Consciousness Archives - Knowing Neurons

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Vincent A Medina May 23, 2023May 21, 2023 animals, cognitive science, Consciousness, Disease, Perception, Time

How does understanding time perception help us advance cognitive science?

by Vincent A. Medina We have all experienced time flying when we are happy and having fun. Conversely, everyone knows how slowly time can drag on when we feel bored… Read More

Cognition Consciousness Learning and Memory

Idha Sood November 15, 2022November 12, 2022 Cognition, Consciousness, Creativity, Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex, Idea, Thought, Working memory

Have You Ever Thought: “How Did I Think That Thought?”

By Idha Sood “Creativity is seeing what others see and thinking what no one else ever thought.” -Albert Einstein Has an idea popped into your head while having your afternoon… Read More

Artificial Intelligence Consciousness

Caitlin Goodpaster August 2, 2022August 1, 2022 algorithm, Artificial Intelligence, brain imaging, Computer Science, Dreaming, EEG, fMRI, language, Machine Learning, study of consciousness, Technology, verbal speech

Problems with Assessing Consciousness in the 21st Century

by Caitlin Goodpaster Early this June, a viral story hit the internet—an engineer at Google had claimed an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot named LaMDA was conscious (Tiku, 2022). LaMDA, which… Read More

Cognition Consciousness Learning and Memory Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders

Ayushe Sharma March 29, 2022March 29, 2022 Epilepsy, Microglia, Neuroimaging, Neuroinflammation, Neurological Disorders, Seizures, Traumatic brain injury

Seizure Disorders: An On-Going Mystery

The word “epilepsy” comes from the Greek epilambanein, meaning “to seize, take hold of, or attack” (Baloyannis, 2013). As evidenced by historical accounts and works of art, epilepsy has existed… Read More

Big Ideas Cognition Consciousness Psychedelics

Sean Noah January 27, 2022January 27, 2022 Pharmacology, Psychedelics, Space, World View

Psychedelic Journal Club: How Do Psychedelics Work? Part 2

A commentary on the article “Models of psychedelic drug action: modulation of cortical- subcortical circuits” by Manoj Doss et al., published in Brain. Even though the “psychedelic renaissance” is underway,… Read More

Big Ideas Cognition Consciousness Psychedelics

Sean Noah January 13, 2022 Metaphysical Beliefs, Psychedelics, Space, World View

Psychedelic Journal Club: A Whole New Worldview

A commentary on the article “Psychedelics alter metaphysical beliefs,” by Christopher Timmermann et al., published in Scientific Reports.… Read More

Big Ideas Consciousness Philosophy

Mariella Careaga September 20, 2021January 11, 2022 Animal, Behavior, Emotion, Empathy, Fear, feeling, Pain, social, Theory of mind

Do animals feel empathy?

From a dad hugging his daughter who lost a sports game to a husband trying to alleviate his wife’s distress by listening to her, humans have the capacity to adopt… Read More

Big Ideas Consciousness Did You Know?Evolution of Cognition Joel's Pick Neuro News Philosophy

Joel Frohlich June 8, 2021June 8, 2021 Anxiety, Awareness, Brain Awareness, brain imaging, Cognition, Consciousness, Default mode network, fMRI, Psychology

How Floating in Darkness Takes the Body off the Mind

What happens when your mind disconnects from all outside sensations? First, you undress, put in earplugs, and step into a floatation tank, the water warmed to the temperature of your… Read More

Big Ideas Consciousness Did You Know?Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders Sensation and Perception

Joshua Cain October 27, 2020February 18, 2021 brain imaging, Consciousness, Deep Brain Stimulation, Thalamus, transcranial electrical stimulation

Focused Ultrasound: A Stimulating New Strategy To Treat Severe Brain Damage

A year into my doctoral training at UCLA, I escape the noisy hustle and bustle of Ronald Reagan Hospital at midday, into a clean and quiet room in the Intensive… Read More

Consciousness Interviews

Joel Frohlich August 1, 2020August 3, 2020 Brain Injury, Consciousness, fMRI, Interview, Location, Motor, Spatial, Study, vegetative

Frames of Consciousness: An Interview with Martin Monti and Adrian Owen

Each night when you dream, your mind is active, yet your body is largely unresponsive unless woken up. A similar situation exists for some brain-injured patients who have lost consciousness—although… Read More

Brain Basics Consciousness Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders Sensation and Perception Sleep

Mira Rakicevic December 30, 2019June 3, 2021 Anxiety, Cataplexy, circadian rhythm, EEG, Electromyogram, Genetics, Hallucination, hypnagogic hallucination, Hypnopompic, Insomnia, Narcolepsy, NREM sleep, parasomnia, PER2, Polysomnography, REM sleep, Sleep, Sleep Apnea, Sleep Atonia, Sleep paralysis, stress, Vestibular-motor Hallucination

Sleep Paralysis: What Is It and What Causes It?

