The mechanisms of selective attention in phenomenal consciousness.

Selective attention produces both costs and benefits in iconic memory and fragile visual short-term memory, which are linked to phenomenal consciousness. In three experiments using a retro-cue paradigm, attentional costs disrupted visual maintenance at longer delays. Reducing the memory array exposure from 250 ms to 100 ms prevented participants from selecting objects based on their priorities, indicating a bottom-up factor. A pattern mask presented before transfer to visual working memory reduced overall performance but preserved the priority effect. These findings suggest that fragile-VSTM and iconic memory play distinct roles in feature-based attentional selection, with implications for phenomenal consciousness before conscious access.

Study at a glance

Abstract

In three experiments we investigated the effects of selective attention in iconic memory and fragile-visual short-term memory (VSTM), which have been related to phenomenal consciousness. We used a novel retro-cue paradigm with different delays (early vs late) and object priorities (high vs equal vs low), to investigate (a) attentional costs and benefits and the role of (b) bottom-up factors and (c) fragile-VSTM in feature-based attentional selection. Experiment 1 showed that attentional costs modulate visual maintenance at longer delays, while Experiment 2 showed that by reducing the time exposure of the memory array from 250 ms to 100 ms, as a bottom-up factor, participants were not able to select the objects based on their priorities. Finally, Experiment 3 showed that a pattern mask presented before the transfer in visual working memory, attenuates the overall performance while preserving the priority effect. The implications for phenomenal consciousness before conscious access are discussed.