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Explicit factuality and comparative evidence

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 October 1999

Shaun Nichols
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy, College of Charleston, Charleston, SC 29424 nichols@cofc.edu
Claudia Uller
Affiliation:
Center for Cognitive Science, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ 08854 uller@ruccs.rutgers.edu

Abstract

We argue that Dienes & Perner's (D&P's) proposal needs to specify independent criteria when a subject explicitly represents factuality. This task is complicated by the fact that people typically “tacitly” believe that each of their beliefs is a fact. This problem does not arise for comparative evidence on monkeys, for they presumably lack the capacity to represent factuality explicitly. D&P suggest that explicit visual processing and declarative memory depend on explicit representations of factuality, whereas the analogous implicit processes do not require such representations. Many of the implicit/explicit findings are also found in monkeys, however, and D&P's account needs to explain this striking parallel.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
© 1999 Cambridge University Press

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