Are we underestimating the richness of visual experience?
Andrew M. Haun, Giulio Tononi, Christof Koch, Naotsugu Tsuchiya
Neuroscience of Consciousness 2017 DOI: 10.1093/nc/niw023 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Keywords | Perception Species richness Experiential learning Cognitive psychology Phenomenology philosophy Epistemology Mathematics education Ecology |
| Citations | 97 |
| Key points | Argues that visual phenomenology is immensely rich and that experimental methods should move beyond binary forced-choice procedures to properly estimate perceptual content. |
Abstract
It has been argued that the bandwidth of perceptual experience is low-that the richness of experience is illusory and that the amount of visual information observers can perceive and remember is extremely limited. However, the evidence suggests that this postulated poverty of experiential content is illusory and that visual phenomenology is immensely rich. To properly estimate perceptual content, experimentalists must move beyond the limitations of binary alternative-forced choice procedures and analyze reports of experience more broadly. This will open our eyes to the true richness of experience and to its neuronal substrates.