The Epistemology of Conscious Experience

A brief illustrated presentation of the epistemology of conscious experience, and its implications for the computational function of visual processing. The idea of Indirect Perception, or Epistemological Dualism, was the central inspiration for much of Gestalt theory. And although this idea is hardly ever discussed these days (except to be dismissed off-hand) it happens to be right, for it is the only explanation which is consistent with the materialist view of mind as the functioning of the physical brain. One day this idea will turn the worlds of neuroscience and psychology on their heads!

A Cartoon Epistemology

An informal cartoon presentation of the central epistemological debate between naive realism and representationalism.

The Dimensions of Visual Experience: A Quantitative Ananlysis

http://cns-alumni.bu.edu/~slehar/Tucson2006/Tucson2006Narrated.pps

A narrated PowerPoint presentation of a plenary talk given at the Tucson 2006 consciousness conference showing that visual experience is spatially structured, and thus, a model of visual experience must also be expressed as a spatial structure. Theories of direct perception, and projection theory are soundly refuted. This is a pretty huge file (40 Meg) that might take a while to download, but it is like inviting me to give you the talk personally, and it makes a pretty powerful and emphatic argument, using the best graphics and visual effects that PowerPoint has to offer. Highly recommended. A text file of the narration is provided with frame number references if readers wish to take issue with particular statements in the talk. Interesting arguments will be posted here.

The World In Your Head: A Gestalt View of the Mechanism of Conscious Experience

Publisher: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates

This book presents a modern reformulation of Gestalt theory based on the philosophy of indirect realism, i.e. that the world you see around you is not the world itself, but merely an internal replica of the external world generated by perceptual processes in your brain. This reveals the primary function of visual perception to be the generation of a fully spatial virtual-reality internal model of the external world.

The Boundaries of Human Knowledge: A Phenomenological Epistemology.

This book explores the boundaries of human knowledge, beginning with the root of all human knowledge which is our conscious experience of the world.

The Constructive Aspect of Visual Perception: A Gestalt Field Theory Principle of Visual Reification Suggests a Phase Conjugate Mirror Principle of Perceptual Computation

Many Gestalt illusions reveal a constructive, or generative aspect of perceptual processing where the experience contains more explicit spatial information than the visual stimulus on which it is based. The experience of Gestalt illusions often appears as volumetric spatial structures bounded by continuous colored surfaces embedded in a volumetric space. These, and many other phenomena, suggest a field theory principle of visual representation and computation in the brain. A two-dimensional reverse grassfire algorithm, and a three-dimensional reverse shock scaffold algorithm are presented as examples of parallel spatial algorithms that address the inverse optics problem in perception. The principle of nonlinear wave phenomena and phase conjugate mirrors is invoked as a possible mechanism.

Gestalt Isomorphism and the Primacy of the Subjective Conscious Experience: A Gestalt Bubble Model. (2003) Behavioral & Brain Sciences 26(4), 375-444.

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The world of visual consciousness appears in the form of solid volumes, bounded by colored surfaces, embedded in a spatial void. The retinal input on which it is based however is two-dimensional. (in the monocular case) Visual processing therefore computes a solution to the inverse-optics problem, i.e. it performs a transformation from the two-dimensional retinal input to the three-dimensional spatial percept. But the inverse-optics problem is underconstrained, and has no unique solution. I propose that perception resolves this fundamental ambiguity by way of a unique kind of emergent field-like computation as suggested by the Gestalt soap bubble analogy. Submitted to Behavioral & Brain Sciences September 1999, semi-rejected March 2000, resubmitted April 2000, never arrived, resubmitted May 2000. semi-reviewed October 27 2000. revise & resubmit February 12 2001. Author's response September 2001.BBS responds March 2002. Author's response June 2002. Accepted! September 2002. Published! March 2004. [Summary of Whole Review Process]

Harmonic Resonance Theory: an Alternative to the "Neuron Doctrine" Paradigm of Neurocomputation to Address Gestalt properties of perception

