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Full Idea
The 'specious present' (William James), a rough estimate of the duration of a single conscious state, is of the order of 100 milliseconds, meaning that conscious states can change very rapidly.
Clarification
'Specious' means it is not real
Gist of Idea
A conscious state endures for about 100 milliseconds, known as the 'specious present'
Source
G Edelman / G Tononi (Consciousness: matter becomes imagination [2000], Ch.12)
Book Ref
Edelman,G/Tononi,G: 'Consciousness: how matter becomes imagination' [Penguin 2000], p.152
A Reaction
A vital feature of our subjective experience of time. I wonder what the figure is for a fly? It suggests that conscious experience really is like a movie film, composed of tiny independent 'frames' of very short duration.
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