Subliminal/Unaware Cues and Perception of Presence in Virtual, Telepresence, and Automotive Environments - Guest Editors' Introduction

The term {"}subliminal perception{"} has been around for many years and is generally understood as perception that can occur without conscious awareness. The idea that subliminal perception provokes a ignificant impact on thoughts or behaviors strikes many people as counterintuitive. Recent findings support the notion of perception without conscious awareness, and oppose the intuitive notion that consciousness is necessary for perception (Ramsoy&Overgaard, 2004). The discussion whether subliminal perception actually changes thoughts/behavior traces back to the question whether a stimulus is perceived even when there is no awareness of it. Rapid advance of new technologies, such as EEG and fMRI, provides a way to measure directly effects of subliminal stimuli, which leads to a revival of studies on the link between subliminal stimuli and behavior, thought, and emotional changes. The central objective of this special issue is to provoke an active debate on the impact, role and adequacy of using information below threshold in virtual environments, teleoperation, or augmented reality.