Abstract

One of the most challenging issues in cognitive science is whether attention is necessary for consciousness. It is said if we want to become conscious of something, we should already pay attention to it. But some studies have shown in some conditions, one of which iconic memory, consciousness happens without attention. Iconic memory results have shown that subjects report less than half items in the whole report but report nearly all the cued items. Although all the items in iconic memory are not reportable at once, all of them are consciously represented before we pay attention. In the previous studies, using iconic memory dual tasks in which attention is locally diverted to peripheral task in order to examine consciousness in the central task has caused the problem of expectation and previous knowledge in perception of the stimuli. Regarding these studies’ methodological shortcomings, the purpose of the present study was to suggest and use Stroop's modified paradigm to study attention necessity for consciousness in iconic memory. Material and Methods: Thirty subjects were voluntarily selected and randomly assigned to partial and whole report groups. The data were analyzed by the T-dependent method. Findings showed that in the partial report group, participants had significantly more correct responses compared to the whole report group both in congruent and incongruent conditions meaning that attentional bias to word processing in incongruent condition did not decrease the correct responses compared to congruent condition both in the partial and whole report groups. Conclusion: Attention is not necessary for consciousness in iconic memory.