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Westerhoff, J. (2011). Reality: A very short introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 
Added by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard (17/07/2020, 08:52)   
Resource type: Book
Peer reviewed
ID no. (ISBN etc.): 978-0-19-959441-2
BibTeX citation key: Westerhoff2011
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Categories: General
Keywords: Reality, Self, Sensation
Creators: Westerhoff
Publisher: Oxford University Press (Oxford)
Views: 11/396
Quotes
p.67   "The different information coming in from our senses, visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory, and gustatory sensations are processed in different regions of the brain. They have to travel different distances [...] and arrive at different times. The processing speed for different kinds of sensory information varies; visual stimuli take longer to process than other stimuli. (The difference is about 40 milliseconds. [...]) On the other hand, light travels much faster than sound. Putting together these different speeds means that sights and sounds from about 10 metres away are available to consciousness at about the same time; for everything closer or further away information about its sight or sound arrives at different times. In these cases, the apparent simultaneity of, for example, hearing a voice and seeing the speaker's lips move has to be constructed by our brain."   Added by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard
Keywords:   Binding problem Reality Self Sensation
Paraphrases
pp.75–76  

Discussing Libet's (1985) experiment. While we prefer to believe that we have willed our hand to rise, our intention, there is a precursor in the subconscious, the readiness potential, that can be measured using EEG and that precedes the hand movement and the reported time at which subjects noted their intention to lift the hand. The conclusion is that intention (and thus free will?) is manufactured after the event. See also (Rosenberg 2018, p.99).



Libet, B. (1985). Unconscious cerebral initiative and the role of conscious will in voluntary action. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 8(4), 529–566.
Rosenberg, A. (2018). How history gets things wrong: The neuroscience of our addiction to stories. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press.   Added by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard
Keywords:   Agency Readiness potential Reality Self Sensation Intentionality Free will Causality
pp.97–100  

Detailing a set of experiments by Libet helping to explain how our brain builds a consciousness of the present and the time delay involved.

  • Stimulating the brain directly, an electrical impulse must be applied for at least 500 milliseconds to produce a perception (see, for example Libet 1985). Shorter impulses had no effect neither did increasing the intensity (with shorter times). Sensation can be detected by the brain within 500msecs but the subject is not consciously aware of it (e.g. we can react 'instinctively').
  • Stimulate the skin then, 200 milliseconds after, stimulate the brain – the skin stimulation is not perceived but is masked by the brain stimulation. The brain edits past events to give an impression of the 'present'.
  • Stimulate the brain then, 200 milliseconds later, stimulate the skin. Brian stimulus is perceived after about 500msecs but the skin stimulus is perceived as being before the brain stimulus. A temporal reordering: "There is no guarantee that the order in which we perceive events actually corresponds to the order of their occurrence" (Westerhoff 2011, p.100).



Libet, B. (1985). Unconscious cerebral initiative and the role of conscious will in voluntary action. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 8(4), 529–566.
Westerhoff, J. (2011). Reality: A very short introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.   Added by: Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard
Keywords:   Presence Reality Self Sensation Time
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