Chapter 16 (Un)conscious Perspectival Shape and Attention Guidance in Visual Search

When viewing a circular coin rotated in depth, it fills an elliptical region of the distal scene. For some, this appears to generate a two-fold experience, in which one sees the coin as simultaneously circular (in light of its 3D shape) and elliptical (in light of its 2D ‘perspectival shape’ or ‘p-s...

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Main Authors: Henke, Benjamin, Weksler, Assaf
Format: Online
Sprog:engelsk
Udgivet: Taylor & Francis 2023
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Online adgang:https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/85154
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author Henke, Benjamin
Weksler, Assaf
author_browse Henke, Benjamin
Weksler, Assaf
author_facet Henke, Benjamin
Weksler, Assaf
author_sort Henke, Benjamin
collection Directory of Open Access Books
description When viewing a circular coin rotated in depth, it fills an elliptical region of the distal scene. For some, this appears to generate a two-fold experience, in which one sees the coin as simultaneously circular (in light of its 3D shape) and elliptical (in light of its 2D ‘perspectival shape’ or ‘p-shape’). An energetic philosophical debate asks whether the latter p-shapes are genuinely presented in perceptual experience (as ‘perspectivalists’ argue) or if, instead, this appearance is somehow derived or inferred from experience (as ‘anti-perspectivalists’ argue). This debate, however, has largely turned on introspection. In a recent study, Morales et al. (2020) aim to provide the first empirical test of this question. They asked subjects to find an elliptical coin seen face-on from a search array that also included a circular coin seen either face-on or at an angle. They found that subjects reacted more slowly when the distracting circle was seen at an angle, such that its p-shape matched that of the target ellipse. From this, they concluded that the similar p-shape between the ellipse and circle constituted a phenomenal similarity between the two, and thus that perspectivalism is true. We show that these results can also be explained by pre-attentive guidance by unconscious representations (in what follows, just “unconscious pre-attentive guidance”) and that this explanation is at least as plausible as one from phenomenal similarity. Thus, we conclude that the experiment does not support perspectivalism over anti-perspectivalism.
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spelling doab-20.500.12854ir-1222322025-06-24T07:37:54Z Chapter 16 (Un)conscious Perspectival Shape and Attention Guidance in Visual Search Henke, Benjamin Weksler, Assaf attention; higher-order theories of consciousness; inattentional blindness; masking; mental qualities; neurophenomenal structuralism; phenomenal content; unconscious mental states When viewing a circular coin rotated in depth, it fills an elliptical region of the distal scene. For some, this appears to generate a two-fold experience, in which one sees the coin as simultaneously circular (in light of its 3D shape) and elliptical (in light of its 2D ‘perspectival shape’ or ‘p-shape’). An energetic philosophical debate asks whether the latter p-shapes are genuinely presented in perceptual experience (as ‘perspectivalists’ argue) or if, instead, this appearance is somehow derived or inferred from experience (as ‘anti-perspectivalists’ argue). This debate, however, has largely turned on introspection. In a recent study, Morales et al. (2020) aim to provide the first empirical test of this question. They asked subjects to find an elliptical coin seen face-on from a search array that also included a circular coin seen either face-on or at an angle. They found that subjects reacted more slowly when the distracting circle was seen at an angle, such that its p-shape matched that of the target ellipse. From this, they concluded that the similar p-shape between the ellipse and circle constituted a phenomenal similarity between the two, and thus that perspectivalism is true. We show that these results can also be explained by pre-attentive guidance by unconscious representations (in what follows, just “unconscious pre-attentive guidance”) and that this explanation is at least as plausible as one from phenomenal similarity. Thus, we conclude that the experiment does not support perspectivalism over anti-perspectivalism. 2023-11-17T09:46:34Z 2023-11-17T09:46:34Z 2023-11-16T09:32:20Z 2024 chapter https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/85154 9781032529790 9781032529745 https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/122232 eng open access image/jpeg image/jpeg image/jpeg Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/85154/1/9781003409526_10.4324_9781003409526-20.pdf https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/85154/1/9781003409526_10.4324_9781003409526-20.pdf https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/85154/1/9781003409526_10.4324_9781003409526-20.pdf Taylor & Francis Routledge 10.4324/ 9781003409526- 20 10.4324/ 9781003409526- 20 fa69b019-f4ee-4979-8d42-c6b6c476b5f0 Conscious and Unconscious Mentality Israel Science Foundation 7b594309-7322-4938-b810-989a6a6d4872 9781032529790 9781032529745 Routledge 19 open access
spellingShingle attention; higher-order theories of consciousness; inattentional blindness; masking; mental qualities; neurophenomenal structuralism; phenomenal content; unconscious mental states
Henke, Benjamin
Weksler, Assaf
Chapter 16 (Un)conscious Perspectival Shape and Attention Guidance in Visual Search
title Chapter 16 (Un)conscious Perspectival Shape and Attention Guidance in Visual Search
title_full Chapter 16 (Un)conscious Perspectival Shape and Attention Guidance in Visual Search
title_fullStr Chapter 16 (Un)conscious Perspectival Shape and Attention Guidance in Visual Search
title_full_unstemmed Chapter 16 (Un)conscious Perspectival Shape and Attention Guidance in Visual Search
title_short Chapter 16 (Un)conscious Perspectival Shape and Attention Guidance in Visual Search
title_sort chapter 16 un conscious perspectival shape and attention guidance in visual search
topic attention; higher-order theories of consciousness; inattentional blindness; masking; mental qualities; neurophenomenal structuralism; phenomenal content; unconscious mental states
topic_facet attention; higher-order theories of consciousness; inattentional blindness; masking; mental qualities; neurophenomenal structuralism; phenomenal content; unconscious mental states
url https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/85154
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