|
PROGRAMME
The
fifth conference of the Association
for the Scientific Study of Consciousness will bring together
researchers from numerous disciplines to discuss these issues through
an intensive series of workshops, plenary lectures, symposia, paper
presentations and poster contributions extending over four days
between May 27-May 30, 2001. The meeting will take place in Durham,
North Carolina - USA, on the campus of Duke
University.
USE
THE 'SAVE TARGET AS' ON YOUR BROWSER TO DOWNLOAD AN RTF
VERSION (printable) THE PROGRAM
The
concurrent oral presentations, the workshops, the poster session
and the banquet will be held at the Sanford Institute for Public
Policy (map available --the star corresponds to Sanford Institute--
at http://www.pubpol.duke.edu/welcome/maps.html
also see http://map.duke.edu/campusdetail.asp?qtype=1&bldg=152&mapid=34)
The
registration, coffee breaks, opening and closing receptions, and
plenary sessions will be held at the Love Auditorium in the Levine
Science Research Center (map available at http://map.duke.edu/campusdetail.asp?qtype=1&bldg=108&mapid=34)
~ Final Conference Programme ~
ASSC-5
Program Overview
May
27-30, 2001 – Duke University
May
26:
12:00-23:00 Check-in
(dorms)
14:00-18:00 Registration
(LSRC Lobby)
May
27:
8:00- Registration
begins / check-in [all day]
9:00-12:00
Morning workshops (concurrent)
- Current
Investigations of Synaesthesia: When a 4 Just Has to be Blue (Mike
J. Dixon and Daniel Smilek, University of Waterloo)
- Abnormalities
in the Contents of Consciousness: The Case of Schizophrenia (Chris
Frith,
University
College London)
- Phenomenological
Methods for Investigating Consciousness (Eduard
Marbach,
University
of Bern)
- What
can Functional MRI Tell us about the Contents of Consciousness?
(Geraint
Rees,
University
College London)
- Qualia
Realism, Presentation, and Representationalism (William
Robinson,
Iowa
State University)
- Emotion
and the Nature of Emotional Qualia (Douglas
F. Watt,
Boston University School of Medicine)
See
below for descriptions
12:00-13:00
Lunch break
13:00-16:00 Afternoon
workshops (concurrent)
- Memes
(Susan Blackmore, University of the West of England)
- Integration
of Functional Neuroimaging with Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic
Stimulation: Implications for Research on Consciousness CANCELLED
- Living
without Touch and Proprioception: from Phenomenology to PET. (Jonathan
Cole, Poole Hospital, and the University of Southampton)
- Color
and Color Experience: Physicalism, Externalism, Internalism, and
Projectivism (Brian
McLaughlin and Zoltán Jakab)
- Emergence,
Reduction and Nonreductive Interdependence: Understanding the Matter
Consciousness Relation. (Robert
Van Gulick,
Syracuse
University)
- Vision
and Consciousness: Experimental Evidence and its Implications (Arash
Sahraie, University of Aberdeen, and Larry Weiskrantz,
University
of Oxford)
See
below for descriptions
16:00-16:40 Coffee
Break (LSRC
Lobby)
16:40-16:50
Welcoming Remarks Güven Güzeldere [Duke]
16:50-17:00
Introduction: Ron Mangun [Duke]
17:00-18:10
ASSC
Presidential lecture: Larry Weiskrantz [Oxford]
"Prime-Sight
In a Blind-Sight Subject"
(LSRC
Love Auditorium)
18:00-20:00
Opening Reception
Recital:
Flute-Guitar Duet -Alma Coefman and Bill Stewart- (LSRC Lobby)
Free
Evening
May
28:
8:00- Registration
begins / check-in [all day]
(LSRC
Lobby)
8:30-9:40: Plenary
Talk: Dale Purves [Duke]
"Why
We See Brightness and Color the Way We Do"
Chair:
Kathleen Akins [Simon Fraser University]
Commentator:
James A. Schirillo [Wake Forest University]
(LSRC
Love Auditorium)
9:40-10:00: Coffee
Break
10:00-12:40:
Plenary Symposium:
Visual
Consciousness & Change/Inattentional Blindness
Speakers:
Ronald
Rensink [University of British Columbia] "Change Blindness:
Implications for the Study of Visual Consciousness"
Arien
Mack [New School] "Inattentional Blindness"
Jeremy
Wolfe [Harvard] "From stimulus to perception: 'Small is
the gate and narrow the road' "
Chair:
Güven Güzeldere [Duke]
Commentator:
Colin MacLeod [University of Toronto]
12:40-14:00 Lunch
break
14:00-15:30
Concurrent sessions – I (Sanford Institute)
I-A Functionalism,
Content, and Conscious Experience (chair: Fred Adams, Univ. of Delaware)
I-B
Implicit Processes, Inhibition, and Memory (chair: David Rubin,
Duke)
I-C Higher
Order Theories of Consciousness (chair: Alex Rosenberg, Duke)
I-D Attention
and Neural Correlates of Visual Perception (chair: Gillian Einstein,
NIH)
| Session
I-A |
Session
I-B |
Session
I-C |
Session
I-D |
|
William Robinson (Iowa State
University):
Colors,
Arousal, Functionalism, and Individual Differences
|
Michael
Anderson (University of Oregon):
Inhibitory
Control and the Regulation of Phenomenal Awareness
|
Robert
Lurz (Indian
River Community College):
Advancing
the Debate Between HO and FO Accounts of Consciousness
|
John
Eastwood, Smilek D., Merickle, P.M.
(University of Waterloo):
Facial
Features and Attention
|
|
Douglas
Meehan (CUNY Graduate Center):
Sensational
Properties and Nonconceptual Content
|
Steve Joordens, Wilson D., Spalek T. (University
of Toronto):
Do
divisions of attention surgically reduce the likelihood of
a stimulus entering consciousness while having no affect on
the unconscious processing of the stimulus?
|
Robert
Van Gulick (Syracuse
University)
Consciousness
and Meta-mental Content: an Alternative Model (HOGS)
|
Yoshi
Tamori, Ken Mogi
(Kanazawa Institute of Technology):
Neural
correlates of perceptual change in binocular rivalry.
|
|
Susanna
Siegel (Harvard University):
Information
Represented by Conscious Visual States
|
Doug
Lowe, Joordens S.
