The Consciousness Research Group
University of Turku, Finland
The CRG approaches the problem of consciousness from a multidisciplinary
perspective, combining psychology, philosophy, and cognitive neuroscience. Our
starting point is to take consciousness as a natural biological phenomenon in the
brain, and our main aim is to carry out both empirical and theoretical explorations
into the nature of consciousness. The main lines of research focus on perceptual
awareness, altered states of consciousness (dreaming, hypnosis), and the theory
and philosophy of consciousness.
The Group
Lines of Research:
Perceptual Awareness
Altered states of consciousness: Dreaming and Hypnosis
Theory and Philosophy of Consciousness
Funding
CogniSpeed
THE CONSCIOUSNESS RESEARCH GROUP
Principal Investigator
Antti Revonsuo, Ph.D.
- Research Fellow of the Academy of Finland
- European Editor, Consciousness and Cognition (Academic Press)
- Board Member, Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness (ASSC)
Contact address:
Department of Philosophy
University of Turku
FIN-20014 FINLAND
antti.revonsuo@utu.fi
Books by Antti Revonsuo:
(Kansikuvat)
Väitöskirja
Revonsuo & Kamppinen
Rossetti & Revonsuo
Mieli ja Aivot
Post-Doctoral Researcher
Mika Koivisto, Ph.D.
Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Turku
PhD students
Mirja Johanson Epilepsy Rehabilitation Clinic, Stora Sköndal Hospital, Sweden
PhD project: “Consciousness during epileptic seizures”
Sakari Kallio
Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Turku and
Department of Humanities, University of Skövde, Sweden
PhD project: “The neurocognitive basis of hypnosis and mental imagery”
Sari Laatu
Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Turku and
Masku Neurological Rehabilitation Centre, Masku, Finland
PhD project: “Visual object recognition and semantic memory in MS, PD & AD”
Ville Ojanen
Cognitive Technology Laboratory, Helsinki University of Technology
PhD project: “Neural basis of audiovisual awareness”
Katja Valli
Departments of Philosophy and Psychology, University of Turku
PhD project: “Threatening events in dreams and nightmares and
the threat simulation theory of dreaming”
Maria Wilenius-Emet
Department of Psychology, Åbo Akademi University and
Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Turku
PhD project: Electrophysiological correlates of visual awareness”
Perceptual Awareness
Perceptual awareness is a subjective phenomenon that lends itself to a
straightforward experimental approach in cognitive neuroscience. Revealing the
neural basis of visual awareness may be the first step in the natural-science
explanation of subjective conscious phenomena. Therefore, the main aim of this line
of research in CGR is to explore the question: Which neural events in the brain
directly correlate with the subjective experience of a unified visual percept in
awareness?
Selected Publications
Revonsuo A, Wilenius-Emet M, Kuusela J & Lehto M (1997) The neural generation
of a unified illusion in human vision. NeuroReport 8: 3867-3870.
Vanni S, Revonsuo A, Saarinen J & Hari R (1996) Visual awareness of objects
correlates with activity of right occipital cortex. NeuroReport 8:183-186.
Vanni S, Revonsuo A, Hari R (1997) Modulation of the parieto-occipital alpha
rhythym during object detection. The Journal of Neuroscience 17(18):7141-7147.
Revonsuo A (1998) Visual perception and subjective visual awareness. Behavioral
and Brain Sciences 21(6): 769-770.
Revonsuo A (1999) Binding and the Phenomenal Unity of Consciousness.
Consciousness and Cognition 8(2), 173-185.
Wilenus-Emet M, Revonsuo A & Ojanen V (2001) An electrophysiological correlate
of human visual awareness. (Submitted manuscript)
Altered States of Consciousness:
Dreaming and Hypnosis
The starting point for this research is the idea that altered states of consciousness
may reveal underlying mechanisms of consciousness that are normally hidden from
view.
The Content and Function of Dreaming. The dreaming brain is an excellent model
system for consciousness research. During dreaming, the brain creates a whole
world of subjective phenomenal experience, isolated from both sensory input and
motor output. This condition reveals several theoretically and empirically fascinating
facts about consciousness. Our research has focused on the function of dreaming
and on the unity and binding of consciousness, as revealed by dreams. A major new
theory about the function of dreaming (Revonsuo 2000) was recently published as a
target article in Behavioral and Brain Sciences.
Hypnosis. Our research on hypnosis attempts to clarify the nature of hypnotic
phenomena and theories of hypnosis as well as reveal possible neural correlates of
hypnosis and hypnotic hallucinations.
Selected Publications
Revonsuo A (1995) Consciousness, Dreams and Virtual Realities. Philosophical
Psychology 8: 35-58.
Revonsuo A & Salmivalli C (1995) A content analysis of bizarre elements in dreams.
Dreaming 5: 169-187.
Revonsuo A (2000) The Reinterpretation of Dreams: An evolutionary hypothesis of
the function of dreaming. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 23 (6): (in press).
Revonsuo A & Valli K (2000) Dreaming and Consciousness: Testing the threat
simulation theory of the function of dreaming. Psyche 6,
http://psyche.cs.monash.edu.au/v6/psyche-6-08-revonsuo.html
Revonsuo A & Tarkko K (2001) Binding in Dreams. (submitted manuscript)
Kallio S, Revonsuo A, Lauerma H, Hämäläinen H & Lang H (1999) The MMN
Amplitude Increases in Hypnosis — A Case Study. NeuroReport 10 (17):
3579-3582.
Kallio S, Revonsuo A, Hämäläinen H, Markela J & Gruzelier J (2001) Anterior brain
functions and hypnosis: A test of the frontal hypothesis. The International Journal of
Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis 49: 95-106.
Kallio S & Revonsuo A Towards an empirically testable account of hypnosis.
[submitted manuscript]
Theory and Philosophy of Consciousness
This line of research analyses the scientific study of consciousness as a branch of
empirical science: its basic assumptions and methods, its current state, and its
future directions, possibilities and limitations. The research conducted evaluates
whether the study of consciousness can develop into a true science of
consciousness: a coherent, unified scientific research program. The research
integrates elements from e.g. philosophy of science, philosophy of mind, empirical
cognitive neuroscience and dream research in an attempt to construct one Big
Picture about the place of consciousness in nature, and about the place of
consciousness science among other empirical sciences.
Selected Publications
Revonsuo A & Kamppinen M (Eds.) (1994) Consciousness in Philosophy and
Cognitive Neuroscience. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Revonsuo A (1997) How to take consciousness seriously in cognitive neuroscience.
Communication and Cognition 30: 185-206.
Revonsuo A (1998) Wie man Bewusstsein in der kognitiven Neurowissenschaft
ernst nehmen kann. In: F. Esken & D. Heckmann (eds.) Bewusstsein und
Repräsentation 193-216. Paderborn: Ferdinand Schöningh.
Revonsuo A (1999) Towards a Cognitive Neuroscience of Consciousness. In:
Hameroff, Kaszniak & Chalmers (Eds.) Towards a Science of Consciousness III:
The Third Tucson Discussions and Debates, 87-97. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Revonsuo A (2000) Consciousness as a research problem in cognitive
neuroscience. Nordisk Psykologi 52 (4): 263-276.
Rossetti Y & Revonsuo A (Eds.) (2000) Beyond Dissociation: Interaction between
dissociated implicit and explicit processing. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Revonsuo A (2000) Prospects for a Scientific Research Program on Consciousness.
In: Metzinger T (Ed.) Neural Correlates of Consciousness, 57-75. Cambridge, MA:
MIT Press.
Revonsuo A (2001) On the Nature of Explanation in Neurosciences. In: Machamer
P, Grush R & McLaughlin P (Eds.) Theory and Method in the Neurosciences 45-69.
Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press.
Revonsuo A (2001) Can functional brain imaging discover consciousness in the
brain? Journal of Consciousness Studies 8 (3): 3-23
Revonsuo A (forthcoming) Virtual Reality in the Brain: The Quest for a Unified
Science of Consciousness.
CogniSpeed
The CogniSpeed programs CogniSpeed and CogniSpeed 2: Picture Experiment
Generator have been developed for the easy and accurate measurement of
cognitive performance in a variety of tasks that tap attention, working memory,
automatic visual processing, and object recognition. They have been used in several
different projects and populations where the subtle effects of different factors (e.g.
brain disease, cell phone radiation) on cognitive performance have been measured.
Selected Publications
Revonsuo A, Portin R, Koivikko L, Rinne J & Rinne U. (1993) Slowing of Information
Processing in Parkinson's Disease. Brain and Cognition 21: 87-110.
Kujala P, Portin R, Revonsuo A, Ruutiainen J. (1994) Automatic and Controlled
Information Processing in Multiple Sclerosis. Brain 117: 1115-1126.
Kujala P, Portin R, Revonsuo A & Ruutiainen J. (1995) Attention-Related
Performance in Two Cognitively Different Subgroups of Patients with Multiple
Sclerosis. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry 59: 77-82.
Portin R, Kovala T, Polo-Kantola P, Revonsuo A, Müller K & Matikainen E (2000)
Does P3 reflect attentional or memory performances, or cognition more generally?
Scandinavian Journal of Psychology 41 (1): 31-40.
Portin R, Polo-Kantola P, Polo P, Koskinen T, Revonsuo A, Irjala K & Erkkola R
(1999) Serum Estrogen Level, Attention, Memory and Other Cognitive Functions in
Middle-Aged Women. Climacteric 2: 115-123.
Koivisto M, Revonsuo A, Krause C, Haarala C, Sillanmäki L, Laine M & Hämäläinen
H (2000). Effects of 902 MHz Electromagnetic Field Emitted by Cellular Phones on
Response Times in Humans. NeuroReport 11: 413-415.
Portin R (2000) Cognitive Functioning in Midlife. Assesment by Mild Deterioration
Battery and CogniSpeed. University of Turku: Annales Universitatis Turkuensis B
240.
Koivisto M & Revonsuo A (2000) Semantic Priming by Pictures and Words in the
Cerebral Hemispheres. Cognitive Brain Research 10: 91-98.
Laatu S, Revonsuo A, Hämäläinen P, Ojanen V & Ruutiainen J (2001) Visual object
recognition in multiple sclerosis. Journal of the Neurological Sciences 185: 77-88.
Funding
The Academy of Finland
years
project name
1993-1996
Consciousness and Cognition
190.000
1996-1999
Consciousness and the Binding Problem
390.000
2000-2002
Seeing the World Around Us: Studies of
the Visual Recognition of Objects
1.100.000
Studies on Consciousness
amount (FIM)
370.000