How do multiple sources of unconscious-information processing affect a single conscious response?

At present there is little knowledge on how multiple pieces of unconscious information influence a single conscious response. For example, it is unclear whether the multiple pieces of unconscious information can independently affect the same response simultaneously. In the present study, we manipulated the congruency relation between a masked arrow in the prime and the arrow in the target, as well as that between masked flankers and the target arrow. The results demonstrated that the masked prime and flankers produced independent unconscious priming effects on the response to the target. We proposed an “independent unconscious influence hypothesis” for the phenomenon. This hypothesis was integrated into a more comprehensive unconscious information processing model. In the process of studying the above problem, two secondary findings were made. First, the flanker congruency effect was smaller when the flankers were displayed simultaneously with target than when they were displayed before the target. This suggested that priming stimulation required enough time to be processed to a sufficient extent to produce an unconscious priming effect. Second, the attention to the prime and its conscious mask was found to reduce the flanker congruency effect, whose possible causes were discussed. These results were replicated across between-subjects and within-subjects designs.