(Trent University):
Conscious
and Unconscious Influences of Memory Following Superficial
Encoding: When Do Unconscious Influences Increase Over Time?
|
David
M. Rosenthal
(CUNY Graduate Center):
Unity
of Consciousness and the Self
|
Nuwan
Kurukulasuriya, Jian Mu, Justin Rawley, Steven Frank, Dwayne
Godwyn
(Wake Forest University):
A
New Role for the Reticular Activating System in the Stream
Consciousness: Nitric Oxide Selectively Controls the Influence
of Retinal and Coritcal Synapses Made Upon Thalamic Relay
Neurons
|
15:30-16:00 Coffee
break (LSRC Lobby)
16:00-18:00:
Invited Colloquium:
Recent
Developments in Change Blindness
Scott
Huettel [Duke] "Functional
Neuroimaging of Change Blindness"
Daniel
Levin
[Kent State University] "Relationships
Among Metacognitions About Visual Attention, Change Blindness
and Estimates of Picture Memory."
Luiz
Pessoa
[NIMH] "The
Neural Substrates Of Change Detection"
Diane
Beck [University College London] "The Neural Correlates
of Change Detection and Change Blindness"
Chair:
John Staddon [Duke]
18:30-20:30
BANQUET (Sanford Institute's lawn)
(North
Carolina BBQ and the works/25$)
20:30-23:00
Poster Session (posters stay throughout conference SEE COMPLETE
LIST OF PRESENTERS BELOW) (Sanford Institute)
May
29:
8:30-9:40 Plenary
Talk: Marcus Raichle [Washington University St.Louis]
"A
Default Mode of Brain Function: Finding the Neural Baseline
of Consciousness"
Chair:
Marty Woldorff [Duke]
Commentator:
Roberto Cabeza [Duke]
9:40-10:00: Coffee
Break (LSRC Lobby)
10:00-12:00: Plenary
Symposium: Schizophrenia and Pathological Consciousness
George
Graham [University of Alabama] "The Metaphysics of Selfhood
in Disorders of Self-Consciousness and Self-Ascription"
Aysenil
Belger [University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill] "Impairments
Of Action Monitoring In Schizophrenia: Neuroimaging Of Sensory-Motor
Regulation Deficits"
Chair:
Chris Frith [University College London]
Commentator:
Owen Flanagan [Duke]
12:00-14:30 Lunch
break / Recreational Afternoon
Free
time
13:00-14:00
concurrent tours (see flyer)
Tour
of the Chapel and Organ
concert at the Duke Chapel
Tour
of Duke Gardens
Tour
of the Primate Center
Tour
of BIAC and MRI facilities
14:30-16:00 Concurrent
sessions – II (Sanford Institute)
II-A
Bodily Awareness, Expectation, and Pain (chair: Elizabeth Brannon,
Duke)
II-B
Visual Experience and Filling In (chair: Greg Lockhead, Duke)
II-C
Functional Explanation, Experience, and Dreams (chair: Tina Williams,
Duke)
II-D
Phenomenal Experience, Explanatory Gap, and Zombies (chair: Brian
Cantwell Smith, Duke)
| Session
II-A |
Session
II-B |
Session
II-C |
Session
II-D |
|
Josh
Weisberg (CUNY Graduate Center):
Expectation,
Error, and Consciousness
|
William
Wojtach (Duke
University):
Filling
In as an Active Process: Evidence From the Rapid Disappearance
of Entoptic Images
|
Frédéric
Bouchard
(Duke University):
Function
and Adaptation: Providing a Bridge Between Biology and Psychology
for an Evolutionary Account of Consciousness
|
Graham
Hubbs
(University of Pittsburgh):
Sellars
and the Content of Consciousness
|
|
Rocco
Gennaro (Indiana State University):
Jean-Paul
Sartre and the HOT Theory of Consciousness
|
Steven
Lehar
(Schepens Eye Research Institute):
A
Quantitative Analysis of the Dimensions of Conscious Experience
|
Antti
Revonsuo
(Academy of Finland):
The
Content and Function of Dream Consciousness
|
Tillmann
Vierkant (Max-Planck-Institute
for Psychological Research):
Zombie
Mary
|
|
Yoshio
Nakamura, Richard Chapman (University
of Utah):
How
real is the distinction between the sensory and affective
dimensions of pain?
|
Liang
Lou, Jing Chen
(Grand Valley State University):
Attention
and Blind-spot Phenomenology
|
Mark
Bishop
(University of Reading):
Counterfactuals
Can't Count
|
Tamler
Sommers
(Duke University):
Of
Zombies, Color Scientists, and Floating Iron Bars
|
16:00-16:30 Coffee
Break (LSRC Lobby)
16:30-18:30 Invited
Colloquium:
Content
of Bodily Awareness and Pain Perception
Richard Chapman
and Yoshio Nakamura [University of Utah] "Measuring
Pain: An Introspective Look at Introspection"
Bill
Maixner [University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill] "The
Effects of Barorecptor Stimulation on Pain and Consciousness - an
Interaction Between the Internal and External Environment."
