Perception: a model comprising two modes of consciousness

Percept Mot Skills. 1979 Oct;49(2):431-44. doi: 10.2466/pms.1979.49.2.431.

Abstract

A model of human perception is proposed in which conscious awareness is assumed to be the result of two separate mechanisms each involving consciousness, one outer, sensori-produced, and one inner, conceptual. By mediation of flexible memory representations the sensory data of the outer consciousness give rise to a matched "copy" in the inner consciousness which conceptually organizes the former and also serves as input to the memory store. The model is applied to some perceptual problems in vision such as ambiguous stimuli, subjective contours, space perception, a case of metacontrast, and subliminal perception.

MeSH terms

  • Awareness / physiology
  • Brain / physiology
  • Concept Formation / physiology
  • Consciousness* / physiology
  • Humans
  • Memory, Short-Term / physiology
  • Models, Psychological*
  • Perception* / physiology
  • Retina / physiology
  • Subliminal Stimulation
  • Visual Perception / physiology