摘要：长期以来科学界一直认为意识对多感觉信息整合来说是必需的.然而,近年来有研究者通过操纵视觉刺激知觉意识的方法(视觉掩蔽、双眼竞争、连续闪烁抑制)发现多感觉信息整合即使在视觉信息处于无意识条件下也能发生.最新的一项研究首次表明不同感觉通道(视觉和听觉)信息甚至在同时处于阈限水平下时仍然能得到一定程度的整合,进一步提供了关于无意识多感觉信息整合的证据.这些研究挑战了以往关于多感觉整合需要意识的主张,但其应用具有一定的局限性,并不能完全否认意识在多感觉整合中的作用.本文首先回顾了意识与信息整合关系的传统观点,接着对近年来无意识多感觉信息整合的研究进行综述并讨论了无意识多感觉整合的加工水平、时间界限、机制解释等问题,最后对未来的研究方向进行展望,以期增加人们对意识与整合关系的新认识,为多感觉信息整合的后续研究提供借鉴. 

Consciousness has long been proposed to be necessary for multisensory integration. In recent years, however, some researchers have found that multisensory integration can occur even when the information from the visual modality are rendered unconscious (e.g., under visual masking, binocular rivalry or continuous flash suppression). Furthermore, a more recent study demonstrates that two subliminal stimuli of different modalities (i.e., vision and audition) can nevertheless be integrated in complete unawareness, providing more compelling evidence for unconscious multisensory integration. Although these studies challenge previous claims that multisensory integration requires consciousness, the notion that consciousness has no functional role in multisensory integration may not be supported. Here we review recent work on unconscious multisensory integration (including its processing level, temporal window and underlying mechanism) and point to future research directions, offering a new understanding of the relationship between consciousness and multisensory integration.