Scale in Conscious Experience

Scale in Conscious Experience
Author: Joseph S. King
Publisher: Psychology Press
Total Pages: 465
Release: 2013-04-15
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 113499589X

This volume is the result of the third Appalachian Conference on Behavioral Neurodynamics which focused on the problem of scale in conscious experience. Set against the philosophical view of "eliminative materialism," the purpose of this conference was to facilitate communication among investigators who approach the study of consciousness and conscious phenomena from a variety of analytical levels. One speculative outcome of the conference is that the columnar arrangement within primary sensory cortices may provide the local isolation necessary for nonlocal interactions to occur. In addition, the relationship between unit activity and field potentials within a circumscribed region of cortex may provide the other enigmatic aspect of neurophysiological nonlocality, namely, the common context in the macro scale. So instead of a problem looking for a solution, scale becomes a solution to a problem. Only further research will determine the utility of the ideas expressed here.

Behavioural Methods in Consciousness Research

Behavioural Methods in Consciousness Research
Author: Morten Overgaard
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 287
Release: 2015
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 0199688893

'Behavioural methods in consciousness research' is the first book of its kind, providing an overview of methods and approaches for studying consciousness. The chapters are written by leading researchers and experts who describe the methods they actually use in their own studies, along with their pitfalls, problems, and difficulties

Sizing Up Consciousness

Sizing Up Consciousness
Author: Marcello Massimini
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 225
Release: 2018
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 0198728441

This book explores how we can measure consciousness. It clarifies what consciousness is, how it can be generated from a physical system, and how it can be measured. It also shows how conscious states can be expressed mathematically and how precise predictions can be made using data from neurophysiological studies.

The Map of Consciousness Explained

The Map of Consciousness Explained
Author: David R. Hawkins, M.D., Ph.D.
Publisher: Hay House, Inc
Total Pages: 401
Release: 2020-10-20
Genre: Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN: 1401959644

An accessible exploration of best-selling author's most famous work, The Map of Consciousness, that helps readers experience healing and transcendence. We are all born with a level of consciousness, an energetic frequency within the vast field of consciousness. And with The Map of Consciousness, we can truly understand the total spectrum of human consciousness. Using a unique muscle-testing method, Dr. David R. Hawkins conducted more than 250,000 calibrations during 20 years of research to define a range of values, attitudes, and emotions that correspond to levels of consciousness. This range of values-along with a logarithmic scale of 1 to 1,000-became the Map of Consciousness, which Dr. Hawkins first wrote about in his best-selling book, Power vs. Force. With the Map, Dr. David R. Hawkins laid out the entire spectrum of consciousness, from the lower levels of Shame, Guilt, Apathy, Fear, Anger, and Pride; to Courage, Acceptance, and Reason; all the way up to the more expanded levels of Love, Ecstasy, Peace, and Enlightenment. These "higher" energy fields are a carrier wave of immense life energy. An essential primer on the late Dr. David R. Hawkins's teachings on human consciousness and their associated energy fields, The Map of Consciousness Explained offers readers an introduction and deeper understanding of the Map, with visual charts and practical applications to help them heal, recover, and evolve to higher levels of consciousness and energy. This book is a light unto the path of any individual who wants to become more effective in any area of life.

Human and Machine Consciousness

Human and Machine Consciousness
Author: David Gamez
Publisher: Open Book Publishers
Total Pages: 205
Release: 2018-03-07
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1783743018

Consciousness is widely perceived as one of the most fundamental, interesting and difficult problems of our time. However, we still know next to nothing about the relationship between consciousness and the brain and we can only speculate about the consciousness of animals and machines. Human and Machine Consciousness presents a new foundation for the scientific study of consciousness. It sets out a bold interpretation of consciousness that neutralizes the philosophical problems and explains how we can make scientific predictions about the consciousness of animals, brain-damaged patients and machines. Gamez interprets the scientific study of consciousness as a search for mathematical theories that map between measurements of consciousness and measurements of the physical world. We can use artificial intelligence to discover these theories and they could make accurate predictions about the consciousness of humans, animals and artificial systems. Human and Machine Consciousness also provides original insights into unusual conscious experiences, such as hallucinations, religious experiences and out-of-body states, and demonstrates how ‘designer’ states of consciousness could be created in the future. Gamez explains difficult concepts in a clear way that closely engages with scientific research. His punchy, concise prose is packed with vivid examples, making it suitable for the educated general reader as well as philosophers and scientists. Problems are brought to life in colourful illustrations and a helpful summary is given at the end of each chapter. The endnotes provide detailed discussions of individual points and full references to the scientific and philosophical literature.

Consciousness, Color, and Content

Consciousness, Color, and Content
Author: Michael Tye
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 222
Release: 2002
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9780262700887

A further development of Tye's theory of phenomenal consciousness along with replies to common objections.

