Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-x5gtn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-14T14:40:57.196Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Operationalizing Consciousness: Subjective Report and Task Performance

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Worth Boone
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

There are two distinct but related threads in this article. The first is methodological and is aimed at exploring the relative merits and faults of different operational definitions of consciousness. The second is conceptual and is aimed at understanding the prior commitments regarding the nature of conscious content that motivate these positions. I consider two distinct operationalizations: one defines consciousness in terms of dichotomous subjective reports, the other in terms of graded subjective reports. I ultimately argue that both approaches are inadequate and that a third alternative that involves integration of subjective report and task performance should be adopted.

Type
General Philosophy of Science
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 80 , Issue 5 , December 2013 , pp. 1031 - 1041
Copyright
Copyright © The Philosophy of Science Association

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.)

Footnotes

†

Thanks to Edouard Machery and Mazviita Chirimuuta for their guidance and comments throughout development of this article. Thanks also to Marcus Adams, Mikio Akagi, Joseph McCaffrey, and Kenneth Schaffner for comments on previous drafts and fruitful discussions of the topic.

References

Barbur, J. L., Ruddock, K. H., and Waterfield, Vicki A.. 1980. “Human Visual Response in the Absence of the Geniculo-Calcarine Projection.” Brain 103:905–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chalmers, D. 2000. “What Is a Neural Correlate of Consciousness?” In Metzinger 2000, 17–40.Google Scholar
Crick, F., and Koch, C.. 1998. “Consciousness and Neuroscience.” Cerebral Cortex 8:97–107.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Johannson, G. 1973. “Visual Perception of Biological Motion and a Model for Its Analysis.” Perception and Psychophysics 14 (2): 201–11..Google Scholar
Metzinger, Thomas. 2000. Neural Correlates of Consciousness. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Overgaard, M., Fehl, K., Mouridsen, K., Bergholt, B., and Cleeremans, A.. 2008. “Seeing without Seeing? Degraded Conscious Vision in a Blindsight Patient.” PLoS ONE 3 (8): e3028. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0003028.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Overgaard, M., Rote, J., Mouridsen, K., and Ramsoy, T.. 2006. “Is Conscious Perception Gradual or Dichotomous? A Comparison of Report Methodologies during a Visual Task.” Consciousness and Cognition 15 (4): 700–708..CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Perotti, V., Todd, J., and Norman, J.. 1996. “The Visual Perception of Rigid Motion from Constant Flow Fields.” Perceptual Psychophysics 58 (5): 666–79..CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Persaud, N., and Lau, H.. 2008. “Direct Assessment of Qualia in a Blindsight Participant.” Conscious Cognition 17 (3): 1046–49..CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ramsoy, T., and Overgaard, M.. 2004. “Introspection and Subliminal Perception.” Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences 3:1–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sandberg, K., Timmermans, B., Overgaard, M., and Cleeremans, A.. 2010. “Measuring Consciousness: Is One Measure Better than the Other?” Consciousness and Cognition 19 (4): 1069–78..CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schmerler, J. 1976. “The Visual Perception of Accelerated Motion.” Perception 5 (2): 167–85..CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sidis, B. 1898. The Psychology of Suggestion: A Research into the Subconscious Nature of Man and Society. New York: Appleton.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weiskrantz, L. 1996. “Blindsight Revisited.” Current Opinion in Neurobiology 6:215–20.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Weiskrantz, L., Warrington, E., Sanders, M., and Marshall, J.. 1974. “Visual Capacity in the Hemianopic Field following a Restricted Occipital Ablation.” Brain 97:709–28.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zeki, S., and Ffytche, D.. 1998. “The Riddoch Syndrome: Insights into the Neurobiology of Conscious Vision.” Brain 121 (1): 25–45..CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed