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| CRD - Student Listing |
Harald Atmanspacher, PhD H. Atmanspacher. Contextual emergence from physics to cognitive neuroscience. Journal of Consciousness Studies 14(1-2), 18-36 (2007). G. Franck and H. Atmanspacher. A proposed relation between intensity of presence and duration of nowness. Recasting Reality. Wolfgang Pauli's Philosophical Ideas and Contemporary Science, ed. by H. Atmanspacher and H. Primas, Springer, Berlin, in press. |
Bernard Baars, PhD Baars, B. J., Banks, W. P., & Newman, J. B. (2003). Essential Sources in the Scientific Study of Consciousness. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Baars, B.J. (2002). The conscious access hypothesis: Origins and recent evidence. Trends in Cognitive Science. |
Talis Bachmann, PhD Dr. Bachmann’s research interests include: microgenesis of conscious representation, visual masking, flash-lag effect, visual spatial attention, visual form and face perception, perceptual latency priming, attentional blink and perception of objects in stream; the main methods used include tachistoscopic experiments programmed for PC, spatial quantization of visual images, algorithmic and quantitative modeling, and dichoptic presentation. He has developed the perceptual retouch theory of conscious perception microgenesis, based on the notion of interaction between specific cortical mechanisms of perceptual content representation and non-specific thalamic mechanisms of modulation. Bachmann, T. (2006). Microgenesis of perception: conceptual, psychophysical, and neurobiological aspects. In H. Ögmen, & B.G. Breitmeyer (Eds.), The first half second: The microgenesis and temporal dynamics of unconscious and conscious visual processes. (pp. 11-33). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Bachmann T. (2004). Inaptitude of the signal detection theory, useful vexation from the microgenetic view, and inevitability of neurobiological signatures in understanding perceptual (un)awareness. Consciousness and Cognition,13, 101-6. |
Rajendra Badgiayan, MD Dr. Badgaiyan has been using neuroimaging techniques to study nonconscious mind processes, particularly, nonconscious memory. After conducting a series of experiments, his lab has been able to localize a cortical area that is critically associated with retrieval of nonconsciously encoded information. This area (V3A), located at the occipito-temporal junction, is classically associated with visual information processing. His research has for the first time demonstrated that V3A is critical for cognitive processing and that it processes information across different sensory modalities. Another important finding that came out of his studies was the demonstration that nonconscious stimuli elicit well-processed cognitive responses even though they are not consciously perceived. Dr. Badgaiyan is currently working on a PET technique that allows mapping of the sitesof a neurotransmitter release in specified brain areas in human volunteers while they perform a cognitive or behavioral task associated with conscious action. Badgaiyan, R.D. (2006). Cortical activation elicited by unrecognized stimuli. Behavioral and Brain Functions, 2, 17. Badgaiyan, R.D. (2005). Conscious awareness and the brain processing. Elements, 3, 8-12. |
Andrew Bailey, PhD Bailey, A. "Qualia and the Argument from Illusion." Acta Analytica. Forthcoming 2007. Bailey, A. "Representation and a Science of Consciousness." Journal of Consciousness Studies 14, Nos. 1-2 (2007): 62-76. Bailey, A. "Zombies, Epiphenomenalism and Physicalist Theories of Consciousness." Canadian Journal of Philosophy 36 (2006): 481-510. |
Mahzarin Banaji, PhD Dr. Banaji studies human thinking and feeling as it unfolds in the social context. Her focus is primarily on mental systems that operate in implicit or unconscious mode. In particular, she is interested in the unconscious nature of assessments of self and other humans that reflect feelings and knowledge. Specifically, her research explores how people think and feel about the social world, with a focus on beliefs (stereotypes) about and preferences (attitudes) for social groups. It includes both experimental and correlational work, using primarily behavioral, but also brain measurements. With Anthony Greenwald and Brian Nosek, she maintains an educational website that has accumulated over 3 million completed tasks measuring automatic attitudes and beliefs involving self, other individuals, and social groups. It can be reached at www.implicit.harvard.edu. Cunningham, W., Johnson, M., Raye, C., Gatenby, J., Gore, J., & Banaji, M. (2004). Separable Neural Components in the Processing of Black and White Faces. Psychological Science, 15, 806-813. Mitchell, J., Macrae, C., & Banaji, M. (2005). Forming impressions of people versus inanimate objects: Social-cognitive processing in the medial prefrontal cortex. NeuroImage, 26, 251-25. |
William Banks, PhD Banks, W. P. (1995). Evidence for consciousness. Consciousness and Cognition, 4, 270-272. Banks, W. P. & Pockett, S. (in press) Libet’sWork on the Neuroscience of Free Will. The Blackwell Companion to Consciousness. Cambridge, England: Blackwell. |
John Bargh, PhD Dr. Bargh's research focuses on nonconscious (automatic influences) on psychological and behavioral processes. His studies address the issue of free will, and how much of it we as individuals really have. He is interested in the extent to which all social psychological phenomena -- attitudes and evaluations, emotions, impressions, motivations, social behavior -- occur nonconsciously and automatically. Currently, his research is actively exploring how social goals such as to cooperate, achieve, become friends, and so on, are triggered and operate without the person's awareness. A related question is how these various sources of nonconscious influence interact with each other, and how much of our 'real life' experience is governed by them. By discovering domains of social life in which conscious, deliberate processes are not necessary, we can shed more light the true purpose of consciousness. Bargh, J. A. (2006). "What have we been priming all these years? On the development, mechanisms, and ecology of nonconscious social behavior." European Journal of Social Psychology.Bargh, J. A., & Chartrand, T. L. (1999). "The unbearable automaticity of being." American Psychologist, 54, 462-479. |
Tim Bayne, PhD Tim Bayne is a major philosopher in the theory of mind. Dr. Bayne’s current projects include writing a book on the unity of consciousness, editing the Oxford Companion to Consciousness (with Axel Cleeremans & Patrick Wilken), and editing a volume on delusions and self-deception (with Jordi Fernandez). Together with Neil Levy (CAPPE, Melbourne) he has an ARC grant to investigate the implications of recent work in cognitive science for accounts of moral responsibility. He is also currently conduct research with Elisabeth Pacherie on delusions and with Avery Kolers on ethical issues related to procreation. In addition, he is the editor of PSYCHE, and on the organizing committee of the Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness Bayne, T. & Pacherie, E. (2005). In Defence of the Doxastic Conception of Delusions Mind and Language, 20/2: 163-88. Bayne, T. (2004). Closing the Gap? Some Questions for Neurophenomenology Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences, 3/4: 349-64. |