Sleep paralysis is a type of REM parasomnia or abnormal behavior that takes place during the REM sleep cycle. Also known as sleep atonia, this condition refers to the feeling… Read More

Brain Books by Knowing Neurons. The Case Against Reality by Donald Hoffman. Illustrated by McCall Sarrett & Jooyeun Lee.

Big Ideas Brain Books Consciousness Evolution of Cognition Sensation and Perception

Joel Frohlich December 6, 2019December 7, 2019 Brain Books, Cognition, Color, Consciousness, Evolution, Evolutionary Game Theory, Hallucination, hard problem of consciousness, Illusion, Interface Theory of Perception, mathematics, Motion, Necker Cube, Occam's Razor, Orientation, Perception, Physicalism, Psychology, Quantum mechanics

Book Review and Author Interview: The Case Against Reality by Donald Hoffman

A full interview with Donald Hoffman follows this book review Does the moon still exist when you’re not looking at it? In a provocative new book titled The Case Against… Read More

"What is Consciousness?" Professor Dave Explains in collaboration with Joel Frohlich

Big Ideas Brain Basics Collaborations Consciousness Podcast

knowingneurons May 16, 2019May 16, 2019 Cerebellum, Collaborations, Consciousness, Integrated Information Theory, mind uploading, Podcast

What Is Consciousness? [Podcast Collaboration]

What exactly do we consider “consciousness”? How much do we know about it already and how much more do we have to learn? Joel Frohlich of Knowing Neurons recently spoke… Read More

Big Ideas Consciousness Philosophy

DanielToker August 1, 2018August 1, 2018 Brain, Claude Shannon, Communication, Consciousness, David Chalmers, Entropy, Giulio Tononi, Information, Information theory, Integrated Information Theory, Neuroscience, philosophy, Psychology, Research, Science, Sensory experience

Measuring Consciousness in Bits

Consciousness is an ambiguous concept. It can mean a lot of different things, depending on the context. For example, I can say that I am conscious of something, as in, “I am… Read More

Big Ideas Consciousness Interviews Neuro SciFi Philosophy Podcast

Alexa Erdogan July 19, 2018July 19, 2018 Alzheimer, Alzheimer's, Alzheimer’s disease, Brain, Calcium imaging, Cnidarians, connectome, Consciousness, Cortex, EEG, Epilepsy, Interview, Jurrasic Park, Knowing Neurons, LEGO, long term depression, Long-term potentiation, LTD, LTP, Microscopy, Neuron, Neuroscience, Neurotransmitters, Parkinson's, Parkinson's Disease, Research, Sci-fi, Science, Science Fiction, SOMA, Upload

[Podcast] Uploading the Human Brain

[dropcap]I[/dropcap]n a brand new episode of the Knowing Neurons podcast, we explore the concept of “mind uploading”. How would something like a mind upload really work?… Read More

Consciousness Sleep

Patrick McNamara July 5, 2018 Brain, Brain Disorders, Cognition, Cognitive neuroscience, Consciousness, Cortex, Dream, Dream state, Dreaming, dreams, EEG, Inception, Multiple personality disorder, Neuroscience, NREM sleep, REM sleep, Research, Science, Science of sleep, Sex differences, Sleep, Sleep disorders, sleep-wake cycle

Our Dreams Have Many Purposes, Changing Across the Lifespan

[dropcap]A[/dropcap]lthough radically different in terms of their content and feel, the range of dream states are just as complex as waking states. If we look across an individual’s lifetime, we… Read More

Brain Basics Consciousness Neuro Primer

Sean Noah May 31, 2018March 3, 2019 Attention, Brain, Brain Basics, Consciousness, Focus, Perception, Vision

Neuro Primer: Attention

[dropcap]I[/dropcap]magine suffering through a 2pm class on a sweltering day in early June. Summer’s almost arrived, and it’s hard not to let your mind wander away from the dull information… Read More

Big Ideas Brain Books Consciousness Philosophy

Gabrielle Torre May 16, 2018May 17, 2018 Antonio Damasio, Bacteria, Consciousness, Culture, Emotion, Evolution, homeostasis, reason, valence

