Does transliminality predict subperceptual information processing?

Anomalous experiences like hallucinations and mystical experiences are linked to delusional ideation, religiosity, and paranormal beliefs, which some researchers attribute to 'transliminality'—a sensitivity to stimuli entering consciousness. The strongest prior evidence came from a 2002 study finding transliminality predicted responses to subperceptual primes. This high-powered replication attempted to confirm that transliminality predicts identification of such primes and that this is due to stimulus sensitivity, not response bias. Participants completed a transliminality measure and an online card-guessing task with subperceptual primes. Results showed strong evidence against any association between transliminality and prime perception in both tasks, failing to support transliminality as a measure of subperceptual processing.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Anomalous experiences, such as hallucinations and mystical experiences, are positively related to delusional ideation, religiosity, and paranormal beliefs. Some researchers argue that these relationships are explained by 'transliminality'-a trait describing sensitivity to stimuli crossing the threshold into consciousness. This claim suggests such beliefs may be attempts to interpret barely perceptible stimuli. The strongest evidence for this comes from Crawley et al. (2002), who found transliminality was associated with responses to subperceptual primes. In the current study, we attempted a high-powered replication of Crawley et al.'s findings that: (i) transliminality predicts identification of subperceptual visual primes, and (ii) this relationship is explained by stimulus sensitivity rather than response bias. Participants completed a transliminality measure and an online card guessing task in two parts. In part one, participants were shown 100 images of playing cards and asked to guess which of five shapes was on the other side of the card. A total of 50 trials contained a subperceptual prime in the form of a target shape, and 50 trials were unprimed. In part two, participants were shown 20 primed and 20 unprimed trials. They were told a prime was sometimes present and asked to report whether they noticed this on each trial. We found strong evidence against an association between transliminality and prime perception in both tasks. These results do not support conceptualizing transliminality as a measure of subperceptual processing capabilities. This study did demonstrate the feasibility of conducting research involving rapidly presented visual stimuli in an online setting.