Primary Investigator: Simon Del Pin, MA

Research project objectives/ Research hypothesis

The aim of this project is to behaviourally test predictions about the nature of consciousness. Thesepredictions are derived from two modern theories which are currently debated in consciousness research.Though being contradictory, each view can equally explain existing data and to our knowledge, there hasnot been developed a direct test of the predictions of these theories. We will focus on three questions:(1) Can representations from vague experiences be semantic? (Are we able to name objects, we have onlyexperienced weakly?)(2) Can participants detect unusual letters in a Sperling paradigm? (When we weakly experiencestandard letters, will we then be able to see “unusual” letters placed amongst them?)(3) Are vague experiences suf icient for experiencing the Kanizsa illusion? (When several objects, whichcomplete a figure together, are experienced weakly is the complete figure experienced or only theindividual objects?)

Research project methodology. We will investigate these questions via three cognitive psychology experimental paradigms combiningnoted perceptual illusions and paradigms with methods gaining support in the last decade of scientificstudies of consciousness.

Expected impact of the research project on the development of science, civilization and society. The main goal is to investigate how to view conscious representations (and therefore consciousexperience) This topic has received much scientific attention in recent years as the answer is relevant notonly to models of consciousness but also to the examination of neural markers of consciousness inpatients and infants. For instance, one of the views to be tested has recently dictated experimental designsabout whether infants or vegetative state patients are conscious. It is also present in some clinical work.Just as important, the results of the proposed studies will be relevant not only within the context of thepreviously described research areas. They will also add to the broader understanding of the consciousexperience of human beings in general.