A Scientific Approach to Conscious Experience, Introspection, and Unconscious Processing: Vision and Blindsight
Although subjective conscious experience and introspection have long been considered unscientific and banned from psychology, they are indispensable in scientific practice. These terms are used in scientific contexts today; however, their meaning remains vague, and earlier objections to the distinct...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2022-09-01
|
| Series: | Brain Sciences |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3425/12/10/1305 |
| _version_ | 1827651234939535360 |
|---|---|
| author | Reinhard Werth |
| author_facet | Reinhard Werth |
| author_sort | Reinhard Werth |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Although subjective conscious experience and introspection have long been considered unscientific and banned from psychology, they are indispensable in scientific practice. These terms are used in scientific contexts today; however, their meaning remains vague, and earlier objections to the distinction between conscious experience and unconscious processing, remain valid. This also applies to the distinction between conscious visual perception and unconscious visual processing. Damage to the geniculo-striate pathway or the visual cortex results in a perimetrically blind visual hemifield contralateral to the damaged hemisphere. In some cases, cerebral blindness is not absolute. Patients may still be able to guess the presence, location, shape or direction of movement of a stimulus even though they report no conscious visual experience. This “unconscious” ability was termed “blindsight”. The present paper demonstrates how the term conscious visual experience can be introduced in a logically precise and methodologically correct way and becomes amenable to scientific examination. The distinction between conscious experience and unconscious processing is demonstrated in the cases of conscious vision and blindsight. The literature on “blindsight” and its neurobiological basis is reviewed. It is shown that blindsight can be caused by residual functions of neural networks of the visual cortex that have survived cerebral damage, and may also be due to an extrastriate pathway via the midbrain to cortical areas such as areas V4 and MT/V5. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T20:34:53Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-540e037472314d7a9f38f64518b65fb1 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-3425 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T20:34:53Z |
| publishDate | 2022-09-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Brain Sciences |
| spelling | doaj.art-540e037472314d7a9f38f64518b65fb12023-11-23T23:13:18ZengMDPI AGBrain Sciences2076-34252022-09-011210130510.3390/brainsci12101305A Scientific Approach to Conscious Experience, Introspection, and Unconscious Processing: Vision and BlindsightReinhard Werth0Social Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich, Haydnstr. 5, D-80336 München, GermanyAlthough subjective conscious experience and introspection have long been considered unscientific and banned from psychology, they are indispensable in scientific practice. These terms are used in scientific contexts today; however, their meaning remains vague, and earlier objections to the distinction between conscious experience and unconscious processing, remain valid. This also applies to the distinction between conscious visual perception and unconscious visual processing. Damage to the geniculo-striate pathway or the visual cortex results in a perimetrically blind visual hemifield contralateral to the damaged hemisphere. In some cases, cerebral blindness is not absolute. Patients may still be able to guess the presence, location, shape or direction of movement of a stimulus even though they report no conscious visual experience. This “unconscious” ability was termed “blindsight”. The present paper demonstrates how the term conscious visual experience can be introduced in a logically precise and methodologically correct way and becomes amenable to scientific examination. The distinction between conscious experience and unconscious processing is demonstrated in the cases of conscious vision and blindsight. The literature on “blindsight” and its neurobiological basis is reviewed. It is shown that blindsight can be caused by residual functions of neural networks of the visual cortex that have survived cerebral damage, and may also be due to an extrastriate pathway via the midbrain to cortical areas such as areas V4 and MT/V5.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3425/12/10/1305blindsightconscious experiencevisionbehaviorismvisual systemsuperior colliculi |
| spellingShingle | Reinhard Werth A Scientific Approach to Conscious Experience, Introspection, and Unconscious Processing: Vision and Blindsight Brain Sciences blindsight conscious experience vision behaviorism visual system superior colliculi |
| title | A Scientific Approach to Conscious Experience, Introspection, and Unconscious Processing: Vision and Blindsight |
| title_full | A Scientific Approach to Conscious Experience, Introspection, and Unconscious Processing: Vision and Blindsight |
| title_fullStr | A Scientific Approach to Conscious Experience, Introspection, and Unconscious Processing: Vision and Blindsight |
| title_full_unstemmed | A Scientific Approach to Conscious Experience, Introspection, and Unconscious Processing: Vision and Blindsight |
| title_short | A Scientific Approach to Conscious Experience, Introspection, and Unconscious Processing: Vision and Blindsight |
| title_sort | scientific approach to conscious experience introspection and unconscious processing vision and blindsight |
| topic | blindsight conscious experience vision behaviorism visual system superior colliculi |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3425/12/10/1305 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT reinhardwerth ascientificapproachtoconsciousexperienceintrospectionandunconsciousprocessingvisionandblindsight AT reinhardwerth scientificapproachtoconsciousexperienceintrospectionandunconsciousprocessingvisionandblindsight |