Unconscious perception of one's own name modulates amplitude of the P3B ERP component.
Neuropsychologia October 1, 2020 Łucja Doradzińska, Michał J Wójcik, Marta Paź et al.
The P3b brain wave component, long debated as either a marker of conscious perception or of cognitive processes like working memory, can be modulated by a person's own name even when that name is presented subliminally—outside of awareness. In two experiments, participants' own names evoked a larger P3b than other names when consciously seen. Subliminally, the own-name effect on P3b appeared only when participants performed a forced-choice identification task, not during a subjective rating task. This shows that a highly salient stimulus can influence P3b without conscious awareness, but the effect depends on the task and top-down attention. The findings argue against interpreting P3b as a direct correlate of consciousness and challenge the Global Workspace Theory.