Consciousness and the limits of memory

Joseph Gottlieb

pp. 5217-5243

in: Synthese 195 (12), 2018.

Abstract

Intermodal representationalism is a popular theory of consciousness. This paper argues that intermodal representationalism is false, or at least likely so. The argument turns on two forms of exceptional episodic memory: hyperthymesia and prodigious visual memory in savant syndrome. Emerging from this argument is a broader lesson about the relationship between memory and perception; that it may be possible to entertain in memory the very same content as in a corresponding perceptual experience, and that the "overflow' interpretation of the classic Sperling paradigm experiments may not fully generalize.