On Time, Memory and Dynamic Form

Robbins, Stephen E (2004) On Time, Memory and Dynamic Form. Consciousness and Cognition, 13. pp. 762-788.

Full text available as:

PDF - Requires a PDF viewer such as GSview, Xpdf or Adobe Acrobat Reader 716 Kb

Alternative URL: http://www.stephenerobbins.com/Articles/Dynamic%20Form.pdf

Abstract

A common approach to explaining the perception of form is through the use of static features. The weakness of this approach points naturally to dynamic definitions of form. Considering dynamical form, however, leads inevitably to the need to explain how events are perceived as time-extended – a problem with primacy over that even of qualia. Optic flow models, energy models, models reliant on a rigidity constraint are examined. The reliance of these models on the instantaneous specification of form at an instant, t, or across a series of such instants forces the consideration of the primary memory supporting both the perception of time-extended events and the time-extension of consciousness. This cannot be reduced to an integration over space and time. The difficulty of defining the basis for this memory is highlighted in considerations of dynamic form in relation to scales of time. Ultimately, the possibility is raised that psychology must follow physics in a more profound approach to time and motion.

Comments/Discussion

The nature or source of the memory underlying time-extended conscious events, events as simple as rotating cubes, has primacy over the problem of qualia, for all qualia must have an extent in time. This is an essential, but ignored, problem in the theory of consciousness.

Repository Staff Only: edit this item