Heather Berlin, DPhil, MPH Dr. Berlin's research aims to discover and further delineate brain-behavior relationships that can contribute to the prevention and treatment of psychiatric disorders. She is interested in the neural basis of impulsivity, compulsivity, emotionality, and personality; the functions of the orbitofrontal and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (including learning and alteration of stimulus-reinforcement associations; emotional processing; decision-making; time perception; and working memory); and the effects of psychopharmacological treatments on cognition and personality. She is also investigating perceptual rivalry in psychiatric patients. Berlin HA, Rolls ET, Iversen SD (2005). Borderline personality disorder, impulsivity, and the orbitofrontal cortex. American Journal of Psychiatry, 162(12):2360-73. Berlin HA, Rolls ET, Kischka U (2004). Impulsivity, time perception, emotion, and reinforcement sensitivity in patients with orbitofrontal cortex lesions. Brain, 127: 1108-1126. |
Susan Blackmore, PhD Sue Blackmore is a freelance writer, lecturer and broadcaster, and a Visiting Lecturer at the University of the West of England, Bristol. She has a degree in psychology and physiology from Oxford University and a PhD in parapsychology from the University of Surrey. Her research interests include memes, evolutionary theory, consciousness, and meditation. Blackmore, S. (2005). Conversations on Consciousness, Oxford, Oxford University Press. Blackmore, S. (2003). Consciousness: An Introduction, London, Hodder & Stoughton. |
James Blacovich, PhD Dr. Blascovich’s two major research interests are social motivation and social influence within technologically mediated environments. Relevant to the former, he has developed a biopsychosocial model of challenge and threat. He has validated patterns of cardiovascular responses as markers of challenge and threat motivation using them along with subjective and behavioral measures in empirical investigations guided by his theoretical model. Dr. Blascovich has applied his model to various social phenomena including intraindividual processes such as attitudes and dispositions as well as interindividual processes such as stigma, stereotypes, social comparison, and social facilitation. He uses immersive virtual environment technology to empirically investigate social influence processes within virtual environments including conformity, non-verbal communication, collaborative decision-making and leadership. This work is guided by his formal model of social influence within immersive virtual environments. He has recently combined his areas of research, focusing on distinguishing conscious, unconscious, and metaconscious processes using immersive virtual environment technology and neurophysiological assessments. Blascovich, J., Mendes, W., & Tomaka, J. (2003). The robust nature of the biopsychosocial model challenge and threat: A reply to Wright and Kirby. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 7, 234-243 Blascovich, J., Loomis, J., Beall, A., Swinth, K., Hoyt, C., & Bailenson, J. (2002). Immersive virtual environment technology as a research tool for social psychology. Psychological Inquiry, 13, 103-125. |
Ned Block, PhD Ned Block is a philosopher of mind who has made important contributions to matters of consciousness and cognitive science. Dr. Block is famous for presenting an argument against the Turing Test as a test of intelligence in a paper entitled Psychologism and Behaviourism by using a thought experiment in which he suggests the creation of a computer which has come to be known as Blockhead. Block also tried to develop a counterexample to functionalism. There might exist a system which has the same functional states as a human but no consciousness. Block, N. (2005). Two neural correlates of consciousness. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, Vol 9, pp. 46-52. Block, N. (2002). "The Harder Problem of Consciousness”, The Journal of Philosophy, No. 8, 1-35. |
Hal Blumenfeld, MD, PhD Dr. Hal Blumenfeld’s guiding research interest is in exploring the relationship between brain activity and conscious thought. He has chosen epilepsy as a model system for investigating consciousness, because in epilepsy there is a spectrum in the levels of consciousness, which may be explained in terms of different states of brain activity. Ongoing studies in his laboratory include experiments to explore electrophysiologic and network mechanisms common to seizures and other states of impaired consciousness. In particular, he investigates the role of subcortical structures such as the thalamus and brainstem in the propagation and behavioral manifestations of seizures. Current projects include cellular neurophysiology experiments using brain slices, in vivo electrophysiology and fMRI recordings from animal models of epilepsy, as well as SPECT and fMRI imaging of cortical and subcortical seizure foci in humans. Blumenfeld H, McNally K, Vanderhill S, Paige A, Chung R, Davis K, Norden A, Stokking R, Studholme C, Novotny E, Zubal I, Spencer S. (2004). Positive and negative network correlations in temporal lobe epilepsy. Cerebral Cortex, 14, 892-902. Blumenfeld H, & Taylor, J. (2003). Why do seizures cause loss of consciousness? The Neuroscientist, 9, 301-10. |
Joseph Bogen, MD Bogen was part of a research team at Caltech with Sperry and Gordon which conducted the first split brain study. His early surgical interventions to control epilepsy laid the foundation for the development of modern ideas about the unique identities of the right and left brains. Bogen argued that consciousness is subjective, and that looking for consciousness is like looking for the wind, you can only see its effects. Bogen suggested that scientists look for a center (a nucleus) that has inward and outward connectivity as a site that produces subjectivity as consciousness. At the time of his death, Bogen had been researching the site in the brain where consciousness is located and was preparing a book about his findings. Bogen, J. (1997). Some neurophysiologic aspects of consciousness. Seminars in Neurology, 17, 95-103. Bogen, J. (1997). An example of access consciousness without phenomenal consciousness? Behavioral Brain Sciences, 20, 144. |
Alyssa Brewer, PhD A.A. Brewer, J. Liu, A.R. Wade, B.A. Wandell. Visual field maps and stimulus selectivity in human ventral occipital cortex. (2005). Nature Neuroscience. 8(8), 1102-9. I. Fine, A.R. Wade, A.A. Brewer, M.G. May, D.F. Goodman, G.M. Boynton, B.A. Wandell, D.I. MacLeod. Long-term deprivation affects visual perception and cortex. (2003). Nature Neuroscience. 6(9), 915-916. |
Bruce Bridgeman, PhD Bridgeman, B. (2003). Psychology and Evolution: The Origins of Mind. Thousand Oaks, Ca.: Sage Publications. Bridgeman, B. (2002). The grand illusion and petit illusions; Interactions of perception and sensory coding. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 9, 29-34 |
Andrew Brook, D Phil Brook, A. Kant, cognitive science, and contemporary neoKantianism. Journal of Consciousness Studies (2004). 11, no. 10-11. pp. 1-25. Brook, A and Stainton, R. Knowledge and mind. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press/A Bradford Book (2001). |
William Calvin, PhD Calvin, W. H. (1998). "Competing for consciousness: A Darwinian mechanism at an appropriate level of explanation." Journal of Consciousness Studies. 5(4):389-404. Calvin, William. A Brief History of the Mind: From Apes to Intellect and Beyond. Oxford University Press, 2004 |
