The Michigan State University
Cognitive Science Program presents
California Institute of Technology
The Neurobiology of Consciousness
February 11, 2008 - 5:30 pm
Room 116, Natural Science Building
What is the material basis of the conscious mind? Consciousness is one of the major unsolved problem in science today. How do the salty taste and crunchy texture of potato chips, the unmistakable smell of dogs after they have been in the rain, or the awfulness of a throbbing tooth pain, emerge from networks of neurons and their associated synaptic and molecular processes?
I will summarizes what is known about the biology and neurology of consciousness, outline the limits to our knowledge, and describe ongoing experiments using visual illusions to manipulate the relationship between physical stimuli and their associated conscious percepts. I will introduce the audience to the modern, empirical program to discover and characterize the neuronal correlates of consciousness (NCC),
Recommended Reading:
Invariant visual representation by single neurons in the human brain
Attention and consciousness: two distinct brain processes
