Smelling phenomenal.
Frontiers in psychology January 1, 2014 Benjamin D Young 6 citations
Qualitative-consciousness, the felt character of an experience, arises at the sensory level of olfactory processing and pervades smell experiences. Building on the distinction between Access and Phenomenal Consciousness, the paper distinguishes Awareness from Qualitative-consciousness in a conceptually precise and empirically viable way. Empirical research shows that olfactory qualitative-consciousness can occur without awareness, but any olfactory state we are aware of is always qualitative. Evidence comes from mate selection, social preferences, and the role of olfactory deficits in affective disorders. Experiments on olfactory imagery also confirm that olfactory awareness is always qualitatively conscious—all olfactory consciousness smells phenomenal.