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Theory & Psychology
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Synchrony, Binding, and Consciousness

How Are They Related?

Cees van Leeuwen

LABORATORY FOR PERCEPTUAL DYNAMICS, BSI RIKEN, ceesvl{at}brain.riken.jp

LaRock provides a rather perplexing critique of the binding problem. He argues that neural synchrony, the proposed solution to the binding problem, is not sufficient to explain the unity of objects in visual consciousness. Did anyone claim it was? Neural synchrony can at best be necessary for consciousness, not sufficient. The binding problem originally has nothing to do with the conscious content of our perception. Misidentification of binding and consciousness may lead to tunnel vision with respect to other roles that neural synchrony could play in conscious experience. A different perspective is offered on how neural synchrony relates to visual consciousness.

Key Words: coherence • information processing • mind—brain identity • perceptual organization • phenomenal awareness

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Theory & Psychology, Vol. 17, No. 6, 779-790 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/0959354307083493
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This Article
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