Toward A Science Of Consciousness Ii

This text originates from the second of two conferences discussing the concept of consciousness. In 15 sections, this book demonstrates the broad range of fields now focusing on consciousness.

Can there be a science of consciousness? This issue has been the focus of three landmark conferences sponsored by the University of Arizona in Tucson. The first two conferences and books have become touchstones for the field. This volume presents a selection of invited papers from the third conference. Can there be a science of consciousness? This issue has been the focus of three landmark conferences sponsored by the University of Arizona in Tucson. The first two conferences and books have become touchstones for the field. This volume presents a selection of invited papers from the third conference. It showcases recent progress in this maturing field by researchers from philosophy, neuroscience, cognitive psychology, phenomenology, and physics. It is divided into nine sections: the explanatory gap, color, neural correlates of consciousness, vision, emotion, the evolution and function of consciousness, physical reality, the timing of conscious experience, and phenomenology. Each section is preceded by an overview and commentary by the editors. Contributors Dick J. Bierman, Jeffrey Burgdorf, A. Graham Cairns-Smith, William H. Calvin, Christian de Quincey, Frank H. Durgin, Vittorio Gallese, Elizabeth L. Glisky, Melvyn A. Goodale, Richard L. Gregory, Scott Hagan, C. Larry Hardin, C. A. Heywood, Masayuki Hirafuji, Nicholas Humphrey, Harry T. Hunt, Piet Hut, Alfred W. Kaszniak, Robert W. Kentridge, Stanley A. Klein, Charles D. Laughlin, Joseph Levine, Lianggang Lou, Shimon Malin, A. David Milner, Steven Mithen, Martine Nida-Rumelin, Stephen Palmer, Jaak Panksepp, Dean Radin, Steven Z. Rapcsak, Sheryl L. Reminger, Antti Revonsuo, Gregg H. Rosenberg, Yves Rossetti, Jeffrey M. Schwartz, Jonathan Shear, Galen Strawson, Robert Van Gulick, Frances Vaughan, Franz X. Vollenweider, B. Alan Wallace, Douglas F. Watt, Larry Weiskrantz, Fred A. Wolf, Kunio Yasue, Arthur Zajonc

This text originates from the second of two conferences discussing the concept of consciousness. In 15 sections, this book demonstrates the broad range of fields now focusing on consciousness.

Annotation What is consciousness? Recent attempts to answer this question have motivated twointerdisciplinary conferences sponsored by the University of Arizona in Tucson. The first volume ofToward a Science of Consciousness is now considered a resource book for the emerging field. Thisvolume presents a selection of invited papers from the second conference, held in April 1996. Thebook's fifteen sections demonstrate the broad range of fields now focusing on consciousness. Thesections include philosophy, cognitive science, medicine, neurobiology, neural correlates, vision, sleep and dreaming, anesthesia, molecular biology and evolution, quantum theory, spacetime, hierarchial organization, and experiential approaches. Each section is preceded by an overview andcommentary. The participants include Bernard Baars, Ned Block, David J. Chalmers, Patricia S. Churchland, Daniel C. Dennett, Jeffrey Gray, Daniel Hillis, J. Allan Hobson, Stephen LaBerge, JaronLanier, Daniel S. Levine, Nikos K. Logothetis, Gary E. Schwartz, John R. Searle, Roger N. Shepard, Henry P. Stapp, Petra Stoerig, Charles T. Tart, John Taylor, Francisco J. Varela, Max Velmans, RogerWalsh, and Lawrence Weiskantz.

Annotation What is consciousness? Recent attempts to answer this question have motivated twointerdisciplinary conferences sponsored by the University of Arizona in Tucson. The first volume ofToward a Science of Consciousness is now considered a resource book for the emerging field. Thisvolume presents a selection of invited papers from the second conference, held in April 1996. Thebook's fifteen sections demonstrate the broad range of fields now focusing on consciousness. Thesections include philosophy, cognitive science, medicine, neurobiology, neural correlates, vision, sleep and dreaming, anesthesia, molecular biology and evolution, quantum theory, spacetime, hierarchial organization, and experiential approaches. Each section is preceded by an overview andcommentary. The participants include Bernard Baars, Ned Block, David J. Chalmers, Patricia S. Churchland, Daniel C. Dennett, Jeffrey Gray, Daniel Hillis, J. Allan Hobson, Stephen LaBerge, JaronLanier, Daniel S. Levine, Nikos K. Logothetis, Gary E. Schwartz, John R. Searle, Roger N. Shepard, Henry P. Stapp, Petra Stoerig, Charles T. Tart, John Taylor, Francisco J. Varela, Max Velmans, RogerWalsh, and Lawrence Weiskantz.

This international selection of 34 papers from the Tokyo '99 conference held at the United Nations University gives a valuable state of the art overview of consciousness research. Not only the recognized European and American approaches but also the distinguishing approaches from many Japanese researchers are presented. It will provide a world-wide audience with a comprehensive outlook for the remarkable potential contribution in the future scene of consciousness research.The Tokyo '99 declaration to promote scientists' ethical warning against the thoughtless aiming of consciousness research at warfare is also included.(Series B)

How do our personalities and mental processes, our " states of consciousness" , derive from a gray mass of tissue with the consistency of a soft-boiled egg? How can mere molecules constitute an idea or emotion? Some of the most important questions we can ask are about our own consciousness. Our personalities, our individuality, indeed our whole reason for living, lie in the brain and in the elusive phenomenon of consciousness it generates. Thinkers in many disciplines have long struggled with such questions, often in ways that have seemed incompatible, if not downright contradictory. Philosophers have meditated on the subjective experience of consciousness, with little attention to the physical realm, while scientists have sought to establish a causal relation between brain function and mind, often ignoring the qualitative aspects of experience. In Journey to the Centers of the Mind, neuroscientist Susan Greenfield offers an intriguing, unifying theory of consciousness that encompasses both phenomenological mental events and physical aspects of brain function. Using information gathered from clues in animal behavior, human brain damage, computer science, neurobiology, and philosophy, Greenfield offers a " concentric theory" of consciousness, and shows how certain events in the brain correspond to our qualitative experience of the world. Demonstrating the ways in which we can interpret the experience of consciousness in terms of interactions among neurons, she explores how much we can learn by continuing to find the links between our physical and mental inner worlds.