A semiotic model of visual change

In this study, we present a model of change in visual perception that is complimentary to a prior semiotic model of static visual perception. As in the previous study, a sign is defined to be a triadic relation that is derived from universal categories of thought, as first proposed by Charles S. Peirce. This semiotic model is based upon the empirical findings of Benjamin Libet in the neurophysiology of sensory awareness. He has shown that sensory awareness is a physiologically discontinuous process although it is experienced as a subjectively continuous process. Libet has demonstrated that, successive intervals of sensory awareness are separated by brief intervals of unconscious signal processing. We propose that this unconscious processing of sensory signals entails the formation of unconscious interpretants that mediate between successive intervals of sensory awareness. Furthermore, vision science provides empirical evidence that the formation of unconscious interpretants is governed by the Peircean categories of thought. On this basis, categorical typologies are proposed for both veridical and illusory visual change.