David Chalmers, PhD Chalmers, D.J. (1996). The Conscious Mind: In Search of a Fundamental Theory. Oxford University Press. Chalmers, D.J.(1995). Facing Up to the Problem of Consciousness. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 2, 200-19. |
Patricia Churchland, Ph.D. Grush R. and Churchland, P. S.. "Gaps in Penrose's Toiling", Journal of Consciousness Studies, 1995. Churchland, P.S. "The Hornswoggle Problem", Journal of Consciousness Studies, 1997. |
Alex Cleeremans, PhD Dr. Cleeremans is focused on the relationships between learning and consciousness. While much that we learn is available for conscious inspection, many elementary learning mechanisms are implicit. The extent to which we can learn without awareness remains a highly controversial issue in different domains from subliminal priming to implicit learning and memory, and associative conditioning to skill acquisition. Cleeremans suggests that traditional dichotomies (between implicit and explicit learning; between conscious and unconscious information processing) should be replaced by a graded characterization of consciousness. From this perspective, while consciousness is often associated with learning, it is neither a prerequisite for, nor a necessary consequence of cognitive change. To explore these issues, Cleeremans's lab uses a combination of behavioural, computational modeling, and imaging methods. Cleeremans, A. (2005). Computational correlates of consciousness. Progress in Brain Research, 150, 81-98. Cleeremans, A. (Ed.) (2003). The Unity of Consciousness: Binding, Integration, and Dissociation. Oxford University Press. |
Allan Combs, PhD Allan Combs is a consciousness researcher, neuropsychologist, and systems theorist. He holds appointments at the Saybrook Graduate School, The California Institute of Integral Studies, and the Assisi Conferences. He is also Professor emeritus at the University of North Carolina-Asheville and past Director of the Integral Studies program leading to an MA in Conscious Evolution at the Graduate Institute of Connecticut. Allan is author of over fifty articles, chapters, and books on consciousness and the brain. Combs, A. & Goerner, S. (1998) Consciousness as a Self-Organizing Process: An Ecological Perspective: an attempt to integrate ideas about consciousness and the physical world. Biosystems,46, 123-127. Combs, A. (1997) Commentary on Baars' In the theatre of consciousness. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 4,314-316. |
Francis Crick, PhD After co-discovering of the structure of the DNA molecule, Crick taught himself neuroanatomy and studied many other areas of neuroscience research. It took him several years to disengage from molecular biology, but eventually, in the 1980s Crick was able to devote his full attention to his other interest, consciousness. Upon taking up work in theoretical neuroscience, Crick was struck by several problems in the field. There were many isolated subdisciplines within neuroscience and little contact between researchers, and consciousness was viewed as a taboo subject by many neurobiologists. He made it a goal to change this rift in science, and is known as one of the founding fathers in the study of consciousness. Crick F., & Koch, C. (1998). Consciousness and Neuroscience. Cerebral Cortex, 8, 97-107. Crick F., & Koch, C. (1995). Why neuroscience may be able to explain consciousness. Scientific American, 273, 84-85. |
Antonio Damasio, MD, PhD Antonio Damasio is an internationally recognized leader in neuroscience. His research has helped to elucidate the neural basis for the emotions and has shown that emotions play a central role in social cognition and decision-making. His work has also had a major influence on current understanding of the neural systems, which underlie memory, language and consciousness. Damasio is a Professor of Neuroscience, and directs the newly created Brain and Creativity Institute. Parvizi J, Van Hoesen G, Buckwalter J, Damasio A. (2006). Neural connections of the posteromedial cortex in the macaque: Implications for the understanding of the neural basis of consciousness. Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences, 103, 1563-1568. Damasio, A. (1998). Investigating the biology of consciousness. Transactions of the Royal Society, 353,1879-1882. |
Richard Davidson, PhD Dalton KM, Nacewicz BM, Johnstone T, Schaefer HS, Gernsbacher MA, Goldsmith HH, Alexander AL, Davidson RJ. (2005). "Gaze fixation and the neural circuitry of face processing in autism." Nature Neuroscience. 8, 519-526 Lutz A, Greischar LL, Rawlings NB, Ricard M, Davidson RJ. (2004). "Long-term meditators self-induce high-amplitude gamma synchrony during mental practice." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 101:16369-73 |
Stanislas Dehaene, Ph.D. Stanislas Dehaene performed the first brain-imaging studies of subliminal processing of masked words and digits (Nature, 1998; Nature Neuroscience, 2001). He has imaged minimal contrasts between words that gain access to consciousness and words that remain subliminal (Nature Neuroscience, 2005), thus opening a new window into the nature of consciousness and its possible pathologies, e.g. in schizophrenia (PNAS, 2003). Stanislas Dehaene collaborates with molecular neurobiologist Jean-Pierre Changeux on the development of theoretical models of conscious effortful processing. Those models account for neuropsychological tests associated with the prefrontal cortex and their impairments reproduce the deficits exhibited by frontal patients. Their architecture was synthesized into the proposal of a "neuronal workspace hypothesis" for conscious access (PNAS, 1998, 2003; PLOS, 2005). Dehaene, S., & Changeux, J. (1997). A hierarchical neuronal network for planning behaviour. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, 94, 13293-13298.Dehaene, S., Kerszberg, M., & Changeux, J. (1998). A neuronal model of a global workspace in effortful cognitive tasks. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, 95, 14529-14534. |
Stephen Deiss, MS Mr Deiss concentrates his area of investigation on the conceptual metaphors that underlie and continue to confound consciousness research in the cognitive neurosciences. In particular, he studies the notions of neural mechanisms, neural computation, causality, and the scientific laws that are coupled with a lack of clarity about what defines conscious experience. Deiss, S., "What It All Means: on the feeling of understanding," poster for the final meeting of the McDonnell Project in Philosophy (Neurophilosophy), Cal Tech, Pasadena, CA, 2005.Deiss, S., "Where is awareness of meaning and understanding in the brain?" poster for the Society for Neuroscience Meeting, (Session 771.1, Language IV), Washington, DC, 2005. |
Arnaurd Delorme, PhD Dr. Arnaud Delmore is currently a Project scientist in Scott Makeig's laboratory at the Institute of Neural Computation at the University of California San Diego. He is presently interested in studying transfer of information between brain areas during visual processing using Independent Component Analysis applied to EEG recordings. He is also the main author of the EEGLAB software for EEG analysis. Delorme, A., Rousselet, G., Mace, M., & Fabre-Thorpe M. (2004) Interaction of Bottom-up and Top-down processing in the fast visual analysis of natural scenes. Cognitive Brain Research, 19, 103-113. Delorme, A., Thorpe, S. (2001) Face processing using one spike per neuron: resistance to image degradation. Neural Networks, 14, 795-804 |
Daniel Dennett, PhD Dennett, D. (2001). Are we explaining consciousness yet? Cognition, 79, 221-237. Dennett, D. (1997). Kinds of Minds: Towards an Understanding of Consciousness, Basic Books. |
Derek Denton, MD Denton, D. The Primordial Emotions: The Dawning of Consciousness. Oxford University Press (2006). Denton, D., et al. "Water Intake and the Neural Correlates of the Consciousness of Thirst." Seminars in Nephrology. 2006 May; 26(3):249-57. |
Arne Dietrich, PhD Dietrich, A. (2003). "Functional neuroanatomy of altered states of consciousness: The transient hypofrontality hypothesis." Consciousness and Cognition, 12, 231-256. Dietrich, A., & Sparling, P.B. (2004). Endurance exercise selectively impairs prefrontal dependent cognition. Brain and Cognition, 55, 516-524 |
Fred Dretske, PhD Dr. Fred Dretske is one of the most influential epistemologists and philosophers of mind of his time. He was awarded the Jean Nicod Prize in 1994. Dretske taught for a number of years at the University of Wisconsin before moving to Stanford University. After retiring from Stanford he moved to Duke University where he is now a research professor of philosophy. Dretske, F. (2006). Perception without Awareness, in Perceptual Experience, edited by Tamar Gendler and John Hawthorne, Oxford University Press. Dretske, F. (2004). Change Blindness. Philosophical Studies, 120, 1-18. |
David Eagleman, PhD The long range goal of Dr. Eagleman’s lab is to understand the neural mechanisms of time perception. He combines psychophysical, behavioral, and computational approaches to address the relationship between the timing of perception and the timing of neural signals. His lab is currently engaged in experiments that explore time warping, manipulations of the perception of causality, and time perception in high-adrenaline situations. He uses this data to explore how neural signals processed by different brain regions come together for a temporally unified picture of the world. Eagleman, D.M. (2005). News & Views: Distortions of time during rapid eye movements. Nature Neuroscience, 8, 850-851. Eagleman, D.M. & Sejnowski, T.J. (2000). Motion integration and postdiction in visual awareness. Science, 287, 2036-8. |
John Eccles, PhD Eccles, J. & Beck, F. (1998). Quantum processes in the brain: A scientific basis for consciousness. Cognitive Studies, 5, 95-109. Eccles, J. (1982). How the self acts on the brain. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 7, 271-283. |
Gerald Edelman, MD, PhD Gerald Maurice Edelman,MD, PhD, biologist won the Nobel Prize in Physiology/Medicine in 1972 for his work on the immune system. He is currently the Executive Director of the Neuroscience Institute in La Jolla California. Dr. Edelman expounds a biological theory of consciousness, which he explicitly locates within Darwin's Theory of Natural Selection and Darwinian theories of population dynamics. He rejects dualism and also dismisses newer hypotheses such as the so-called 'computational' model of consciousness, which liken the brain's functions to the operations of a computer. Edelman argues that the mind and consciousness are wholly material and purely biological phenomena, occurring as highly complex cellular processes within the brain, and that the development of consciousness and intelligence can be satisfactorily explained by Darwinian theory. Ramesh Srinivasan, D. Patrick Russell, Gerald M. Edelman, and Guilio Tononi. Increased Synchronization of Neuromagnetic Responses during Conscious Perception. The Journal of Neuroscience, 19(13):5435-5448, 1999 Edelman, G.M. (1993) Neural Darwinism: Selection and reentrant signaling in higher brain function. Neuron 10:115-125. |
Owen Flanagan, Ph.D. Flanagan, O. (2003) "The Neurobiology of Sexual Self-Consciousness: Mind and the Interplay of Brain and Body", in Narrative and Consciousness: Literature, Psychology, and the Brain., edited by Eds. Gary Fireman, Oxford University Press. Flanagan, O. (2002) Dreaming souls: Sleep, dreams, and the evolution of the conscious mind: Book review. Psychoanalytic Psychology, Vol 19(2), pp. 416-424. |
Stan Franklin, PhD Dr. Franklin is interested in Cognitive Modeling using the IDA Model. Like the Roman god Janus, the IDA project has two faces, its science face and its engineering face. Its science side fleshes out Baars' global workspace theory of consciousness and cognition, while its engineering side explores architectural designs for software agents that promise more flexible, more human-like intelligence within their domains Sun, R., and S. Franklin. (2006). Computational Models of Consciousness: A Taxonomy and some Examples. In Cambridge Handbook of Consciousness, ed. P. D. Zelazo, and M. Moscovitch. New York: Cambridge University Press. Franklin, S. (2003). IDA: A Conscious Artifact? Journal of Consciousness Studies, 10, 47-66. |
Walter Freeman, PhD Dr. Freeman's research is on analyses electroencephalographic (EEG) and unit activity patterns in cortex that occur during goal-directed behavior. Behaviorally relevant information is expressed in spatial patterns of amplitude modulation of gamma waves that are triggered in the cortex. The patterns recur like cinematographic frames at rates in the theta range.. Behavioral testing has shown that amplitude patterns of gamma activity are invariant with respect to learned odor stimuli, but change with context and reinforcement under conditioning. The same algorithms hold for olfactory, visual, auditory and somatic cortexes. He concludes that the patterns manifest not the features of stimuli, but the meaning of the stimuli for the animals as an expression of their knowledge base. He models the dynamics of the cortex by networks of nonlinear differential equations. The solutions to these equations show landscapes of equilibrium, limit cycle and chaotic attractors. The models conceptualize the most essential functions of sensory cortex: abstraction, generalization, and classification. Freeman, W.J. (2000) Mesoscopic neurodynamics. From neuron to brain. Journal of Physiology 94, 303-322. Freeman, W. J. (2001) How Brains Make Up Their Minds. New York: Columbia University Press |
Chris Frith, PhD Dr. Christopher Frith runs a research group which is establishing a new scientific discipline (neural hermeneutics), concerned with the neural basis of social interaction. In particular he is trying to delineate the mechanisms underlying the human ability to share representations of the world. It is this ability that makes communication possible. Results will be relevant for our understanding of psychiatric disorders like schizophrenia. One characteristic of the mistaken perceptions (hallucinations) and beliefs (delusions) associated with this disorder is their resistance to change in spite of their incompatibility with the perceptions of others. This indicates a failure in the mechanism by which we align our representations of the world with those of others. Frith C. (2005) The self in action: Lessons from delusions of control. Consciousness & Cognition. 2005, 14, 752-770. Frith, C.D., Perry, R. & Lumer, E. (1999). The neural correlates of conscious experience: an experimental framework. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 3, 105-114. |
Uta Frith, PhD Dr. Uta Frith is a senior scientist in the Cognitive Development Unit of the Medical Research Council in London. Her current research interests include: Autism and Asperger Syndrome, Developmental Dyslexia, Social Cognition, and the impact of neuroscience on teaching and learning Hamilton, A., Wolpert, D., Frith, U., & Grafton,S. (2006). Where does your own action influence your perception of another person's action in the brain? Neuroimage, 29, 524-535. Frith,C.D., Frith,U. (2006). How we predict what other people are going to do. Brain Research 1079(1), 36-46 |
