The Science of Consciousness

Cover
Half-title page
Title page
Copyright page
Dedication page
Contents
List of Figures
Preface
Acknowledgements
List of Abbreviations
Part I The Nature of Consciousness
1 The Problem of Consciousness
Why Study Consciousness?
Consciousness and Psychology
Consciousness and Neuroscience
Consciousness and Philosophy
Box 1.1 The Homunculus Inside Us
Consciousness and Spirituality
How We Study Consciousness
Scientific Experimentation
Box 1.2 The Role of Falsification in Science
Box 1.3 The History of Neuroscience
Philosophical Thought Experiments
Artificial Intelligence
Defining Consciousness
Definitions of Consciousness
Awareness
The Problem of Other Minds
The Hard and Easy Problems of Consciousness
Intentionality: Are We Always Conscious of Something?
Types of Consciousness
Phenomenal and Access Consciousness
Other Types of Consciousness
Degrees of Consciousness
The History of Consciousness Research
The Problems of Consciousness
Chapter Summary
Review Questions
Recommended Resources
2 The Mind–Body Problem
Box 2.1 Philosophy: Terms and Disciplines
Thought Experiments
The Mind and the Brain
The Mind–Brain Problem
The Mereological Fallacy
Qualia
Dualism and Monism
René Descartes and Substance Dualism
Other Types of Dualism
Monism
Box 2.2 The History of Physics
The Knowledge Argument
The ‘Mary’ Colour Thought Experiment
For and Against Physicalism
The Inverted Colour Spectrum
The Problem of Pain
The Physical Aspect of Pain
The Mental Aspect of Pain
Pain in Babies
P-zombies
Box 2.3 Zombies
Is Consciousness Essential?
Being Conceivable
Materialism
Reductive Materialism
Eliminative Materialism
Functionalism
Silicon Neurons and Silicon Brains
Box 2.4 Neurons
The ‘China Brain’ Thought Experiment
Box 2.5 What is Computation?
Arguments Against Functionalism
Mysterianism
Chapter Summary
Review Questions
Recommended Resources
3 Do We Have Free Will?
People and Objects
Determinism and Free Will
Human Behaviour
The Implications of Quantum Mechanics
Dualism and Free Will
Box 3.1 What Is an Illusion?
The Homunculus in the Cartesian Theatre
The Benefits of Believing in Free Will
Compatibilism
Environmental Effects on Behaviour
Box 3.2 Toxoplasma
Crime and Punishment
Moral Responsibility
Box 3.3 The Purpose of Punishment
The Role of Psychology in Understanding Crime
Deciding to Act
Libet’s Experiments on ‘Voluntary’ Movement
Box 3.4 Measuring Brain Activity with EEG
Criticisms of Libet’s Experiments
Involuntary Action
Alien Hand Syndrome
Skill and Habit
Psychological Compulsions
Chapter Summary
Review Questions
Recommended Resources
4 Machine Consciousness
Artificial Life
Artificial Intelligence
The Timeline of Progress in AI
Chess-playing Computers
Box 4.1 Computer Beats Human
The Turing Test
Early AI Models of Psychology
How Smart Are Computers Now?
The Computational Correlates of Consciousness
LIDA
Could a Disembodied AI Ever Be Conscious?
Robotics
Box 4.2 Aliens
Swarm Intelligence
Evolutionary Robotics
Robots and Consciousness
Building a Brain
Constructing an Artificial Brain
Neuroprosthesis
The Future of AI
The Technological Singularity
Box 4.3 Transhumanism
Is AI a Threat?
Chapter Summary
Review Questions
Recommended Resources
5 Animal Consciousness
Which Non-human Animals might be Conscious?
The Mind of an Animal
Animal Intelligence
Box 5.1 Learning Without Neurons
The Mirror Test of Self-recognition
Animals and Pain
Box 5.2 Do Plants Feel Pain?
Theory of Mind
The Importance of Social Interaction
The Evolution of Consciousness
Protoconsciousness
The Importance of Language
Recursion
The Bicameral Mind
Panpsychism
Chapter Summary
Review Questions
Recommended Resources
Part II The Workings of Consciousness
6 Looking at Our Own Minds
The Contents of Consciousness
The Stream of Consciousness
The Process of Introspection
Phenomenology
Experience Sampling
The Limits of Introspection
Your Beliefs
The Reliability of Beliefs
Box 6.1 Solipsism, Anti-realism, and Deceiving Devils
Delusions
Box 6.2 Schizophrenia
Mass Hysteria
Confabulation
Box 6.3 The Tanganyika Laughter Epidemic of 1962
Denial
Box 6.4 Dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease
Is Anything Unavailable to Consciousness?
