The measurement of perceptual durations
pp. 207-218
in: Fraser, Francis C. Haber, Gert H. Müller (eds), The study of time, Berlin, Springer, 1972Abstract
It is often claimed that consciousness is immeasurable because it has no attributes such as mass, extension, charge, etc., which can be quantified in physical units. For this reason some philosophers have referred to it, pejoratively, as "the ghost in the machine".It will be argued that consciousness can be quantified with respect to time and that the "ghost in the machine" can, in fact, be measured. Recent experiments in which visual and auditory perceptions were measured accurately will be described. The results of these measurements and the theoretical framework used to account for them permit a novel interpretation of a number of time-dependent perceptual phenomena. One of these phenomena will be demonstrated.