Fred Gage, PhD Fred H. Gage, a professor in the Laboratory of Genetics at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, concentrates on the adult central nervous system and unexpected plasticity and adaptability to environmental stimulation that remains throughout the life of all mammals. His work may lead to methods of replacing or enhancing brain and spinal cord tissues lost or damaged due to Neurodegenerative disease or trauma. Gage’s lab has shown that, contrary to accepted dogma, human beings are capable of growing new nerve cells throughout life. Kempermann, G., Wiskott, L., Gage, F. (2004). Functional significance of adult neurogenesis. Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 14,186-191. Horner, P., Gage, F. (2000). Regenerating the damaged central nervous system. Nature, 407, 963 - 970. |
David Galin, MD Dr. Galin’s professional background encompasses medicine, neuroscience, and cognitive psychology with a focus on lateral specialization of the cerebral hemispheres and psychiatric implications. In the past he managed an electrophysiology lab. After years of studying disconnections, dissociations, and fragmentations he realized what really mattered was what makes people whole. A person is more than a bunch of parts; the parts are integrated, to constitute an entity. Science has no technical term to denote "wholeness," but Galin conceptualizes this as what is commonly referred to as the "self." Unfortunately, the word "self" as used in psychology is only vaguely defined. Galin conceives of the self as an emergent phenomenon which cannot be grasped or entirely represented only at one level; not just mind or brain or chemistry or culture. By examining what we know already at these levels, he believes we can develop a better idea of the landmarks and boundaries which any full account of self will have to consider. Galin, D. (2000). Comments on Epstein's Neurocognitive Interpretation of William James's Model of Consciousness. Consciousness and Cognition, 9, 576-583. Galin, D. (1992). Theoretical reflection on awareness, monitoring, and self in relation to anosognosia. Consciousness and Cognition. 1, 152-162. |
Vittorio Gallese, MD Gallese, V. (2006). Intentional attunement: A neurophysiological perspective on social cognition and its disruption in autism. Cognitive Brain Research, 1079: 15-24. Gallese V., Umiltà M.A. (2006). Cognitive continuity in primate social cognition. Biological Theory, 1: 25-30. |
Michael Gazzangia, PhD Dr. Gazzaniga conducts research on how the brain enables mind. Special patient populations are used in a variety of methodologies including visual psychophysics, brain imaging and anatomy. Colvin, M.K. & Gazzaniga, M.S. (2007). Insights from split-brain patients into the organization of human consciousness. To appear in M. Velmans (Ed.) The Blackwell Companion to Consciousness. Baird, A.A., Colvin, M.K., VanHorn, J., Inati, S., & Gazzaniga, M.S. (2005) Functional Connectivity: Integrating Behavioral, DTI and fMRI data sets. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 17(4): 1-8. |
Rocco Gennaro, PhD Gennaro, R (Feb 2005). "The HOT Theory of Consciousness: Between a Rock and a Hard Place?," Journal of Consciousness Studies, 12 (2), pp. 3-21. Gennaro, R (2004). Higher-Order Theories of Consciousness. |
Jay Giedd, MD Gogtay N, Giedd J, Rapoport JL. Brain development in healthy, hyperactive, and psychotic children. Archives of Neurology. 2002 Aug;59(8):1244-8. Review. Lenroot RK, Giedd JN. Brain development in children and adolescents: insights from anatomical magnetic resonance imaging. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews. 2006;30(6):718-29. |
Melvin Goodale, PhD Goodale, M.. & Milner, D. (2004). Sight Unseen: An Exploration of Conscious and Unconscious Vision. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Ganel, T., & Goodale, M. (2003). Visual control of action but not perception requires analytical processing of object shape. Nature, 426, 664-667. |
Jeffrey Gray, PhD Dr. Jeffrey Gray was one of the leading, and most highly cited, experimental psychologists in the UK. He had an extraordinarily wide range of professional interests, from the study of simple learning in the leech, to theories of human consciousness, and stem-cell transplantation for the treatment of brain damage. After completing his PhD, Gray was appointed to a university lectureship in experimental psychology at Oxford. He remained at Oxford until he replaced Eysenck at the Institute of Psychiatry in 1983. He retired from the chair of psychology in 1999, but continued his experimental research as an emeritus professor, and spent a very happy and productive year at the Centre for Advanced Studies at Stanford University, California. Gray, J. (2004). Consciousness: Creeping up on the Hard Problem. Oxford University Press. Gray, J. (2000). The Neuropsychology of Anxiety: An Enquiry into the Functions of the Septo-Hippocampal System (2nd edition) Oxford University of Press. |
Susan Greenfield, PhD As a consequence of working in both biochemical and electrophysiological environments, Greenfield has developed a multidisciplinary approach to exploring novel neuronal mechanisms in the brain that are common to regions affected in both Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. The basic theme of her research is to develop strategies to arrest neuronal death in these disorders. She is also co-founder of a university spin-out company specializing in novel approaches to neurodegeneration - Synaptica Ltd . In addition, Professor Greenfield has an interest in the neuroscientific basis of consciousness. Greenfield, S. & Laureys, S. (2005). A Neuroscientific Approach to Consciousness. Progress in Brain Research, 150, 11-23. Greenfield. S. (1995). Journey to the Centres of the Mind, WH Freeman. |
Anthony Greenwald, PhD Dr. Greenwald’s research interests include: unconscious cognition, implicit social cognition, sense of self, prejudices and stereotypes, research methodology, and attitude change. Greenwald, A. G., Draine, S. C., & Abrams, R. L. (1996). Three cognitive markers of unconscious semantic activation. Science, 273, 1699-1702. Greenwald, A. G. (1992). New Look 3: Reclaiming unconscious cognition. American Psychologist, 47, 766-779. |
Stuart Hameroff, MD http://www.consciousness.arizona.edu/ Stuart Hameroff, MD, is the current Director of the Center for Consciousness Studies. His research has suggested that consciousness computational operations may take place in microtubules.. Microtubules organize dynamic activities in animal cells, and are known to process information. Hameroff concluded that classical computation per se is insufficient for consciousness, leading him to adopt a role for a type of quantum computation as suggested by mathematical physicist Sir Roger Penrose. Together, Penrose and Hameroff developed a specific model of quantum computation in neuronal microtubules punctuated by objective reduction (OR) transitions from unconscious quantum information to classical states which influence neuronal functions. Moments of consciousness are proposed to occur in concert with gamma synchrony (i.e. 40 Hz) and be orchestrated by synaptic feedback, hence Orchestrated Objective Reduction. Harshly criticized by functionalists and others, Orch OR remains the most specific (and controversial) theory of consciousness. Hameroff, S. (in press). The entwined mysteries of anesthesia and consciousness: Is there a common underlying mechanism? Anesthesiology. Hameroff, S & Penrose, R (1996). Conscious events as orchestrated space-time selections. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 3, 36-53. |
John Haynes, PhD For the past eight years, Dr. Haynes has been exploring the neural correlates of visual consciousness. His previous research experience has included EEG, MEG and fMRI experiments on contrast perception, brightness perception, visual masking, visual awareness, multivariate pattern recognition, and attention using combinations of fMRI, retinotopic mapping, connectivity analyses. One of his current projects investigates ways to decode and predict a person’s thoughts based on fMRI data. Such research has many potential applications, as for example in detection of deception, in the control of computers and artificial prostheses by brain activity, or even in market research. His other current project investigates the relationship between consciousness, attention and dynamic changes in brain connectivity. His findings suggest that changes in spatial attention lead to highly specific changes in connectivity within early visual areas, and that awareness is reflected in large-scale changes in brain connectivity. Haynes, J.D., & Rees, G. (2006). Decoding mental states from brain activity in humans. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 7, 523-534. Haynes, J.D., & Rees G. (2005). Predicting the orientation of invisible stimuli from activity in human primary visual cortex. Nature Neuroscience, 8, 686-691. |
Donald Hebb, PhD Hebb, DO & Favreau, O. "The Mechanism of Perception." Radiologic Clinics of North America. 1969 Dec;7(3):393-401 Hebb, DO. "Psychological Learning Theory." Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology. 1976;4(4):309-14. |
Joy Hirsh, PhD Dr. Joy Hirsch currently has several related directions of investigation in her lab. The first is conscious and subconscious neural processes that mediate emotion and cognition in healthy individuals and in patients with psychiatric disorders. She is also studying the neurocircuitry of other complex cognitive processes: decisions; inductive and deductive reasoning; language; truthfulness; and “top-down” influences of expectation, reward, and regulation on early visual and mid-level perceptual and emotional systems. Her lab also operates a pioneering clinical service for mapping individuals for neurosurgical planning and providing assessments of the neurocircuitry that underlie acquired or inherited disabilities. Current projects include integration of EEG and fMRI techniques to localize areas of the cortex involved in seizures, integration of TMS and fMRI to discriminate essential and associative language-sensitive cortical areas, and integration of VEP, EEG and fMRI to inform assessments of visual disease secondary to stroke/ neural degeneration. Projects intended to refine and enhance diagnosis of psychiatric disorders (anxiety, depression, eating disorders, etc.) include the development of specialized paradigms to target both dysfunctional neurocircuitry emotional systems (amygdala and basal ganglia) and control and regulatory systems (cingulate and pre-frontal cortex). Schiff, N.D., Rodriguez-Moreno. D., Kamal, A., Kim, K., Giacino, J., Plum, F., Hirsch, J. (2005). fMRI Reveals Large Scale Network Activation in Minimally Conscious Patients, Neurology, 64, 514-523. Etkin, A., Klemenhagen, K., Dudman, J., Rogan, M., Hen, R., Kandel, E., Hirsch, J. (2004). Individual Differences in Trait Anxiety Predict the Response of the Basolateral Amygdala to Unconsciously Processed Threat, Neuron, 44, 1043-1055. |
Allan Hobson, MD J. Allan Hobson, M.D., is the founding director of the Laboratory of Neurophysiology in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. He has devoted his career to the study of sleep and has made original contributions at the levels of basic neurobiology, human sleep measurement and dream psychology. He is best known for his work (with Robert McCarley) leading to the reciprocal-interaction model of sleep-cycle control and the activation-synthesis hypothesis of dreaming. Hobson, J.A. (2002). The Dream Drugstore: Chemically Altered States of Consciousness. The MIT Press. Hobson, J.A. (1996). The Chemistry of Conscious States: How the Brain Changes Its Mind, Little Brown & Co. |
Douglas Hofstadter, Ph.D. The intellectual activity carried out by the Fluid Analogies Research Group at IU's Center for Research on Concepts and Cognition has always consisted of two distinct strands. The first involves the attempt to build faithful computer models of some of the most central mechanisms and features of human thinking -- high-level perception, analogical thought, discovery and creativity, and the foundation that effectively underlies all these phenomena -- what we term "fluidity" of human concepts. The second strand of CRCC, by contrast, has little to do with building computer models, but simply involves FARG members engaging in creative intellectual endeavors, either scientific or artistic, such as poetry translation, discovery in mathematics, the study of human error making, the study of humor, the study of sexist language and imagery, the creation of various types of art, and so on. The cognitive modeling at CRCC is based on the thesis that mental activity consists of many tiny independent events and that the seeming unity of a human mind is merely a consequence of the regularity of the statistics of such large collections of events. The models all involve the nondeterministic interaction of many tiny events that take place in simulated parallel. Our most advanced computer models so far have been the Copycat and Metacat programs and the Letter Spirit program which designs the lowercase letters of the roman alphabet in artistically coherent new ways, either starting from seed letters provided by a human, or starting from scratch. There is a natural next stage to our cognitive-modeling activities, which involves the attempt to imbue our most advanced current models -- Metacat and Letter Spirit -- with an increased degree of meta-level awareness; this work will lead to computer models of analogy-making and higher-level perception that are at least somewhat aware of themselves, aware of the humans with whom they are interacting, aware of how humans see them, and so forth. Hofstadter, D. R., The Mind's I: Fantasies and Reflections on Self and Soul, together with Daniel C. Dennett, (Eds.) NY: Basic Books, 1981. |
Jakob Hohwy, PhD Dr. Jakob Howhy's research interests include: philosophy of mind and language, philosophy of science, philosophy of neuroscience and neuropsychiatry. Hohwy, J., & Frith, C. (2004). Can neuroscience explain consciousness? Journal of Consciousness Studies, 11, 180-198. Hohwy, J., & Frith, C. (2004). Studies of the neural correlates of consciousness can do better, but are on the right track. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 11, 45–51. |
Susan Hurley, PhD Dr. Hurley’s research was primarily involved in the philosophy of psychology and neuroscience. Her work falls under three main headings, and also develops the relationships among these three topics: consciousness, social cognition (imitation, mind-reading), and action (rationality, control, and responsibility). Hurley, S. (2006). Active Perception and Perceiving Action, in T. Gendler and J. Hawthorne, eds, Perceptual Experience, OUP, 205-259. Hurley, S. & Noe, A. (2003). Neural Plasticity and Consciousness, Philosophy and Biology 2003, 18:131-168. To be reprinted in A. Pautz and M. Tye, eds, Perception, MIT Press. |
