Hostname: page-component-6bf8c574d5-2jptb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-02-23T10:35:00.326Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Consciousness Without Attention

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 June 2015

CAROLYN DICEY JENNINGS
CAROLYN DICEY JENNINGS*
Affiliation:
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract:

This paper explores whether consciousness can exist without attention. This is ahot topic in philosophy of mind and cognitive science due to the popularity oftheories that hold attention to be necessary for consciousness. The discovery ofa form of consciousness that exists without the influence of attention wouldrequire a change in the way that many global workspace theorists, for example,understand the role and function of consciousness. Against this understanding,at least three forms of consciousness have been argued to exist withoutattention: perceptual gist, imagistic consciousness, and phenomenalconsciousness. After first arguing that the evidence is inconclusive on thequestion of whether these forms of consciousness exist without attention, I herepresent a fourth form of consciousness that is likely to be more successful:conscious entrainment. I argue that conscious entrainment is a form ofconsciousness associated with skilled behavior in which attention is sometimesabsent.

Keywords

attentionconsciousnessskillautomaticityphenomenal consciousnessgist perception
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of the American Philosophical Association , Volume 1 , Issue 2 , Summer 2015 , pp. 276 - 295
Copyright
Copyright © American Philosophical Association 2015 

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

Alvarez, G., and Oliva, A.. (2009) ‘Spatial Ensemble Statistics are Efficient Codes that can be Represented with Reduced Attention’. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 106 (18), 7345.Google Scholar
Arnsten, A. (2006) ‘Fundamentals of Attention-deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: Circuits and Pathways’. The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 67, 7.Google Scholar
Baars, B. J. (1997) ‘Some Essential Differences between Consciousness and Attention, Perception, and Working Memory’. Consciousness and Cognition, 6 (2–3), 363–71.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bellgrove, M., Johnson, K., Barry, E., Mulligan, A., Hawi, Z., Gill, M., et al. (2009) ‘Dopaminergic Haplotype as a Predictor of Spatial Inattention in Children with Attention-deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder’. Archives of General Psychiatry, 66 (10), 1135.Google Scholar
Block, N. (1990) ‘Inverted Earth’. Philosophical Perspectives, 4, 53–79.Google Scholar
Block, N. (1995) ‘On a Confusion about a Function of Consciousness’. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 18, 227–47.Google Scholar
Block, N. (1998) ‘How to Find the Neural Correlate of Consciousness’. Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplement, 43, 23–34.Google Scholar
Block, N. (2005) ‘Two Neural Correlates of Consciousness’. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 9 (2), 46–52.Google Scholar
Block, N. (2008a) ‘Consciousness, Accessibility, and the Mesh between Psychology and Neuroscience’. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 30 (5–6), 481–99.Google Scholar
Block, N. (2008b) ‘Consciousness and Cognitive Access’. Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, 108, 289–317.Google Scholar
Block, N. (2010) ‘Attention and Mental Paint’. Philosophical Issues, 20 (1), 23–63.Google Scholar
Block, N. (2011) ‘Perceptual Consciousness Overflows Cognitive Access’. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 15 (12), 567–75.Google Scholar
Campbell, J. (2002) Reference and Consciousness. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Campbell, J. (2004) ‘Reference as Attention’. Philosophical Studies, 120, 265–76.Google Scholar
Coates, P. (2004). ‘Wilfrid Sellars: Perceptual Consciousness and Theories of Attention’. Essays in Philosophy, 5 (1), 8.Google Scholar
Crick, F., and Koch, C.. (1990) ‘Towards a Neurobiological Theory of Consciousness’. Seminars in the Neurosciences, 2, 263–75.Google Scholar
Csikszentmihalyi, M., and Csikszentmihalyi, I. S.. (1992) Optimal Experience: Psychological Studies of Flow in Consciousness. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Cubillo, A., Halari, R., Smith, A., Taylor, E., and Rubia, K.. (2011) ‘A Review of Fronto-striatal and Fronto-cortical Brain Abnormalities in Children and Adults with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and new Evidence for Dysfunction in Adults with ADHD during Motivation and Attention’. Cortex, 48 (2), 194–215.Google Scholar
