The scope of unconscious processing is highly debated, with recent studies showing that even high-level functions such as perceptual integration and category-based attention occur unconsciously. For example, upright faces that are suppressed from awareness through interocular suppression break into awareness more quickly than inverted faces. Similarly, verbal object cues boost otherwise invisible objects into awareness. Here, we replicate these findings, but find that they reflect a general difference in detectability not specific to interocular suppression. To dissociate conscious and unconscious influences on visual detection effects, we use an additional discrimination task to rule out conscious processes as a cause for these differences. Results from this detection–discrimination dissociation paradigm reveal that, while face orientation is processed unconsciously, category-based attention requires awareness. These findings provide insights into the function of conscious perception and offer an experimental approach for mapping out the scope and limits of unconscious processing.

无意识处理的范围备受争议，最近的研究表明，即使是高级功能，如知觉整合和基于类别的注意，也会在无意识中发生。例如，通过眼间抑制从意识中压制的直立面孔比倒立面孔更快地进入意识状态。类似地，语言对象提示将原本不可见的对象提升到意识中。在这里，我们复制了这些发现，但发现它们反映了检测能力的普遍差异，而不是眼间抑制特有的。为了分离有意识和无意识对视觉检测效果的影响，我们使用额外的辨别任务来排除有意识的过程是造成这些差异的原因。这种检测-歧视解离范式的结果表明，虽然面部方向是无意识地处理的，但基于类别的注意力需要意识。这些发现提供了对有意识感知功能的见解，并提供了一种实验方法来绘制无意识处理的范围和限制。