Blindsight and the Role of the Phenomenal Qualities of Visual Perceptions

Author(s):  
Ralph Schumacher

The aim of this paper is to defend a broad concept of visual perception, according to which it is a sufficient condition for visual perception that subjects receive visual information in a way which enables them to give reliably correct answers about the objects presented to them. According to this view, blindsight, non-epistemic seeing, and conscious visual experience count as proper types of visual perception. This leads to two consequences concerning the role of the phenomenal qualities of visual experiences. First, phenomenal qualities are not necessary in order to see something, because in the case of blindsight, subjects can see objects without experiences phenomenal qualities. Second, they cannot be intentional properties, since they are not essential properties of visual experiences, and because the content of visual experiences cannot be constituted by contingent properties.

1984 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 645-664 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elaine S. Andersen ◽  
Anne Dunlea ◽  
Linda S. Kekelis

ABSTRACTAlthough the role of visual perception is central to many theories of language development, researchers have disagreed sharply on the effects of blindness on the acquisition process: some claim major differences between blind and sighted children; others find great similarities. With audio-and video-recorded longitudinal data from six children (with varying degrees of vision) aged 0; 9–3; 4, we show that there ARE basic differences in early language, which appear to reflect differences in cognitive development. We focus here on early lexical acquisition and on verbal role-play, demonstrating how previous analyses have failed to observe aspects of the blind child's language system because language was considered out of the context of use. While a comparison of early vocabularies does suggest surface similarities, we found that when sighted peers are actively forming hypotheses about word meanings, totally blind children are acquiring largely unanalysed ‘labels’. They are slow to extend words and rarely overextended any. Similarly, although verbal role-play appears early, attempts to incorporate this kind of language into conversations with others reveal clear problems with reversibility – specifically, the ability to understand the role of shifting perspectives in determining word meaning. Examination of language in context suggests that blind children have difficulties in just those areas of language acquisition where visual information can provide input about the world and be a stimulus for forming hypotheses about pertinent aspects of the linguistic system.


Author(s):  
Louise Fryer ◽  
Linda Pring ◽  
Jonathan Freeman

Presence describes immersion in a mediated environment such that it seems unmediated. For people with visual impairment, audio description replaces missing visual information with a verbal commentary, transforming an audiovisual medium into audio. Media forms are more or less immersive, with audio-only at the bottom of the scale. Anecdotally, however, pictures are said to be better on radio. Sound effects may contribute by triggering vivid mental images. Yet the role of sound effects on presence has been little explored. The aim of this study was to test the influence of sound effects and visual experience on presence. Participants (N = 73) with full, some, or no sight reported presence levels for a scene from an audio drama presented with or without sound effects. Participants with full vision reported higher levels of ecological and spatial presence for dialogue and sound effects than for dialogue alone. For participants with impaired vision, sound effects made no significant difference to presence levels. This was a small, exploratory study. Sound effects increased two dimensions of presence for those with sight. For blind people, words alone provided a rich imaginative experience. This has positive implications for audio description, which necessitates dipping the soundtrack to insert descriptive commentary. It suggests sound effects have a key role in stimulating presence, but this is dependent on the sensory characteristics of the listener.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yusuke Nakashima ◽  
So Kanazawa ◽  
Masami K. Yamaguchi

AbstractRecurrent loops in the visual cortex play a critical role in visual perception, which is likely not mediated by purely feedforward pathways. However, the development of recurrent loops is poorly understood. The role of recurrent processing has been studied using visual backward masking, a perceptual phenomenon in which a visual stimulus is rendered invisible by a following mask, possibly because of the disruption of recurrent processing. Anatomical studies have reported that recurrent pathways are immature in early infancy. This raises the possibility that younger infants process visual information mainly in a feedforward manner, and thus, they might be able to perceive visual stimuli that adults cannot see because of backward masking. Here, we show that infants under 7 months of age are immune to visual backward masking and that masked stimuli remain visible to younger infants while older infants cannot perceive them. These results suggest that recurrent processing is immature in infants under 7 months and that they are able to perceive objects even without recurrent processing. Our findings indicate that the algorithm for visual perception drastically changes in the second half of the first year of life.


