The grand illusion - Implications for theories of visual consciousness

9 important questions on The grand illusion - Implications for theories of visual consciousness

What do these results on change blindness and inattentional blindness mean for consciousness?

  • they seem to challenge the ‘stream of consciousness’



  • they suggest that we don’t hold on to nearly as much information as we seem to need

How can the lack of detail in the internal representation be described?

  • sketchy higher-level representation


  • extremely reduced visual representations


  • gist


  • visual representation

What is a gist?

Getting an experience of continuity without too much confusion
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What is Ronald Rensink’s idea of object representation?

It is build one at a time. Focused attention takes objects and binds them, it persists for some time. When attention is released, the objects loses its coherence and dissolves

What is a virtual representation?

Constructed from gist, spatial layout and a longer-term schema of the scene.

What did eye-tracking evidence suggests of representations?

Representations of the world may last only about the same length of time as fixation between eye movements.

What is the sensorimotor theory and from who is it?

O’Regan and Noë


The hard problem is avoided, because the outside world serves as its own external representation. Seeing is a way of acting

What did Karn and Hayhoe confirmed about spatial information?

Spatial information is required to control eye movements, keep onto saccades

What calls the idea of ‘a stream of vision’ into question?

filling in; inattentional blindness; change blindness


Raising the possibility that vision may be a grand illusion. How we think and talk about our conscious experience, affect that experience.

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