Donald
Price [University of Florida] "Integrating an Experiential
Approach with Brain Imaging to Explore the 'Hard' Problems of Pain
and Consciousness"
Robert
Coghill [Wake Forest University] "The
Intensity of Pain and the Individual Pain Experience: Insights from
Functional Brain Imaging"
Chair:
Ken Sufka [University of Mississippi]
FREE
EVENING
May
30:
8:30-10:30:
Plenary symposium: Social and Affective Contents of Perceptual
Consciousness
Speakers:
Gregory
McCarthy [Duke] "Substrate for the Perception of Socially
Relevant Signals"
Ralph
Adolphs [University of Iowa] "Emotion
and the Human Brain"
Chair:
Susan Blackmore [University of the West of England]
Commentator:
Kevin
LaBar [Duke]
10:30-10:50: Coffee
Break
10:50-12:50
Subjectivity and the Perspectival Character of Consciousness
Speakers:
John
Perry [Stanford] Varieties of Content and Perspectival
Consciousness
William
G. Lycan [University
of North Carolina at Chapel Hill] Perspectival
Representation and the Knowledge Argument
Chair:
David Rosenthal [City University of New York]
Commentator:
Murat Aydede [University of Chicago]
12:50-14:00 Lunch
break
14:00-15:30
Concurrent sessions – III (Sanford Institute)
III-A
Introspection and Self-Report (chair: David Sanford, Duke)
III-B
Phenomenology and Disorders of Perception (chair: Yoko Arisaka,
University of San Francisco)
III-C
Color Perception and Representation (chair: Frédéric
Bouchard, Duke)
III-D
Binding and Conscious Experience (chair:Michael Platt, Duke)
| Session
III-A |
Session
III-B |
Session
III-C |
Session
III-D |
|
William
Seager
(University of Toronto):
Belief,
Desire and Introspection
|
Ulrich
Ansorge, Odmar Neumann (Bielefeld University):
Direct
parameter specification
|
Zoltan
Jakab
(Carleton University):
Phenomenal
Projection
|
Rick
Cai (Harvard
University):
Slicing
the stream of consciousness: how the brain connects abrupt
events to continuous changes
|
|
Victoria
McGeer
(NYU/Simon Fraser University):
Out
of the Mouths of Autistics: Subjective Report and its Place
in Cognitive Ttheorising
|
Antonio
Rodriguez, Bruce Bennett, Donald Hoffman, William Shankle,
Junko Hara, James Fallon
(UC Irvine):
EEG
Signatures of Rigid Motion Perception
|
Thomas
Polger
(University of Cincinnati):
True
Colors, or How to Be Right About Red by Being Wrong About
Color
|
Noam
Sagiv, Patrik Vuilleumier, Robert T. Knight, Lynn C. Robertson
(UC Berkeley/ University College London):
Face
to Face with Binding Problems
|
|
Eddy
Nahmias (Florida
State University):
Verbal
Reports About the Contents of Consciousness
|
Leon
Deouell, Shlomo Bentin, Nachum Soroker (The
Hebrew University of Jerusalem):
Prerequisites
of awareness to extra-personal events: Electrophysiological
investigation of unilateral neglect patients
|
John
Kulvicki
(University of Chicago):
Information,
Isomorphism, and Perceptual Availability
|
Ville
Ojanen, Antti Revonsuo (Helsinky
University of Technology):
An
Electrophysiological Correlate of Visual Awareness - ERP and
Behavioral Studies
|
15:30-15:50 Coffee
Break (LSRC Lobby)
15:50-17:50:
Plenary Symposium: Unity of Sensation and Control in Consciousness
Speakers:
Earl Miller [MIT] "Prefrontal cortex and the
neural basis of cognitive control"
Barry
Stein [Wake Forest University] "Multisensory Integration"
Chair:
David Fitzpatrick [Duke]
Commentator:Ron
Mangun [Duke]
18:00-18:40
Closing Plenary Lecture: Chris Frith [University College London]
"Attention to Action and Awareness of Other Minds"
Chair:
Gregory McCarthy [Duke]
18:45-21:00
Closing Reception
21:00-00:00 Evening
at the Jazz Club
Some
modifications can be made in the program,
POSTER
PRESENTER LIST (posters will be on display from May 28th 20h30)
ARCAYA,
Jose -Psychology Department John Jay College, CUNY: THE
GENERAL VIEW OF MEMORY: A PHENOMENOLOGICAL ANALYSIS
BEECKMANS,
John M. -Faculty of Engineering Science University of Western Ontario:
THE CHROMATIC RICHNESS HYPOTHESIS
BRISCOE,
Garry J. -University of Wisconsin Oshkosh: DUAL-PATH MODEL OF COGNITION
AND CONSCIOUSNESS
BROWN,
Steven Ravett -University of Oregon: STRUCTURAL PHENOMENOLOGY: A
TOP-DOWN ANALYTIC METHODOLOGY
CHIU,
Ming-Jang & HSIEH, Ming H. & LIU, Kristina & LIU, Shi-Kai & HWU,
Hai-Gwo & CHEN, Andrew -Department of Neurology & Department of
Psychiatry National Taiwan University Hospital, College of Medicine:
IMPAIRMENT OF COLOR-PATTERN IMPLICIT LEARNING AND P50 PRE-PULSE
INHIBITION IN SCHIZOPHRENIC PATIENTS A 2D BRAIN MAPPING STUDY
COLBURN,
Mary Louise & KUIKEN, D. & MIALL, D. S. -Department of Psychology
University of Alberta: FELT MEANING AND SYNAESTHETIC METAPHOR IN
AESTHETIC EXPERIENCE
DELUCA,
John W. & DALY, Ray -Mind Stuff SM, Livonia, MI and Wayne State
University School of Medicine Neurobiofeedback Wellness Centre and
University of Windsor: TRANSFORMATION OF CONSCIOUSNESS IN BUDDHIST
TANTRIC MEDITATION
DEMPSEY,
Liam P. -Department of Philosophy University of Western Ontario:
MIND-BODY IDENTITY: TONIC FOR THE EPIPHENOMIC
DROEGE,
Paula -Department of Philosophy Hartwick College: DRETSKE’S TROUBLE
SPOT
FAW,
Bill -Brewton-Parker College, Mt Vernon, GA: WORKING MEMORY: POSTERIOR
CONTENT AND PREFRONTAL CONTROL
GENNARO,
Rocco. and HERRMANN, Doug. -Indiana State University THE UNITY OF
MIND, EVERYDAY MEMORY FAILURES, AND SLIPS OF ACTIONS
GOMES,
Gilberto -Universidade Federal Fluminense, Rio de Janeiro: IDEAS
AND THOUGHTS AS CONTENTS OF CONSCIOUSNESS
IWATA,
Kazuki & NAKAO, Mitsuyuki & YAMAMOTO, Mitsuaki -Lab. of Neurophysiology
and Bioinformatics, Graduate School of Information Sciences, Tohoku
University, Japan: DYNAMICS OF POLYGRAPHIC SIGNALS UNDER SENSORY
DEPRIVATION AND THEIR RELATION TO STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS
KALLIO,
Sakari & REVONSUO, A. R. -Department of Psychology University of
Skövde, Sweden and University of Turku, Finland
KIM,
Hyo Eun -Department of Philosophy Duke University, Ewha Women’s
University, Korea. BLINDSIGHT AND THE EXPLANATORY GAP
KOENE,
Randal A. -Department of Psychology McGill University: MULTIPHASE
CORTICO-HIPPOCAMPAL MEMORY MODELS FOR THE LEARNING AND INTEGRATION
OF EXPLICIT KNOWLEDGE WITH ATTENTIONAL GUIDANCE
KOJO,
Ilpo &. LAARNI, J. -Center for Knowledge and Innovation Research
Helsinki School of Economics and Business Administration
MALMGREN,
Helge -Dept. of Philosophy Göteborg University, Sweden INTROSPECTION,
INNER SENSIBILITY AND THE INNER-OUTER METAPHOR
MOGI,
Ken -Sony Computer Science Laboratories. QUALIA AND CAUSALITY.
