…The Gap”: Between Subliminality and the Unconscious “Mind…

It has been suggested that the presentation of imperceptible elicitors can lead to physiological responses, such as skin-conductance and heart-rate changes. In a series of experiments, we showed that truly imperceptible elicitors did not induce these responses when using null-hypothesis-testing, and, furthermore, provided evidence for null physiological changes, when using Bayesian analyses. We proceeded to a series of exploratory experiments, examining whether physiological responses were reported to precede conscious awareness when a presentation included perceived emotion. We showed strong evidence that the experience of physiological responses was reported to precede conscious awareness to perceived emotional elicitors. The aforementioned responses were automatic and involuntary; they did not require conscious deliberation and could not be physiologically restrained by conscious instruction for inhibition. We propose that responses that could be termed unconscious, but not subliminal, could be preceding, spontaneous and potentially uninhibited experiential components of exposure to perceived, but not imperceptible, emotional elicitors.