| Summary: | Visual awareness is a specific form of consciousness. Binocular rivalry, the alternation of visual consciousness resulting when the two eyes view differing stimuli, allows one to experimentally investigate visual awareness. Observers usually indicate the gradual changes of conscious perception in binocular rivalry by a binary measure: pressing a button. However, in our experiments, gradual measures such as pupil and joystick movements start around 590 ms before observers press a button, apparently accessing even pre-conscious processes. Our gradual measures permit monitoring the built-up, over time, of decision processes and that should not be considered as abrupt events. Changes in analogue measures occurring before button presses signalling decisions do not prove these decisions are taken subconsciously – eliminating free will - but just prepared pre-thresholdly.
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