MURATA,
Tsutomu & MATSUI, N & MIYAUCHI, S. & YANAGIDA, T. -Communications
Research Laboratory, Himeji Institute of Technology, Japan DISCRETE
STOCHASTIC DYNAMICS UNDERLYING SPONTANEOUS ALTERNATION OF VISUAL
AWARENESS
NGUYEN,
A. Minh -Rutgers University & Hofstra University BLINDSIGHT IMPLIES
UNCONSCIOUS EXPERIENCE
PETRENKO,
Victor -Psychological Faculty of Moscow State University CONSCIOUSNESS
AS A PRODUCT OF THE SECOND SIGNAL SYSTEM
PICCININI,
Gualtiero -Department of History and Philosophy of Science University
of Pittsburgh MIND GAUGING: INTROSPECTION AS A PUBLIC EPISTEMIC
RESOURCE
POHLMAN,
Urs -Duke University THE DYNAMICAL CORRELATES OF SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS
AND FIRST-PERSON PERSPECTIVE
POISSANT,
Hélène & MBEKOU, Valentin & DELISLE, Josée & LECOMTE, Sarah -Department
of Ed. Science and Psychology Groupe TDAH UQAM ATTENTION AND CONSCIOUSNESS
IN CHILDREN: A METACOGNITIVE AND NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION
PYLKKÄNEN,
Paavo -University of Skövde, Sweden CONSCIOUSNESS AND INFORMATION
ROSE,
David -Department of Psychology University of Surrey THE COMPLEXITY
GAP AND THE HARD SOLUTION
RYDER,
Dan & FAVOROV, O.V. -Department of Philosophy University
of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University of Central Florida THE
SINBAD THEORY OF CORTICAL REPRESENTATION
SANFEY,
John -General Medical Practitioner. Derby. UK THE QUALIA OF "NOW":
KEY TO STRONG PHENOMENAL LAWS
SEGAL,
Eliaz -Department of Psychology The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
MEMORY AND THE FLOW OF TIME
SHANON,
Benny -Department of Psychology The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
ALTERED TEMPORALITY
SUNDQVIST,
Fredrik -University of Göteborg, Sweden GESTALT THEORY AND THE CONTENT
OF CONSCIOUSNESS
VAKALOPOULOS,
Costa -MBBS. A SCIENTIFIC PARADIGM FOR CONSCIOUSNESS
WALLER,
Sara -California State University
We
also have worshops on May 27th. YOU MAY ONLY REGISTER FOR A MAXIMUM
OF TWO WORKSHOPS (one in the morning and one in the afternoon).
Please make sure that there aren't any schedule conflicts in your
registration.
WORKSHOP
DESCRIPTIONS:
1-
Memes (AFTERNOON)
Susan
Blackmore, University of the West of England, Bristol, UK
The aim
of this workshop is to provide an introduction to the theory of
memetics and explore its relevance to the nature and contents of
consciousness. By the end of the workshop participants should (a)
understand what is, and is not, a meme, and how memetics can be
applied in several different fields (b) be familiar with the major
controversies and disagreements within memetics (c) have an informed
opinion on whether or not memetics is useful for the understanding
of human, animal and machine consciousness.
There
will be three sections, each including approximately half an hour's
lecture, interspersed with group and individual exercises, and with
plenty of time for discussion. Before the conference I will make
available on-line (at www.memes.org.uk) information on the workshop
and suggested readings, but prior preparation will not be assumed.
A handout will be provided.
Part
1. Introduction to memetics.
The term
'meme', coined by Dawkins in 1976 to mean a unit of imitation or
a cultural replicator. Natural selection, the theory of universal
Darwinism and the roles of replicators and vehicles (Hull's alternative
scheme, objections to the meme as replicator).
Selfish
memes: computer and email viruses, religions as viruses, co-adapted
meme-complexes and how they form.
Previous
theories of cultural evolution and why memetics is different (Cloak's
i- and m-culture; Wilson's culturgens; Boyd and Richerson's mathematical
models). Why imitation? (Plotkin, Sperber). The problems of definition,
with examples (Dawkins, Dennett, Gabora etc). Brief introduction
to the major controversies in memetics. The Lamarckian objection,
digital v analogue systems, agency, memes as artefacts v memes as
neural information.
An
imitation exercise - exploring why imitation is so difficult.
Levels of imitation.
Part
2. Memes and Consciousness.
Human
consciousness. Memes and human evolution. Memetic drive, the origins
of the big brain and language. How memetics changes conventional
views on the evolution of consciousness. Memes and their copying
machinery co-evolve. Humans as meme machines. Examples of memetic
engineering.
Dennett
- "Human consciousness itself is a huge complex of memes". Blackmore
- memes as distorting human consciousness. Is there consciousness
without memes? Implications of these two views for the contents
of consciousness. Their different predictions.
An
exercise. Are these ideas testable? A group exercise and discussion
of research potential.
Animal
consciousness. The debate over whether other animals have memes
(Laland and Dugatkin say yes, Blackmore no). The importance of imitation,
examples; apes and sign language, birds and milk bottles, cetaceans
and the imitation of sounds. Light shed on the relationship between
language and consciousness?
Machine
consciousness. Do machines have memes? Copying in artificial intelligent
systems. The internet as a meme machine. Memeplexes and distributed
consciousness.
Part
3. The self and self-transformation.
The theory
of self as memeplex. The idea of dismantling the memeplex. Meditation
and mindfulness as 'meme-weeding' techniques.
An
exercise in mindfulness. An opportunity for people to try some
short meditation exercises directed specifically at investigating
the power of memes in awareness.
Practical
and personal implications of a memetic theory of consciousness.
Free will, morality, legal responsibility (criticisms by Mary Midgley
and others). Dawkins's rebellion against the selfish replicators.
Who rebels?
2-
Current Investigations of Synaesthesia: When a 4 Just Has to be
Blue (SCHEDULE CHANGE: NOW MORNING)
Mike
J. Dixon and Daniel Smilek, Department of Psychology, University
of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario email: mjdixon@watarts.uwaterloo.ca
For people
with synaesthesia ordinary stimuli elicit extraordinary conscious
experiences. For example, when C, a digit-colour synaesthete, views
ordinary black digits, each digit elicits a photism - a conscious
experience of a highly specific colour. In this workshop we will
discuss current behavioral investigations of synaesthesia. The general
approach of these investigations of synaesthesia has been to test
predictions based on synaesthetes' first-person descriptions of
their unusual qualia. Behavioural investigations of synaesthesia
provide two critical contributions to the study of synaesthesia.
First, these investigations provide a common forum for describing
synaesthesia. These investigations employ a scientifically agreed
upon common language to precisely define key concepts used to describe
synaesthetic experiences. Second, these investigations lead to a
better understanding of the cognitive mechanisms underlying synaesthetic
experiences. In this workshop we will discuss the empirical investigations
pertaining to the following issues regarding synaesthetic experiences:
a) The
consistency of synaesthetic experiences
b) The
automaticity of synaesthetic experiences
c) The
intimate relationship between synaesthetic photisms and meaning.
d) The
influence of synaesthetic experiences on digit perception.
e) The
relationship between synaesthetic experiences and memory. These
investigations of synaesthesia bring to the forefront a number of
critical issues pertaining to the study of consciousness.
