The Mismeasure of Consciousness: A problem of coordination for the Perceptual Awareness Scale

Philosophy of Science (5):1239-1249 (2018)
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Abstract

As for most measurement procedures in the course of their development, measures of consciousness face the problem of coordination, i.e., the problem of knowing whether a measurement procedure actually measures what it is intended to measure. I focus on the case of the Perceptual Awareness Scale to illustrate how ignoring this problem leads to ambiguous interpretations of subjective reports in consciousness science. In turn, I show that empirical results based on this measurement procedure might be systematically misinterpreted.

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Matthias Michel
New York University

Citations of this work

Degrees of Consciousness.Andrew Y. Lee - 2023 - Noûs 57 (3):553-575.
Measurement in Science.Eran Tal - 2015 - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Validity Drifts in Psychiatric Research.Matthias Michel - forthcoming - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science.

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References found in this work

A Cognitive Theory of Consciousness.Bernard J. Baars - 1988 - New York: Cambridge University Press.
Scientific Representation: Paradoxes of Perspective.Bas C. Van Fraassen - 2008 - Oxford, GB: Oxford University Press UK.
Sensations and brain processes.Jjc Smart - 1959 - Philosophical Review 68 (April):141-56.

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