Studying unconscious processing: Contention and consensus

Stockart, François, Schreiber, Maor, Amerio, Pietro, Carmel, David, Cleeremans, Axel, Deouell, Leon Y., Dienes, Zoltan, Elosegi, Patxi, Gayet, Surya, Goldstein, Alon, Halchin, Adelina-Mihaela, Hesselmann, Guido, Kimchi, Ruth, Lamy, Dominique, Loued-Khenissi, Leyla, Meyen, Sascha, Micher, Nitzan, Pitts, Michael, Salomon, Roy, Sandberg, Kristian, Schnepf, Iris A., Schurger, Aaron, Shanks, David R., Soto, David, Tal, Amir, Trübutschek, Darinka, Vadillo, Miguel A., van Gaal, Simon, Yaron, Itay, Zheng, Zefan, Faivre, Nathan and Mudrik, Liad 2025. Studying unconscious processing: Contention and consensus. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 10.1017/S0140525X25101489 Item availability restricted.

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Abstract

The scope of unconscious processing has long been, and still remains, a hotly debated issue. This is driven in part by the current diversity of methods to manipulate and measure perceptual consciousness. Here, we provide ten recommendations and nine outstanding issues about designing experimental paradigms, analyzing data, and reporting the results of studies on unconscious processing. These were formed through dialogue among a group of researchers representing a range of theoretical backgrounds. We acknowledge that some of these recommendations naturally do not align with some existing approaches and are likely to change following theoretical and methodological development. Nevertheless, we hold that at this stage of the field they are instrumental in evoking a much-needed discussion about the norms of studying unconscious processes and helping researchers make more informed decisions when designing experiments. In the long run, we aim for this paper and future discussions around the outstanding issues to lead to a more convergent corpus of knowledge about the extent – and limits – of unconscious processing.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Published Online
Status:	In Press
Schools:	Schools > Psychology
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
ISSN:	0140-525X
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	8 August 2025
Last Modified:	08 Aug 2025 13:30
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/180053

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