Microgenetic Approach to the Conscious Mind

Bachmann, Talis

doi:10.1075/aicr.25

Cited by 87 publications

(79 citation statements)

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“…Although immediately after TMS stimulation, PCI increased with similar rates in all consciousness states, values during wakefulness started to diverge from values during loss of consciousness about 100 ms after stimulation. These latencies are consistent with the time scale required to develop a conscious sensory experience (45) and with the time required to build up distributed causal interactions in thalamocortical networks through feed-forward and reentrant connections (46,47).…”

Section: −7supporting

confidence: 75%

A Theoretically Based Index of Consciousness Independent of Sensory Processing and Behavior

et al. 2013

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Section: −7supporting

confidence: 75%

A Theoretically Based Index of Consciousness Independent of Sensory Processing and Behavior

et al. 2013

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“…The work of Helton et al (2009) and the phenomenon of Gestaltzerfall (Ninose & Gyoba, 2003) suggest that cognitive resources are necessary to maintain the global representation beyond its initial construction, consistent with the idea that visual representations change across time (termed microgenesis; see, e.g., Bachmann, 2000;Flavell & Draguns, 1957;Kimchi, 1998;Werner, 1956). We use the term construction to denote the perceptual processes that underlie the automatic formation of a global percept, akin to Koffka's (1935) shapegiving forces, and that are underpinned by the temporal precedence of low-spatial-frequency information (e.g., Shulman et al, 1986;Sripati & Olson, 2009).…”

mentioning

confidence: 54%

Cognitive load eliminates the global perceptual bias for unlimited exposure durations

Hoar

Linnell

2013

Atten Percept Psychophys

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In the present study, we used Navon-type Cognitive Psychology 9: 353-383 (1977) hierarchical patterns to demonstrate that cognitive load eliminates a global perceptual bias and enhances the representation of local elements at unlimited exposure durations. We added a cognitive-load manipulation to Kimchi and Palmer's Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance 8: 521-535 (1982) similarity-matching experiment with hierarchical patterns, and presented the stimuli for either unlimited or limited exposure durations. When exposures were unlimited, we demonstrated that observers exhibited a global bias under low, but not under high, cognitive load (Exp. 2). When exposures were limited, however, cognitive load exerted no effect, and the global bias remained (Exp. 1). We suggest that (1) these findings are best reconciled by proposing two stages in the representation of global structure, namely construction and maintenance; (2) the construction and maintenance stages are isolated, respectively, by limited-duration and unlimitedduration paradigms; and (3) cognitive processes play an integral role only in the maintenance stage. Given that real-world vision is not driven by a series of brief stimulus exposures, and is therefore likely to reflect maintenance processes, we argue that unlimited-exposure paradigms are more suitable for addressing real-world perceptual biases. When unlimitedexposure paradigms are used, cognitive load eliminates the commonly reported global bias.Keywords Navon stimuli . Cognitive load . Global-local . Perceptual biasThe visual world is inherently hierarchical (Navon, 1977;Palmer, 1975); to use a common analogy, the forest exists as a global configuration of individual trees. In the Western world, there is a well-cited "global precedence" (Navon, 1977; see Kimchi, 1992, for a review), in that the analysis of visual information is initially dominated by the processing of global structure. This has been explained in terms of how the brain processes spatial-frequency information; lower spatial frequencies, which carry more global-level information, are processed faster than the higher spatial frequencies, which define more local detail (e.g., Shulman, Sullivan, Gish, & Sakoda, 1986). The processing precedence of global information has, however, been demonstrated when stimulus presentation time is restricted, and this would not necessarily translate into a global bias in situations in which stimulus presentation time is unrestricted (arguably more akin to real-world viewing conditions). In the present study, we argue that for the global form to be most "salient in the final percept" (Kimchi, 1992, p. 26), the initial dominance of global structure must be maintained by cognitive processes; imposing a load on cognitive resources weakens the structural cohesiveness of the global form and increases the relative strength of local information. As the world is full of cognitive distractions, this has fundamental implications for the way in which visual information is repr...

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“…Pollen (2004Pollen ( , 2006 attributes this delay to the time required for completion of recursive activity in feed-forward and feedback neuronal circuits. With respect to the time course, the microgenetic approach in perception offers a suggestive parallel: it is based on the idea of a 'gradual maturing' of the subjective perceptual experience in the sequence of different components of the cortical evoked potentials, ranging from the fast positive component at 20-60 msec to the negative component at 100-150 msec and the positive deflection at 300 msec (Bakhman, 2000). Plausibly, the time periods under discussion reflect the time required for phase space evolution of neuronal assemblies, in preparation for phase transitions.…”

Section: : Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Metastability, criticality and phase transitions in brain and its models

2007

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This essay is designed to organize a range of experimental findings and theoretical insights of the past 25 years into a coherent view of the brain's style of function. The view that emerges places the brain firmly into the conceptual framework of Nonlinear Dynamics, operating at the brink of criticality which is achieved and maintained by self-organization. Application of the twin concepts of scaling and universality of the theory of non-equilibrium phase transitions will then be introduced as an approach to elucidating the nature of underlying neural processes, notably with reference to the role of reentrant activity in neural circuits of cerebral cortex and subcortical structures.

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Microgenetic Approach to the Conscious Mind

Cited by 87 publications

References 0 publications

A Theoretically Based Index of Consciousness Independent of Sensory Processing and Behavior

A Theoretically Based Index of Consciousness Independent of Sensory Processing and Behavior

Cognitive load eliminates the global perceptual bias for unlimited exposure durations

Metastability, criticality and phase transitions in brain and its models

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