Debner, J. A., and Jacoby, L. L.. (1994) ‘Unconscious Perception: Attention, Awareness, and Control’. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 20, 304.Google Scholar
Dehaene, S., and Naccache, L.. (2001) ‘Towards a Cognitive Neuroscience of Consciousness: Basic Evidence and a Workspace Framework’. Cognition, 79, 1–37.Google Scholar
Dux, P. E., Tombu, M. N., Harrison, S., Rogers, B. P., Tong, F., and Marois, R.. (2009) Training Improves Multitasking Performance by Increasing the Speed of Information Processing in Human Prefrontal Cortex. Neuron, 63 (1), 127–38.Google Scholar
Evans, K., and Treisman, A.. (2005) ‘Perception of Objects in Natural Scenes: Is it Really Attention Free?’. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 31 (6), 1476.Google Scholar
Goldberg, I., Harel, M., and Malach, R.. (2006) ‘When the Brain Loses its Self: Prefrontal Inactivation during Sensorimotor Processing’. Neuron, 50 (2), 329–39.Google Scholar
Goodale, M., and Milner, D.. (2004) Sight Unseen. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Grassia, M. (2004) ‘Consciousness and Perceptual Attention: A Methodological Argument’. Essays in Philosophy, 5 (1), 18.Google Scholar
Hine, R. (2010) ‘Attention as Experience through “Thick” and “Thin”’. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 17 (9–10), 202–20.Google Scholar
Hirst, W., Spelke, E. S., Reaves, C. C., Caharack, G., and Neisser, U.. (1980) ‘Dividing Attention without Alternation or Automaticity’. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 109 (1), 98.Google Scholar
Hobson, J. (2009) ‘REM Sleep and Dreaming: Towards a Theory of Protoconsciousness’. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 10 (11), 803–13.Google Scholar
Jackson, F. (1982) ‘Epiphenomenal qualia’. Philosophical Quarterly, 32, 127–36.Google Scholar
Jackson, F. (1986) ‘What Mary Didn't Know’. Journal of Philosophy, 83, 291–95.Google Scholar
Jennings, C. D. (2012) ‘The Subject of Attention’. Synthese, 189 (3), 535–54.Google Scholar
Jennings, C. D. (2014) ‘Attention and Perceptual Organization’. Philosophical Studies, doi: 10.1007/s11098-014-0348-2.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, D., Epstein, J., Waid, L., Latham, P., Voronin, K., and Anton, R.. (2001) ‘Neuropsychological Performance Deficits in Adults with Attention deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder’. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 16 (6), 587–604.Google Scholar
Koch, C., and Tsuchiya, N.. (2007) ‘Attention and Consciousness: Two Distinct Brain Processes’. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 11 (1), 16–22.Google Scholar
Kosslyn, S. (1980) Image and Mind. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Kouider, S., Gardelle, V., Sackur, J., and Dupoux, E.. (2011) ‘How Rich is Consciousness? The Partial Awareness Hypothesis’. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 14, 301–307.Google Scholar
Lamme, V. A. F. (2003) ‘Why Visual Attention and Awareness are Different’. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 7 (1), 12–18.Google Scholar
Laureys, S. (2005) ‘The Neural Correlate of (Un)Awareness: Lessons from the Vegetative State’. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 9 (12), 556–9.Google Scholar
Levin, D., Takarae, Y., Miner, A., and Keil, F.. (2001) ‘Efficient Visual Search by Category: Specifying the Features that Mark the Difference between Artifacts and Animals in Preattentive Vision’. Perception & Psychophysics, 63 (4), 676.Google Scholar
Li, F. F., VanRullen, R., Koch, C., and Perona, P.. (2002) ‘Rapid Natural Scene Categorization in the Near Absence of Attention’. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 99 (14), 9596.Google Scholar
Li, F. F., VanRullen, R., Koch, C., and Perona, P.. (2003) ‘Natural Scene Categorization in the Near Absence of Attention: Further Explorations’. Journal of Vision, 3 (9), 331.Google Scholar
Li, F. F., Iyer, A., Koch, C., and Perona, P.. (2007) ‘What Do We Perceive in a Glance of a Real-world Scene?’. Journal of Vision, 7 (1), 1–29.Google Scholar
Locke, J. (2004a) An Essay Concerning Human Understanding. Vol. 1. Whitefish: Kessinger Publishing.Google Scholar
Locke, J. (2004b) An Essay Concerning Human Understanding. Vol. 2. Whitefish: Kessinger Publishing.Google Scholar
Mack, A., and Rock, I.. (1998) ‘Inattentional Blindness: Perception without Attention’. In Wright, R. D. (ed.), Visual Attention. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Mole, C. (2008) ‘Attention and Consciousness’. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 15 (4), 86–104.Google Scholar
