Consciousness, Attention, and Conscious Attention

Abstract

A rigorous analysis of current empirical and theoretical work supporting the argument that consciousness and attention are largely dissociated. In this book, Carlos Montemayor and Harry Haladjian consider the relationship between consciousness and attention. The cognitive mechanism of attention has often been compared to consciousness, because attention and consciousness appear to share similar qualities. But, Montemayor and Haladjian point out, attention is defined functionally, whereas consciousness is generally defined in terms of its phenomenal character without a clear functional purpose. They offer new insights and proposals about how best to understand and study the relationship between consciousness and attention by examining their functional aspects. The book's ultimate conclusion is that consciousness and attention are largely dissociated. Undertaking a rigorous analysis of current empirical and theoretical work on attention and consciousness, Montemayor and Haladjian propose a spectrum of dissociation—a framework that identifies the levels of dissociation between consciousness and attention—ranging from identity to full dissociation. They argue that conscious attention, the focusing of attention on the contents of awareness, is constituted by overlapping but distinct processes of consciousness and attention. Conscious attention, they claim, evolved after the basic forms of attention, increasing access to the richest kinds of cognitive contents. Montemayor and Haladjian's goal is to help unify the study of consciousness and attention across the disciplines. A focused examination of conscious attention will, they believe, enable theoretical progress that will further our understanding of the human mind.

Perception and Cognition Are Largely Independent, but Still Affect Each Other in Systematic Ways: Arguments from Evolution and the Consciousness-Attention Dissociation

“…In other cases it may enrich perception—not by determining it, but by adding vivacity to the overall phenomenological experience. Aesthetic experiences and the vivacity of certain autobiographical memories are good examples of this phenomenon (Montemayor and Haladjian, 2015, pp.150–165). All these cases are best understood as late perceptual cognitive penetration (perhaps motivational penetration is a better term), rather than cognitive penetration of early perception (for instance, early vision).…”

“…One approach to achieve this balanced interface perspective is based on the consciousness and attention dissociation (CAD) framework (Montemayor and Haladjian, 2015). This framework characterizes the relationship between consciousness and attention, and claims that attention is significantly dissociated from consciousness, with different levels of interactions between attention and conscious awareness.…”

“…This framework characterizes the relationship between consciousness and attention, and claims that attention is significantly dissociated from consciousness, with different levels of interactions between attention and conscious awareness. This distinction is important because there is abundant evidence of cognitive effects on attention without conscious awareness—an unconscious form of cognitive guidance—as well as cases in which motivational states guide implicitly, sometimes against the conscious judgments of subjects, as in cases of implicit bias (see Montemayor and Haladjian, 2015, for a discussion of the evidence in vision). These cases of guidance and selection in perception may be conceived as attention routines, and many will be independent, and even disagree, with conscious perception.…”

“…In addition, the CAD framework is particularly well suited to address cognitive penetration because it is supported by a vast amount of findings, specifically in vision science (Montemayor and Haladjian, 2015). The ‘early versus late perception’ distinction was introduced in order to interpret findings in vision science.…”

Contextuality in the Integrated Information Theory

“…Attention, like conversational content, depends on background conditions and relevance. It also depends on conceptual content and is guided by many neural processes associated with voluntary and involuntary attention [19]. Context, therefore, is not only environmentally driven, but also motivationally determined.…”