Chapter 3: Applying the New View of
Seeing
or
Using the Sensorimotor Account of
Consciousness to explain why we
don't experience the problems
described in Chapter 1
Quick Recap
Chapter 2: A New View of Seeing
Experience of Seeing
Illusion of seeing the whole scene


Not from the continuity of an internal representation
Consists in accessible interrogation of the world
Seeing distinct from
remembering/imagining
Richness, Bodiliness, (Partial)
Insubordinateness, Grabbiness
Retinal Image Inversion
Vision Inversion Goggles
Immediately after vision inversion
Erismann and Kohler: Inversion goggles (55s)
After perceived re-inversion
Erismann and Kohler: Inversion goggles (30s)
Dr. Theodor Erismann (1883-1961)
His global internal
conscious experience
has re-inverted.
He can now interact.
J. Kevin O'Regan
He has gained familiarity
with the sensorimotor couplings
for some interactions
with some objects.
He now feels he
perceives them correctly.
The myth of upright vision
Experiment


Subjects spent 6-10 days with inverted vision.
They performed non-trivial orientation awareness
tasks.
Result




No global re-inversion reported
Some subjects reported they felt inverted in the
world.
Mirror text was always read faster.
No change in retinotopic visual cortex reported from
fMRI.
Prediction of the Sensorimotor
Theory


There is no single coordinate reference.
Inverted images can be understood amongst
non-inverted images.
Famous Faces
Shout out the names of the following
people as soon as you recognise
them.
Who is this?
Who is this?
Who is this?
Who is this?
Who is this?
Who is this?
Who is this?
Answers
1.Pope Benedict XIII
2.George W. Bush
3.Barak Obama
4.Madonna
5.David Attenborough
6.Angelina Jolie
7.Mark Bishop
Look again.
Look again.
Look again.
Look again.
Look again.
Look again.
Look again.
Blind Spot & Retinal Scotoma


The brain doesn't compensate for aberrations,
we have learned to ignore them.
We do not experience aberrations, but we can
be made aware of them.
Touch either side of your nose. Do you feel it vanish?
The brain arrives at the interpretation
that you are touching either side
of your nose, which is detailed
in your internal representations.
It is the act of not
touching certain parts
that gives your face
its characteristic feel
Daniel C. Dennett
But isn't vision
different to touch?
Not according to the sensorimotor approach.
They're both exploratory activities.
J. Kevin O'Regan
Awareness of Aberrations


To experience sensory aberrations you must
actively attend to missing information that was
previously accessible to interrogation.
The existence of aberrations is fundamental for
learning sensorimotor contingencies.
Conclusion




Sensorimotor account of consciousness can
explain or at least accommodate observed
phenomena.
Functional limits of sense organs define the
sensorimotor relationships.
Aberrations don't present themselves as seeing
is an active interrogation of the world.
“Image processing” mechanisms exist, but not
for refining representations.