Author(s):  
Zozulia I.Ye. ◽  
Stadnii A.S.

The article offers experimental material on methods of teaching global reading to foreign students, which was used by teachers-speakers of Vinnytsia National Technical University. Global reading involves presenting the student with a whole word and I is designed for visual perception and the ability to memorize visual information. In this way, the foreign student does not read the word in letters, but perceives it as a picture. The student reads in Ukrainian at once in words. However, unlike an image that depicts a particular object, it contains a generalized representation of the object, that is, it has a certain meaning. It was found that this method is especially helpful for students who use the hieroglyphic writing system in their native language.During the traditional analytical-synthetic reading, the student must first learn sounds, letters, then sequential compound reading and finally – merged reading of words. Learning to read analytically is often associated with difficulties, as it involves visual perception, concentration, and analytical-synthetic mental activity. As a result students spend more time and effort.First, students read familiar tokens that start with different letters, from short to long. Then move from words to phrases, and then from phrases to reading texts. The page can contain 2–3 sentences in large font. Up to 20 such sentences should be read per day. Since foreign students enter universities after studying the Ukrainian language, it is desirable that these sentences (texts) should be of a scientific style.Global reading should not be limited just to demonstrating and naming picture words. Tasks can be varied and carried out in the form of a game. The article gives examples of games and tasks that were used in our work with foreign students in order to consolidate knowledge.The advantages of using the method of global reading in the process of learning Ukrainian as a foreign language are established. This method helps students understand language as a holistic system and observe the paradigmatic relationship between its units, more quickly master reading, enrich vocabulary, take an active part in the learning process. Students’ own results significantly motivate them to learn the language, as they notice it from the first days of study, and the opportunity to use knowledge in learning and life.Key words: foreign student, second foreign language, non-traditional methods, flash-cards, game forms. У статті запропоновано експериментальний матеріал із методики навчання іноземних студентів гло-бального читання, який використали викладачі-мовники Вінницького національного технічного універси-тету.Глобальне читання передбачає представлення студентові цілого слова й розраховане на зорове сприй-няття та здатність до запам’ятовування візуальної інформації. У такий спосіб іноземний студент не читає слово по буквах, а сприймає його як картинку й читає українською мовою одразу словами. Однак на відміну від зображення, на якому представлено якийсь конкретний предмет, воно містить узагальнене уявлення про об’єкт, тобто має певне значення. З’ясовано, що цей метод особливо ефективно допомагає студентам, в яких у рідній мові використовують ієрогліфічну систему письма.Під час традиційного аналітико-синтетичного читання студент повинен спочатку засвоїти звуки, букви, потім послідовне поскладове читання та врешті – злите читання слів. Навчання аналітичного читання нерідко пов’язане з труднощами, оскільки передбачає і зорове сприйняття, і концентрацію уваги, й аналітико-синтетичну розумову діяльність. У результаті студенти витрачають більше часу й зусиль.Спочатку студенти читають відомі їм лексеми, які починаються з різних літер, від коротких до довших. Потім переходять від слів до фраз, а далі від фраз до читання текстів. На сторінці може бути розміщено 2–3 речення шрифтом великого розміру. За день студенту варто прочитати до 20 таких речень. Оскільки іноземні студенти після вивчення української мови вступають до університетів, то бажано, щоб ці речення (тексти) були наукового стилю.Глобальне читання не варто обмежувати демонстрацією та називанням слів, відтворених на флешкартках. Завдання можна урізноманітнити й проводити в ігровій формі. У статті наведено приклади ігор і завдань, які використовували в нашій роботі з іноземними студентами з метою закріплення знань.Установлено переваги використання методу глобального читання в процесі вивчення української мови як іноземної. Цей метод сприяє тому, що іноземні студенти розуміють мову як цілісну систему й спостерігають парадигматичні відношення між її одиницями, швидше опановують читання, збагачують словниковий запас, беруть активну участь у процесі навчання. Значно мотивують до вивчення мови власні результати, які студенти помічають уже з перших днів навчання, та можливості використати знання в навчанні й житті.Ключові слова: іноземний студент, друга іноземна мова, нетрадиційні методи, флешкартки, ігрові форми.


