The Mismeasure of Consciousness: A problem of coordination for the Perceptual Awareness Scale

Philosophy of Science (5):1239-1249 (2018)
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Abstract

As for most measurement procedures in the course of their development, measures of consciousness face the problem of coordination, i.e., the problem of knowing whether a measurement procedure actually measures what it is intended to measure. I focus on the case of the Perceptual Awareness Scale to illustrate how ignoring this problem leads to ambiguous interpretations of subjective reports in consciousness science. In turn, I show that empirical results based on this measurement procedure might be systematically misinterpreted.

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Matthias Michel
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Citations of this work

Degrees of Consciousness.Andrew Y. Lee - 2023 - Noûs 57 (3):553-575.
What is a global state of consciousness?Andy Kenneth Mckilliam - 2020 - Philosophy and the Mind Sciences 1 (II).
Valid for What? On the Very Idea of Unconditional Validity.Cristian Larroulet Philippi - 2020 - Philosophy of the Social Sciences 51 (2):151–175.

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References found in this work

A Cognitive Theory of Consciousness.Bernard J. Baars - 1988 - New York: Cambridge University Press.
Sensations and brain processes.Jjc Smart - 1959 - Philosophical Review 68 (April):141-56.
Scientific Representation: Paradoxes of Perspective.Bas C. Van Fraassen - 2008 - Oxford, GB: Oxford University Press UK.

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