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At what timescale does consciousness operate?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 November 2016

Bernhard Hommel
Affiliation:
Cognitive Psychology Unit & Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, Leiden University, 2333 AK Leiden, The [email protected]
Reinout W. Wiers
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Addiction Development and Psychopathology (ADAPT) Lab, University of Amsterdam, 1018 XA Amsterdam, The Netherlands. [email protected]://www.uva.nl/en/contact/staff/item/r.w.h.j.wiers.html?f=wiers

Abstract

While applauding Morsella et al. for linking consciousness to action control, we ask what their theory implies regarding the exact functionality of consciousness and the timescale at which it operates. Does consciousness operate on, and resolve the conflict it emerges from (despite its slowness), or does it operate on future conflicts that it might resolve by externalizing/socializing cognitive control?

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

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