Yaron, I. | Search bioRxiv

bioRxiv2021

The Consciousness Theories Studies (ConTraSt) database: analyzing and comparing empirical studies of consciousness theories

Understanding how consciousness arises from neural activity remains one of the biggest challenges for neuroscience. Numerous theories have been proposed in recent years, each gaining independent empirical support. Currently, there is no comprehensive, quantitative and theory-neutral overview of the field that enables an evaluation of how theoretical frameworks interact with empirical research. We provide a birds eye view on studies that interpreted their findings in light of at least one of four leading neuroscientific theories of consciousness (N=412 experiments), asking how methodological choices of the researchers might affect the final conclusions. We found that supporting a specific theory can be predicted solely from methodological choices, irrespective of findings. Furthermore, most studies interpret their findings post-hoc, rather than a-priori testing critical predictions of the theories. Our results highlight challenges for the field and provide researchers with a unique, open-access website to further analyze trends in the neuroscience of consciousness.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2020

Spatial cueing effects are not what we thought: on the timing of attentional deployment

Extensive research has shown that objects that are salient or match our task goals are most likely to capture attention. But are we at the mercy of the constant changes occurring in our environment, and automatically move our attention to the ever-changing location with the highest priority? Or do we wait for clues that the appropriate moment has arrived to deploy our attention? We addressed this hitherto neglected issue in three experiments. Using a spatial-cueing paradigm, we examined whether attention is deployed as soon as a salient change occurs (the cue), or only when the context signaling that attention should be deployed appears (the search display). The cue matched the target color and was therefore expected to enjoy high attentional priority. We used two separate response compatibility manipulations, one pertaining to the cue, in the cueing display, and the other to the cued distractor, in the search display. Neutral conditions allowed us to disentangle the respective effects of these manipulations. Our results support the hypothesis that attention does not occur until the search-relevant context appears. These findings challenge the traditional interpretation of spatial-cueing effects. They are discussed within the Priority Accumulation Framework (PAF) that we confront to other attention models.

neuroscience↗