Where We Are
• Previously -introduction, definitions, ways of
knowing, hard problem, survey of thought to 1900
• Today -methods of neuroscience and neuronal
correlates of consciousness, tests for
consciousness
• To follow -states of consciousness, illusions and
magic, psychotherapy, free will, music, art and
……
Quotes
• William James, “Man can alter his life by
altering his thinking”
• Suggested by Betty Jones, Albert Einstein,
“there are two ways to live your life-one is
though nothing is a miacle, the other is as
though everything is a miracle”
Basketball Game
• What did you see
• Inattention Blindness
• Eyewitness testimony
Types of Data
• Third person, objective, measured from
outside, subject to measurement error;
examples temperature, weight, speed,
relative location
• First person, subjective, measured from
within, not verifiable; examples feeling, a
percept, idea
William James
• Empirical study of consciousness should
include introspection and not rely just on
third party observations like behavio
• Supplanted in 20th century by behaviorism
• The only relevant thing to study is what is
observed, ie behaviors
Behaviorism
• Work of Watson and Skinner
• Man is a machine that is governed classical
conditioning and operant conditioning
• Examples Pavlov’s dog and reward
response
• Materialistic view left out the subjective
Current Methods
• Combine both first and third person
reporting
• First you have to agree that there is
something to be like yourself and that is
reportable
• Qualia, internally subjective aspect of our
mental lives
Early
Examination of Structure
• Comparative anatomy with animals and
between individuals
• Morphologic changes due to injury
• Phrenology, ethnology (racism)
• Histopathology (microscopic changes)
• Histochemistry (localization of molecules)
Clinical Exam of Structure
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Angiography
X-Ray
CT scan
Nuclear scan
MRI
Examination of Function
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Physical examination
Intracranial pressure
Electrical activity (EEG)
Direct electrical or magnetic stimulation
Evoked potentials (somatosensory)
PET scans (metabolism)
Function
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fMR
PET scans (metabolism)
Direct reading from implanted electrodes
Psychometric testing
Subject reporting (can require specific
training)
fMRI example
• url
http://www.sciencefriday.com/program/arch
ives/200805022
Neuronal Correlates
Consciousness, Crick and Koch
• Look for differences in neuronal states in
different states of consciousness
• Distinguish faciliating and modulating
factors
• Determine minimal differences
• Problem of causality, sufficient and
necessary
Experimental Design
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Gorilla basketball
Necker cubes
Motion blindness
Afterimage effects
Many other
No general agreement
Afterimage Effects
• url Lilac Chaser
• www.michaelbach.de/ot/col_lilacChaser/
index.html
Motion Induced Blindness
• url for Motion induced blindness
http://www.michaelbach.de/ot/mot_mib/index.html
Consciousness Test
• How can we tell whether someone or
something is conscious?
• No third party specific observation
• Materialistic zombie problem(replicate
neuronal mechanism in a machine)
Machine Tests
• Turing test for intelligence (Hal and other
computers, machine psychotherapy,)
• Zombie vs self awarenenss
Animal Tests
• Theory of mind(Ability to attribute mental
states to others); children follow gaze or
pointed finger at 18 months, at 3 years
understand that others can see things they
can not see (hide and seek behavior)
• Deception is seen in primates(ability to
understand what others see)
Animal Tests
• Self-awareness (Mirror test); children at 18
months, chimps, orangs, bonobos, but not
gorillas, and not cats and dogs
• Theory of mind (Banana test): children pass
age three, primates no.
Animal Tests
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Behavioral versatility in animal tool making
Analogous EEG findings in mammals
Cortico-thalamic tracts in mammals
Intuition from expressions
Animal Consciousness
• Massive disageement on both empirical and
philosophical ground
• Use of language important for Descartes, Dennett,
and others. Evidence generally against
http://www.efluxmedia.com/news_Computers_at_
Reading_University_Almost_Pass_Turing_Test_2
6461.html
• true semantic and syntactical ability.
• This is a whole other course
Animal Consciousness
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Like a light switch on/off
Like a dimmer?
Are all components needed?
Partial awareness, primary consciousness
but not self consciousness
Animal Consciousness
• Analogous EEG findings and thalamocortical connections in mammals
• Mirror self recognition, primates and
dolphins
• Behavioral versatility, mammals create tools
Panpsychism
• Avoid all the empiric arguments
• Assume that consciousness is an essential
feature of all matter like mass or spin
• Results in a concept that everything is
conscious
• Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy:
Animism to Spinoza, Leibniz and
Whitehead
Turing Test
• Loebner Prize 2008 Consciousness Quotes
• “A mystery is a phenomeon that people don’t
know how to think about,,,,, yet.” Daniel
Dennett
• “I hope it is true that a man can die and yet not
only live in others and give them life, and not only
life, but the great consciousness of life.” Jack
Kerouac
Consciousness Quotes
• Emerging Cognitive Neuroscience and
Related Technologies, from the National
Research Council, identifies and explores
several specific research areas that have
implications for U.S. national security, and
should therefore be monitored consistently
by the intelligence community. These areas
include:
Consciousness Quotes
1. neurophysiological advances in detecting
and measuring indicators of psychological
states and intentions of individuals
2. the development of drugs or technologies
that can alter human physical or cognitive
abilities
3. advances in real-time brain imaging
Consciousness Quotes
• breakthroughs in high-performance
computing and neuronal modeling that
could allow researchers to develop systems
which mimic functions of the human brain,
particularly the ability to organize disparate
forms of data. National Research Council
Possible uses of fMRI
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Marker for decision making
Marker for effective advertising
Lie detection and deception
Marker for pain
Marker for drug effect on mood
Marker for anxiety and fear
Decoder of thought
DECODERS
• Mind reader thought
http://discovermagazine.com/videos/17mind-reading-machine/?searchterm=mind
• Mind reader action
http://discovermagazine.com/videos/mindcontrol/?searchterm=mind
fMRI in Pain Management
• Biofeedback based on real time self induced
fMRI changes
• url
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/christo
pher_decharms_scans_the_brain_in_real_ti
me.html
Quest for Consciousness
• Christof Koch
• URL
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJA5N
YoDeO4&eurl=http://www.uctv.tv/searchdetails.asp?showID=11508
US ARMY
• TIME Sept 14, 2008
Awards
• The Army's Totally Serious MindControl Project
• Wired helmet to read thoughts and
communicate
• 4,000,000 $ contract
ONLINE Brain Primer
• Society for Neuroscience
• URL
http://www.sfn.org/skins/main/pdf/brainfact
s/brainfacts.pdf
• Printable