 Inference to the best explanation is always a hazardous business, especially in the vicinity of an explanatory gap. In the interpretation of identity crowding, as in the interpretation of inattentional blindness, the inescapability of abductive considerations suggests that our answer to the question of whether attention is necessary for consciousness may have to wait until we have a better understanding of the relation of attention to demonstrative reference (of the sort that is involved in thinking ‘That’s a gorilla’), and perhaps until we have a better understanding of attention’s role in epistemology more generally. (See  sections 3.3 &amp; 3.4 ,  below.)