Experiencing without knowing? Empirical evidence for phenomenal consciousness without access.
Cognition September 1, 2023 Yoni Zion Amir, Yaniv Assaf, Yossi Yovel et al. 25 citations
People can have a phenomenal experience—a raw, qualitative feel—without having immediate access to it or being able to report it at the moment. Using a novel paradigm, participants (Experiment 1, N = 40) lacked online access to a stimulus but could later retrospectively judge its phenomenal, qualitative aspects. A second experiment (N = 40) ruled out explanations based on unconscious processing or responses to stimulus offset. The results suggest that phenomenal and access consciousness are not only conceptually distinct but can also be empirically separated, supporting Ned Block's controversial dissociation.