Current theories distinguish phenomenal consciousness (rich experience) from access consciousness (limited reportable content). The authors argue that evidence for phenomenal consciousness without access is weak, often confusing unconscious contents or illusory richness with genuine phenomenal experience. They propose a refined account where access operates across a hierarchy of representational levels, with partial awareness allowing independent access to lower and higher levels. This reframing of dissociable forms of consciousness into dissociable levels of access offers a more parsimonious explanation of existing evidence, and the illusion of rich phenomenology can be studied through testable cognitive mechanisms.
People often believe they see more than they can report, such as all letters in a briefly flashed array. This study tested whether that feeling reflects genuine rich conscious experience or an illusion. Using a partial-report task with unexpected pseudo-letters in unreported areas, participants still perceived only letters, even though pseudo-letters were present. The results suggest the feeling of seeing arises from an illusion: the brain reconstructs letters from partial information and prior expectations, rather than from access to a rich phenomenal experience. This supports the view that the subjective richness of perception is not a direct reflection of conscious content but a constructive process.