Locating consciousness

282 Pages·1995·58.896 MB·English

by  Hardcastle, Valerie Gray

LOCATING CONSCIOUSNESS
ADVANCES IN CONSCIOUSNESS RESEARCH
ADVANCES IN CONSCIOUSNESS RESEARCH provides a forum for scholars
from different scientific disciplines and fields of knowledge who study conscious
ness in its multifaceted aspects. Thus the Series will include (but not be limited to)
the various areas of cognitive science, including cognitive psychology, linguistics,
brain science and philosophy. The orientation of the Series is toward developing new
interdisciplinary and integrative approaches for the investigation, description and
theory of consciousness, as well as the practical consequences of this research for the
individual and society.
EDITORS
Maxim I. Stamenov (Bulgarian Academy of Sciences)
Gordon G. Globus (University of California at Irvine)
EDITORIAL BOARD
Walter Freeman (University of California at Berkeley)
Ray Jackendoff (Brandeis University)
Stephen Kosslyn (Harvard University)
George Mandler (University of California at San Diego)
Thomas Natsoulas (University of California at Davis)
Ernst Poppel (Forschungszentrum JUlich)
Richard Rorty (University of Virginia)
John R. Searle (University of California at Berkeley)
Geoffrey Underwood (University of Nottingham)
Francisco Varela (C.R.E.A., Ecole Polytechnique, Paris)
Volume 4
Valerie Gray Hardcastle
Locating Consciousness
LOCATING
CONSCIOUSNESS
VALERIE GRAY HARDCASTLE
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
JOHN BENJAMINS PUBLISHING COMPANY
AMSTERDAM/PHILADELPHIA
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
American National Standard for Information Sciences — Permanence of
Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hardcastle, Valerie Gray.
Locating consciousness / Valerie Gray Hardcastle.
p. cm. - (Advances in consciousness research, ISSN 1381-589X ; v. 4)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Consciousness. 2. Philosophy of mind. 3. Human information processing. I. Title. II.
Series.
BF311.H338 1995
128'.2-dc20 95-31971
ISBN 90 272 5124 X (Eur.) / 1-55619-184-7 (US) (Pb; alk. paper) CIP
© Copyright 1995 - John Benjamins B.V.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by print, photoprint, microfilm, or any
other means, without written permission from the publisher.
John Benjamins Publishing Co. • P.O.Box 75577 • 1070 AN Amsterdam • The Netherlands
John Benjamins North America • P.O.Box 27519 • Philadelphia PA 19118-0519 • USA
FOR MY PARENTS

Table of Contents
List of Tables and Figures xi
Preface xiii
Acknowledgments xvii
1. NATURALISM ABOUT SUBJECTIVE EXPERIENCE 1
1.1. What the Mind Is Not 2
1.2. The Naturalists Versus the Skeptics 10
2. THE LIMITS OF THEORY 21
2.1. Theory and Observation 21
2.2. Inverted Spectra 26
3. CONSCIOUSNESS AS A NATURAL KIND 43
3.1. Explanations and Causal Histories 44
3.2. Qualia as Explananda 48
3.3. Promissory Notes 56
4. A MULTIPLE MEMORY SYSTEM FRAMEWORK 59
4.1. Converging Evidence for Two Independent Memory Systems 60
4.1.1. Neurobiological Evidence for Two Memory Systems 61
4.1.2. Infants, Amnesics, and the Dual Memory System
Hypothesis 65
4.1.3. Characterizing the Two Memory Systems 70
viii LOCATING CONSCIOUSNESS
4.2. Priming 71
4.2.1. Word Completion and Perceptual Identification Tasks 73
4.2.2. Properties of Explicit Memory 77
4.3. Tripartite Memory 80
5. CONSCIOUS PERCEPTION AND SEMANTIC MEMORY 85
5.1. Perception and Memory 86
5.2. The Case of SB 91
5.3. The Consciousness of Others 94
5.3.1. The Location of Consciousness 94
5.3.2. Infant and Amnesic Consciousness 95
5.3.3. Animal Consciousness 98
6. How Do WE GET THERe FROM HERE? 103
6.1. Marr's Paradox 104
6.2. A Brief and Potted History 107
6.3. Psychology's Binding Problem 110
6.4. The Problem of Perception in Neuroscience 113
6.4.1. The Addition of Time 115
6.4.2. One Possible Neurobiological "Solution" 116
6.4.3. Problems with Neuroscience's "Solution" 120
6.5. A Different Approach 123
6.5.1. Bifurcating Dynamical Systems 127
6.5.2. Binding Solutions Revisited 130
6.6. Consciousness as System-Dynamic Oscillations 131
7. MARTIAN PAIN AND THE PROBLEM OF ABSENT QUALIA 135
7.1. Supervenience and Absent Qualia 135
7.2. An Argument Against Absent Qualia 138
7.2.1. The Parochial Assignment of Meaning 140
7.2.2. A Scientific Assignment of Meaning 141
7.3. Epiphenomenalism Again 144
7.4. A "Maximally Good" Cognitive Definition 146
CONTENTS ix
8. "EXECUTIVE" PROCESSING AND CONSCIOUSNESS AS STRUCTURE 151
8.1. An Outline of the "Executive" Theories 152
8.2. The Neurophysiological Evidence 154
8.2.1. The Frontal Lobe as an Executive Processor 155
8.2.2. The Relationship Between Consciousness and U 161
8.2.3. Consciousness as a Global Processor 162
8.2.4. Difficulties with Higher Level Theories of Consciousness 166
8.3. Consciousness as a Decomposition 170
9. THE MOMENT OF CONSCIOUSNESS 173
9.1. The Problem with Psychological Techniques 175
9.2. ERPs, Priming, and Temporal Windows 179
9.2.1. Unmasked Semantic Priming 179
9.2.2. Masked Priming 182
9.2.3. Priming with Novel Visual Stimuli 185
9.3. Conclusion: Mind as Brain 193
Notes 195
References 217
Index 257