How much can we differentiate at a brief glance: revealing the truer limit in conscious contents through the massive report paradigm (MRP).
Liang Qianchen, Regan M Gallagher, Naotsugu Tsuchiya
Royal Society open science May 1, 2022 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.210394 (opens in new tab) via PubMed
Summary
AI-generated from the abstractPeople can tell with high accuracy (over 80%) whether a small image patch was part of a natural scene they just glimpsed, contradicting earlier claims that such differentiation is poor. Previous studies may have underestimated conscious perception by using limited stimulus variability and response options. In a massive report paradigm, participants viewed a natural scene image and then judged if a patch came from that image; subtler modifications tested discriminability limits. Accuracy remained high, and the ability to detect modified objects depended on object size and how well the object fit the scene. The paradigm offers a way to measure the rich information present in a single moment of consciousness.
Study at a glance
| Characteristics | Experimental study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Keywords | Contents of consciousness Expectation Massive report paradigms Natural scene perception Qualia |
| Key finding | Participants were highly accurate (greater than 80%) in differentiating image patches that were part of a viewed natural scene from patches that were not. |
Abstract
Upon a brief glance, how well can we differentiate what we see from what we do not? Previous studies answered this question as 'poorly'. This is in stark contrast with our everyday experience. Here, we consider the possibility that previous restriction in stimulus variability and response alternatives reduced what participants could express from what they consciously experienced. We introduce a novel massive report paradigm that probes the ability to differentiate what we see from what we do not. In each trial, participants viewed a natural scene image and judged whether a small image patch was a part of the original image. To examine the limit of discriminability, we also included subtler changes in the image as modification of objects. Neither the images nor patches were repeated per participant. Our results showed that participants were highly accurate (accuracy greater than 80%) in differentiating patches from the viewed images from patches that are not present. Additionally, the differentiation between original and modified objects was influenced by object sizes and/or the congruence between objects and the scene gists. Our massive report paradigm opens a door to quantitatively measure the limit of immense informativeness of a moment of consciousness.