@misc{10481/88247,
year = {2018},
month = {10},
url = {https://hdl.handle.net/10481/88247},
abstract = {Our environment is constantly overloaded with information, although we cannot
consciously process all the stimulation reaching our senses. Current theoretical models
are focused on the cognitive and neural processes allowing conscious perception.
However, cognitive processes do not occur in an isolated brain, but in a complex
interaction between the environment, the brain, and the organism. The brain-body
interaction has largely been neglected in the study of conscious perception. The aim of
the present study was to explore if heart rate (HR) and skin conductance (SC) are
affected by the interaction between phasic alertness and conscious perception. We
presented near-threshold visual stimuli which could be preceded by an alerting tone on
50% of the trials. Behaviorally, phasic alerting improved perceptual sensitivity to detect
the near-threshold stimulus (along with changes in response criterion). Following the
alerting tone, a cardiac deceleration-acceleration pattern was observed, which was more
pronounced when the near-threshold stimulus was consciously perceived in comparison
with unconsciously perceived stimuli. SC results further showed some degree of
subliminal processing of unseen stimuli. These results reveal that cardiac activity could
be a marker of attention and consciousness interactions, emphasizing the need of
supplementing current theoretical models with a biological component.},
publisher = {Wiley},
title = {Heart-rate modulations reveal attention and consciousness interactions},
doi = {10.1111/psyp.13295},
author = {Cobos, María I. and Guerra Muñoz, Pedro María and Vila Castellar, Jaime and Chica, Ana B.},
}