This study builds upon the theoretical framework proposed by V.M. Allakhverdov, which posits that the contents of consciousness emerge from the dynamic interaction between processes of identification and differentiation: a conscious (positive) meaning is highlighted against a background of rejected (negative) meanings, which nonetheless remain active. Within the proposed model, the concept of a "window of awareness" is introduced, defined as a range of semantic and perceptual integration within which compatible elements may be combined into a coherent conscious representation. The central hypothesis under investigation is that the presence of unconscious competing alternatives narrows this window of awareness, whereas their conscious recognition expands it. This hypothesis was tested in two experiments designed to assess the range of semantic (Experiment 1) and perceptual (Experiment 2) integration. In both experiments, ambiguous figures were employed as stimuli. In Experiment 1, when one meaning of an ambiguous figure remained unconscious, participants produced fewer associations, and those associations were semantically more closely related compared to unambiguous analogues of the same images. Conversely, when both meanings of an ambiguous figure were consciously perceived, the number of associations increased, while their semantic similarity decreased. In Experiment 2, the conscious perception of both interpretations of an ambiguous figure led to greater variability in participants’ subjective assessments of the images’ contour color. The obtained results do not fit classical models of inhibition, as they imply the continued activity of suppressed meanings, which still influence cognitive processing by determining the breadth of the window of awareness. However, these effects are consistent with models emphasizing the interaction between bottom-up and top-down processes: the narrowing of the window of awareness occurs when top-down control, aiming to stabilize the dominant interpretation, guides bottom-up processing toward features that confirm it. As a result of such refinement, the representation of the selected meaning becomes more specific and semantically constrained.