These
issues include the following: a) The use of third-person behavioral
methods for investigating conscious experiences b) The relationship
between first-person and third-person methodologies in the study
of conscious experiences c) The implications that current investigations
of synaesthesia have on the binding problem.
3-Abnormalities
in the contents of consciousness: The case of schizophrenia (MORNING)
Chris
Frith, University
College London email: cfrith@fil.ion.ucl.ac.uk
1:
Abnormalities in the contents of consciousness
I shall
describe and contrast disorders in the contents of consciousness
(see list below) and argue that the disorders associated with schizophrenia
are distinct in that they involve mis-attributions of agency.
a: Hallucinations
Hearing voices (schizophrenia) sensory loss epilepsy and brain stimulation
psychedelic drugs dreams
b: Disorders
of awareness of motor control Delusions of control (schizophrenia)
Phantom limbs Anarchic hand anosognosia
2:
Awareness in the control of action
I shall
discuss internal representations in the motor control system and
link these to certain disorders of the contents of consciousness.
I shall consider the physiological basis of internal representations
in the motor system.
a: Representations
in the motor control system
b: What
are we aware of in the motor control system?
c: A
framework for understanding abnormal awareness of motor control
d: Brain
systems
3: The
self and others I shall consider the problem of the perception of
agency in schizophrenia.
Does
the perception of agency derive from internal representations of
the self? What is the biological basis of the perception of agency?
a: Abnormalities
in the attribution of agency
b: Representing
agency
c: Distinguishing
between the self and others
d: The
biological basis of the perception of agency
Bibliography
Frith,
C.D. (1992) The Cognitive Neuropsychology of Schizophrenia. Psychology
Press, Hove. (translations: Spanish, Japanese, French, Italian)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0863773346/qid%3D909413784/sr%3D1-1/026
-7776402-8254032
Frith,
C.D., Blakemore, S.-J. & Wolpert, D.M. (2000) Abnormalities in the
awareness and control of action. Philosophical Transactions of the
Royal Society of London, Series B, 355, 1771-1788. http://www.pubs.royalsoc.ac.uk/phil_bio/phil_bio.html
4-
Integration of Functional Neuroimaging with repetitive Transcranial
Magnetic Stimulation: Implications for Research on Consciousness
CANCELLED (May21st2001)
Julian
Paul Keenan, PhD
Harvard Medical School, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center email:
jkeenan@caregroup.harvard.edu
Philosophical
issues, including topics of consciousness, are now routinely addressed
employing functional neuroimaging. Techniques now widely available
including functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) and Positron
Emission Tomography (PET) are providing fundamental answers to questions
relating to consciousness. However, reliance on these techniques
is problematic as the data provided by such methods reveals only
correlation information, which is further complicated by the indirect
measure of neuronal activity via blood oxygenation and the reliance
on control tasks. Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS)
provides a non- invasive method for establishing causal and necessary
components within cortical networks. When combined with traditional
functional methods such as fMRI and PET, questions as to the direct
nature of cognition and consciousness can be addressed. The use
of this technique is not limited, and the adaptation of rTMS employing
numerous methodologies allows for a flexible and specific test of
cognitive hypotheses. A description of the cortical process of self-
awareness is far from complete, though networks for cognitive processes
that are related (e.g., Theory of Mind) are beginning to be elucidated.
The integration of rTMS with traditional neuroimaging methods addressing
the cortical correlates of self-awareness provides a background
in which researchers interested in consciousness may develop an
understanding of rTMS. This workshop will therefore provide an introduction
into the methodologies of rTMS within the context of examining higher-
order cognitive processes with a specific emphasis on self- directed
awareness. The topics as follows:
I
Introduction to rTMS
A Why
do we need TMS?
B Basic
Principles of Magnetic Stimulation
C Early
Historical Attempts: 19th and 20th Century D Successful Single-
Pulse TMS and the advent of rTMS
II
Four Relevant Methodologies
A Virtual
Lesions
B Cooling
and Heating
C Measures
of Cortical Excitability
D Paired
Pulse Measures of Inhibition and Excitation
BREAK
III
Integration of Functional Techniques
A Why
do we need TMS, Part II?
IV
Applications of rTMS in Higher- Order Cognition
A Language
& Vision
B Imagery
& Memory
C Self
& Consciousness
5-
Living without touch and proprioception: from phenomenology to PET.
(SCHEDULE
CHANGE: NOW AFTERNOON)
Jonathan
Cole,
Clinical Neurophysiology, Poole Hospital, Longfleet Road, Poole,
, UK and the University of Southampton. Email:
jonathan_cole@new-forest.org
The workshop
will consider work from a single case study, of IW, who, over 25
years ago lost all sensation of touch and movement/joint position
sense below the neck. This was due to an infection leading to an
autoimmune neuronopathy affecting the sensory nerve cell bodies
in the dorsal rot ganglia.
In the
absence of large myelinated sensory nerve fibre function IW was
completely unable to move, not because the movement nerves were
affected, (they were not), but because without peripheral feedback
his central motor apparatus was disabled. IW spent nearly 5 months
requiring full nursing care before realising that if he looked at
the moving part and willed movement cognitively he could learnt
to make co-ordinated movements once more. He then spent 17 months
as an in-patient in a rehabilitation hospital spending all his waking
hours learning how to will movement again. He would spend 20 minutes
putting on a sock, feed himself cold food rather than be fed. After
round 12 months he stood and then several months later he walked.
Once
released from hospital he found a job as a civil servant and for
12 years did not see a doctor, telling colleagues that he had a
bad back to explain his unusual gait. He now works as a disability
access audit consultant advising banks, hospitals etc how to make
their built environment accessible for people with special needs
of various sorts, (locomotor difficulties, visual impairment etc).
The workshop
will be divided into several sessions:
1.
The phenomenology/narrative history.
This
will detail the sensory loss and its consequences for movement.
When unable to move his body he felt most disembodied. But once
able to move any such feelings retreated. He has never had true
phantom experiencing arguing that small fibre sensory input, (pain,
temperature, muscle fatigue) are sufficient to prevent the emergence
of such 'deafferentation' phenomena. It will follow his time in
rehabilitation, looking in detail at how he managed to recover movements
through cognitive control and visual supervenience. This will follow
IW's time in hospital and the ways in which the medical and paramedical
workers assisted him, or not, in him exploring new ways of looking
at movement. In addition to the obvious losses of mobility and sensation
the account will also consider the effects on IW of his loss at
a more personal level. For instance at one time he had recovered
locomotor and instrumental action but was bereft of gesture. He
therefore taught himself to gesture consciously to convince people
that his affective emotional use of movement was non-conscious and
'normal.' Data will be given suggesting that IW may have accessed
new or pre-existing central motor programs to allow some movements
to be automatic and that gesture, now, 25 years later, may be the
most automatic of all.
