Conscious and Unconscious Processes in the Arithmetic Priming Task Depend on the Arithmetic Skill

The study examined the role of conscious and unconscious processesdepending on the level of arithmetic skill. The participants weredivided into two groups according to their arithmetic skill based onthe calculation fluency test results. Masked and unmasked single-digitaddition problems (primes) followed by correct and incorrect resultswere presented on the screen. In a conscious perception task (unmaskedpriming), when large and small problem results were presented, anarithmetic N400 and LPC effects were observed in both groups. Inthe case of unconscious perception (masked priming), when smallproblem results were presented, the LPC effect was observed in thegroup with low arithmetic skill. The fact that the LPC arithmeticeffect was discovered during the unconscious presentation may indicate theautomatic nature of the encoding and retrieving information processes,reflecting neurophysiological characteristics associated with thelevel of arithmetic skill.