I recently submitted this manuscript to bioRxiv (preprint server for biological research) as I was curious to find out what people -also outside of academia- thought of it. In short, we show data that suggests the brain is capable of extracting low-level features of an unattended (i.e. task-irrelevant) stimulus, but can no longer integrate these features.
We believe this work to be relevant in a.o. the topic of conscious awareness, in which attention and integration of information play key factors (see for example: information integration theory, global neuronal workspace theory).
Anyway, I'm open to any questions, comments or random remarks you have on this manuscript.
Thanks in advance for your interest!
All the best, Stijn Nuiten