Action Without Awareness: Reaching to an Object You Do Not Remember Seeing
Author Information
Author(s): Heath Matthew, Maraj Anika, Godbolt Bryan, Binsted Gordon
Primary Institution: The University of Western Ontario
Hypothesis
The study investigates whether the ability to scale reaching trajectories to target size after a delay is related to pre-computing movement parameters or maintaining a sensory representation.
Conclusion
The study found that reaching movements can be accurately scaled to target size even when participants are not consciously aware of the target, indicating that a sensory representation is maintained for up to 2000 ms.
Supporting Evidence
- Participants were able to scale their reaching movements to target size even when the target was masked.
- Movement times increased with decreasing target size across both masked and non-masked trials.
- Speed-accuracy relations were observed regardless of participants' awareness of the target size.
Takeaway
Even if you can't see something, your body can still reach for it accurately if it remembers what it was like.
Methodology
Participants completed immediate or delayed perceptual reports and reaching responses to different sized targets under non-masked and masked conditions.
Limitations
The study's findings may not generalize to all types of visual processing deficits.
Participant Demographics
Participants were right-handed individuals from the University of Western Ontario community with normal or corrected-to-normal vision.
Statistical Information
P-Value
p<0.001
Statistical Significance
p<0.05
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
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