I am pleased to announce that our next Mind & Language symposium is on Wayne Wu’s “Against Division: Consciousness, Information and the Visual Streams,” from the journal’s September 2014 issue, with commentaries by David Kaplan (Macquarie), Pete Mandik (William Paterson), and Thomas Schenk (Erlangen-Nuremberg).
According to the influential dual systems model of visual processing (Milner & Goodale 1995/2006, Goodale & Milner 2004), information present in the dorsal processing stream does not contribute to the specific contents of conscious visual experience. “Visual phenomenology,” A.D. Milner and Melvyn Goodale write, “can arise only from processing in the ventral stream, processing that we have linked with recognition and perception…. Visual-processing modules in the dorsal stream, despite the complex computations demanded by their role in the control of action, are not normally available to awareness” (Milner & Goodale 1995/2006, 202). In his article, Wayne argues that certain types of information arising in the dorsal stream, contrary to Milner and Goodale, do play a role in realizing the contents of visual experience. In particular, he argues that information carried in dorsal stream areas such as VIP and LIP support awareness of visual spatial constancy across saccadic eye-movements. Wayne also adduces evidence that dorsal stream areas play a role in conscious visual motion and depth perception.
Below there are links to a short précis, the target article, commentaries, and Wayne’s replies.
Comments on this post will be open for at least a couple of weeks. Many thanks to Wayne, David, Pete, and Thomas for what is sure to be a great discussion. Thanks also to Sam Guttenplan, the other Minds & Language editors, and the staff at Wiley-Blackwell for their continued support of these symposia.
You can learn more about Wayne and his work here.
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Wayne Wu, Précis of the target article
Wayne Wu, “Against Division: Consciousness, Information and the Visual Streams”
Commentaries:
- David Kaplan, “Can neuronal reference frames really explain features of conscious visual experience?”
- Pete Mandik, “What’s it like when your eyes move?”
- Thomas Schenk, “Can visual stability resolve the division between ventral and dorsal streams?”
Replies:
- Wayne Wu, Reply to Kaplan
- Wayne Wu, Reply to Mandik
- Wayne Wu, Reply to Schenk