William James, MD William James was a defender of consciousness as an efficacious force in the biological evolution of the species. As a young medical student in the 1860s, he sided with the Darwinians and began his literary career by writing favorably about the effects of natural selection on mental life. Consciousness, he observed, obeys the laws of variation and selection. Intuitive types, prone to emotional intensity, who produce art and literature, geniuses whose mind is in constant ferment so they can see analogies that others miss, original thinkers whose associations are unfettered, all represent consciousness as a field of awareness that contains the largest number of ideas to choose from. Rationality and the empirical dictates of the sensory world then select out what is adaptive and what is not. In this manner experience as a whole counts as a potent force in the preservation of the race. Later as a young professor of psychology at Harvard, James then anchored the study of consciousness to experimental physiology. James, W. (1904) Does 'Consciousness' Exist? Journal of Philosophy, Psychology, and Scientific Methods, 1, 477-491. James, W. (1892) The Stream of Consciousness. Psychology, Chapter XI. (Cleveland & New York, World). |
Erwin John, PhD Dr. John’s main research interest is the Quantitative Analysis of Human Brain Electrical Activity. In his lab, he uses analysis of spontaneous (EEG) and event-related potentials (ERPs), to develop brain images of working memory (WM) and biological classification of psychiatric patients. He measures WM via the presentation of information items, e.g., faces, letters, and numbers, in a priming set followed by a matching set of items that must be compared with the previous sample. Preliminary results indicate that patients with different neurometric profiles respond to different pharmacotherapeutic treatments. Large-scale international collaborative studies are being organized to collect a patient cohort of sufficient size for prospective confirmation of using predrug neurometric evaluations to predict selective treatment outcomes. John ER; Prichep LS. (2005). The anesthetic cascade: a theory of how anesthesia suppresses consciousness. Anesthesiology, 102, 447. John, ER. (2003). A Theory of Consciousness. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 12, 24. |
Jacob Jolij, PhD Jacob Jolij studies the role of conscious and unconscious visual representations in visually guided behaviour, using methods such as TMS, EEG and fMRI. He supports the idea that conscious perception is not just an epiphenomenon, but actually a mode of processing that is required for higher cognitive processes, such as inhibitory control and episodic memory. Lately, he has become more interested in practical applications of consciousness research, as reflected in his recent appointment as assistant professor in Applied Cognitive Psychology and Neuroscience in Groningen. His other interests include computational models of vision, emotion processing, cognitive control, the neural basis of intelligence, and quantum mechanical models of brain processing. Heinen, K., Jolij, J., & Lamme, V.A.F. (2005). Two temporally distinct periods of activity in V1 are required for figure-ground segregation: a TMS study. Neuroreport, 16, 1483-1487.Jolij, J., & Lamme, V.A.F. (2005). Repression of unconscious information by conscious processing: evidence from affective blindsight induced by transcranial magnetic stimulation. P. Natl. Acad. Sci., 102, 10747-10751. Scholte, H.S., Jolij, J., & Lamme, V.A.F. (in press). The cortical processing dynamics of edge detection and scene segmentation. In: Breitmeyer, B., & Ogmen, H. (eds.)The First Half Second:The Microgenesis and Temporal Dynamics of Unconscious and Conscious Visual Processes. MIT Press, Cambridge (MA). |
J. Scott Jordan, PhD In light of the recent contention to model the mind as a living system that has to function in the real world, within the confines of real time, researchers, such as Dr. Jordan, are devising experiments that are meant to examine how perception, cognition, and action shape one another in real time as one attempts to complete a task. Dr. Jordan's research efforts are thus focused on conducting experiments that investigate the dynamics of perception, action, and cognition. Jordan, J. S. (2004). The role of ‘pre-specification' in an embodied cognition. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 27(3): 409-409.Jordan, J. S. (2003). Emergence of self and other in perception and action. Consciousness and Cognition, 12, 633-646. |
David Kahn, Ph.D. Kahn, D., Hobson, J.A. (2005). State-dependent thinking: A comparison of waking and dreaming thought. Consciousness and Cognition Kahn, D. and Hobson, JA (2003). Dreaming and hypnosis as altered states of the brain-mind. Sleep and Hypnosis vol. 5, pp. 58-71. |
Marcus Kaiser, PhD Kaiser M, Görner M, Hilgetag CC (2007). Criticality of spreading dynamics in hierarchical cluster networks without inhibition. New Journal of Physics 9:110 Sporns O, Chialvo DR, Kaiser M, Hilgetag CC (2004) Organization, Development and Function of Complex Brain Networks. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 8:418-425 |
Alfred Kaszniak, PhD Schnyer, D.M., Verfaellie, M., Alexander, M.P., LaFleche, G., Nicholls, L., & Kaszniak, A.W. (2004). A role for right medial prefrontal cortex in accurate feeling of knowing judgments: Evidence from patients with lesions to frontal cortex. Neuropsychologia, 42, 957-966. Kaszniak, A.W. (2001). Emotion and consciousness: Current research and controversies. In A.W. Kaszniak (Ed.), Emotion, qualia, and consciousness. (pp. 3-21). London: World Scientific. |
John Kihlstrom, PhD Kihlstrom, J.F., Barnhardt, T.M., & Tataryn, D.J. (1992). The psychological unconscious: Found, lost, and regained. American Psychologist, 47, 788-791. Kihlstrom, J.F. (1993). The continuum of consciousness. Consciousness & Cognition, 2, 334-354. |
Marcel Kinsbourne, MD Dr. Kinsbourne is most interested in brain-behavior relations, consciousness, imitation, psychology of attention, attention deficit disorder, autism. His current research focuses more on consciousness and neural networks. Kinsbourne, M. (1982). Hemispheric specialization and the growth of human understanding. American Psychologist, 37, p 411-420. Kinsbourne, M. (1995). Septohippocampal comparator: Consciousness generator or attention feedback loop? Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 18, p 687-688. |
Christof Koch, PhD Koch’s research focus is finding out how consciousness arises out of the brain. His long-term goal is to discover and characterize the neuronal correlates of consciousness. He collaborated for 16 years in this exciting endeavor with the late Dr. Francis Crick at the Salk Institute. His lab is also looking into understanding how individual nerve cells can process information and understand the mechanisms underlying computation at the level of synapses, channels and membranes. Crick, F., and Koch, C. (2003). A framework for consciousness. Nature, 6, 119-126. Crick, F., and Koch, C. (1990). Towards a neurobiological theory of consciousness. Seminar in the Neuroscience, 2, 263-275. |
