Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-27gpq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-28T10:01:49.249Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Binary oppositions and what focuses in focal attention

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 June 1999

Cyril Latimer
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australiacyril@psych.usyd.edu.au www.psych.usyd.edu.au/staff/cyril

Abstract

Pylyshyn makes a convincing case that early visual processing is cognitively impenetrable, and although I question the utility of binary oppositions such as penetrable/impenetrable, for the most part I am in agreement. The author does not provide explicit designations or denotations for the terms penetrable and impenetrable, which appear quite arbitrary. Furthermore, the use of focal attention smacks of an homunculus, and the account appears to slip too easily between the perceptual, the cognitive, and the neurophysiological.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
© 1999 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)