ABSTRACT

Jesse Prinz advocates what he calls the Attended Intermediate Representation (AIR) theory of consciousness. He emphasizes the intermediate level of processing as the locus of consciousness. It is representations at this intermediate level that constitute the content of conscious experiences. Prinz contends that a major reason why intermediate level activations can occur without consciousness is that subjects with these activations lack attention. This chapter reviews the impressive evidence Prinz presents for his theory, explaining both the arguments he makes for the locus of conscious states in brain processing and also the role of attention in making those states conscious. Humans with behavioral deficits provide interesting evidence for Prinz's intermediate representation (IR) hypothesis. Prinz also offers a theory about the neural implementation of the psychological correlates. Given the speculative nature of this part of Prinz's view, the chapter focuses on the psychological side of his view.