Concepts of visual consciousness and their measurement
Advances in Cognitive Psychology 2007 DOI: 10.2478/v10053-008-0035-y (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Citations | 24 |
| Key points | Argues that self-reports of unawareness and forced-choice discrimination are insufficient to definitively demonstrate unconscious perception, as both measures rely on assumptions about the relationship between awareness and performance that remain unresolved in the literature. |
Abstract
When people look at pictures, they usually report that they are consciously aware of the pictures. However, visual consciousness can be manipulated easily with many different methods For example, when pictures are shown in quick succession or close in space, visibility of the pictures may be reduced and thus masked As a result, participants may report that they are not consciously aware of the masked pictures Does this self-report demonstrate that the participants were truly unaware and thus unconscious of the pictures? Alternatively, if the participants can discriminate among the pictures better than chance even though they deny awareness, does this demonstrate that the participants were actually aware and thus conscious of the pictures? These questions have been debated for more than a century (
Citations in the library
Cites 10
- Two neural correlates of consciousness Trends in Cognitive Sciences January 13, 2005
- How many kinds of consciousness? Consciousness and Cognition December 1, 2002
- Visual phenomenal consciousness: a neurological guided tour. Progress in Brain Research 2005
- One, not two, neural correlates of consciousness. Trends in Cognitive Sciences June 1, 2005
- Global workspace theory of consciousness: toward a cognitive neuroscience of human experience. Progress in Brain Research 2005
and 5 more in the library