Attention as Gatekeeper:
Cognitive Access
Two concepts of consciousness
- Phenomenal consciousness (p-consciousness): A state is p-conscious iff there is "something it is like" for the subject to be in that state.
- Access consciousness (a-consciousness): A state is a-conscious "if it is poised for direct control of thought and action".
Can there be perceptual states that are p-conscious but not a-conscious?
More specifically, we can distinguish:
- Perceptual states that are unconscious and altogether inaccessible to working memory.
- Perceptual states that are conscious and only potentially accessible to working memory.
- Perceptual states that are conscious and actually accessible to working memory.
- Perceptual states that are conscious and actually accessed by working memory.
Attention as Gatekeeper:
By schwenkler3930
