularly robust system for studying perceptual decision making, as they allow for the amount of evidence available to be controlled by varying the signal-to-noise ratio of the stimulus.
The controversial idea that information can be processed and evaluated unconsciously to change be... more The controversial idea that information can be processed and evaluated unconsciously to change behavior has had a particularly impactful history. Here, we extend a simple model of conscious decision-making to explain both conscious and unconscious accumulation of decisional evidence. Using a novel dichoptic suppression paradigm to titrate conscious and unconscious evidence, we show that unconscious information can be accumulated over time and integrated with conscious elements presented either before or after to boost or diminish decision accuracy. The unconscious information could only be used when some conscious decision-relevant information was also present. These data are fit well by a simple diffusion model in which the rate and variability of evidence accumulation is reduced but not eliminated by the removal of conscious awareness. Surprisingly, the unconscious boost in accuracy was not accompanied by corresponding increases in confidence, suggesting that we have poor metacognition for unconscious decisional evidence.
Traditionally, theories regarding the mechanisms underlying sensory decision making have focused ... more Traditionally, theories regarding the mechanisms underlying sensory decision making have focused on the processes that occur during the presentation of an actual stimulus. In the laboratory, these decision processes are often studied through the use of noisy sensory stimuli, which subjects are asked to make a simple decision about. These stimuli provide a particularly robust system for studying perceptual decision making, as they allow for the amount of evidence available to be controlled by varying the signal-to-noise ratio of the stimulus.