Open AccessFlexible establishment of functional brain networks supports attentional modulation of unconscious cognition
Author(s) -
Ulrich Martin,
Adams Sarah C.,
Kiefer Markus
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
human brain mapping
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.005
H-Index - 191
eISSN - 1097-0193
pISSN - 1065-9471
DOI - 10.1002/hbm.22566
Subject(s) - subliminal stimuli , psychology , functional magnetic resonance imaging , cognitive psychology , cognition , priming (agriculture) , unconscious mind , perception , task (project management) , semantic memory , neuroscience , electroencephalography , brain activity and meditation , biology , botany , germination , management , psychoanalysis , economics
In classical theories of attention, unconscious automatic processes are thought to be independent of higher‐level attentional influences. Here, we propose that unconscious processing depends on attentional enhancement of task‐congruent processing pathways implemented by a dynamic modulation of the functional communication between brain regions. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we tested our model with a subliminally primed lexical decision task preceded by an induction task preparing either a semantic or a perceptual task set. Subliminal semantic priming was significantly greater after semantic compared to perceptual induction in ventral occipito‐temporal (vOT) and inferior frontal cortex, brain areas known to be involved in semantic processing. The functional connectivity pattern of vOT varied depending on the induction task and successfully predicted the magnitude of behavioral and neural priming. Together, these findings support the proposal that dynamic establishment of functional networks by task sets is an important mechanism in the attentional control of unconscious processing. Hum Brain Mapp 35:5500–5516, 2014 . © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.