FORM: ARTICLE
Author: Natsoulas, Thomas
Affiliation: U California, Davis, USA
Title: Gibson, James, and the temporal continuity of experience.
Source: Imagination, Cognition & Personality, 1987-1988. 7 (4): p.351-376
Language: English
Subjects: Thesaurus terms: Awareness Theories
Added Keywords: J. Gibson’s vs W. James’ theories of stream of consciousness as temporal continuum or sequence of distinct awareness
Classification Code: Consciousness States (2380)
Population Terms: Human
Abstract: Discusses stream of consciousness as a temporal continuum or as a sequence of distinct awarenesses in the context of the different theoretical positions of J. J. Gibson (1979, 1966) and W. James (1981 [1890]). Gibson’s treatment of perceptual awareness per se suggests that awareness qua brain process is a unitary occurrence that expands continuously in the temporal domain for an extended duration. The obvious variation in awareness from moment to moment is construed as continuous change in content belonging to a single, developing process. The contrasting view holds that the stream of consciousness consists of pulses or drops of experience that are temporally adjacent one with the next. James’s view was of the latter discontinuous type even when he was proposing his characterization of the stream of consciousness as being, among other things, sensibly continuous. ((c) 1999 APA/PsycINFO, all rights reserved)