Figure 1. The conflation of perception and subjective experience in consciousness science (IMAGE)
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A) Many experimental paradigms in consciousness research contrast consciously perceived stimuli with nonconscious ones as in the case of binocular rivalry, illustrated here.
B) When a stimulus is consciously perceived, it can be reported as such, and it generates strong perceptual and cognitive signals in the brain (e.g., the category of the stimuli is also processed).
C) However, when the experimental manipulation makes a stimulus invisible, it often doesn’t only abolish subjective experience. Rather, it also prevents the general processing of the stimulus by the brain.
D) Importantly, some experimental approaches can help better control this methodological confound (see section Forgotten Lessons), by selectively abolishing the subjective experience of seeing, while leaving general perceptual processing relatively intact.
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