2.
The physiology of deafferentation.
Details
of neurophysiological experiments will be given looking at the evidence
for IW's complete loss of large sensory fibres. Further work will
look at the experimental evidence for his compensatory mechanisms
in terms of possible plastic change in the brain and for his use
of amazingly sophisticated cognitive strategies to facilitate movements.
This part will give the results of a wide variety of experiments
on IW's motor abilities:
1. his
ability to perceive weight, (considering the central perception
of force).
2. his
attentional abilities,
3. his
perception of action,
4. his
altered cortical activation in order to choose a selective finger
movement compared with control subjects,
5. the
ways in which he uses, (non-cognitive) motor programs from movement
of the eye or arm to control each other, his use of external Cartesian
space to calibrate his egocentric space in some situations,
6. his
movement accuracy in terms of end point control or a force pulse
technique,
7. the
complexities of gesture he has refined and their possible consequences
for views of the link between gesture and language.
8. his
ability to produce accurately timed repetitive movements without
feedback.
9. the
mechanisms of movement in IW as revealed through PET analysis, showing
possible feedforward activity without feedback as well as top-down
movement control, areas of corollary discharge and the extensive
cerebellar activation required.
3.
The phenomenology of recovery.
IW, still,
after 25 years is improving and refining movements. He is also taking
a pleasure in the mental imposition of movement ideas on his passage
through the world. The methods he uses are unique. Though his condition
is very rare these tricks have important consequences for motor
control in a variety of less rare conditions e.g. sensory loss due
to neuropathy, spinal diseases and stoke. A consideration will be
given for the lessons in rehabilitation that can be taken from his
years of mental concentration on movement. In parallel with this
consideration will be given to the phenomenological con sequences
of sensory loss for his sense of self, and how the limits of having
to think about movement at all times has altered his perception
of the world and of day to day living. It is by a combined approach,
of neuroscientific experiment and phenomenological analysis, that
pictures of IW's world and of the importance of sensory return for
motor control can be built up.
Sources:
The talk will draw on IW's and my account of his recovery in 'Pride
and Daily Marathon.' In addition there will be film of IW shot for
BBC2's Horizon, 'The Man Who Lost His Body,' private video of IW
and another subject with the condition discussing their condition,
with IW giving a master class on how to move without feedback, video
footage and IW and Peter Brook and his cast discussing the theatrical
representation of IW's account which featured in Brook's play, 'The
Man Who.' Video will also be available of IW's recent flight aboard
NASA's KC135 Weightless flight plane with Professor Jim Lackner.
In addition extensive use will be made of the results from research
in a number of labs around the world (see references in the complete
PDF file, forthcoming)
6-
Phenomenological Methods for Investigating Consciousness (SCHEDULE
CHANGE: NOW MORNING)
Eduard
Marbach, University
of Bern, Switzerland email: eduard.marbach@philo.unibe.ch
This
workshop will introduce to the phenomenological study of consciousness
as originally developed by the philosopher Edmund Husserl (1859-1938).
Husserl considered his phenomenology to be a "science of consciousness",
to be established with the help of first-person methods. Accordingly,
the main emphasis will be on concretely explicating and practicing
how one does phenomenology; for Husserl was particularly careful
in elaborating methodical tools for the study of consciousness.
Key concepts of the methodology to be discussed are:
Phenomenological
reflection (as distinct from psychological introspection) and the
question of intersubjective control;
Phenomenological
reduction (as distinct from `theoretical reduction`) and the notion
of 'pure' phenomenology;
Descriptive
eidetic analysis of the contents of consciousness, regarding objective
(noematic) as well as subjective (noetic) aspects of content. This
is arguably the center-piece of Husserl's enterprise, and it fits
very well within the overall theme of this year's ASSC Conference.
In elaborating this type of analysis, Husserl has been inspired
by mathematics, proceeding by way of contrasting conscious experiences
of distinctly different content structures (as they obtain in, e.g.,
visually or otherwise perceiving something, in episodic remembering,
in merely imagining something, in picturing something, or in judging
about a state of affairs, etc.) in order to establish those invariant
components that make up the specific content structures of conscious
experiences of one kind or another;
An important
further aspect of Husserl's pre-experimental, philosophical enterprise
to be addressed in the context of this year's Conference concerns
the question whether, and if so, to what extent, a first-person
reflective clarification of content structures of conscious experiences
could serve as a guide for neuroscientifically investigating possible
neural correlates much more specifically than would be possible
without a rigorous phenomenological content analysis preceding the
scientific work. Actually, this aspect of bringing together first-person
phenomenological methods and third-person scientific methods would
seem to be of utmost importance for making progress in the scientific
study of conscious experiences, given that a specification of the
explananda can only help the elaboration of the corresponding explanantia.
Participants
of the workshop should get a good grasp of the first-person phenomenological
methodology, and ideally even discover ways for making good use
of phenomenology in the advancement of the scientific study of consciousness.
Materials
will be provided.
Recommended
literature: 1) Husserl, Edmund. Ideas pertaining to a pure phenomenology
and to a phenomenological philosophy. First book: General introduction
to a pure phenomenology. Translated by F. Kersten. Martinus Nijhoff,
The Hague 1983. Especially Part Three: Methods and problems of pure
phenomenology, chapter three: Noesis and Noema, chapter four: The
set of problems pertaining to noetico-noematic structures.
2) John
J. Drummond. Husserlian Intentionality and Non-Foundational Realism:
Noema and Object. Kluwer Academic Publishers 1990.
3) Smith,
David Woodruff and McIntyre, Ronald. Husserl and Intentionality:
A Study of Mind, Meaning, and Language. D. Reidel Publishing Co.
1984.
4) Naturalizing
Phenomenology. Issues in Contemporary Phenomenology and Cognitive
Science, edited by Jean Petitot, Francisco J. Varela, Bernard Pachoud,
Jean-Michel Roy. Stanford University Press 1999.
5) Colin
McGinn. Mental Content. Basil Blackwell 1989.
6) A
Companion to the Philosophy of Mind, edited by Samuel Guttenplan.
Basil Blackwell 1994. Entries: Content I (Christopher Peacocke),
Content II (David Papineau).
7) David
J. Chalmers. What is a Neural Correlate of Consciousness? In Thomas
Metzinger (ed.). Neural Correlates of Consciousness. Empirical and
Conceptual Questions. The MIT Press 2000, pp. 17-39.
