External control of the stream of consciousness: Stimulus-based effects on involuntary thought sequences

Merrick, Christina; Farnia, Melika; Jantz, Tiffany K.; Gazzaley, Adam; Morsella, Ezequiel

doi:10.1016/j.concog.2014.12.014

Cited by 27 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 26 publications

(25 reference statements)

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“…In Allen et al (2013b) , subjects were presented before each trial with the instruction, “Don’t Think of the Name of the Object” before an object was presented for 4 s, during which time subjects indicated by button press if they happened to subvocalize the name of the object. On the majority of the trials (86% in Allen et al, 2013b ; 87% in Cho et al, 2014 ; and 73% in Merrick et al, 2015 ), subjects fail to suppress such subvocalizations. To illustrate the basic version of the RIT effect, momentarily, we will present to you, the reader, an object enclosed within parentheses.…”

Section: Reflexive Imagery Taskmentioning

confidence: 98%

Involuntary Entry Into Consciousness From the Activation of Sets: Object Counting and Color Naming

et al. 2018

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High-level cognitions can enter consciousness through the activation of certain action sets and the presentation of external stimuli (“set-based entry,” for short). Set-based entry arises in a manner that is involuntary and systematic. In the Reflexive Imagery Task, for example, subjects are presented with visual objects and instructed to not think of the names of the objects. Involuntary subvocalizations arise on roughly 80% of the trials. We examined whether or not set-based entry can also occur in the case of involuntary counting. Subjects in Experiment 1A were instructed to not count the number of objects presented in an array. Involuntary counting arose on a high proportion of the trials (a mean proportion of ∼0.90) for stimulus arrays having 2–5 objects, and such counting arose less frequently across trials when the array consisted of 6–10 objects (a mean proportion of ∼0.21). The data from Experiment 1B revealed that, when people choose to perform Set X, they also experience thoughts about an unselected Set (Set Y). Subjects were trained on one set (e.g., to “color name”) and then, when presented with stimuli, were given the choice to perform the trained set or a novel set. Consistent with theories proposing that the conscious contents represent several potential action plans, subjects were equally likely to experience set-related imagery or set-unrelated imagery. Our findings regarding set-based entry are relevant to many subfields of psychology and neuroscience (e.g., the study of high-level mental processes, attention, imagery, and action control).

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Section: Reflexive Imagery Taskmentioning

confidence: 98%

Involuntary Entry Into Consciousness From the Activation of Sets: Object Counting and Color Naming

et al. 2018

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“…After the presentation of the stimulus, the RIT effect arises after a few moments [M = 1,451.27 ms (SD = 611.42) in Allen et al, 2013;M = 2,323.91 ms (SD = 1,183.01) in Cho et al (2014); M = 1,745.97 ms (SD = 620.86) in Merrick et al, 2015]. It is important to note that the basic RIT effect, which requires involuntary subvocalization, depends on successful lexical retrieval -a sophisticated, multi-stage process in which only one of tens of thousands of phonological representations is selected for production.…”

Section: Reflexive Imagery Taskmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Involuntary transformations (e.g., "SUN" yielding "UN-SAY") still arose on more than 40% of the trials. In another variant of the RIT (Merrick et al, 2015), subjects were presented with a single object and instructed to (a) not subvocalize the name of the visual object, and (b) not subvocalize the number of letters in the object name. Subjects reported experiencing both kinds of imagery on a considerable proportion of the trials (M = 0.30, SE = 0.04).…”

Section: Reflexive Imagery Taskmentioning

confidence: 99%

EEG Correlates of Involuntary Cognitions in the Reflexive Imagery Task

et al. 2020

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The Reflexive Imagery Task (RIT) reveals that the activation of sets can result in involuntary cognitions that are triggered by external stimuli. In the basic RIT, subjects are presented with an image of an object (e.g., CAT) and instructed to not think of the name of the object. Involuntary subvocalizations of the name (the RIT effect) arise on roughly 80% of the trials. We conducted an electroencephalography (EEG) study to explore the neural correlates of the RIT effect. Subjects were presented with one object at a time in one condition and two objects simultaneously in another condition. Five regions were defined by electrode sites: frontal (F3-F4), parietal (P3-P4), temporal (T3-T4), right hemisphere (F4-P4), and left hemisphere (F3-P3). We focused on the alpha (8-13 Hz), beta (13-30 Hz), delta (0.01-4 Hz), and theta (4-8 Hz) frequencies.

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“…To investigate how such high-level contents can arise in consciousness unintentionally and in a reflex-like manner, we developed the reflexive imagery task (RIT; Allen et al 2013; see review in Bhangal et al 2016). In this paradigm, the insuppressible conscious contents are from high-level processes, including involuntary object counting (Merrick et al 2015), subvocalizations, and even the kind of word transformations used in the childhood game of Pig Latin (Cho et al 2016). The more we learn from the RIT about the generation of high-level contents, the more this generative process resembles that of low-level contents.…”

Section: R3 the Focus On Simple Cases: Low-level Versus High-level Cmentioning

confidence: 99%

Can skeletomotor action integration occur without consciousness? Evidence from unconscious action inhibition

Ayars

2016

Behav Brain Sci

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Morsella et al. claim that consciousness functions to integrate incompatible skeletal muscle intentions. Their primary cases of conscious skeletomotor integration involve action suppression, such as holding one's breath underwater, which requires suppressing the urge to inhale. This indicates that the authors seem to think action inhibition counts as the relevant kind of integration. I suggest that there is reason to think this kind of inhibition can occur unconsciously via unconscious inhibitory mechanisms. Unconscious inhibition therefore potentially undermines the authors' thesis. If cases of unconscious inhibition are not instances of integration, then the authors should clarify exactly what counts as integration.

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External control of the stream of consciousness: Stimulus-based effects on involuntary thought sequences

Cited by 27 publications

References 26 publications

Involuntary Entry Into Consciousness From the Activation of Sets: Object Counting and Color Naming

Involuntary Entry Into Consciousness From the Activation of Sets: Object Counting and Color Naming

EEG Correlates of Involuntary Cognitions in the Reflexive Imagery Task

Can skeletomotor action integration occur without consciousness? Evidence from unconscious action inhibition

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