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The properties of the world of visual experience appear to be inconsistent with contemporary concepts of neurocomputation. For phenomenology presents the mind as a three-dimensional colored structure, while neurophysiology presents the brain as an assembly of discrete local processors in a massively parallel network. Where in that mass of neural circuitry are the three-dimensional volumetric real-time moving pictures that we know so well in conscious experience? A Harmonic Resonance theory is presented as an alternative to the Neuron Doctrine, to account for the holistic global aspects of perception identified by Gestalt theory which are so difficult to account for in conventional neural network terms. Submitted to Psychological Review July 1999, rejected November 1999 Resubmitted to Behavioral & Brain Sciences September 1999 Ignored! . Resubmitted March 2004. Not Accepted for Revew March 2004. Formal Complaint by author, March 2004. Paul Bloom Responds March 2004. Author's Final Word! March 2004.

Submitted to Journal of Integrative Neuroscience August 2004. Revise and Resubmit April 2005. Author's Response May 2005. Stephen Kercel Responds May 2005.

Computational Implications of Gestalt Theory I: A Multi-Level Reciprocal Feedback (MLRF) to Model Emergence and Reification in Visual Processing

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Computational Implications of Gestalt Theory II: A Directed Diffusion to Model Collinear Illusory Contour Formation

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This is a two-part paper that discusses the computational implications of Gestalt theory. I propose a perceptual modeling approach, i.e. to model the subjective experience of vision rather than the corresponding neurophysiological state. I propose specific computational interactions to account for the Gestalt properties of perception, and to explain the role of feedback in vision with a specific computational model that replicates a number of visual illusory phenomena. Part II of the paper demonstrates how the more subtle second order properties of illusory contour formation can be modeled computationally with a dynamic feedback model, as an alternative to the hard-wired receptive field embodied in the neural network approach. Submitted to Perception & Psychophysics June 1999, rejected October 1999. Resubmitted to Cognitive Psychology November 1999. Due to bureaucratic oversight, each of the two papers were sent to a different reviewer as copies of the same paper. rejected May 2000. Resubmitted part 1 by itself to Cognitive Psychology July 2000. rejected November 2000. Author's Response!

Directional Harmonic Theory: A Computational Gestalt Model to Account for Illusory Contour and Vertex Formation. (2003) Perception 32(4) 423-448.

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Neural network models have been proposed to account for the formation of collinear illusory contours as seen for example in the Kanizsa figure. There are however a number of illusory grouping effects which involve perceived vertices defined by the intersection of two, three, four, or more illusory contours that meet at the vertex. A neural network approach to this kind of perceptual grouping leads to a combinatorial explosion in the number of required receptive fields. A Directional Harmonic theory is presented to account for all of these diverse grouping effects by way of a single simple mechanism that involves harmonic resonances, or patterns of standing waves in the neural substrate. A single resonance mechanism replaces a whole array of different receptive fields in a computationally equivalent neural network model. I propose that harmonic resonance is the long-sought and elusive computational principle behind the holistic emergent aspects of Gestalt theory. Submitted to Perception August 2001. Revise & Resubmit November 2001. Resubmitted January 2002. Revise & Resubmit April 2002. Resubmitted July 2002. Accepted! September 2002. Published! January 2003.

The Dimensions of Conscious Experience: A Quantitative Phenomenology

A short paper on the structure of conscious experience and its implications for the nature of consciousness. Submitted to: Journal of Consciousness Studies June 2000, rejected July 2000, appealed July 2000. Back & forth July - December 2000 Rejected April 2001. AUTHOR'S RESPONSE! Published in Mind and Its Place in the World: Non-reductionist Approaches to the Ontology of Consciousness, A. Batthyany & A. Elitzur (Eds), Ontos Verlag, Frankfurt.

The Function of Conscious Experience: An Analogical Paradigm for Perception and Behavior

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A short paper on the function of conscious experience as an analogical representation of the external world. Submitted to: Consciousness and Cognition July 2000. Rejected (but maybe not?) January 2001. Resubmitted February 2002. Rejected June 2002. AUTHOR'S RESPONSE!