Attentional modulation of masked semantic priming by visible and masked task cues

We present a theoretical view of the cellular foundations for network-level processes involved in producing our conscious experience. Inputs to apical synapses in layer 1 of a large subset of neocortical cells are summed at an integration zone near the top of their apical trunk. These inputs come from diverse sources and provide a context within which the transmission of information abstracted from sensory input to their basal and perisomatic synapses can be amplified when relevant. We argue that apical amplification enables conscious perceptual experience and makes it more flexible, and thus more adaptive, by being sensitive to context. Apical amplification provides a possible mechanism for recurrent processing theory that avoids strong loops. It makes the broadcasting hypothesized by global neuronal workspace theories feasible while preserving the distinct contributions of the individual cells receiving the broadcast. It also provides mechanisms that contribute to the holistic aspects of integrated information theory. As apical amplification is highly dependent on cholinergic, aminergic, and other neuromodulators, it relates the specific contents of conscious experience to global mental states and to fluctuations in arousal when awake. We conclude that apical dendrites provide a cellular mechanism for the context-sensitive selective amplification that is a cardinal prerequisite of conscious perception.

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“…2010 ; Finkbeiner and Friedman 2011 ; Van Der Ploeg et al. 2017 ; Avneon and Lamy 2018 ; Kiefer et al. 2019 ).…”

Section: Converging Lines Of Evidence For Unconscious and Preconscious Perceptual Processingunclassified

Apical amplification—a cellular mechanism of conscious perception?

Marvan

Polak

Bachmann

et al. 2021

Neuroscience of Consciousness

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“…Finally, there was no correlation between the d ’ values of prime identification and priming scores for each participant in either group or type of mask (Immediate masking: High-WMC: r = −0.15, p > 0.46; Low-WMC: r = 0.15, p > 0.46; Delayed masking: High-WMC: r = 0.28, p > 0.17; Low-WMC: r = −0.22, p > 0.27). This finding suggests that these two indices of prime processing map on to different processes (e.g., Ortells et al, 2013 , 2016a ; Wang et al, 2014 , 2018 ; see also Kiefer et al, 2019 ).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 90%

Individual Differences in Working Memory Capacity Modulate Electrophysiological Correlates of Semantic Negative Priming From Single Words

Megías

Ortells

Carmona

et al. 2021

Front. Behav. Neurosci.

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In the present study, event-related potentials (ERPs) were registered during a semantic negative priming (NP) task in participants with higher and lower working memory capacity (WMC). On each trial participants had to actively ignore a briefly presented single prime word, which was followed either immediately or after a delay by a mask. Thereafter, either a semantically related or an unrelated target word was presented, to which participants made a semantic categorization judgment. The ignored prime produced a behavioral semantic NP in delayed (but not in immediate) masking trials, and only for participants with a higher-WMC. Both masking type and WMC also modulated ERP priming effects. When the ignored prime was immediately followed by a mask (which impeded its conscious identification) a reliable N400 modulation was found irrespective of participants’ WMC. However, when the mask onset following the prime was delayed (thus allowing its conscious identification), an attenuation of a late positive ERP (LPC) was observed in related compared to unrelated trials, but only in the higher-WMC group showing reliable behavioral NP. The present findings demonstrate for the first time that individual differences in WMC modulate both behavioral measures and electrophysiological correlates of semantic NP.

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“…In contrast to earlier theories of cognitive control (Posner et al, 2004;Schneider & Shiffrin, 1977), more recent evidence suggests that high-level cognitive activity and unconscious automatic processing affect each other (Ansorge et al, 2014). Accordingly, masked priming has been shown to exert transient effects on high level cognitive operations such as response activation, semantic processing, and attention (Kiefer et al, 2019;Kiefer & Martens, 2010). On the other hand, as demonstrated by Kunde et al (2003), it seems that unconscious processing of subliminal primes can be adapted to current conscious goals, with priming effects changing according to changing task instructions.…”

Section: Some Iph-derived Predictionsmentioning

confidence: 78%

The Imbalanced Plasticity Hypothesis of Schizophrenia-Related Psychosis: A Predictive Perspective

Guterman

Ataria

Silverstein

2021

Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci

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A considerable number of studies have attempted to account for the psychotic aspects of schizophrenia in terms of the influential predictive coding (PC) hypothesis. We argue that the prediction-oriented perspective on schizophrenia-related psychosis may benefit from a mechanistic model that: 1) gives due weight to the extent to which alterations in short-and long-term synaptic plasticity determine the degree and the direction of the functional disruption that occurs in psychosis; and 2) addresses the distinction between the two central syndromes of psychosis in schizophrenia: disorganization and reality-distortion. To accomplish these goals, we propose the Imbalanced Plasticity Hypothesis -IPH, and demonstrate that it: 1) accounts for commonalities and differences between disorganization and reality distortion in terms of excessive (hyper) or insufficient (hypo) neuroplasticity, respectively; 2) provides distinct predictions in the cognitive and electrophysiological domains; and 3) is able to reconcile conflicting PC-oriented accounts of psychosis.

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Attentional modulation of masked semantic priming by visible and masked task cues

Cited by 15 publications

References 44 publications

Apical amplification—a cellular mechanism of conscious perception?

Apical amplification—a cellular mechanism of conscious perception?

Individual Differences in Working Memory Capacity Modulate Electrophysiological Correlates of Semantic Negative Priming From Single Words

The Imbalanced Plasticity Hypothesis of Schizophrenia-Related Psychosis: A Predictive Perspective

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