Editing Knowledge argument (section)

=== The neural basis of qualia ===
[[V.S. Ramachandran]] and Edward Hubbard of the Center for Brain and Cognition at [[UCSD]] argue that Mary might do one of three things upon seeing a red apple for the first time:
# Mary says she sees nothing but gray.
# She has the "Wow!" response from subjectively experiencing the color for the first time.
# She experiences a form of ''[[blindsight]]'' for color, in which she reports seeing no difference between a red apple and an apple painted gray, but when asked to point to the red apple, she correctly does.

They explain further: "Which of these three possible outcomes will actually occur? We believe we've learned the answer from a [[colorblind]] [[Grapheme-color synesthesia|synesthete]] subject. Much like the theoretical Mary, our colorblind synesthete volunteer cannot see certain hues, because of deficient color receptors. However, when he looks at numbers, his [[synesthesia]] enables him to experience colors in his mind that he has never seen in the real world. He calls these "Martian colors." The fact that color cells (and corresponding colors) can activate in his brain helps us answer the philosophical question: we suggest that the same thing will happen to Mary."<ref>{{cite journal|last=Ramachandran|first=V. S. |author2=Edward M. Hubbard. |url=http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=more-common-questions-abo-2003-04-14 |title=More Common Questions about Synesthesia |journal=Scientific American |date=April 14, 2003 |access-date=2007-03-12}}</ref>

Ramachandran and Hubbard's contribution is in terms of exploring "the neural basis of qualia" by "using pre-existing, stable differences in the conscious experiences of people who experience synaesthesia compared with those who do not" but, they note that "this still doesn't explain why these particular events are qualia laden and others are not (Chalmers' "[[Hard problem of consciousness|hard problem]]") but at least it narrows the scope of the problem" (p.&nbsp;25).<ref>{{cite journal|last=Ramachandran|first=V. S. |author2=Edward M. Hubbard. |url=http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/imp/jcs/2001/00000008/00000012/1244 |title=Synaesthesia – A window into perception, thought and language |journal=Journal of Consciousness Studies |date=January 1, 2001 |volume=8 |issue=12 |pages=3–34 |access-date=2011-05-02}}</ref>