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Accepted manuscript

Studying unconscious processing: Contention and consensus

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 July 2025

François Stockart
Affiliation:
Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Univ. Savoie Mont Blanc, CNRS, LPNC, 38000 Grenoble, France
Maor Schreiber*
Affiliation:
The School of Psychological Sciences Tel Aviv University,
Pietro Amerio
Affiliation:
Center for Research in Cognition and Neuroscience, ULB Institute of Neuroscience, Université libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium
David Carmel
Affiliation:
School of Psychology, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand
Axel Cleeremans
Affiliation:
Center for Research in Cognition and Neuroscience, ULB Institute of Neuroscience, Université libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR), Brain, Mind, and Consciousness Program, Toronto, ON, Canada
Leon Y. Deouell
Affiliation:
Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences and Department of Psychology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel
Zoltan Dienes
Affiliation:
School of Psychology, University of Sussex, UK
Patxi Elosegi
Affiliation:
Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language, San Sebastian, Spain
Surya Gayet
Affiliation:
Experimental Psychology, Helmholtz Institute, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
Alon Goldstein
Affiliation:
Xoltar Inc, Connecticut, USA
Adelina-Mihaela Halchin
Affiliation:
Cardiff University School of Psychology, Cardiff, UK
Guido Hesselmann
Affiliation:
Psychologische Hochschule Berlin (PHB), Berlin, Germany
Ruth Kimchi
Affiliation:
Dept. of Psychology & Institute of Information Processing and Decision Making, University of Haifa
Dominique Lamy
Affiliation:
The School of Psychological Sciences Tel Aviv University, Sagol School of Neuroscience, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
Leyla Loued-Khenissi
Affiliation:
Département des Neurosciences Cliniques, Lausanne University Hospital, Lausanne, Switzerland
Sascha Meyen
Affiliation:
University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
Nitzan Micher
Affiliation:
The School of Psychological Sciences Tel Aviv University,
Michael Pitts
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Reed College, Portland, OR, USA
Roy Salomon
Affiliation:
Dept. of Cognitive Sciences, University of Haifa
Kristian Sandberg
Affiliation:
Center of Functionally Integrative Neuroscience, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark. Neurobiology Research Unit, Copenhagen University Hospital Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark
Iris A. Schnepf
Affiliation:
Experimental Cognitive Science Group, Department of Computer Science, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
Aaron Schurger
Affiliation:
Institute for Interdisciplinary Brain and Behavioral Sciences, Chapman University, Orange, CA, USA Department of Psychology, Crean College of Health and Behavioral Sciences, Chapman University, Orange, CA, USA
David R. Shanks
Affiliation:
Division of Psychology & Language Sciences, University College London, England
David Soto
Affiliation:
Ikerbasque, Basque Foundation for Science, Bilbao, Spain Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language, San Sebastian, Spain
Amir Tal
Affiliation:
The School of Psychological Sciences Tel Aviv University,
Darinka Trübutschek
Affiliation:
Research Group Neural Circuits, Consciousness, and Cognition, Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, Frankfurt/Main, Germany
Miguel A. Vadillo
Affiliation:
Departamento de Psicología Básica, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain
Simon van Gaal
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Itay Yaron
Affiliation:
Sagol School of Neuroscience, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
Zefan Zheng
Affiliation:
Research Group Neural Circuits, Consciousness, and Cognition, Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, Frankfurt/Main, Germany
Nathan Faivre
Affiliation:
Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Univ. Savoie Mont Blanc, CNRS, LPNC, 38000 Grenoble, France
Liad Mudrik
Affiliation:
The School of Psychological Sciences Tel Aviv University, Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR), Brain, Mind, and Consciousness Program, Toronto, ON, Canada Sagol School of Neuroscience, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
*
Corresponding author: Maor Schreiber Email: schreiber@mail.tau.ac.il

Abstract

The scope of unconscious processing has long been, and still remains, a hotly debated issue. This is driven in part by the current diversity of methods to manipulate and measure perceptual consciousness. Here, we provide ten recommendations and nine outstanding issues about designing experimental paradigms, analyzing data, and reporting the results of studies on unconscious processing. These were formed through dialogue among a group of researchers representing a range of theoretical backgrounds. We acknowledge that some of these recommendations naturally do not align with some existing approaches and are likely to change following theoretical and methodological development. Nevertheless, we hold that at this stage of the field they are instrumental in evoking a much-needed discussion about the norms of studying unconscious processes and helping researchers make more informed decisions when designing experiments. In the long run, we aim for this paper and future discussions around the outstanding issues to lead to a more convergent corpus of knowledge about the extent – and limits – of unconscious processing.

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Type
Target Article
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press

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