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Consciousness intuitions are illusory.

Iris Berent1

  • 1Department of Psychology, Northeastern University, 360 Huntington Ave, Boston MA 02115, USA.

Consciousness and Cognition
|June 5, 2026

View abstract on PubMed

Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Consciousness intuitions are not reliable indicators of consciousness itself. Psychological biases like intuitive dualism and essentialism cause these intuitions to shift, making them illusory.

Keywords:
ConsciousnessDualismThe hard problem of consciousness

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Area of Science:

  • Philosophy of Mind
  • Cognitive Science
  • Neuroscience

Background:

  • Philosophical debates on the 'hard problem' of consciousness often rely on intuitions about consciousness.
  • These consciousness intuitions are presumed to be closely linked to the nature of consciousness itself.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To challenge the assumption that consciousness intuitions accurately reflect consciousness.
  • To investigate the stability and reliability of consciousness intuitions across different philosophical scenarios.

Main Methods:

  • Two experiments were conducted to probe participants' intuitions about consciousness.
  • Participants were presented with distinct thought experiments, including a duplication scenario and the 'Mary's Room' scenario.
  • Intuitions regarding the physical nature of consciousness were analyzed in response to these scenarios.

Main Results:

  • Consciousness intuitions were found to be illusory, shifting based on the specific 'problem intuition' presented.
  • In a duplication scenario, participants did not consider consciousness physical.
  • In the 'Mary's Room' scenario, participants viewed consciousness as physical, expecting color qualia to be detectable via brain scans.

Conclusions:

  • The study demonstrates that consciousness intuitions are unstable and influenced by psychological biases, specifically intuitive Dualism and Essentialism.
  • These findings suggest that consciousness judgments derived from intuitions are illusory and cannot be trusted as accurate reflections of consciousness.
  • The research calls into question the foundational role of intuitions in philosophical discussions of consciousness.