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sensational associative learning
Also known as: sensational associative learning view
Facts (15)
Sources
Resolving the evolutionary paradox of consciousness link.springer.com Apr 1, 2024 15 facts
claimSensational associative learning posits that pairing specific sensations with unconditioned stimuli, such as fitness rewards or threats, causes those sensations to be interpreted as good or bad, respectively.
perspectiveRussellian panpsychism posits that consciousness is intrinsic, whereas the sensational associative learning view posits that an overall experience depends on both the intrinsic nature of a sensation and its interpretation.
claimDualism presents no obvious conceptual incompatibility with the sensational associative learning theory of consciousness.
claimSensational associative learning explains why sounds of different pitch are experienced as ordinal in correspondence to their wavelengths, while colors of different hue are not.
perspectiveThe author explains that humans interpret sensations in ways that mirror adaptationist intuitions through associative learning during development, rather than sensations having intrinsic motivational or valenced properties.
claimThe 'sensational associative learning' view of consciousness posits that sensations which tightly co-occur with ancestral fitness threats or rewards are learned to be interpreted as bad or good, respectively.
claimThe author's sensational associative learning explanation is compatible with all major metaphysical perspectives on consciousness, with the exception of epiphenomenalism.
perspectiveThe 'sensational associative learning' view is argued to have an advantage over the 'phenomenal powers' view because it easily accommodates ambivalent and neutral sensations, whereas the 'phenomenal powers' view struggles to do so.
claimThe sensational associative learning view accounts for a wide range of observations that constitute adaptive-seeming correlations.
claimThe 'sensational associative learning' explanation posits that an overall experience is composed of both a raw sensation and the interpretation of that sensation, meaning the same sensation can feel different depending on how it is interpreted.
perspectiveThe author proposes 'sensational associative learning' as a naturalistic, non-adaptive explanation for why sensations align with evolutionarily adaptive outcomes.
claimThe sensational associative learning perspective is compatible with physicalism, panpsychism, and dualism, but is not compatible with epiphenomenalism.
claimReconciling sensational associative learning with physicalism is difficult because there is no well-established, intelligible way that consciousness itself fits within the broader physicalist framework.
perspectiveThe sensational associative learning explanation is superior to the phenomenal powers view because it accounts for adaptive-seeming structural aspects of consciousness and explains why sensations have varying valences, such as clear valence in pain, little or no valence in green, or ambiguous valence in surprise.
claimUnder a physicalist framework that equates sensations to brain states, sensational associative learning implies that learned associations occur between external stimuli, such as bodily harm, and specific brain states.