Nir, Y., and Tononi, G.. (2010) ‘Dreaming and the Brain: From Phenomenology to Neurophysiology’. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 14 (2), 88–100.Google Scholar
Noë, A., and O’Regan, J. K.. (2000) ‘Perception, Attention, and the Grand Illusion’. Psyche, 6 (15), 6–15.Google Scholar
Oliva, A. (2005) ‘Gist of the Scene’. In Itti, L., Rees, G., and Tsotsos, J.K. (eds.), Neurobiology of Attention (San Diego: Elsevier Academic Press), 251–56.Google Scholar
Oliva, A., and Torralba, A.. (2006) ‘Building the Gist of a Scene: The Role of Global Image Features in Recognition’. Progress in Brain Research, 155, 23–36.Google Scholar
Orosz, P. (2010) ‘Ayrton Senna on the Very Edge’. Available at: http://jalopnik.com/5452870/ayrton-senna-on-the-very-edge.Google Scholar
Pavlopoulou, C., and Yu, S.. (2010) ‘Classification and Feature Selection with Human Performance Data’. In IEEE International Conference on Image Processing, 1557–60.Google Scholar
Pesca, Mike. (2005) ‘Record Scratch’. On the Media. Available at: http://www.onthemedia.org/2005/jan/21/record-scratch/transcript/.Google Scholar
Phillips, I. (2011) ‘Perception and Iconic Memory: What Sperling Doesn't Show’. Mind & Language, 26 (4), 381–411.Google Scholar
Pineda, D., Ardila, A., and Rosselli, M.. (1999) ‘Neuropsychological and Behavioral Assessment of ADHD in Seven-to twelve-year-old Children’. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 32 (2), 159.Google Scholar
Poldrack, R., Sabb, F., Foerde, K., Tom, S., Asarnow, R., Bookheimer, S., et al. (2005) ‘The Neural Correlates of Motor Skill Automaticity’. The Journal of Neuroscience, 25 (22), 5356–64.Google Scholar
Potter, M. (1976) ‘Short-term Conceptual Memory for Pictures’. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 2 (5), 509.Google Scholar
Priftis, K., Schiff, S., Tikhonoff, V., Giordano, N., Amodio, P., Umiltà, C., et al. (2011) ‘Hypnosis Meets Neuropsychology: Simulating Visuospatial Neglect in Healthy Participants’. Neuropsychologia, 49 (12), 3346–50.Google Scholar
Prinz, J. J. (2011) ‘Is Attention Necessary and Sufficient for Consciousness?’. In Mole, C., Smithies, D., and Wu, W. (eds.), Attention: Philosophical and Psychological Essays (Oxford: Oxford University Press), 174–203.Google Scholar
Prinz, J. J. (2012) The Conscious Brain: How Attention Engenders Experience. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Raffman, D. (1993) Language, Music, and Mind. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Rayno, Amelia. (2014) ‘Chuck Knoblauch: Unpacking Memories’. Star Tribune, July 24.Google Scholar
Reddy, L., Reddy, L., and Koch, C.. (2006) ‘Face Identification in the Near-absence of Focal Attention’. Vision Research, 46 (15), 2336–43.Google Scholar
Reddy, L., Wilken, P., and Koch, C.. (2004) ‘Face-gender Discrimination is Possible in the Near-absence of Attention’. Journal of Vision, 4 (2), 4.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Reynolds, J. H., and Heeger, D. J.. (2009) ‘The Normalization Model of Attention’. Neuron, 61 (2), 168–85.Google Scholar
Saling, L. L., and Phillips, J. G.. (2007) ‘Automatic Behaviour: Efficient not Mindless’. Brain Research Bulletin, 73 (1), 1–20.Google Scholar
Schneider, W., Pimm-Smith, M., and Worden, M.. (1994) ‘Neurobiology of Attention and Automaticity’. Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 4 (2), 177–82.Google Scholar
Schwitzgebel, E. (2007) ‘Do You have Constant Tactile Experience of Your Feet in Your Shoes? Or is Experience Limited to What's in Attention?’. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 14 (3), 5–35.Google Scholar
Schyns, P., and Oliva, A.. (1994) ‘From Blobs to Boundary Edges: Evidence for Time- and Spatial-scale-dependent Scene Recognition’. Psychological Science, 5 (4), 195.Google Scholar
Schyns, P., and Oliva, A.. (1999) ‘Dr. Angry and Mr. Smile: When Categorization Flexibly Modifies the Perception of Faces in Rapid Visual Presentations’. Cognition, 69 (3), 243–65.Google Scholar
Siegel, S. (2010) ‘The Contents of Perception’. Available at: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/perception-contents/.Google Scholar
Sperling, G. (1960) ‘The Information Available in Brief Visual Presentations’. Psychological Monographs, 74 (11), 1.Google Scholar
Suchy-Dicey, C. M. (2012) ‘Inductive Parsimony and the Methodological Argument’. Consciousness and Cognition, 21 (2), 605–9.Google Scholar
van Boxtel, J. J. A., Tsuchiya, N., and Koch, C.. (2010) ‘Consciousness and Attention: On Sufficiency and Necessity’. Frontiers in Psychology, 1, 1–13.Google Scholar
Yin, H. H., and Knowlton, B. J.. (2006) ‘The Role of the Basal Ganglia in Habit Formation’. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 7 (6), 464–76.Google Scholar