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Crossmodal processing and sensory substitution: Is “seeing” with sound and touch a form of perception or cognition?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 January 2017

Tayfun Esenkaya
Affiliation:
Department of Computer Science, University of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY, United [email protected] Department of Psychology, University of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY, United Kingdom. [email protected]://www.bath.ac.uk/psychology/staff/michael-proulx/
Michael J. Proulx
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY, United Kingdom. [email protected]://www.bath.ac.uk/psychology/staff/michael-proulx/

Abstract

The brain has evolved in this multisensory context to perceive the world in an integrated fashion. Although there are good reasons to be skeptical of the influence of cognition on perception, here we argue that the study of sensory substitution devices might reveal that perception and cognition are not necessarily distinct, but rather continuous aspects of our information processing capacities.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

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