DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.22300414
title: UNCONSCIOUS RETENTION AND SEMANTIC PROCESSING OF SUBLIMINAL INFORMATION Data Set .xlsx

description: In the present study, we performed subliminal semantic priming of fifteen different object categories to explore if unconsciously retained information is processed up to the semantic level. We presented subjects with ten different strongly masked stimuli belonging to the same category and asked them to identify the category in a forced choice task (FCT). <br> Data correspond to the responses of 25 participants in our semantic priming experiment performed through E-prime 2.0 on an ASUS VG248 Computer. The monitor was an HP ProDesk 400 G2 with a refresh rate of 144,001Hz. The following object categories were selected for this experiment: buildings, clothing items, construction items, fruits, fast food, furniture, sea animals, space objects, sports, technology gadgets, vegetables, musical instruments, mammals, insects, and vehicles. A total of 11 black-and-white line drawings depicting different objects were used for each category, 10 of which served as masked primes and one as the visible target in the forced choice task (FCT) following subliminal priming. Another 45 visually similar line drawings depicting random, unrelated objects were used for the forced choice tasks. A black-and-white hand-drawn abstract mask was used to make the stimuli subliminal. <br> Each object category was presented 3 times over the course of the experiment, adding up to a total of 45 rounds of subliminal semantic priming. One round consisted of 10 masked stimuli, followed by a FCT, and a confidence scale. Within each round, the order in which the stimuli were presented was randomized. Although each individual category was primed 3 times total, the order of the concepts within the trial was random, with no two consecutive rounds priming the same concept. The experiment started with a focus image of 1500 milliseconds (ms), followed by the first round of priming. Each of the 10 stimuli was presented for 27 ms and followed by a 150 ms mask. The same procedure was repeated for all 45 rounds of priming. Between each concept round, the focus image was displayed for 3 seconds. The mask image remained the same throughout the entire experiment, and there were no blank intervals. <br> Following the 10 subliminal presentations, participants were given a forced choice task. They were shown 2 images, one depicting a new object belonging to the primed category, and the other depicting a random, unrelated object. Participants were asked to identify which image they saw, without knowing that neither of the two images were previously presented to them. They were asked to press ‘1’ for the left-hand image or ‘2’ for the right-hand image. The parity of the correct answer was randomized and the images in the FCT were different in each round. After responding, participants were asked to rate their confidence in the answer on a scale from 0–not at all confident to 3–very confident. The question provided a subjective measure of participants’ level of awareness of what they had seen. Lower confidence ratings would suggest less awareness of visual perception. <br> A binomial test was performed for the overall accuracy compiling the results from all participants and all categories. The results showed to be significant (alpha&lt;0.05) with an overall accuracy of 77%. A Chi-Square was used to determine which specific categories were significantly different (alpha&lt;0.05) in accuracy among participants as compared to each category.