8) Eduard
Marbach. Mental Representation and Consciousness. Towards a Phenomenological
Theory of Representation and Reference. Kluwer Academic Publishers
1993.
7-
Color and color experience: physicalism, externalism, internalism,
and projectivism (AFTERNOON)
Brian
McLaughlin and Zoltán Jakab email:
zjakab@ccs.carleton.ca
We propose
to assess physicalist theories of object color, two opposing views
of color experience, and the problems these views raise. The workshop
will be divided into two parts, the first of which will be led by
Zoltán Jakab, the second by Brian McLaughlin.
The first
part will begin by introducing some theories of object color: eliminativism,
dispositionalism, disjunctive physicalism and type physicalism.
We then introduce two opposing views of color experience. Internalism
in this context is the idea that our phenomenal experiences of color
are essentially constructions of our brains that are largely undetermined
by the surface properties that reliably evoke those experiences.
By contrast, phenomenal externalism holds that object colors do
determine the phenomenal character of our experiences of them.
As a
next step, we will examine physicalist theories of object color:
theories according to which colors are causally effective physical
properties of objects. We will present two arguments against type
physicalism. Type physicalism about color implies that object colors
are natural kind essences of some sort: i.e., that there is some
non-disjunctive physical property that all and only red objects
have, and that is causally responsible for our sensations of red
on looking at such objects (mutatis mutandis for other colors).
Unfortunately, given empirical knowledge about object color, it
seems very difficult to maintain that object colors are natural
kind essences of any sort. We will also look at the argument from
individual differences in color phenomenology (in trichromat humans).
According to this argument, since, in the same circumstances of
perception, phenomenal color experiences vary between different
trichromat subjects (due to individual physiological differences),
our color experiences do not have physical correlates in the way
type physicalism requires. However, these arguments do not affect
the plausibility of disjunctive physicalism.
As a
next step, we look at the logical links that obtain between the
above views of object color and color experience. We will argue
that, for phenomenal externalism to be a plausible account of color
experience, type physicalism has to be the correct theory of object
color. Since type physicalism about object color is very likely
false, this latter argument will lead us to endorsing internalism
about color experience. Accepting internalism threatens, in a subtle
way, with the infamous projectivist view of color experience: the
idea that color perception is a grand illusion.
In the
second half of the workshop, McLaughlin will present a theory of
color that attempts to capture what is right about type physicalism
and what is right about projectivism. Physicalists are correct in
holding that colors are physical, environmental properties; however,
as Jakab argues, they are mistaken in claiming that they are natural
natural physical properties. On the evidence, colors are highly
disjunctive physical properties. Consider redness. Redness is disjunctive
physical property, each disjunct of which is a basis for the disposition
to look red to appropriate visual perceivers under appropriate viewing
circumstances. What makes a physical property the property of redness
is the fact that it plays a certain role vis-à-vis vision: namely,
the role of disposing its bearers to look red. Phenomenological
similarity and difference relationships among colors are to be explained
by similarities and differences among visual experiences of them.
Orange is more similar to red than it is to blue not in virtue of
intrinsic aspects of the colors in question, but in virtue of the
fact that what it is like to see orange is more similar to what
it is like to see red than it is to what it is like to see blue.
What is it like to see, e.g., orange, is the phenomenological character
of visual experiences of orange. Given that the phenomenological
characters of color experiences come into the account of what it
is for a physical property to be a certain color (e.g., redness),
this physicalist account of color is incompatible with externalist
intentionalist theories of color experience. We look to opponent
process theory to explain the similarities and differences among
the phenomenological characters of color experiences. The projectivist
is right in claiming that the phenomenal structure of colors is
to be explained by brain processes (in particular, opponent processes),
not by physical properties of surfaces and volumes in the scenes
before our eyes. However, the projectivist is mistaken in claiming
that the surfaces and volumes in such scenes are not really colored.
There are, for instance, surfaces that are red since there are surfaces
that have a property that dispose them to look red to appropriate
viewers in appropriate viewing circumstances. For redness just is
the property that disposes its bearers to look red to appropriate
viewers in appropriate viewing circumstances.
8-
What can functional MRI tell us about the contents of consciousness?
(MORNING)
Geraint
Rees Institute
of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London
The use
of functional MRI (fMRI) as a tool to probe cognition is rapidly
maturing, with convergent methodological standards and increasing
empirical agreement about the biological mechanisms underpinning
Blood Oxygenation Level Dependent (BOLD) contrast. This workshop
will critically consider the use of BOLD contrast fMRI in consciousness
research. The workshop will be divided into two parts. First, a
critical technical overview of the technique will be presented in
an attempt to clarify the nature and scope of the questions that
can, and cannot, be addressed by fMRI experiments. The potential
relationship between fMRI and other physiological techniques used
in neuroscience research will be discussed. The second part of the
workshop will focus more narrowly on considering specific experiments
that have investigated the neural correlates of the contents of
visual awareness. Different types of experimental design will be
reviewed, together with experimental findings from recent investigations
of human visual awareness. Throughout the workshop emphasis will
be placed on understanding both the strengths and potential weaknesses
of fMRI, and how recent work has addressed these issues within the
context of consciousness research. Audience participation, whether
skeptical, curious or enthusiastic, will be encouraged throughout
in a constructive, friendly and informal atmosphere.
9-
Qualia Realism, Presentation, and Representationalism (MORNING)
William
Robinson, Iowa
State University
This
workshop will review main motivating reasons why some philosophers
are attracted to qualia realismand will consider one of the most
important alternatives to it. Since the field is highly controversial,
closure on the issues discussed is not a realistic goal. Instead,
the aim will be to offer a framework in which the relations among
a large number of questions can be clearly seen.
I. Qualia
are often introduced very sketchily, as if everyone knows what one
is committed to in accepting them. Jackson's justly famous knowledge
argument puts the non-physicality of qualia at center stage, and
this feature naturally becomes a focus of debate. But there are
other, more traditional reasons that explain why qualia were introduced
in the first place, and the first part of the workshop will be concerned
with the theoretical work for which qualia have been supposed to
be required. This section will also introduce a distinction between
the phenomenon of presentation (sensory experience presents a world
to us) and representationalism (the thesis that qualia may be dispensed
with in favor of an analysis of sensory experience in terms of representation).
II. The
second section will be devoted to representationalism. Relevant
concepts of representation will be clarified, and the role of representation
in cognitive science will be briefly explored. Advantages of representationalism
will be presented, as will objections from the point of view of
qualia realism. Participants should gain a heightened sense of the
intricacies of representationalism and the questions that arise
with respect to it.
III.
