Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-gtxcr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-23T18:05:55.680Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Conscious access overflows overt report

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2008

Claire Sergent  and
Geraint Rees
Claire Sergent
Affiliation:
Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience & Wellcome Department of Imaging Neuroscience, Institute of Neurology, University College London, London WC1N3AR, United Kingdom. csergent@fil.ion.ucl.ac.ukhttp://www.icn.ucl.ac.uk/Research-Groups/awareness-group/g.rees@fil.ion.ucl.ac.ukhttp://www.fil.ion.ucl.ac.uk/~grees
Geraint Rees
Affiliation:
Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience & Wellcome Department of Imaging Neuroscience, Institute of Neurology, University College London, London WC1N3AR, United Kingdom. csergent@fil.ion.ucl.ac.ukhttp://www.icn.ucl.ac.uk/Research-Groups/awareness-group/g.rees@fil.ion.ucl.ac.ukhttp://www.fil.ion.ucl.ac.uk/~grees
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Block proposes that phenomenal experience overflows conscious access. In contrast, we propose that conscious access overflows overt report. We argue that a theory of phenomenal experience cannot discard subjective report and that Block's examples of phenomenal “overflow” relate to two different types of perception. We propose that conscious access is more than simply readout of a pre-existing phenomenal experience.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 30 , Issue 5-6 , December 2007 , pp. 523 - 524
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Dehaene, S., Changeux, J.-P., Naccache, L., Sackur, J. & Sergant, C. (2006) Conscious, preconscious, and subliminal processing: A testable taxonomoy. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 10(5):204–11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dehaene, S., Naccache, L., Le Clec, H.G., Koechlin, E., Mueller, M., Dehaene-Lambertz, G., van de Moortele, P. F. & Le Bihan, D. (1998) Imaging unconscious semantic priming. Nature 395(6702):597–600.Google Scholar
Dehaene, S., Sergent, C. & Changeux, J. P. (2003) A neuronal network model linking subjective reports and objective physiological data during conscious perception. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 100:8520–25.Google Scholar
Dennett, D. C. (1991) Consciousness explained. Little, Brown.Google Scholar
Dienes, Z. & Scott, R. (2005) Measuring unconscious knowledge: Distinguishing structural knowledge and judgment knowledge. Psychological Research 69(5–6):338–51.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gaillard, R., Del Cul, A, Naccache, L, Vinckier, F, Cohen, L. & Dehaene, S. (2006) Nonconscious semantic processing of emotional words modulates conscious access. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 103(19):7524–29.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Greenwald, A. G., Abrams, R. L., Naccache, L. & Dehaene, S. (2003) Long-term semantic memory versus contextual memory in unconscious number processing. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition 29(2):235–47.Google ScholarPubMed
Lamme, V. A. F. & Roelfsema, P. R. (2000) The distinct modes of vision offered by feedforward and recurrent processing. Trends in Neuroscience 23(11):571–79.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Landman, R., Spekreijse, H. & Lamme, V. A. F. (2003) Large capacity storage of integrated objects before change blindness. Vision Research 43(2):149–64.Google Scholar
Lau, H. C. & Passingham, R. E. (2006) Relative blindsight in normal observers and the neural correlate of visual consciousness. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 103(49):18763–68.Google Scholar
Lumer, E. D., Friston, K. J. & Rees, G. (1998) Neural correlates of perceptual rivalry in the human brain. Science 280:1930–34.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lumer, E. D. & Rees, G. (1999) Covariation of activity in visual and prefrontal cortex associated with subjective visual perception. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 96(4):1669–73.Google Scholar
Macmillan, N. A. & Creelman, C. D. (1991) Detection theory: A user's guide Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Mullen, K. T. (2006b) Psychology. Is she conscious? Science 313(5792):1395–96.Google Scholar
Nachev, P. & Husain, M. (2007) Comment on “Detecting awareness in the vegetative state.” Science 315(5816):1221; author reply: 1221.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Owen, A. M., Coleman, M. R., Boly, M., Davis, M. H., Laureys, S. & Pickard, J. D. (2006) Detecting awareness in the vegetative state. Science 313(5792):1402.Google Scholar
Persaud, N., McLeod, P. & Cowey, A. (2007) Post-decision wagering objectively measures awareness. Nature Neuroscience 10:257–61.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rees, G., Kreiman, G. & Koch, C. (2002a) Neural correlates of consciousness in humans. Nature Reviews Neuroscience 3(4):261–70.Google Scholar
Rees, G., Wojciulik, E., Clarke, K., Husain, M., Frith, C. & Driver, J. (2000) Unconscious activation of visual cortex in the damaged right hemisphere of a parietal patient with extinction. Brain 123(Pt 8):1624–33.Google Scholar
Ruff, C. C., Kristjansson, A. & Driver, J. (in press) Readout from iconic memory involves similar neural processes as selective spatial attention. Psychological ScienceGoogle Scholar
Sergent, C., Baillet, S. & Dehaene, S. (2005) Timing of the brain events underlying access to consciousness during the attentional blink. Nature Neuroscience 8(10):1391–400.Google Scholar
Sergent, C. & Dehaene, S. (2004) Is consciousness a gradual phenomenon? Evidence for an all-or-none bifurcation during the attentional blink. Psychological Science 15:720–28.Google Scholar
Sperling, G. (1960) The information available in brief visual presentations. Psychological Monographs: General and Applied 74(11, Whole No. 498):1–29. [Whole issue.]Google Scholar
Srinivasan, R., Russell, D. P., Edelman, G. M. & Tononi, G. (1999) Increased synchronization of neuromagnetic responses during conscious perception. Journal of Neuroscience 19(13):5435–48.Google Scholar
Vorberg, D., Mattler, U., Heinecke, A., Schmidt, T. & Schwarzbach, J. (2003) Different time courses for visual perception and action priming. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 100(10):6275–80.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Weiskrantz, L. (1997) Consciousness lost and found: A neuropsychological exploration Oxford University Press.Google Scholar