Attentional modulation of sensorimotor processes in the absence of perceptual awareness.

ABSTRACT: Attention modulates visual perception and is generally considered inextricably linked with conscious awareness: we become aware of stimuli as we attend to them, and we attend to stimuli as we become aware of them. Recent evidence suggests that attention can also modulate the effects of stimuli that remain invisible, and a natural explanation is that attention enhances weak perceptual representations, bringing them closer to conscious threshold even if they do not reach that threshold. However, there is also the possibility that attention may modulate neural processes that are entirely separate from those supporting conscious perception: sensorimotor mechanisms that do not create awareness however much they are enhanced. Here we provide evidence in support of this second hypothesis by showi

SUBMITTER: Sumner P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1502490 | biostudies-literature | 2006 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature