Joan M. Preston’s scientific contributions

This chapter presents the debate on media in the development of consciousness. Gibson's concepts of presence and perceptual flow are relevant both to media (especially virtual reality) and to consciousness. In media research and theory, the concept of presence has proven especially important because individuals report involvement, immersion, or absorption in media. Hunt distinguishes the role of immediate awareness in two fundamental forms of symbolic cognition—referential and presentational symbolism. It is understood that consciousness enters representational thought primarily as felt meanings in order to choose and direct the thought and not as its substance. In presentational symbolism, meaning emerges as a result of an experiential immersion in the expressive patterns of the symbolic medium. It appears as spontaneous, preemptory imagery and is fully developed in the expressive media of the arts. It is also noted that representational and presentational forms of symbolism are necessarily intertwined. For example, intonation, gesture, and emphasis are presentational aspects of referential language use.