Hostname: page-component-77f85d65b8-grvzd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-03-28T18:09:40.641Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Getting back from the basics: What is the role for attention and fronto-parietal circuits in consciousness?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 November 2016

Paul E. Dux
Paul E. Dux*
Affiliation:
School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Queensland 4072, Australia. paul.e.dux@gmail.com p.dux@psy.uq.edu.au www.paulduxlab.org
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Morsella et al. present a novel theory of consciousness which is more “low-level, circumscribed, counterintuitive, and passive” than previous accounts. There is much to like about this approach. However, what are the explanatory costs associated with these characteristics? In particular, how does this low-level and passive theory accommodate evidence for top-down attention being necessary (but not sufficient) for visual consciousness?

Information

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 39 , 2016 , e175
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

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.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Cohen, M. A., Alvarez, G. A. & Nakayama, K. (2011) Natural-scene perception requires attention. Psychological Science 22:1165–72.Google Scholar
Cohen, M. A., Cavanagh, P., Chun, M. M. & Nakayama, K. (2012) The attentional requirements of consciousness. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 16:411–17.Google Scholar
Corbetta, M., Patel, G. H. & Shulman, G. L. (2008) The reorienting system of the human brain: From environment to theory of mind. Neuron 58:306–24.Google Scholar
Crick, F. & Koch, C. (2003) A framework for consciousness. Nature Neuroscience 6:1–8.Google Scholar
Di Lollo, V., Enns, J. T. & Rensink, R. A. (2000) Competition for consciousness among visual events: The psychophysics of reentrant visual pathways. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 129:481–507.Google Scholar
Enns, J. T. & Di Lollo, V. (1997) Object substitution: A new form of masking in unattended visual locations. Psychological Science 8:135–39.Google Scholar
Hirose, N., Kihara, K., Mima, T., Ueki, Y., Fukuyama, H. & Osaka, N. (2007) Recovery from object substitution masking induced by transient suppression of visual motion processing: A repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation study. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance 33:1495–503.Google Scholar
Koch, C. (2012) Consciousness: Confessions of a romantic reductionist. MIT Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koch, C. & Tsuchiya, N. (2007) Attention and consciousness: Two distinct brain processes. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 11:16–22.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mack, A. & Rock, I. (1998) Inattentional blindness. MIT Press.Google Scholar
Marois, R., Yi, D. J. & Chun, M. M. (2004) The neural fate of perceived and missed events in the attentional blink. Neuron 41:465–72.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Raymond, J. E., Shapiro, K. L. & Arnell, K. M. (1992) Temporary suppression of visual processing in an RSVP task: An attentional blink? Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance 18:849–60.Google Scholar
Zhang, P., Jamison, K., Engel, S., He, B. & He, S. (2011) Binocular rivalry requires visual attention. Neuron 71:362–69.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed