Individual conscious and unconscious perception of emotion: Theory, methodology and applications

Tsikandilakis, Myron; Bali, Persefoni; Yu, Zhaoliang; Madan, Christopher R.; Derrfuß, Jan; Chapman, Peter; Groeger, John A.

doi:10.1016/j.concog.2021.103172

Cited by 14 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 73 publications

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“…Fearful facesas do other kinds of emotional faces (Kihlstrom, Mulvaney, Tobias & Tobis, 2000) have distinct high-level characteristics that make them more perceptible than other emotional types, such as sad and neutral faces (Liddell et al, 2005). Inconveniently, there is very little we can do about this issue except employ our previously applied method for individual unconsciousness (see Tsikandilakis, Chapman & Peirce, 2018;Tsikandilakis, Bali, Derrfuss & Chapman, 2019;Tsikandilakis, Bali, Derrfuss & Chapman, 2020a;Tsikandilakis, Bali, Yu, Madan, Derrfuss, Chapman & Groeger, 2021). Doing this will take us in a very different place that we currently stand using static durations of presentation, and it is important to submit a learning: There will not always necessarily be a…”

Section: Learnings and Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We provided ready-to-use open-source code, resources and software for these resolution. We presented a problem in visual processing and psychophysics, relating to the inequivalence of contrast distribution for fearful faces, that we could not resolve without redirecting the entire manuscript to a different approach for backward masking (see for example Tsikandilakis, Bali, Derrfuss & Chapman, 2020a;Tsikandilakis, Bali, Yu, Madan, Derrfuss, Chapman & Groeger, 2021;Tsikandilakis et al, 2022b).…”

Section: Appeals and Considerationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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“Conscious Researchers in Unconscious Research”: A Motivational Revisit of Issues, Resolutions, and Applied Awareness in Backward Masking using Faces

Tsikandilakis¹,

Bali²,

Karlis³

et al. 2022

Preprint

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In this manuscript, we provide a discourse of issues and resolutions that we should be conscious of when doing research in the unconscious using backward masking of faces. First, we revisit subjects that are contributing for understanding the unconscious as a concept. These involve historical episodes and early episodes of controversial experimentation. Subsequently, we revisit and discuss topical concepts, such as the metrics and the statistical analyses applied for assessing perception during backward masking. We proceed to discussing novel and developing issues relating to masked visual processing and contemporary psychophysics. We empirically illustrate how these issues bias experimental research. We present and empirically illustrate resolutions for these issues, such as the application of signal detection theory metrics, Bayesian analysis and advances in the psychophysics of masked presentations using faces. We assess whether and the extent to which we are truly conscious of established and known, and novel and developing issues and resolutions. We make use of backward masking as a rally point to emphasize the importance of conscious scholarly and methodological awareness for undertaking and advancing research in the unconscious.

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Section: Learnings and Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Appeals and Considerationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“Conscious Researchers in Unconscious Research”: A Motivational Revisit of Issues, Resolutions, and Applied Awareness in Backward Masking using Faces

Tsikandilakis¹,

Bali²,

Karlis³

et al. 2022

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…It is a research area involving intense, unrelenting and unresolved academic debates. Research in the unconscious was contentious since its "first steps" (Ebbinghaus,1908;Field, Aveling & Laird, 1922;Miller, 1942;Kahn, 1943;Fechner, 1948;Goldiamond, 1958; for an overview see Tsikandilakis, Bali, Derrfuss & Chapman, 2019) to itsso to speak -"mid-life crisis" (Burnham, 1967;Dixon, 1971;1981;Goodkin & Phillips, 1980;Merikle & Cheesman, 1987;Frosh, 1989;Bornstein, 1989; for an overview see Tsikandilakis, Bali, Yu, Madan, Derrfuss, Chapman & Groeger, 2021) and has grown methodologically contentious, now, more than ever, among contemporary psychologists (see Bar & Biederman, 1998;Erdelyi, 2005;Pessoa & Adolphs, 2010;Elgendi, Kumar, Barbic, Howard, Abbott & Cichocki, 2018; for an overview see Tsikandilakis et al, 2022d).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These included several issues, such as the use of biased metrics for the assessment of perception during visual suppression (Stanislaw & Todorov, 1999;Zhang & Mueller, 2005;Swets, 2014;Hautus, Macmillan & Creelman, 2021) and the use of inconclusive statistical procedures for inferring whether participants were unconscious of visually suppressed stimuli (Dienes, 2014;Kruschke& Liddell, 2018;Heck et al, 2022). These also spanned to other issues, such as the use of potentially unreliable methods for implementing psychophysics-related image processing manipulations, the type of masking applied to visually suppressed stimuli, and the unresolved problem of failing to achieve unbiased evidence for unconsciousness using static durations of presentation (e.g., 8.33 or 16.67 or 25 or 33.33 ms) (see Tsikandilakis, Bali, Derrfuss & Chapman, 2019;Tsikandilakis, Bali, Madan, Derrfuss, Chapman & Groeger, 2021;Tsikandilakis et al, 2022d). The explicit outlining of these tangible problems had a paradoxical effect (Bargh & Morsella, 2008): it restored a quantum of confidence in the future of research into the unconscious.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Unbiased Individual Unconsciousness: Rationale, Replication and Developing Applications

Tsikandilakis¹,

Bali²,

Mével³

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Unbiased individual unconsciousness is a methodology that employs non-parametric receiver operating characteristics and Bayesian analyses to provide estimations for thresholds for subjective visual suppression. It can enable a researcher to define among brief durations (e.g., 8.33 or 16.67 or 25 ms), per participant and elicitor type, the threshold of presentation for which each participant is individually unconscious during masking. The outcomes of this method are then used in a subsequent experimental session that involves psychophysiological assessments and participant ratings to explore evidence for unconscious processing and emotional responsivity. Following collegial requests for a dedicated manuscript on the rationale and replication of this method, in this manuscript, we provide a thorough, comprehensive and reader-friendly tutorial-guide. We include empirical illustrations, open-source and ready-to-use methodological, mathematical and statistical coding scripts and step-by-step instructions for replicating this methodology. We discuss the potential contributions and the developing applications of individual unconsciousness in topical research.

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“…We conducted dedicated signal-detection hits-versus-miss response analyses, such as responses for seeing a presented face when it was presented and not seeing a presented face when it was presented respectively, for both assessment types. Our aim was to explore whether religious individuals experienced higher responsivity to immorality, and whether conscious perception was involved in these responses (see Tsikandilakis, Bali, Yu, Madan, Derrfuss, Chapman & Groeger, 2021;Tsikandilakis, Madan & Milbank, 2022a;2022b).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“See no Evil. Feel no Evil?”: Exploring Emotional Responses to Masked Moral Violations in Religious and non-Religious Singaporean Participants

Leong¹,

Yu²,

Tsikandilakis³

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Previous psychological research has provided mixed evidence for whether religious individuals are more sensitive to moral violations compared to non-religious individuals. Empirically, firstly, it is unclear whether religious individuals experience higher physiological arousal to immorality, and secondly, if they do, whether this arousal is an unconscious-intuitive response or whether it involves conscious awareness. In the current research, we explored these two empirical questions. We explored the effects of backward masked morally improper elicitors in religious and non-religious participants from Singapore, using heart-rate assessment, and self-reports for the appraisal of immorality. Religious and non-religious individuals did not show different self-report ratings for immorality, although, surprisingly, religious individuals showed higher heart-rate responses. These responses were reported only for hits but not for miss responses for signal-detection performance. This suggests that religious individuals do, indeed, experience higher physiological responsivity to immoral elicitors and that this effect involves conscious awareness.

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Individual conscious and unconscious perception of emotion: Theory, methodology and applications

Cited by 14 publications

References 73 publications

“Conscious Researchers in Unconscious Research”: A Motivational Revisit of Issues, Resolutions, and Applied Awareness in Backward Masking using Faces

“Conscious Researchers in Unconscious Research”: A Motivational Revisit of Issues, Resolutions, and Applied Awareness in Backward Masking using Faces

Unbiased Individual Unconsciousness: Rationale, Replication and Developing Applications

“See no Evil. Feel no Evil?”: Exploring Emotional Responses to Masked Moral Violations in Religious and non-Religious Singaporean Participants

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