Semiotica ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 (210) ◽  
pp. 215-234
Author(s):  
Robert M. Cantor

AbstractIn this paper, the basic concepts of Peircean semiotics are derived from visual experience by the process of conceptual embodiment. We begin with embodiment of the universal Categories of Being that are accessible to thought or the universal Categories of Thought, which Charles S. Peirce defined and termed Firstness, Secondness, and Thirdness. On this basis, we demonstrate conceptual embodiments of the Peircean typologies of dyadic relations, triadic relations and representations. The phenomenology of visual perception is modeled as a triadic typology of embodied mental processes which we term detection, localization and identification. Based upon the pioneering work of Lakoff and Johnson, we examine the role of visual embodiment in concept formation as inferred from linguistic expressions. We conclude that certain fundamental physical and relational concepts may be regarded as the embodied interpretants of visual signs.


2005 ◽  
Vol 99 (3) ◽  
pp. 165-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annick Vanlierde ◽  
Marie-Chantal Wanet-Defalque

The mental imagery of participants who became blind early in life (EB participants), participants who became blind later in life (LB participants), and sighted participants was compared in two experiments. In the first experiment, the participants were asked to image common objects and to estimate how far away these objects appeared in their image. In the second experiment, the participants were asked to point to the left and right sides of three objects, imaged at three increasing distances. The LB participants’ performance of the tasks in both experiments was similar to that of the sighted participants, whereas the performance of the EB participants differed. The results reflect the close relationship between the development of visual perception and the properties of images.


1980 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
pp. 903-912 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernard Amblard ◽  
Abel Carblanc

In a previous report (Amblard & Crémieux, 1976) we demonstrated that the maintenance of postural equilibrium, measured with the subject in Mann's stance on a foam rubber support, was significantly more difficult under stroboscopic rather than normal lighting conditions. The most plausible cause of the difficulty is the subject's loss of visual perception of movement as a result of the stroboscopic lighting. The present study was designed to look at this factor under normal lighting conditions. Also, the relative contributions of foveal and peripheral vision were assessed. During stance, the subjects (5 women and 6 men, aged from 25 to 55 yr.) viewed either a horizontal or a vertical rectangular grating. With horizontal lines, the visual perception of lateral movement is minimized. Lateral acceleration was measured at three anatomical levels: ankles, hips, and head. The horizontal stripe condition was significantly less effective than the vertical stripe one for maintenance of balance, both for measurements at the head level only and for values averaged from all three levels. Balance was significantly impaired with foveal vision alone compared to full vision or to peripheral vision alone, for measurements from each of the three levels. We conclude that the visual perception of movement is a very important factor in the maintenance of the equilibrium, peripheral vision playing the major role, and foveal vision only a supplementary one.


2003 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 257-266 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark H. Taylor ◽  
F. Todd DeZoort ◽  
Edward Munn ◽  
Martha Wetterhall Thomas

This paper introduces an auditor reliability framework that repositions the role of auditor independence in the accounting profession. The framework is motivated in part by widespread confusion about independence and the auditing profession's continuing problems with managing independence and inspiring public confidence. We use philosophical, theoretical, and professional arguments to argue that the public interest will be best served by reprioritizing professional and ethical objectives to establish reliability in fact and appearance as the cornerstone of the profession, rather than relationship-based independence in fact and appearance. This revised framework requires three foundation elements to control subjectivity in auditors' judgments and decisions: independence, integrity, and expertise. Each element is a necessary but not sufficient condition for maximizing objectivity. Objectivity, in turn, is a necessary and sufficient condition for achieving and maintaining reliability in fact and appearance.


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