Freud and the Unconscious
Box 6.5 Satanic Child Abuse
Jung and the ‘Collective Unconscious’
Subliminal Processing
Chapter Summary
Review Questions
Recommended Resources
7 Self and Identity
The Self
The ‘Self Model’
Ego and Bundle Theories
Box 7.1 Face Transplants
The Knower and the Known
Damasio’s Three Levels of Self
Types of Self and the Executive Self
The Continuity of Existence
Amnesia and the Loss of Memories
Box 7.2 Herpes simplex Encephalitis
The Neuroscience of the Self
Disorders of the Physical Self
Split-brain Studies
Dissociative States
Box 7.3 Derealisation: A Case Study
Dissociative Identity Disorders
The Boundaries of the Self
Phantom Bodies
Phantom Limbs and Phantom Pain
The Rubber Hand Illusion
Awareness of Motor Control
Is the Self Restricted to the Body?
Is the Self Just Another Illusion?
Chapter Summary
Review Questions
Recommended Resources
8 Cognition and Consciousness
Consciousness Is About Limitations
Language and Consciousness
Language and Culture
Thinking
Inner Speech
Mental Imagery
Attention
Visual Attention
The Default Mode Network
Box 8.1 The Default Mode Network
Global Workspace Theory
The Neuronal Workspace Theory
Box 8.2 The Neuroscience of the Neuronal Workspace Model
The Multiple Drafts Model
Modelling the World
Mental Models
Mental Time Travel
Metacognition
Representational Theories
Recursion (Again)
Box 8.3 What Is a Complex System?
Emergence
Representation and Consciousness
Free Energy
Quantum Consciousness
Box 8.4 Quantum Mechanics
Chapter Summary
Review Questions
Recommended Resources
9 Perception and Consciousness
Empiricism
Are You Dreaming Now?
Box 9.1 The Brain in a Vat
Normal Visual Perception
Filling in
Bistable Figures
Binocular Rivalry
Change Blindness and Inattentional Blindness
Visual Illusions
No-report Paradigm
Disorders of Visuo-spatial Perception
Blindsight
Spatial Neglect
Synaesthesia
Proprioception
The Binding Problem
Box 9.2 Gamma Waves
Microconsciousness
Visual Awareness
Box 9.3 The Jennifer Aniston Neuron
The Grand Illusion
Chapter Summary
Review Questions
Recommended Resources
10 Consciousness and the Brain
Box 10.1 Studying the Living Brain
The Neural Correlates of Consciousness
The ‘Astonishing Hypothesis’
Mind Reading: Finding Internal Content from the Outside
The Electrophysiology of Consciousness
Box 10.2 Brain Waves
The Evolution of the Brain
The Development of Consciousness
Incomplete Brains
General Anaesthesia
Box 10.3 The History of Anaesthetics
How Do General Anaesthetics Work?
Post-operative Recall
The Thalamus and Thalamo-cortical Systems
Are NCC Frontal or Posterior?
Re-entry and the Dynamic Core Hypothesis
The Claustrum
The Role of Anterior Cingulate
Integrated Information Theory
Radical Plasticity
What Is Death?
Death as Loss of Higher Functions
Disorders of Consciousness
Coma and Coma-like States
Definitions of Death
Locked-in Syndrome
Can We Escape Death?
Chapter Summary
Review Questions
Recommended Resources
Part III Other States of Consciousness
11 Altered States of Consciousness
What Is an ASC?
Box 11.1 Psychonauts
Types of ASC
Sensory Deprivation
The Ganzfeld
Out-of-body Experiences
Box 11.2 Laboratory-induced OBEs
Explaining OBEs
Migraine and Epilepsy
Near-death Experiences
Box 11.3 How NDEs Reduce Fear of Death
Biological Explanations of NDEs
Encephalitis Lethargica
Other Types of ASC
Chapter Summary
Review Questions
Recommended Resources
12 Sleep
What Is Sleep?
Do All Animals Sleep?
The Biology of Sleep
Circadian Rhythms
The Electrophysiology of Sleep
The Neurology of Sleep
The Neuropharmacology of Sleep
Box 12.1 Neurotransmitters
The AIM Model of Sleep and Dreaming
Sleep Disorders
Getting to Sleep and Staying Awake
Problems During Sleep
Box 12.2 Talking in Your Sleep
Box 12.3 Murder in Your Sleep
Sleep Deprivation
Box 12.4 Sleep Deprivation for Depression
Why Do We Sleep?
