No iconic memory without attention.
Arien Mack, Muge Erol, Jason Clarke, John Bert
Consciousness and cognition February 1, 2016 Peer reviewed DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2015.12.006 via PubMed
Summary
More than half of participants failed to notice when a letter matrix was completely absent or distorted, a phenomenon called inattentional blindness. These results suggest that iconic memory, a brief visual store, requires attention and that conscious perception does as well. The findings counter the idea that a phenomenal, attention-free component of iconic memory exists.
Study at a glance
| Design | experimental study |
|---|---|
| Key finding | More than half of subjects were inattentionally blind to the absence or distortion of a letter matrix, providing evidence against a phenomenal experience component of iconic memory. |
Abstract
The experiments reported extend the findings of our earlier paper, (Mack, Erol, & Clarke, 2015) and allow us to reject Bachmann and Aru's critique of our conclusion (2015) that IM requires attention. They suggested our manipulations, which diverted attention from a letter reporting task in a dual task procedure where the task-cue occurred after the array disappeared, might only have affected access to IM and not the "existence of the phenomenal experience". By further decreasing the probability of reporting letters to only 10% and adding a final trial in which the letter matrix was either completely absent or distorted, we found more than half our subjects were unaware of its absence, or distortion i.e., were inattentionally blind. We take this as powerful evidence against the existence of any phenomenal experience component of iconic memory and consistent with the view that iconic memory demands attention and that conscious perception does as well.