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(C) Mariusz Kakolewicz
Qualia in constructing knowledge
Qualia as a component of knowledge
Qualia as essential components of cognitive schemas are internalized in them in the process of direct cognition or through media representations of real objects and phenomena. In media representations, their content is available through elements of the form of the message, which is a correlate of the content. What the media message presents is available to the senses only through elements of the form of the message.
Features of a real object -> Qualia of a percept
To put it simply, whatever we experience, e.g. we see an object of the real world or its media representation, e.g. a photograph, is always characterized by some specific features that allow us to recognize it and classify it as known or as new. When we see an object or its photograph, their mental representations are created in the mind, respectively: the object and the photograph. If it is a real object, its mental representation is constituted (created) by qualia corresponding to the physical features of this object, which we receive and recognize thanks to our senses. On the other hand, if we see a photograph or a drawing of an object, then what is presented (the object) is perceived through elements of the form of the media message (the photograph or drawing).
Elements of the form of a media message -> qualia of a percept of a message
For example, a letter of a text, even in a single word, always has a specific properties: font, size, color, attributes such as line thickness, possibly italicization, underlining or spaces between letters, etc. These elements of form determine how we perceive the text, e.g. if a word begins with a capital letter, we read the meaning that it is either the beginning of a sentence or a proper name. If a word is written in bold or in a different color, we read that it is in some way more important than the others.
Qualia of an apple
If we eat an apple, for example (or any other fruit), then through the senses we learn about its size (sight - shape and size in relation to other objects, and through proprioception - weight), color (sight), texture of the skin (touch), hardness (proprioceptors in the jaw muscles), taste, smell, structure of the flesh (proprioception - proprioceptors in the muscles of the tongue and jaws), hardness of the skin (proprioception), etc.
Through direct experience during eating, we gain knowledge about the properties of a given type of apple (or other fruit - in its specific state of ripeness), and in consciousness, the percept of this apple (or other fruit) is constructed through received and internalized qualia - features of the percept. They are internalized in the created memory traces 'coding' the received qualia of sensory experiences. In addition, psychological sensations can be internalized (also through qualia), including emotions related to the fruit being eaten, e.g. does it taste good to me or not, whether I will count it as my favorite fruit, desires - do I feel like eating another such fruit or not so much, etc.
Qualia in cognitive schemas
Experienced qualia become part of our cognitive schema "containing" our knowledge about a given fruit. When we eat the same fruit again (even with our eyes closed), we will probably recognize it through the "automatically" following process of comparing direct qualia in consciousness - the percept of the fruit being eaten with the qualia of the fruits we ate earlier.
If we have internalized qualia that are consistent (the same) with those corresponding to the mental representation of the fruit being eaten (let's assume that our eyes are covered and someone is giving us pieces of fruit directly to our mouths), then we are able to recognize the fruit being eaten without fail. We don't even have to know its name, but we know that we've eaten it before (or not) and that we liked it (or not). By eating a fruit, we gain knowledge about it and its properties, which become an important component of the cognitive schema corresponding to it.
Analysis of the example of learning and recognizing a rose
More in my book at: https://qualia.edu.pl/en/media-information-technology-and-artificial-intelligence-in-learning-processes-cognitive-approach-2
Mariusz Kakolewicz
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