Recent research has implicated working memory in unconscious tasks, controversially shifting the viewpoint of conscious access necessitating working memory functions (Soto, Mäntylä & Silvanto, 2011). The aim of this study was to investigate the flexibility of unconscious working memory using continuous flash suppression (CFS). Participants (n=18) completed a simple delayed-match-to-sample (DMS) task. Two conditions required the matching of either objects or spatial locations. CFS was used to render stimuli invisible and the perceptual awareness scale (PAS) helped to determine subjective conscious experience. Analysis determined no significant findings in d’ or reaction times. This confirmed the null hypothesis, that there would not be an affect on working memory due to presentation of visually suppressed information. These results may have been due to a lack of effect, complexity or procedural issues. Further research is needed to elucidate these non-significant results. This is especially critical since alternative methods examining unconscious working memory have found significant results.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:umu-117009 |
| Date | January 2015 |
| Creators | Judd, Nicholas |
| Publisher | Umeå universitet, Institutionen för psykologi |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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