In the ongoing research of the functions of consciousness, special emphasis has been put on integration of information: the ability to combine different signals into a coherent, unified one. Several theories of consciousness hold that this ability depends on – or at least goes hand in hand with – conscious processing. Yet some empirical findings have suggested otherwise, claiming that integration of information could take place even without awareness. Trying to reconcile this apparent contradiction, the “windows of integration” (WOI) hypothesis claims that conscious access enables signal processing over large integration windows. The hypothesis applies to integration windows defined either temporally, spatially, or semantically. In this review, we explain the hypothesis and re-examine it in light of new studies published since it was suggested. In line with the hypothesis, these studies provide compelling evidence for unconscious integration, but also demonstrate its limits with respect to time, space, and semantic distance. The review further highlights open questions that still need to be pursued to demonstrate the applicability of the WOI hypothesis as a guiding principle for understanding the depth and scope of unconscious processes.

中文翻译：

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重新审视整合之窗假设


在正在进行的意识功能研究中，特别强调信息的整合：将不同信号组合成连贯、统一信号的能力。几种意识理论认为，这种能力取决于——或者至少与——意识处理密切相关。然而，一些实证研究结果却提出了相反的观点，声称即使没有意识，信息整合也可能发生。为了调和这一明显的矛盾，“集成窗口”（WOI）假说声称，有意识的访问能够在大集成窗口上进行信号处理。该假设适用于时间、空间或语义上定义的集成窗口。在这篇综述中，我们解释了这一假设，并根据自提出以来发表的新研究重新审视它。根据这一假设，这些研究为无意识整合提供了令人信服的证据，但也证明了它在时间、空间和语义距离方面的局限性。该评论进一步强调了仍需要解决的悬而未决的问题，以证明 WOI 假设作为理解无意识过程的深度和范围的指导原则的适用性。