Summary
It is often claimed that consciousness is immeasurable because it has no attributes such as mass, extension, charge, etc., which can be quantified in physical units. For this reason some philosophers have referred to it, pejoratively, as “the ghost in the machine”.
It will be argued that consciousness can be quantified with respect to time and that the “ghost in the machine” can, in fact, be measured. Recent experiments in which visual and auditory perceptions were measured accurately will be described. The results of these measurements and the theoretical framework used to account for them permit a novel interpretation of a number of time-dependent perceptual phenomena. One of these phenomena will be demonstrated.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Allport, D. A.: Phenomenal Simultaneity and the Perceptual Moment Hypothesis. Brit. J. Psychol. 59 (1968) 395–406.
Babington Smith, B.: On the Duration of the Moment of Perception. Paper read to Brit. Psychol. Assn., Leicester, 1964. cf.
Babington Smith, B.: On the Duration of the Moment of Perception. Bull. B. Psych. Soc. 55 (1964) 27A.
Crawford, A.: Measurement of the Duration of a Moment in Visual Perception. Bull. Brit. Psych. Soc. 17 (1964) No. 54, 2A-3A.
Efron, R.: The Effect of Handedness on the Perception of Simultaneity and Temporal Order. Brain 86 (1963) 261–284.
Efron, R.: The Effect of Stimulus Intensity on the Perception of Simultaneity in Right- and Left-Handed Subjects. Brain 86 (1963) 285–294.
Efron, R.: The Conditioned Reflex: A Meaningless Concept. Perspectives in Biology & Medicine 9 (1966) 488–514.
Efron, R.: The Duration of the Present. N. Y. Acad. Sci. 138 (1967) 713–729.
Efron, R.: Biology Without Consciousness — and its Consequences. Perspectives in Biology and Medicine 11 (1967) 9–36.
Efron, R.: The Relationship Between the Duration of a Stimulus and the Duration of a Perception. Neuropsychologia 8 (1970) 37–55.
Efron, R.: The Minimum Duration of a Perception. Neuropsychologia 8 (1970) 57–63.
Efron, R.: The Effect of Stimulus Duration on Perceptual Onset and Offset Latencies. Perception and Psychophysics 7 (In Press).
Efron, R., Lee, D.: The Duration of Perceptions of Moving Stroboscopically Illuminated Targets (1971) (To be Published in: American J. Psychol.)
Feigl, H.: The “Mental” and the “Physical”. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press 1967.
Koestler, A.: The Ghost in the Machine. New York: Macmillan 1967.
Le Grand, Y.: Light, Colour and Vision. London: Chapman and Hall 1957.
Lichtenstein, M.: Phenomenal Simultaneity with Irregular Timing of Components of the Visual Stimulus. Percept. Motor Skills, 12 (1961) 47–60.
Mayzner, M. S., Tresselt, M. E., Heifer, M. D.: A Provisional Model of Visual Information Processing with Sequential Inputs. Psychonomic Monog. Suppl. Vol. 2, No. 7 (1967) 91–108.
Mollon, J. D.: Two Approaches to the Perceptual Moment Hypothesis. Paper read to Exp. Psychol. Soc. Oxford 1969.
Ryle, G.: The Concept of Mind. London: Hutchinson 1949.
Sperling, G.: Successive Approximations to a Model for Short Term Memory. Acta Psychol.27 (1967) 285–292.
White, C. T.: Temporal Numerosity and the Psychological Unit of Duration. Psychol. Monog. 77 No. 12 (1963).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1972 Springer-Verlag, Berlin · Heidelberg
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Efron, R. (1972). The Measurement of Perceptual Durations. In: Fraser, J.T., Haber, F.C., Müller, G.H. (eds) The Study of Time. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-65387-2_15
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-65387-2_15
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-65389-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-65387-2
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive