2017
DOI: 10.3758/s13423-017-1292-x
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A critical reexamination of doing arithmetic nonconsciously

Abstract: A recent study claimed to have obtained evidence that participants can solve invisible multistep arithmetic equations (Sklar et al., 2012). The authors used a priming paradigm in which reaction times to targets congruent with the equation's solution were responded to faster compared with incongruent ones. We critically reanalyzed the data set of Sklar et al. and show that the claims being made in the article are not fully supported by the alternative analyses that we applied. A Bayesian reanalysis of the data … Show more

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Cited by 39 publications
(46 citation statements)
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“…In a novel behavioral study with CFS, Sklar et al (2012) recently proposed that multiple word expressions can be processed without conscious awareness. However, the present findings are more consistent with subsequent studies supporting the more conservative view that consciousness is required for complex cognitive tasks such as sentence comprehension and arithmetic (Moors & Hesselmann, 2018;Rabagliati et al, 2018). On unmasked trials, the behavioral effect of subject-verb congruency was associated with a significant negative-going ERP difference between congruent and incongruent trials that appeared 450 ms after target in bilateral centro-posterior regions and thus corresponded to the well-known N400 component evoked by semantic incongruity (Kutas & Hillyard, 1980;Holcomb, 1993;Van Petten & Luka, 2006;Hagoort & van Berkum, 2007).…”
Section: Discussionsupporting
confidence: 91%
See 1 more Smart Citation
“…In a novel behavioral study with CFS, Sklar et al (2012) recently proposed that multiple word expressions can be processed without conscious awareness. However, the present findings are more consistent with subsequent studies supporting the more conservative view that consciousness is required for complex cognitive tasks such as sentence comprehension and arithmetic (Moors & Hesselmann, 2018;Rabagliati et al, 2018). On unmasked trials, the behavioral effect of subject-verb congruency was associated with a significant negative-going ERP difference between congruent and incongruent trials that appeared 450 ms after target in bilateral centro-posterior regions and thus corresponded to the well-known N400 component evoked by semantic incongruity (Kutas & Hillyard, 1980;Holcomb, 1993;Van Petten & Luka, 2006;Hagoort & van Berkum, 2007).…”
Section: Discussionsupporting
confidence: 91%
“…() recently proposed that multiple word expressions can be processed without conscious awareness. However, the present findings are more consistent with subsequent studies supporting the more conservative view that consciousness is required for complex cognitive tasks such as sentence comprehension and arithmetic (Moors & Hesselmann, ; Rabagliati et al ., ).…”
Section: Discussionmentioning
confidence: 97%
“…The Sklar et al study meets these criteria: the result was important and unexpected for many theoretical perspectives, but the finding was based on an analyzable sample of 47 participants, spread across two studies with two between-subjects presentation time conditions each. Two papers have provided critical reanalysis of Sklar et al's original data (Moors & Hesselmann, 2017;Shanks, 2017), but a direct replication utilizing a new sample has yet to be published. We elected to conduct the replication.…”
mentioning
confidence: 99%
“…This is understandable, since Shanks used Sklar et al's data to demonstrate the consequences of Rttm. Nevertheless, even if the data by Sklar et al (2012) were uncontaminated by Rttm-related artifacts, this would not absolve their work from other methodological weaknesses (e.g., Moors & Hesselmann, 2017). Their manuscript should thus not come across as if it could remove all doubts related to the study (Sklar et al, 2012).…”
Section: Final Notementioning
confidence: 96%
“…But the fact that we are all in this mess together should not make us want to shoot the messenger (e.g., Shanks, Schmidt, or Wagenmakers), but to carefully rethink and revise our research designs and data analysis strategies. We have the impression that SGH chose to shoot the messenger in an aim to rehabilitate their "unconscious arithmetic effect" (2012), which has been criticized before on various other grounds (e.g., Moors & Hesselmann, 2017; also see Moors & Hesselmann, 2019).…”
mentioning
confidence: 99%