MLAG RESEARCH SEMINAR 2018-2019

THE AFFORDANCE THEORY OF SALIENCE

Tom McClelland (University of Warwick)

18 de setembro 2018 (terça-feira)

16h30 | Sala do Departamento de Filosofia (Torre B - Piso 1)

Entrada livre

Resumo: The ‘salience map’ is a neural map of our visual field in which areas of higher neural activity correspond to stimuli of higher salience. This map functions to guide where we direct our attention. Although compelling accounts of the psychological mechanisms of salience are beginning to emerge, a number of philosophical questions still remain, such as how salience figures in the contents of our perceptual experience. To answer these questions I offer an Affordance Theory of Salience. Affordances are perceptible opportunities for action (Gibson 1966), such as a teapot’s property of being grippable. By extending the concept of affordances to encompass the mental act of attending, we can offer a plausible account of salience. The salience map represents opportunities to attend, and perceive objects as attendable in much the same way as we perceive them as grippable. I offer phenomenological and empirical considerations in favour of this proposal and explain its implications for our understanding of the mind.

Nota biográfica: Tom McClelland is a Leverhulme Research Fellow at the University of Warwick. His project ‘Mental Action and Cognitive Phenomenology’ explores the first-person experience of our mental engagement with the world. He also works on the Philosophy of Film. Webpage: https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/philosophy/people/mcclelland/.

Imagem: Helen Frankenthaler, Free Wheeling (1971)

Programa MLAG Research Seminars: https://ifilosofia.up.pt/activities/mlag-research-seminar-2018-2019 

Organização:
Research Group Mind Language and Action Group (MLAG)
MLAG Seminars 2018-2019 (Sofia Miguens, Diana Couto, José Pedro Correia)

Instituto de Filosofia da Universidade do Porto - FIL/00502
Financiamento: FCT