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474499-FS2022-0-Neurobiological foundations of theories of consciousness





Root number 474499
Semester FS2022
Type of course Seminar
Allocation to subject Psychology
Type of exam Presentation
Title Neurobiological foundations of theories of consciousness
Description Consciousness cannot be touched, it has neither color nor form. Dalai-Lama

Consciousness is the subject of investigation in numerous scientific studies. However, already the definition of consciousness is inconsistent. On the one hand, consciousness can refer to the state of wakefulness (State Consciousness), but on the other hand, it can also refer to the degree of consciousness with which one has access to information processed in the waking state (Access Consciousness); and sometimes consciousness is even used to refer to the content of information. State Consciousness and Access Consciousness are partially correlated but are usually studied independently. This seminar will focus on theories of Access Consciousness. Within these theories, their neurobiological foundations will be discussed in particular. The philosophical foundations of these theories of consciousness will be treated rather marginally.
The seminar participants will work out answers to the following questions: 1) Which categories of theories of consciousness exist? 2) To what extent do they contradict/complement each other? 3) Which methods are used to study consciousness scientifically? 4) How and where does consciousness arise in the brain? 5) What neurobiological markers are associated with consciousness? 6) Can machines develop consciousness?
Within the double lessons we will look at relevant theories and discuss the empirical work supporting them. Participants will prepare for eachlesson by means of a given paper. In addition, each participant will co-create one seminar session. The seminar is intended for students who are familiar with neuroscience, e.g., because they have studied the bachelor's minor in neuroscience. In addition, since the selected articles are neuroscientifically challenging, participants must schedule sufficient time for the seminar preparation. In return, each participant will be graded on the basis of the co-organized seminar lesson and their oral participation (no term paper/exam).

Start: 4 March 2022

Syllabus:
Signorelli, et al. (2021). Explanatory profiles of models of consciousness—Towards a systematic classification.
Crick and Koch (1990). Towards a neurobiological theory of consciousness.
Tononi, et al. (2016). Integrated information theory: From consciousness to its physical substrate.
Boly, et al. (2017). Are the Neural Correlates of Consciousness in the Front or in the Back of the Cerebral Cortex? Clinical and Neuroimaging Evidence.
Wilterson, et al. (2020). Attention control and the attention schema theory of consciousness.
Graziano, et al. (2016). Most popular theories of consciousness are worse than wrong.
Mashour, et al. (2020). Conscious Processing and the Global Neuronal Workspace Hypothesis.
Bekinschtein, et al. (2009). Neural signature of the conscious processing of auditory regularities.
Schneider, et al. (2021). Larger capacity for unconscious versus conscious episodic memory.
Brown, et al. (2019). Understanding the Higher-Order Approach to Consciousness.
Lau, et al. (2011). Empirical support for higher-order theories of conscious awareness.
Dehaene, et al. (2017). What is consciousness, and could machines have it?
Carter, et al. (2018). Conscious machines: Defining questions.
Doerig, et al. (2021). Hard criteria for empirical theories of consciousness.
ILIAS-Link (Learning resource for course) Registrations are transmitted from CTS to ILIAS (no admission in ILIAS possible). ILIAS
Link to another web site
Lecturers Prof. Dr. Katharina Henke, Institute of Psychology, Further Research Groups ✉
Flavio Jean Schmidig, Institute of Psychology ✉
Tom Eric Willems, Institute of Psychology, Further Research Groups ✉
ECTS 5
Recognition as optional course possible Yes
Grading 1 to 6
 
Dates Friday 10:15-12:00 Weekly
 
Rooms Seminarraum B 201, Institutsgebäude vonRoll
 
Students please consult the detailed view for complete information on dates, rooms and planned podcasts.