Cognitive science
Subject: Conscious vs. Unconscious Processing of Dynamic Stimuli
Supervisor: Prof. Ran Hassin
Abstract: Recent evidence which suggests many cognitive functions can operate in two manners, with and without consciousness, raises questions regarding the differences and similarities between the conscious and unconscious strategies for executing the same functions. In three experiments, I compared between generating predictions consciously and unconsciously in order to find strategic differences between the conscious and unconscious usage of the stimuli. Objective and subjective measures were used to verify participants were not consciously aware of the dynamic stimuli during the unconscious phases. Results do not verify that there are strategic differences between the conscious and unconscious prediction, yet preliminary findings demonstrate that cue validity affects these functions differently. The current study suggests that movement processing has multiple theoretical implications; also, my findings can be used to ameliorate comparisons between conscious and unconscious functions in general and specifically using dynamic stimuli.