Models of Brain and Mind

Models of Brain and Mind
Author: Rahul Banerjee
Publisher: Elsevier
Total Pages: 287
Release: 2008-02-14
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 0080557198

The phenomenon of consciousness has always been a central question for philosophers and scientists. Emerging in the past decade are new approaches to the understanding of consciousness in a scientific light. This book presents a series of essays by leading thinkers giving an account of the current ideas prevalent in the scientific study of consciousness. The value of the book lies in the discussion of this interesting though complex subject from different points of view ranging from physics and computer science to the cognitive sciences. Reviews of controversial ideas related to the philosophy of mind from western and eastern sources including classical Indian first person methodologies provide a breadth of coverage that has seldom been attempted in a book before. Additionally, chapters relating to the new approaches in computational modeling of higher order cognitive function and consciousness are included. The book is of great value for established as well as young researchers from a wide cross-section of interdisciplinary scientific backgrounds, aiming to pursue research in this field, as well as an informed public. - Presents the latest developments in the scientific study of consciousness - Critically reviews different theoretical and philosophical explanations related to the subject - An important book for both students and researchers in designing research projects on consciousness

Individual Differences in Conscious Experience

Individual Differences in Conscious Experience
Author: Robert G. Kunzendorf
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
Total Pages: 428
Release: 2000
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 9789027251404

Individual Differences in Conscious Experience is intended for readers with philosophical, psychological, or clinical interests in subjective experience. It addresses some difficult but important issues in the study of consciousness, subconsciousness, and self-consciousness. The book's fourteen chapters are written by renowned, pioneering researchers who, collectively, have published more than fifty books and more than one thousand journal articles. The editors' introductory chapter frames the book's subtext: that mind-brain theories embodying the constraints of individual differences in subjective experience should be given greater credence than nomothetic theories ignoring those constraints. The next five chapters describe research and theory pertaining to individual differences in conscious sensations — specifically, individual differences in pain perception, phantom limbs, gustatory sensations, and mental imagery. Then, two succeeding chapters focus on individual differences in subconsciousness. The final six chapters address individual differences in altered states of self-consciousness — dreams, hypnotic phenomena, and various clinical syndromes. (Series B)

Neural Correlates of Consciousness

Neural Correlates of Consciousness
Author: Thomas Metzinger
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 374
Release: 2000
Genre: Consciousness
ISBN: 9780262133708

This book brings together an international group of neuroscientists and philosophers who are investigating how the content of subjective experience is correlated with events in the brain. The fundamental methodological problem in consciousness research is the subjectivity of the target phenomenon--the fact that conscious experience, under standard conditions, is always tied to an individual, first-person perspective. The core empirical question is whether and how physical states of the human nervous system can be mapped onto the content of conscious experience. The search for the neural correlates of consciousness (NCC) has become a highly active field of investigation in recent years. Methods such as single-cell recording in monkeys and brain imaging and electrophysiology in humans, applied to such phenomena as blindsight, implicit/explicit cognition, and binocular rivalry, have generated a wealth of data. The same period has seen the development of a number of theories about NCC location. This volume brings together the leading experimentalists and theoreticians in the field. Topics include foundational and evolutionary issues, global integration, vision, consciousness and the NMDA receptor complex, neuroimaging, implicit processes, intentionality and phenomenal volition, schizophrenia, social cognition, and the phenomenal self. Contributors Jackie Andrade, Ansgar Beckermann, David J. Chalmers, Francis Crick, Antonio R. Damasio, Gerald M. Edelman, Dominic ffytche, Hans Flohr, N.P. Franks, Vittorio Gallese, Melvyn A. Goodale, Valerie Gray Hardcastle, Beena Khurana, Christof Koch, W.R. Lieb, Erik D. Lumer, Thomas Metzinger, Kelly J. Murphy, Romi Nijhawan, Joëlle Proust, Antti Revonsuo, Gerhard Roth, Thomas Schmidt, Wolf Singer, Giulio Tononi

The Sense of Agency

The Sense of Agency
Author: Patrick Haggard
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 453
Release: 2015-08-27
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 0190267291

Agency has two meanings in psychology and neuroscience. It can refer to one's capacity to affect the world and act in line with one's goals and desires--this is the objective aspect of agency. But agency can also refer to the subjective experience of controlling one's actions, or how it feels to achieve one's goals or affect the world. This subjective aspect is known as the sense of agency, and it is an important part of what makes us human. Interest in the sense of agency has exploded since the early 2000s, largely because scientists have learned that it can be studied objectively through analyses of human judgment, behavior, and the brain. This book brings together some of the world's leading researchers to give structure to this nascent but rapidly growing field. The contributors address questions such as: What role does agency play in the sense of self? Is agency based on predicting outcomes of actions? And what are the links between agency and motivation? Recent work on the sense of agency has been markedly interdisciplinary. The chapters collected here combine ideas and methods from fields as diverse as engineering, psychology, neurology, neuroscience, and philosophy of mind, making the book a valuable resource for any student or researcher interested in action, volition, and exploring how mind and brain are organized.