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A scientific review on the mechanisms of visual awareness

Velde, Jorick, te (2021) A scientific review on the mechanisms of visual awareness. Bachelor's Thesis, Biology.

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Abstract

Does awareness of visual stimuli emerge in a graded or dichotomous manner? This has been an ongoing debate within the field of cognitive sciences. In this review, several discrete and gradual models will be assessed to elucidate this problem. The global neuronal workspace theory and episodic simultaneous type/serial token model were found to give similar strong evidence of discrete processing of high-level tasks. Gradual accounts granted substantial evidence of gradual processing, but only for low-level percepts. The levels of processing hypothesis argues for gradual awareness of low-level processing tasks and discrete awareness of high-level processing tasks, offering a consolidating hypothesis for the nature of visual awareness. Additionally, simulations of a thalamocortical column as well as visual working memory research proposed a neural framework of awareness, arguing that neural oscillations play an imperative role in maintaining percepts in the brain. Particularly gamma-band oscillations were said to represent the ignition of the GNW that is responsible for evoking awareness. Although linking visual awareness to consciousness remains controversial, new modelling and simulation studies on the LoP hypothesis will provide advances towards solving the "hard" problem of consciousness.

Item Type: Thesis (Bachelor's Thesis)
Supervisor name: Karabay, A. and Havekes, R.
Degree programme: Biology
Thesis type: Bachelor's Thesis
Language: English
Date Deposited: 09 Jul 2021 12:07
Last Modified: 09 Jul 2021 12:07
URI: https://fse.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/25096

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