Attention as Gatekeeper: Consciousness
"Millions of items of the outward order are present to my senses which never properly enter into my experience. Why? Because they have no interest for me. My experience is what I agree to attend to. Only those items which I notice shape my mind-- without selective interest, experience is an utter chaos. Interest alone gives accent and emphasis, light and shade, background and foreground -- intelligible perspective, in a word."
Is attention a gatekeeper for consciousness?
Is attention sufficient for consciousness?
(If S attends to X, then S is conscious of X.)
Jesse Prinz on the case of GY:
- It could be that GY is making microsaccades toward the targets,
- Or that he is merely forming a non-conscious intention to attend to the targets.
Is attention necessary for consciousness?
(S is conscious of X only if S attends to X.)
Change Blindness
