Subliminal encoding and flexible retrieval of objects in scenes

Wuethrich, Sergej; Hannula, Deborah E.; Mast, Fred W.; Henke, Katharina (2018). Subliminal encoding and flexible retrieval of objects in scenes. Hippocampus, 28(9), pp. 633-643. Wiley-Liss 10.1002/hipo.22957

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Our episodic memory stores what happened when and where in life. Episodic memory requires the rapid formation and flexible retrieval of where things are located in space. Consciousness of the encoding scene is considered crucial for episodic memory formation. Here, we question the necessity of consciousness and hypothesize that humans can form unconscious episodic memories. Participants were presented with subliminal scenes, that is, scenes invisible to the conscious mind. The scenes displayed objects at certain locations for participants to form unconscious object-inspace memories. Later, the same scenes were presented supraliminally, that is, visibly, for retrieval testing. Scenes were presented absent the objects and rotated by 90–270 degrees in perspective to assess the representational flexibility of unconsciously formed memories. During the test phase, participants performed a forced-choice task that required them to place an object in one of two highlighted scene locations and their eye movements were recorded. Evaluation of the eye tracking data revealed that participants remembered object locations unconsciously, irrespective of changes in viewing perspective. This effect of gaze was related to correct placements of objects in scenes, and an intuitive decision style was necessary for unconscious memories to influence intentional behavior to a significant degree. We conclude that conscious perception is not mandatory for spatial episodic memory formation.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

07 Faculty of Human Sciences > Institute of Psychology > Cognitive Psychology, Perception and Methodology
07 Faculty of Human Sciences > Institute of Psychology > Psychological and Behavioral Health
07 Faculty of Human Sciences > Institute of Psychology

UniBE Contributor:

Wüthrich, Sergej, Mast, Fred, Henke, Katharina

Subjects:

100 Philosophy > 150 Psychology
600 Technology > 610 Medicine & health
500 Science > 570 Life sciences; biology

ISSN:

1050-9631

Publisher:

Wiley-Liss

Funders:

[UNSPECIFIED] Grant 320000-114012 from the Swiss National Science Foundation

Language:

English

Submitter:

Katharina Henke Westerholt

Date Deposited:

20 Sep 2019 16:01

Last Modified:

05 Dec 2022 15:28

Publisher DOI:

10.1002/hipo.22957

PubMed ID:

29704287

BORIS DOI:

10.7892/boris.130129

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/130129

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