Evolutionary Functions of Sleep
Sleep and Learning
Chapter Summary
Review Questions
Recommended Resources
13 Dreams
Are Dreams Real?
Box 13.1 Zhuangzi’s (Chuang-Tzu’s) Butterfly Dream
What Is a Dream?
How Well Do We Remember Our Dreams?
Lucid Dreams
Dream Content
Box 13.2 Dream Content
Nightmares
Box 13.3 Sleep Paralysis
Recurring Dreams
Why Do We Dream?
Dreaming and Creativity
Are Dreams a Way of Dealing with Threat?
Psychoanalysis and Dreams
Post-analytic Dream Theories
Dreams and Learning
Chapter Summary
Review Questions
Recommended Resources
14 Hypnosis
The History of Hypnosis
Box 14.1 Freud, Charcot, Hysteria, and Hypnosis
The Process of Hypnosis
Hypnotic Induction
The Hypnotic Trance
Individual Differences in Hypnotisability
Box 14.2 Categories of Question in the Tellegen Absorption Scale
Can We Learn Suggestibility?
What Makes a Good Hypnotist?
Box 14.3 Snake Charmers and Horse Whisperers
Is There a Special Hypnotic State?
Dissociation
Non-state Theories of Hypnosis
Effects of Hypnosis
Hypnotic Suggestions
Hypnosis and Memory
Box 14.4 Is Hypnosis Dangerous?
Hypnotic Anaesthesia
The Neuroscience of Hypnosis
Self-hypnosis
What Hypnosis Tells Us About Cognition
Chapter Summary
Review Questions
Recommended Resources
15 Drugs and Consciousness
A Classification of Psychoactive Drugs
Cannabis
Box 15.1 Medicinal Use of Cannabis
Amphetamine and Other Stimulants
Amphetamine
Box 15.2 Amphetamine Psychosis
Cocaine
Opiates and Opioids
Morphine
Heroin
Hallucinogenic Drugs
Deliriant Drugs
Dissociative Drugs
Psychedelic Drugs
Peyote
Psilocybin
DMT
LSD
Box 15.3 Urban Myths and LSD Use
The History of LSD Use
Box 15.4 The Summer of Love
Box 15.5 The Good Friday Marsh Chapel Experiment
The Neuroscience of Hallucinogens
The Social Context of Drug Use
The Dangers of Cannabis
Cultural Diversity in Drug Use
Therapeutic Use of Hallucinogens
Chapter Summary
Review Questions
Recommended Resources
16 Meditation and Transcendental Experiences
Meditation
The Physiological Effects of Meditation
Box 16.1 Raising Body Temperature Through Meditation
The Neuroscience of Meditation
Mindfulness
Transcendental Consciousness
Box 16.2 The Life of Colin Wilson
Consciousness Raising
Religious Experiences
Box 16.3 The Nine Characteristics of Mystical States
Temporal Lobe Activity and Religion
Entheogens
Buddhism
Zen
Chapter Summary
Review Questions
Recommended Resources
17 Parapsychology
ESP and Psi
Spontaneous Phenomena
Box 17.1 The Versailles Time Travel Incident
Box 17.2 Sonic Noise and Sonic Weapons
How Spontaneous Phenomena Change with Time
Experimental Findings in Parapsychology
Box 17.3 Psychic Superstars
Issues in Experimental Design
Psi and Altered States of Consciousness
Box 17.4 Hoax Mediums
Psi in the Ganzfeld
Remote Viewing
Bem’s Experiments
Trait and State Studies
Experimenter Effects in Parapsychological Research
Psychokinesis
Box 17.5 Poltergeist
What Would Convince a Sceptic?
What Does Parapsychology Tell Us About Consciousness?
Survival
Box 17.6 Ghosts
Reincarnation
Chapter Summary
Review Questions
Recommended Resources
18 Bringing it all Together
How Do We Define Consciousness?
The ‘Hard Problem’
What Are the Neural Correlates of Consciousness?
What Are the Cognitive Correlates of Consciousness?
The Timing of Events
The Problem of Free Will
What Is the Self?
Why Are Some Things Unconscious?
Why Are We Conscious?
Solving the Binding Problem
What Are Altered States of Consciousness?
Consciousness Around the World
Can There Be a Science of Consciousness?
How This Book Will Help Your Life
Chapter Summary
Recommended Resources
Glossary of General Terms
Glossary of Basic Neuroanatomy Location Terms
Glossary of the Most Common Neurotransmitters
Glossary of the Most Important Neuroanatomical Structures
References
Index