@article{61410,
  abstract     = {{Purpose: The purpose of this study is to identify, analyze, and explain the implications that could
arise for service settings if AI systems develop, or are perceived to develop, consciousness – the
ability to acknowledge their own existence and the capacity for positive or negative experiences.

Design/methodology/approach: This study proposes and explores four hypothetical scenarios in
which conscious AI in service could manifest. We contextualize our resulting typology in the
health service context and integrate extant literature on technology-enabled service, AI
consciousness, and AI ethics into the narrative.

Findings: This study provides a unique theoretical contribution to service research in the form of
a Type IV theory. It enables future service researchers to apprehend, explain, and predict how
functionally conscious AI in service might unfold.

Originality: An increasingly prolific public discourse acknowledges that conscious AI systems
may emerge. Against this backdrop, this study aims to systematically explore a question that is
perhaps the most critical and timely, but also inherently speculative, in relation to AI in service
research by introducing much-needed theory and terminology.

Practical implications: The ethical use of conscious AI in service could emerge as a distinct
competitive advantage in the future. Achieving this outcome involves speculative yet actionable
recommendations that include training, guiding, and controlling how humans engage with such
systems, developing appropriate wellbeing protocols for functionally conscious AI systems, and
establishing AI rights and governance frameworks.}},
  author       = {{Breidbach, Christoph and Lars-Erik, Casper Ferm and Maglio, Paul and Beverungen, Daniel and Wirtz, Jochen and Twigg, Alex}},
  journal      = {{Journal of Service Management}},
  keywords     = {{AI, AI consciousness, AI ethics, service systems}},
  publisher    = {{Emerald}},
  title        = {{{Conscious Artificial Intelligence in Service}}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}

@article{6091,
  abstract     = {{In the present article, the role of endogenous feature-specific orienting for conscious and unconscious vision is reviewed. We start with an overview of orienting. We proceed with a review of masking research, and the definition of the criteria of experimental protocols that demonstrate endogenous and exogenous orienting, respectively. Against this background of criteria, we assess studies of unconscious orienting and come to the conclusion that so far studies of unconscious orienting demonstrated endogenous feature-specific orienting. The review closes with a discussion of the role of unconscious orienting in action control. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)}},
  author       = {{Ansorge, Ulrich and Horstmann, Gernot and Scharlau, Ingrid}},
  issn         = {{1895-1171}},
  journal      = {{Advances in Cognitive Psychology}},
  keywords     = {{visual input, awareness, conscious, orientation, visual perception, Awareness, Consciousness States, Perceptual Orientation, Visual Perception, Blindsight}},
  number       = {{2}},
  pages        = {{108 -- 119}},
  title        = {{{Top-down contingent feature-specific orienting with and without awareness of the visual input.}}},
  volume       = {{7}},
  year         = {{2011}},
}

@article{6073,
  abstract     = {{The paper is concerned with two models of early visual processing which predict that priming of a visual mask by a preceding masked stimulus speeds up conscious perception of the mask (perceptual latency priming). One model ascribes this speed-up to facilitation by visuo-spatial attention [Scharlau, I., & Neumann, O. (2003a). Perceptual latency priming by masked and unmasked stimuli: Evidence for an attentional explanation. Psychological Research 67, 184-197], the other attributes it to nonspecific upgrading mediated by retino-thalamic and thalamo-cortical pathways [Bachmann, T. (1994). Psychophysiology of visual masking: The fine structure of conscious experience. Commack, NY: Nova Science Publishers]. The models make different predictions about the time course of perceptual latency priming. Four experiments test these predictions. The results provide more support for the attentional than for the upgrading model. The experiments further demonstrate that testing latency facilitation w}},
  author       = {{Scharlau, Ingrid and Ansorge, Ulrich and Horstmann, Gernot}},
  issn         = {{0001-6918}},
  journal      = {{Acta Psychologica}},
  keywords     = {{latency facilitation, temporal order judgments, visual processing, priming, conscious perception, visual mask, Adult, Attention, Female, Humans, Judgment, Male, Perceptual Masking, Reaction Time, Space Perception, Time Perception, Visual Perception, Consciousness States, Judgment, Priming, Visual Masking, Temporal Order (Judgment)}},
  number       = {{2}},
  pages        = {{129 -- 159}},
  title        = {{{Latency facilitation in temporal-order judgments: Time course of facilitation as a function of judgment type.}}},
  volume       = {{122}},
  year         = {{2006}},
}

@article{6072,
  abstract     = {{According to the concept of direct parameter specification, nonconsciously registered information can be processed to the extent that it matches currently active intentions of a person. This prediction was tested and confirmed in the current study. Masked visual information provided by peripheral cues led to reaction time (RT) effects only if the information specified one of the required responses (Experiments 1 and 3). Information delivered by the same masked cues that did not match the intentions was not used. However, the same information influenced RT if it was provided by visible cues (Experiments 2 and 3). The results suggest that the processing of nonconsciously registered information is flexible because it is susceptible to the changing intentions of a person. Yet, these processes are apparently restricted as nonconsciously registered information cannot be used as easily for purposes not corresponding to the currently active intentions as better visible information. (PsycINFO }},
  author       = {{Ansorge, Ulrich and Heumann, Manfred and Scharlau, Ingrid}},
  issn         = {{1053-8100}},
  journal      = {{Consciousness and Cognition: An International Journal}},
  keywords     = {{active intentions, cues, direct parameter specification, nonconscious processing ability, Adult, Consciousness, Female, Humans, Male, Mental Processes, Perceptual Masking, Photic Stimulation, Visual Perception, Awareness, Cognitive Processes, Cues, Intention, Consciousness States, Probability}},
  number       = {{4}},
  pages        = {{528 -- 545}},
  title        = {{{Influences of visibility, intentions, and probability in a peripheral cuing task.}}},
  volume       = {{11}},
  year         = {{2002}},
}