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Does consciousness overflow cognitive access? Novel insights from the new phenomenon of attribute amnesia

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Abstract

The moment we open our eyes, we experience a rich and detailed visual world, but the amount of information available to report is rather limited. This dissociation relates to a major debate regarding the nature of visual consciousness. The overflow argument suggests that our conscious experience is quite rich and far beyond what can be reported, standing in sharp contrast to the no-overflow argument that visual consciousness is severely impoverished and limited to what can be reported. In this paper, we systematically reviewed existing evidence in favor of the overflow argument, including studies of several variations of the iconic memory paradigm and the divided attention paradigm, as well as studies of neural correlates of consciousness. Simultaneously, we expounded some critical objections and alternative interpretations to such evidence, as well as some opposing evidence. Finally, we introduced a series of our recent studies based on a striking phenomenon of attribute amnesia, which we believe could provide new insight into the overflow view of visual consciousness.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31771201), National Science Foundation for Distinguished Young Scholars of Zhejiang Province, China (LR19C090002), Humanities and Social Sciences Foundation of the Ministry of Education of China (17YJA190001).

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  1. Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310007, China

    Yingtao Fu, Wenchen Yan, Mowei Shen & Hui Chen

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  1. Yingtao Fu
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  2. Wenchen Yan
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  3. Mowei Shen
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  4. Hui Chen
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Correspondence to Mowei Shen or Hui Chen.

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Fu, Y., Yan, W., Shen, M. et al. Does consciousness overflow cognitive access? Novel insights from the new phenomenon of attribute amnesia. Sci. China Life Sci. 64, 847–860 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11427-020-1831-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11427-020-1831-8

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