Phil/Psych 446

Seminar in Cognitive Science

Week 7: Brains

How Brains Represent

Neurons, neural groups, brain areas, transformations.

Application to kinds of consciousness: sensory, pain, emotion, metacognition.

Unity of consciousness.

(a) Explain in terms of binding, synchrony?

(b) Reject.

Discussion questions

1. What is the aim of the neuroscience of consciousness: correlates, mechanisms, or necessary and sufficient conditions?

2.Why is pain conscious?

3. Is the unity of consciousness illusory?

4. How is consciousness integrated?

5. What is the best response to the "What Mary Knows" argument for dualism?

6. Can theories of neural representation accommodate philosophical theories that consciousness involves higher-level reperesentations?

7. What kinds of brain damage shed light on the nature of consciousness?

Videos (some on consciousness):

http://broodsphilosophy.wordpress.com/2006/06/15/online-videos-of-philosophical-lectures/

Pinker on Colbert Report

http://scienceblogs.com/purepedantry/2007/02/steven_pinker_on_the_colbert_r.php


Phil/Psych 446

Computational Epistemology Laboratory.

Paul Thagard

This page updated Oct. 23, 2007