Structure, dynamics and origin of the phenomenal space
Abstract
According to structuralist views of experience, red feels red because it feels closer to pink than to green. A conscious experience corresponds to a point in the phenomenal space, and its qualitative character is determined by the distances between that point and other experiences along the dimensions of the space. In this paper, we propose a new model divided into four claims. 1. The structure of the phenomenal space reflects our sensory feelings, structured along intra-modal dimensions. Intra-modal dimensions are defined by their systematic co-variance, which echoes the definition of a sensory modality as sensorimotor contingencies. 2. Trans-modal dimensions such as valence or confidence explain multisensory interactions and allow similarity evaluation among different modalities. 3. The phenomenal space evolves at two timescales: short-term dynamics are influenced by cognitive factors such as attention, and long-term dynamics occur with the acquisition of expertise (accumulation of experiences along one dimension). 4. There is no pre-constructed space prior to experience, and the incoming sensory stimulations gradually outline the dimensions of the space. Overall, this paper proposes a framework about the structure, dynamics and origin of the phenomenal space.
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BibTeX
@misc{moncoucy2026structure,
title = {{Structure, dynamics and origin of the phenomenal space}},
author = {Léa Moncoucy and Inès Mentec and Axel Cleeremans},
howpublished = {PsyArXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.31234/osf.io/dy6wc_v2},
url = {https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/dy6wc_v2/},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Structure, dynamics and origin of the phenomenal space
AU - Léa Moncoucy
AU - Inès Mentec
AU - Axel Cleeremans
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/20
PB - PsyArXiv
DO - 10.31234/osf.io/dy6wc_v2
UR - https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/dy6wc_v2/
AB - According to structuralist views of experience, red feels red because it feels closer to pink than to green. A conscious experience corresponds to a point in the phenomenal space, and its qualitative character is determined by the distances between that point and other experiences along the dimensions of the space. In this paper, we propose a new model divided into four claims. 1. The structure of the phenomenal space reflects our sensory feelings, structured along intra-modal dimensions. Intra-modal dimensions are defined by their systematic co-variance, which echoes the definition of a sensory modality as sensorimotor contingencies. 2. Trans-modal dimensions such as valence or confidence explain multisensory interactions and allow similarity evaluation among different modalities. 3. The phenomenal space evolves at two timescales: short-term dynamics are influenced by cognitive factors such as attention, and long-term dynamics occur with the acquisition of expertise (accumulation of experiences along one dimension). 4. There is no pre-constructed space prior to experience, and the incoming sensory stimulations gradually outline the dimensions of the space. Overall, this paper proposes a framework about the structure, dynamics and origin of the phenomenal space.
ER -