Unconscious Working Memory Task
This example implements the experimental paradigm described in Trübutschek, D., Marti, S., Ojeda, A., King, J.-R., Mi, Y., Tsodyks, M., & Dehaene, S. (2017). A theory of working memory without consciousness or sustained activity. Elife, 6, e23871.
1. Experimental Task
The task is a spatial delayed-response task designed to assess the retention of a target location under varying levels of subjective visibility.
Trial Structure:
- Fixation: A central fixation cross (500 ms).
- Target: A faint gray square flashed for 17 ms in 1 of 20 positions along a circle. On 20% of trials, no target is shown (blank).
- Post-target Fixation: 17 ms.
- Mask: Four squares surrounding each of the 20 possible locations (233 ms).
- Delay: A variable delay period (2.5, 3.0, 3.5, or 4.0 s). On 50% of trials, an unmasked distractor square appears 1.5 s into the delay.
- Response Screen: 20 letters appear at the 20 positions (2.5 s). In the original study, participants spoke the letter at the target location.
- Visibility Rating: The word “Vu?” (French for “Seen”) appears. Participants rate visibility on the 4-point PAS scale (1-4).
2. Controls
- ‘1’-‘4’: Press to rate visibility on the Perceptual Awareness Scale (PAS).
- ‘ESC’: Quit the experiment.
3. How to Run
From the Trubutschek_Unconscious_Working_Memory directory:
go run main.go -d -s [subject_id]
Or from the repository root:
go run examples/Trubutschek_Unconscious_Working_Memory/main.go -d -s [subject_id]
- -d: Developer mode (windowed display).
- -s: Subject ID for data logging.