The Strange Order of Things: Book Review

[dropcap]H[/dropcap]ow do emotions construct human culture? Is culture uniquely human at all? Hard questions, but some tackled nonetheless by renowned neuroscientist Antonio Damasio in his latest book, The Strange… Read More

Big Ideas Consciousness Philosophy

Joel Frohlich February 21, 2018February 21, 2018 Anesthesia, Brain, Cerebellum, Cerebral Cortex, complexity, Conscious, Consciousness, Cortex, Death, Evolution, Giulio Tononi, Human, Information, Integrated Information Theory, Lesions, Life, Neurons, Neurophilosophy, philosophy, Qualia, Seizure, Sleep, Solipsism, Systems, Thomas Nagel, Transcranial Magnetic Stimulaion, Zombies

Consciousness: The Final Frontier

When I walk through my kitchen, I smell fresh food and feel warmth radiating off of it. These internal, subjective experiences are called qualia. I assume that my refrigerator, my… Read More

Big Ideas Consciousness Philosophy

DanielToker January 31, 2018February 3, 2018 Brain, brain-to-brain communication, Consciousness, Hive Mind, Integrated Information Theory, Memory, Neuroscience, Prefrontal Cortex, Tononi

The emergence of a hive mind: Should we worry?

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he term “hive mind” refers to the apparent intelligence that emerges at the group level in some social species, particularly insects like honeybees and ants. An individual honeybee might not… Read More

Brain Books Consciousness Learning and Memory Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders

Gabrielle Torre January 17, 2018January 17, 2018 Brain book, Consciousness, Henry Molaison, Hippocampus, Lonnie Sue Johnson, medial temporal lobes, Memory, Michael D. Lemonick, Patient H.M., Short-term Memory, The Perpetual Now, Viral encephalitis

Book Review: The Perpetual Now

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]en years ago, in December 2007, an artist named Lonnie Sue Johnson lost her short term memory. She was admitted to the emergency room in the midst of a blizzard… Read More

Consciousness Learning and Memory Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders

Yaïr Pinto January 10, 2018January 10, 2018 Consciousness, Gazzaniga, Learning, Memory, Neuroscience, Perception, Prefrontal Cortex, Research, Sperry, Split brain

When You Split the Brain, Do You Split the Person?

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he brain is perhaps the most complex machine in the Universe. It consists of two cerebral hemispheres, each with many different modules. Fortunately, all these separate parts are not autonomous… Read More

Artificial Intelligence Big Ideas Consciousness German Multilingual Neuroscience Technologies

Joel Frohlich October 25, 2017August 6, 2021 BBP, Benoit Mandelbrot, Bewusstsein, Blue Brain Project, complexity, Consciousness, Das Gehirn nachbauen, David Marr, emergence, emergent properties, emergente Eigenschaften, Gehirn, HBP, Henry Markham, Hirnforscher, human brain project, IBM, Intelligence, Intelligenz, levels of analysis, Mandelbort set, Marr's levels of analysis, models, Neurowissenschaft, Neurowissenschaftler, Nichtlinearität, nonlinearity, orphan receptors, Reductionism, Reduktionismus, reverse engineering, Selbstorganisation, Self-organization, supercomputer, tripartite synapse, Waisenrezeptoren

Reverse Engineering the Brain

Can we learn everything about the brain by studying individual brain cells? It started with a simple equation. In 1980, a mathematician named Benoit Mandelbrot working for IBM plotted the… Read More

Big Ideas Consciousness Philosophy

Chris Frith September 29, 2017October 6, 2017 agency, choice, Consciousness, Epicurus, Free Will, Illusion, Mopan Maya, morality, Perception, philosophy, stoic

Our Illusory Sense of Agency Has a Deeply Important Social Purpose

[dropcap]I[/dropcap]’m trying to concentrate on writing this piece, but my two grandchildren in the room next door have stopped making paper aeroplanes and started arguing. ‘You kicked me,’ yells Freya.… Read More

Big Ideas Consciousness Philosophy Sensation and Perception

DanielToker June 28, 2017September 24, 2017 Brain in a Vat, Consciousness, Gilbert Harmanm, Hallucination, Illusion, Perception, Rene Descartes, The Matrix

We Are All Brains in Vats

The Matrix made all of us ask the same disturbing questions: How do I know that the world I see, hear, and touch is real? Can I prove that I’m… Read More

Big Ideas Consciousness Philosophy

Keith Frankish June 14, 2017June 30, 2017 Consciousness, David Chalmers, hard problem of consciousness, panpsychism, philosophy, philosophy of mind

Why panpsychism fails to solve the mystery of consciousness

Is consciousness everywhere? Is it a basic feature of the Universe, at the very heart of the tiniest subatomic particles? Such an idea – panpsychism as it is known –… Read More

Big Ideas Consciousness Philosophy

Philip Geoff June 7, 2017June 30, 2017 Aeon, Consciousness, Intrinsic, Nature, panpsychism, philosophy

Is there Consciousness in Everything?

