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New article in AP&P from me, @AndreSahakian, @MarijnStruiksma en @SvanderStigchel, investigating how spoken words affect the priority of access of visual information to visual awareness. http://doi.org/10.3758/s13414-021-02297-y [1/11]
The question we investigated is straightforward: does a green visual target gain access to visual awareness faster when preceded by the verbal label ‘green’, compared to when preceded by the label ‘red’? [2/11]
Imagine for example being in front of a big shelf of beers in your local supermarket, intending to buy beer. Now someone yells ‘green!’ in your ear. Will Heineken beer be prioritised for accessing your visual awareness compared to Amstel? [3/11]
We used a breaking Continuous Flash Suppression paradigm to investigate this question. Observers were asked to indicate as fast and accurately as possible the location of a coloured visual target. [4/11]
![We used a breaking Continuous Flash Suppression paradigm to investigate this question. Observers were asked to indicate as fast and accurately as possible the location of a coloured visual target. [4/11]](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EyhcCbGWUAItgfk.jpg "We used a breaking Continuous Flash Suppression paradigm to investigate this question. Observers were asked to indicate as fast and accurately as possible the location of a coloured visual target. [4/11]")
It was claimed previously that spoken words can prioritise access to awareness of congruent visual targets, but in most experiments of those studies, the targets were more often congruent than incongruent with the spoken words. [5/11]
This higher incidence of congruent trials could make observers use this information by loading the color into working memory and using this information to predict the color of the target. [6/11]
In our experiments, the visual targets were more often incongruent than congruent with the verbal labels. Specifically, visual targets of different colours were preceded by congruent, incongruent and neutral verbal labels. [7/11]
![In our experiments, the visual targets were more often incongruent than congruent with the verbal labels. Specifically, visual targets of different colours were preceded by congruent, incongruent and neutral verbal labels. [7/11]](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EyhcYZ7WgAE23pM.jpg "In our experiments, the visual targets were more often incongruent than congruent with the verbal labels. Specifically, visual targets of different colours were preceded by congruent, incongruent and neutral verbal labels. [7/11]")
Our results show that RTs to congruent targets were shorter than to incongruent trials, over a wide range of cue (verbal label) -target (coloured circle) onset asynchronies. [8/11]
![Our results show that RTs to congruent targets were shorter than to incongruent trials, over a wide range of cue (verbal label) -target (coloured circle) onset asynchronies. [8/11]](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EyhcsmoXEAIh6-r.jpg "Our results show that RTs to congruent targets were shorter than to incongruent trials, over a wide range of cue (verbal label) -target (coloured circle) onset asynchronies. [8/11]")
In addition, there was no difference between RTs for incongruent and neutral targets. [9/11]
![In addition, there was no difference between RTs for incongruent and neutral targets. [9/11]](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Eyheg6yWgAICgks.jpg "In addition, there was no difference between RTs for incongruent and neutral targets. [9/11]")
Hence our title: ‘Unpredictive linguistic verbal cues accelerate congruent visual targets into awareness in a breaking continuous flash suppression paradigm‘ [10/11]
Finally: we used (convincing) Bayesian statistics and article, data and materials are open access! Check the website for links to OSF. [11/11]
