I think a good way to go at this is to look at some of Libet's work on
conscious awareness and how that likely works.
The upshot is that Libet shows that it takes a good half-second of
cortical stimulation for the stimulus to evoke awareness, but it doesn't
seem that way.
So the question is how the brain makes it seem as though we're aware of
things before we're actually aware of them; the theories on this are
many and varied (and some deny that there is a half-second delay at
all).
If you can get hold of a copy of Susan Blackmore's intro to
consciousness, that research is discussed in a few chapters. You might
also look at Dan Wegner's work on the illusion of conscious will; that's
relevant, too.
Sometimes things are not at all as they appear to be.
And then, sometimes they are.
m
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Marc L Carter
Associate Professor and Chair
Department of Psychology
Baker University College of Arts & Sciences
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________________________________
From: Michael Smith [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Thursday, October 30, 2008 11:24 PM
To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)
Subject: [SPAM] - [tips] A couple of psychophysics questions
please and thank you - Bayesian Filter detected spam
For the psychophysicists (or others) among us I wonder if you can supply
comments/answers on these statements/questions:
1. My understanding is that it takes about .25 sec for a person to
become consciously aware of a visual stimulus. Is this estimate still
accurate?
2. However I dont think it takes this long for us to perceive visual
events in the world. That is, with a 'stream of consciousness' we can
presumably perceive events closer in time. So my question here is: What
is the lower temporal limit a person can perceive sequential flashes of
a visual stimulus as distinct?
This timeframe would presumably indicate the lower limit of conscious
awareness of visual events in a normal visual environment.
3. Does our visual awareness have to be reset? That is, if we come out
of a coma (and open our eyes) presumably we would need the .25 sec to
perceive our first visual stimulation from the environment (ignoring
obvious other problems :-) ).
If this is so, do we actually do this upon waking every morning.
Any input would be appreciated.
--Mike
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