Common sense tells us that only living things have an inner life. Rabbits and tigers and mice have feelings, sensations and experiences; tables and rocks and molecules do not. Panpsychists… Read More

Artificial Intelligence Big Ideas Consciousness Neuro SciFi Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders Philosophy

Joel Frohlich May 3, 2017October 29, 2017 AI, android, Artificial Intelligence, Blade Runner, China brain, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Gedankenexperiment, Graham Sleight, Hans Christian Oersted, mood organ, Ned Block, Philip K. Dick, pupillometry, Science Fiction, thought experiment

The Ultimate Thought Experiment Part I: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

Let’s imagine something crazy. What if each person in China was ordered to simulate a neuron in a brain, making an enormous “China brain?” Every participant in this grand experiment… Read More

Big Ideas Brain Basics Consciousness

Joel Frohlich April 6, 2017July 10, 2017 Anatomy, Christof Koch, claustrum, Consciousness, Francis Crick, Giulio Tononi, Integrated Information Theory, Optogenetics, Rene Descartes, Self-organization

What the Heck is a Claustrum?

Given its subjective nature, consciousness is already a controversial topic in the world of brain science. While some neuroscientists doubt that consciousness can even be studied, others still endeavor towards… Read More

Brain Basics Consciousness Sensation and Perception Videos

Joel Frohlich September 15, 2016July 10, 2017 associators, Blue, Brain, brain imaging, Color, color-grapheme, Colors, Conscious, Consciousness, diffusion tensor imaging, DTI, Francis Galton, Green, Hear, ideasthesia, Interview, Music, Neuroscience, projectors, Red, See, Sound, Synesthesia, Synethesia, Violin

Garbage Smells Green and Gunshots Are Rainbows

The minds of individuals are like parallel universes, forever inaccessible to one another. Never do we truly see through the eyes of another person. It is common for us to… Read More

Brain Books Consciousness Philosophy

Joel Frohlich January 13, 2016July 10, 2017 Artificial Intelligence, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid, Book, Brain book, Can machines think, cognitive science, Douglas Hofstader, Escher, Gödel, Hofstadter, Is the brain a computer, Kurt Gödel, logic, mathematician, mathematics, mind, Neuron, paradox, physicist, quantum, riddle, Roger Penrose, Shadows of the Mind, Stuart Hammeroff, The Emperor's New Mind, theorem, Tubulin

Double Book Review: The Emperor’s New Mind and Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid

“A barber (who is a man) shaves all and only those men who do not shave themselves. Does he shave himself?” If you can’t solve the above riddle, don’t worry… Read More

Screensavers of the Brain: The Science of Dreaming

Consciousness Did You Know?Sleep

Joel Frohlich September 2, 2015July 10, 2017 Awake, Cycle, Dream, EEG, Hypnogram, K-complex, PGO, ponto-geniculo-occipital, Rapid eye movement, REM, Sleep, Spindle, waves

Screensavers of the Brain: The Science of Dreaming

Each night, you place your head on your pillow, close your eyes, and, barring insomnia, you lose consciousness of the world around you, drifting into blissful oblivion. Eventually, you reawaken,… Read More

Ghost in the Machine: The Neuroscience of Consciousness

Big Ideas Brain Basics Consciousness Did You Know?Philosophy

Joel Frohlich March 4, 2015July 10, 2017 A measure for brain complexity: relating functional segregation and integration in the nervous system, A universe of consciousness: how matter becomes imagination, An information integration theory of consciousness, Brain, Cerebellum, Consciousness, Cortex, Edelman, EEG, Giulio Tononi, Idea, IIT, Integrated Information Theory, Neuroscience, Phi, Seizure, Thought, Tononi

Ghost in the Machine: The Neuroscience of Consciousness

Some questions cannot be addressed by science. Like parallel universes, the consciousness of others is not something that can be directly observed, measured, or experienced. Rene Descartes famously said, “I… Read More