[Ciclo de Conferências] Perceptual Content and Singular Thought

Title: Iconicity and visual sensory memory

Abstract: It has been traditionally held that visual sensory memory is picture-like in format, i.e. it has an iconic format. In particular, Jerry Fodor proposed that this should be understood as the claim that sensory visual memory conforms to the Picture Principle, which says that parts of a picture are pictures of parts. In this presentation, I examine Fodor's claim, particularly in light of current research on visual sensory memory. I draw two conclusions from this research: (i) negatively, Fodor's claim that visual sensory memory conforms to the Picture Principle is unfounded, resting as it is on outdated empirical literature, and (ii) more positively, we should conceive of visual sensory memory as having a map-like format.