Modularity of Perception
Ophelia D. Deroy, Mohan Matthen · Oxford University Press eBooks · 2014
Refining Marr’s computational model of vision, the modularity thesis posits that the mind contains, among other things, modules capable of transforming the signals resulting from receptors into representations through a series of encapsulated and dedicated inferences. The present chapter reviews the key features of these classical modules, before considering three recent challenges raised to modularity of perception (cognitive penetration, synaesthesia, and multisensory perception) all stressing that modules might share resources with other systems at the same or higher level. Not all these threats are well established, and, if they were, the modularity thesis could resist them either by considering micro-modules or connected modules.