One of the motivations behind representationalism is the thought
that qualia theorists could explain only that we are presented with
qualia, whereas, in fact, we are presented with a world. A key aspect
of the world with which we are presented, whether in vision, audition,
or somatic senses, is its spatial character. Color is seen "on the
objects", even by those who believe that objects are composed of
colorless particles in motion. What is this "out there-ness" of
color, and how might qualia realists account for it? We say that
we see a book in a bookcase and that the bookcase is in the building
we are in when we see the book; but we do not see the book in the
building in the same way that we see it in the bookcase. What is
the difference in the way that location is presented (or, represented)
in these two cases? These and related questions, and their relation
to qualia realism and to the representationalist thesis will be
clarified.
10-
Emergence, Reduction and Nonreductive Interdependence: Understanding
the Matter Consciousness Relation. (SCHEDULE
CHANGE: NOW AFTERNOON)
Robert
Van Gulick Syracuse
University
Recent
philosophical discussions of consciousness have put the mind/body
problem back in play. The materialist consensus that had formed
around a mainstream nonreductive materialism has been challenged
from a variety of directions. Some have advocated property dualism,
radical emergence, or a need to fundamentally reconconceptualize
our notion of the physical. Others have criticized the nonreductive
approach as materialism on the cheap and pushed for a strong neuroreductive
theory of consciousness. We will review the recent debates and prospects
for alternative solutions. The workshop aims to provide an overview
of the current options.
11-
Emotion and the Nature of Emotional Qualia (MORNING)
Douglas
F. Watt, Neuropsychology,
Quincy Medical Center, Boston University School of Medicine
This
workshop will focus on current state-of-the-art thinking in affective
neuroscience about the nature of emotion broadly defined and its
connections to consciousness. From there we will try to address
basic questions about the nature of emotional experience (what are
"feelings"). The workshop will contain several basic "modules."
1. The
importance of understanding emotion as foundational and not orthogonal
to consciousness. Emotion is not simply one qualia among many, but
a global state function sitting over homeostasis, and allowing for
primary valuing that interdigitates closely with other global state
functions such as attentional function and executive function, both
of these dependent upon a matrix of biological values, and both
also clearly being essential for consciousness. These interactive
global state functions of emotion, attention, and executive functions
are no less than differential slices of the consciousness pie, and
any neuroscience of consciousness aiming to explain the hard problem
must develop a heuristic theory about these basic abilities, and
their fundamental relatedness.
2. Much
of this fundamental relatedness is probably mediated by various
mesodiencephalic structures, particularly the upper brainstem (midbrain
to pons), which contains most of the basic structures that organize
homeostasis, and that differentially arouse, prime and gate the
thalamocortical forebrain. These brainstem regions generate both
many of the primitives for survival behaviors (supported in the
cranial nerves and brainstem nuclei) and the primitives for attentional
functioning also. As Damasio has pointed out, it is not a coincidence
that the basic foundations for attention, emotion, cortical forebrain
arousal and homeostasis are all in contiguous regions in the upper
brainstem. However, the medulla is probably also contributory to
these fundamental relations between homeostasis, attention, and
emotion, as are the non-specific thalamic systems, the cerebellum,
and the paralimbic cortices. The brainstem is a very complex set
of structures that have been generally dealt with simplistically
in cognitive neuroscience as some sort of homogenous arousal system,
while in reality the whole brainstem is several orders of magnitude
more complex than the cortex, containing roughly 40 nuclei. The
devastation of homeostatic operations in the brainstem is invariably
fatal. The devastation of emotion (the next level of organismic
value in evolutionary terms) doesn t end life, but it does derail
the organization of behavior and virtually all cognitive processing,
as seen in the syndrome of severe forms of akinetic mutism.
3. Problems
associated with a typology of emotion: what are the true "natural
kinds" of primary or prototypical emotion? Why are typologies so
important? What current research problems are confounded by inadequate
typologies? What does animal research say about some of our current
typologies?
4. Current
understanding about the neural architectures for emotion, based
on a typology emphasizing five or six basic prototype states, with
distributed systems that run from paleocortex down into the upper
brainstem (midbrain-pons). Review of three basic clusters of prototype
emotional systems: 1) a non-specific seeking system that operates
as general "gain control" for all the prototype states and is linked
closely to lateral hypothalamic mediation of homeostatic needs,
2) an organismic defense system associated with fear and rage states,
and 3) a social attachment system underpinning emotional bonding,
play, sexuality, nurturance, and separation distress. Monoamines
operate very non-specifically on these (excepting the seeking system
which is heavily DA modulated), while neuropeptides offer much more
affective-behavioral specificity.
5. What
is the difference as well as relationship between emotional processing
in the brain, much of which can be unconscious, and the problem
of "feelings," the manifestation of emotion in consciousness? What
is required to get emotional processing into consciousness? Is there
any evidence that animals can have conscious feelings or just affective
behaviors? Is this question unanswerable in neuroscientific terms
or not?
6. What
is the brain doing when we have a conscious feeling vs. unconscious
emotional processing?? Are there threshold issues here?? Do we need
a certain amount of emotion before it can become conscious?? What
are background emotions and moods? Can strong emotion be unconscious,
or is unconscious strong emotion a contradiction? Distributed neural
systems in the cingulate, insula, other paralimbic regions, and
somatosensory cortices, that may provide "read out" of bodily and
other neurological system activations in the context of primary
emotion, related to the nature of emotional qualia including motor,
somatosensory-visceral dimensions. Fine grained review of recent
neuroimaging of prototype emotional states, questions and implications.
Most crucially, what exactly is going on in the brain that makes
emotions feel good or bad - the mystery of emotional valence ??
7. What
is known about emotion - cognition interactions, at least in general
terms: much of human consciousness once past early infancy consists
of these complex emotion-cognition interactions. Positive emotions
tend to expand cognitive-exploratory spaces, while negative emotions
tend to constrict them, and/or make them obsessive, rigid, or phobic.
The workshop
will review closely major work of Damasio, Panksepp, LeDoux, and
others in affective neuroscience to addresses these fundamental
questions. Reprints of relevant theoretical overview work that I've
published will be distributed on CD, and work of other authors in
this area also (with specific permissions) along with many brain
graphics and slides used in the workshop.
Bibliography
Bandler,
R., & Shipley, M. T. (1994). Columnar organization in the rat midbrain
periaqueductal gray: modules for emotional expression? Trends in
Neurosciences, 17 (9), 379±389.
Damasio,
A. R., Grabowski, T. J., Bechara, A., Damasio, H., Ponto, L.L.,
Parvizi, J., & Hichwa, R. D. (2000). Distinctive patterns of subcortical
and cortical brain activation associated with self-generated emotions
and feelings. Nature |