Cognitive Neuroscience of Consciousness (Brain) - Detailseite

There has been a long history of debates surrounding the potential neural mechanisms of consciousness in the human brain. Recently this research field has seen severe controversies, leading some researchers to label certain scientific positions as “pseudoscience”. In this seminar we will approach this debate in several steps: First, we will look into the history of the body mind problem with a special view on the problem of consciousness. Second, we will learn about several influential theories that posit very different neural mechanisms for conscious experience (e.g. global workspace theory, recurrent processing theory, integrated information theory, prefrontal theories). We will look into their evidence base and see where they excel and also where they fail. Third, we will learn about theoretical positions and sets of criteria that have tried to systematize the problem (such as e.g. structuralism). Fourth, we will look into the current controversies surrounding adversarial collaborations and their outcomes. The aim is that after this seminar every participant can form an opinion on the current state of the important field, the most promising paths for future research as well as possible principle limitations.