Perception, Action, and Awareness: A Three-Body Problem

Abstract

Most chapters of the present book deal with a two-body problem, relations between perception and action. This two-body problem is difficult enough: as Miller, Galanter, and Pribram (1960, p. 11) point out, the ``theoretical vacuum between perception and action'' has been the subject of prolonged --- and frequently violent --- debate. However, two-body problems are well known to be solvable, and I myself have proposed a detailed theoretical solution to the relation between perception and action in the case of language (MacKay, 1987a) and other cognitive skills (MacKay, 1985, 1987b, pp. 14--40). The present chapter takes on a three-body problem that has proven much more difficult to solve: relations between perception, action, and awareness.