| Project/Area Number |
14310036
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
実験系心理学
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| Research Institution | Tohoku University |
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Principal Investigator |
GYOBA Jiro Tohoku University, Graduate School of Arts and Letters, Professor, 大学院・文学研究科, 教授 (50142899)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
KITAOKA Akiyoshi Ritsumeikan University, College of Letters, Associate Professor, 文学部, 助教授 (70234234)
SAKURAI Kenzo Tohoku-Gakuin University, Faculty of Liberal Arts, Professor, 教養学部, 教授 (40183818)
IWASAKI Shoichi Tohoku University, Graduate School of Information Sciences, Professor, 大学院・情報科学研究科, 教授 (90117656)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2002 – 2003
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| Project Status |
Completed (Fiscal Year 2003)
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| Budget Amount *help |
¥9,200,000 (Direct Cost: ¥9,200,000)
Fiscal Year 2003: ¥2,800,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,800,000)
Fiscal Year 2002: ¥6,400,000 (Direct Cost: ¥6,400,000)
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| Keywords | psychophysics / visual awareness / visual qualia / perception / consciousness / visual illusion / attention |
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| Research Abstract |
Recently, the problems concerning visual awareness and qualia have been vigorously investigated in the context of brain science elucidating consciousness. In the present study, several experimental researches were carried out using psychophysical methods which enable us to approach and analyze subjective experiences directly.
Firstly, the visual amodal completion was investigated as a phenomenon which produces strong awareness of occluded objects without vivid qualia. By contrast, in the case of modal completion, we can actually perceive the quality of the completed surfaces. We compared the psychophysical findings on amodal and modal completion. Consequently, we psychophysically confirmed that awareness provides flexibility on the output side, while qualia guarantee irrevocability on the input side and have a function of flagging the present, as Ramachandran (1998) and Gregory (1998) have theoretically suggested.
Next, we tentatively assumed a weak correlation between visual qualia and awareness, and classified various paintings into four groups by the combination of low or high activation levels of awareness and qualia. In each group, we found the common characteristics of paintings in relation to the functions of the inferior-temporal cortex and the sensory modules.
It is also suggested that we feel unique qualia when we see visual illusions and the awareness of the occurrence of illusions is an essential constituent in experiencing illusory figures. The qualia specific to visual illusion and the awareness of illusions interact with each other, producing visual amusement in most cases.
Finally, it is pointed out that the strength of attention does not affect the contents of visual qualia but the existence of qualia facilitates the proper allocation of attention.
As mentioned above, clarifying the relationships among awareness, qualia, and attention would be a very important problem for the development of scientific consciousness study.
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