CONTACT - Conference

The conference is sponsored by the AHRC via the grant on Consciousness in Interaction (CONTACT) made to Prof. Susan Hurley, under the ESF's programme on Consciousness in Natural and Cultural Context.

Organizer : Nivedita Gangopadhyay

Rationale : There are two broad and influential perspectives on the relations of action to visual consciousness: The integrationist or 'active' or 'enactive' sensorimotor dynamics camp view action as integral to consciousness. The relatively separatist camp, including the two visual systems view, regards sensorimotor control/dorsal functions as unconscious and consciousness as associated with ventral functions. The time is ripe to bring proponents of these different perspectives together, along with the distinct streams of evidence to which they appeal, in order better to understand whether there really is a conflict between them, how any conflicting lines of evidence might be reconciled, and the broader theoretical picture concerning relations between action and perceptual consciousness. Relevant evidence includes the double dissociation between dorsal and ventral functions in optic agnosia and optic ataxia, plus the implications of motor neglect and of perceptual adaption for understanding relations between action and visual consciousness, and the various qualifications that have been made to the 'action-resists-illusions' line of thought.

The conference aims at addressing theoretical issues about relations between action and perceptual consciousness and in particular between action-oriented views of perceptual consciousness and the dual vision view not by straight data talks or summaries of the speakers' own position / arguments but by taking a broad view of the various strands of evidence and argument.

For all enquiries contact Nivedita.Gangopadhyay AT bristol.ac.uk