Cognitive Scaffold

Preparing your thinking workspace

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MENTAL MODEL · M4438

Qualia

Qualia
CultureHigh supportPhilosophy
Included
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Version 1.0.0 · Updated 2026-07-30

CORE DEFINITION

The intrinsic, ineffable properties of subjective experience (e.g., the redness of seeing red, the painfulness of a toothache). They are first-personal and cannot be fully captured from a third-person perspective.

SCAFFOLDING EFFECT

psychology

Reduce cognitive load

Provides a core concept for anti-physicalism. It shows that even if we fully understand the physical mechanisms of the brain, we may still miss the experience itself, thereby offering intuitive support for the non-physical nature of consciousness.

anchor

Anchor fast decisions

Refers to the subjective quality of conscious experience, such as the feeling of redness or the feeling of pain. The mechanism is the irreducible first-person property of experience.

MINIMUM ACTION

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Source support: Explicit

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