Motor response influences perceptual awareness judgements

• Published in: Consciousness and cognition Vol. 75; p. 102804
• Main Authors: Siedlecka, Marta, Hobot, Justyna, Skóra, Zuzanna, Paulewicz, Borysław, Timmermans, Bert, Wierzchoń, Michał
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 01.10.2019; Elsevier BV
• Subjects: Perception and action; Perceptual awareness; Sensorimotor theories of consciousness; Perceptual awareness; Sensorimotor theories of consciousness; Perception and action
• ISSN: 1053-8100; 1090-2376
• DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2019.102804

•Participants rated their stimuli awareness during a perceptual discrimination task.•Before awareness ratings participants responded to the motor cue.•Cued response could be neutral or overlapping with the stimulus-required response.•Response overlapping with stimulus-required response increased stimulus awareness. What is the relation between perceptual awareness and action? In this study we tested the hypothesis that motor response influences perceptual awareness judgements. We used a perceptual discrimination task in which presentation of the stimulus was immediately followed by a cue requiring a motor response that was irrelevant to the task but could be the same, opposite, or neutral to the correct response to the stimulus. After responding to the cue, participants rated their stimulus awareness using the Perceptual Awareness Scale, and then carried out their discrimination response. Participants reported a higher level of stimulus awareness after carrying out responses that were either congruent or incongruent with the response required by the stimulus, compared to the neutral condition. The results suggest that the motor response overlapping with a potential response to the stimulus provides information about the outcome of decision process and increases the reported awareness of stimuli.