What it is like to see: A sensorimotor theory of perceptual experience

Abstract

The paper proposes a way of bridging the gap between physical processes in the brain and the “felt" aspect of sensory experience. The approach is based on the idea that experience is not generated by brain processes themselves, but rather is constituted by the way these brain processes enable a particular form of “give-and-take" between the perceiver and the environment. From this starting-point we are able to characterize the phenomenological differences between the different sensory modalities in a more principled way than has been done in the past. We are also able to approach the issues of visual awareness and consciousness in a satisfactory way. Finally we consider a number of testable empirical consequences, one of which is the striking prediction of the phenomenon of “change blindness". © 2001 Kluwer Academic Publishers.