For class 10/6/15
Post Comments by 11:59 pm on 10/4/14

What it is like to see: A sensorimotor theory of perceptual experience
by O’Regan and Noe
http://nivea.psycho.univ-paris5.fr/Synthese/MyinFinal.html

Discussion (Pick 5)

1. Do you agree that the authors theory “provides a unifying framework in which to consider the relations between sensory experience in different sensory modalities …, and the relation between sensory experience and other human activities.”? Briefly discuss the merits or the shortcomings of the authors theory.
2. What do you think of the idea of “feeling the presence of redness”?  Do you agree that this feeling can be described with second-order awareness?  Would it be possible to give a robot or AI the ability to feel the presence of redness?
3. What are you initial thoughts on the ideas presented for “change blindness”? For examples, you can watch a few examples from http://nivea.psycho.univ-paris5.fr/#CB.  In what ways do you see us being able to exploit this in VR applications?
4. While the authors mention machines, the focus for the article is on humans.  Do you think that a machine could have sensation, perception, and/or awareness? If so, describe with examples for each.  If not, describe why not for each.
5. You may find a term or topic that you are unfamiliar with.  If you would like to, do a little research on the subject (wikipedia would be a good place to start). Briefly describe your understanding of this concept and how confident you are about this understanding.
6. Find a topic that you interesting, dubious, or curious and explain why.  Write at least a paragraph of explanation and add citations if warranted.