Inhibition of Return (IOR): Is it Consciousness of an Object without Attention or Attention without an Object and Consciousness?
Rocznik Filozoficzny Ignatianum December 30, 2021 Jacek Bielas
Attention and consciousness are related but not identical: attention is sufficient but not necessary for consciousness, meaning one is conscious of everything attended but does not attend to everything conscious. Experimental evidence from blindsight research challenges this, showing visual attention can occur without visual awareness. This paper examines Inhibition of Return (IOR), a cognitive phenomenon, through micro-phenomenology to illustrate both positions. It also extends Christopher Mole's link between attention and agency by framing the discussion using Merleau-Ponty's concept of embodied pre-reflective intentionality.