Stephen Kosslyn, PhD Work in Dr. Kosslyn's laboratory focuses on the neural substrate underlying visual mental imagery and the relation between imagery and perception. Recently he has begun to consider the uses of imagery in cognition more generally, and have examined individual and group differences in imagery ability. They typically use convergent evidence, ranging from behavioral results to neuroimaging data to computational models. Kosslyn, S.M., Thompson, W. L., and Ganis, G. (2006). The case for mental imagery. New York: Oxford University Press. Kosslyn, S. M. (2001). Visual consciousness. In P. Grossenbacher (Ed.) Finding consciousness in the brain. Amsterdam: John Benjamines. pp 79-103 |
Sid Kouider, Ph.D. Kouider, S., & Dupoux, E. (2001). A Functional Disconnection between Spoken and Visual Word Recognition: Evidence from Unconscious Priming. Cognition, 82, B35-B49. Dupoux, E., Kouider, S. and Melher, J. (2003). Lexical access without attention? Exploration using dichotic priming. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 29 (1) 172-83. |
Gabriel Kreiman, PhD Crick F, Koch C, Kreiman G, Fried I. (2004). Consciousness and neurosurgery. Neurosurgery, 55, 273-282. Kreiman G., Koch C. and Fried I. (2000). Imagery neurons in the human brain. Nature, 408, 357-361 |
Victor Lamme, PhD Lamme VA (2006). Towards a true neural stance on consciousness. Trends in Cognitive Science, 10: 494-501 Jolij J, Lamme VA (2005) Repression of unconscious information by conscious processing: evidence from affective blindsight induced by transcranial magnetic stimulation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, 102: 10747-51. |
Steven Laureys, MD, PhD Faymonville, M., Boly, M., & Laureys, S. (2006). Functional neuroanatomy of the hypnotic state. Journal of Physiology, Paris, 99, 463-469. Perrin, F., Schnakers, C., Schabus, M., Degueldre, C., Goldman, S., Bredart, S., Faymonville, M., Lamy, M., Moonen, G., Luxen, A., Maquet, P., & Laureys S. (2006). Brain response to one's own name in vegetative state, minimally conscious state, and locked-in syndrome. Archives of Neurology, 63, 562-569. |
Joseph LeDoux, PhD What is an emotion? How do we form memories of emotions? Why are emotions so hard to control? Why do emotional functions become dysfunctional? What aspects of emotions are conscious and unconscious? How is all of this accomplished by the brain at the level of neural systems, cells, synapses, molecules and genes? These are the kinds of questions pursued by Joseph LeDoux and his colleagues. Repa, J., Muller, J., Apergis, J., Desrochers, T., Zhou, Y., LeDoux, J. (2001). Two different lateral amygdala cell populations contribute to the initiation and storage of memory. Nature Neuroscience, 4, 724-731. LeDoux, J. (1994). In Search of an Emotional System in the Brain: Leaping from Fear to Emotion and Consciousness. In: The Cognitive Neurosciences (Gazzaniga, ed). Cambridge: MIT Press. |
Benjamin Libet Libet, B. Can Conscious Experience Affect Brain Activity? Journal of Consciousness Studies, Vol 10(12), Dec 2003. pp. 24-28. Libet, B. Unconscious cerebral initiative and the role of conscious will in voluntary action. Behavioral & Brain Sciences, Vol 8(4), Dec 1985. |
Rodolfo Llinas, MD, PhD Llinas, R. (2002). I of the vortex: From neurons to Self. MIT Press. Llinas, R., Ribary, U., Contreras, D. & Pedroarena, C. (1998). The neuronal basis for consciousness. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. 353, 1841-1849. |
Nikos Logothetis, PhD Dr. Logothetis concentrates on the neural mechanisms of perception and object recognition. He believes that such scientific questions require a multimodal methodological approach which integrates information obtained from single units that derived from mass action potentials as well as from a number of activity-related, surrogate signals such as those monitored during noninvasive neuroimaging experiments. Parallel to ongoing neuroscientific research, he is also working to develop methodologies that will permit the study of neural networks in the context of behavioral paradigms. Smart contrast agents, promise to revolutionize invasive neuroimaging and would represent a quantum leap forward in signal-to-noise ratio, spatial detail and specificity, while affording unprecedented temporal resolution. Logothetis, N. (1999).Vision: A Window on Consciousness. Scientific American, pp. 69-75. Logothetis, N.K. & Schall, J.D. (1989). Neuronal Correlates of Subjective Visual Perception. Science, 245, 761-763. |
William Lycan, PhD Dr. Lycan's research interests include philosophy of mind; philosophy of language and philosophy of linguistics; epistemology; metaphysics. Lycan, W. (in press). The Plurality of Consciousness, forthcoming in J.M. Larrazabal and L.A. Perez Miranda (eds.), Language, Knowledge, and Representation (Kluwer Academic Publishing).Lycan, W. (2006). Enactive Intentionality, Psyche, 12, 1-12. |
Stephen Macknik, PhD The aim of Dr. Macknik's research is to define the neural correlates of visibility - what is required for an object to become visible? Dr. Macknik's work has shown that light falling on the retina is not the sole determinate of visibility. For instance, illusions of invisibility have resulted in the discovery that a stimulus can be projected onto the retinas and nevertheless remain partly or wholly invisible. His research has enabled him to conclude that visibility is linked to the spatiotemporal edges of stimuli, and that the neural correlate of spatiotemporal edges is transient bursty activity. Martinez-Conde, S & Macknik, S.L., et.al. (2006) "Microsaccades Counteract Visual Fading." Neuron, 49, pp. 297-305.Peter U. Tse, Susana Martinez-Conde, Alexander A. Schlegel, Stephen L. Macknik. (2005) "Visibility and visual masking of simple targets are confined to areas in the occipital cortex beyond human V1/V2." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA), 102(47), pp.17178-17183. |
Alexander Maier, PhD Maier A., Logothetis, N.K. & Leopold, D.A. (2007) Context-dependent perceptual modulation of single neurons in primate visual cortex. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 104(13):5620-5625 Leopold, D.A., Wilke, M., Maier, A. & Logothetis, N.K. (2002) Stable perception of visually ambiguous patterns. Nature Neuroscience. 5(6): 605-609 |
Anthony Marcel, PhD Marcel, A., Dobel, C. (2005) Structured perceptual input imposes an egocentric frame of reference--pointing, imagery, and spatial self-consciousness. Perception, 34(4). Marcel, Anthony J. (2003). Introspective Report: Trust, Self-Knowledge and Science. Journal of Consciousness Studies, Vol 10(9-10), Sep-Oct 2003. Special issue: Trusting the Subject (Part 1) pp. 167-186. |
Susana Martinez-Conde, PhD Dr. Martinez-Conde's lab focuses on understanding the neural bases of our visual experience. How can the electrical activity of a neuron (or a neuronal population) convey the color or brightness of an object? What type of language (neural code) do neurons use to communicate visual information to each other through electrical impulses? In order to address these questions, her laboratory focuses on two main topics: the study of the neural code for visual perception and determining the neural bases of shape and brightness perception. Dr. Martinez-Conde exploits a wide range of techniques that includes functional MRI, electrophysiological recordings from single neurons, psychophysical measurements, and computational models of visual function. Simons D, Lleras A, Martinez-Conde S, Slichter D, Caddigan E, Nevarez G (2006). Induced visual fading of complex images. Journal of Vision, Vol. 6, pp. 1093-1101.Martinez-Conde S, Macknik SL, Troncoso XG, Dyar TA (2006). Microsaccades counteract visual fading during fixation. Neuron, Vol. 49, pp. 297-305. |
Colin McGinn, PhD |