Editing Blindsight (section)

==== Kentridge, Heywood, and Weiskrantz ====
Kentridge, Heywood, and Weiskrantz used the phenomenon of blindsight to investigate the connection between visual attention and visual awareness. They wanted to see if their subject—who exhibited blindsight in other studies<ref name="Alexander and Cowey" />—could react more quickly when their attention was cued without the ability to be visually aware of it. The researchers aimed to show that being conscious of a stimulus and paying attention to it was not the same thing.<ref name="Kentridge et al">{{cite journal|vauthors = Kentridge RW, Heywood CA, Weiskrantz L|title = Spatial attention speeds discrimination without awareness in blindsight|journal = Neuropsychologia|volume = 42|issue = 6|pages = 831–5|year = 2004|pmid = 15037061|doi = 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2003.11.001|s2cid = 12837840|citeseerx = 10.1.1.719.7118}}</ref>

To test the relationship between attention and awareness, they had the participant try to determine where a target was and whether it was oriented horizontally or vertically on a computer screen.<ref name="Kentridge et al" /> The target line would appear at one of two different locations and would be oriented in one of two directions. Before the target would appear an arrow would become visible on the screen, sometimes pointing to the correct position of the target line and less frequently not. This arrow was the cue for the subject. The participant would press a key to indicate whether the line was horizontal or vertical, and could then also indicate to an observer whether or not he/she actually had a feeling that any object was there or not—even if they couldn't see anything. The participant was able to accurately determine the orientation of the line when the target was cued by an arrow before the appearance of the target, even though these visual stimuli did not equal awareness in the subject who had no vision in that area of his/her visual field. The study showed that even without the ability to be visually aware of a stimulus the participant could still focus his/her attention on this object.<ref name="Kentridge et al" />