Neuron
June 17, 2026
Vincent Taschereau-Dumouchel, Jun Seo Hwang, Hakwan Lau et al.
Rising media attention regarding consciousness in animals, fetuses, organoids, and AI has led to some rather strong statements. Most of these claims are based on "markers" of consciousness that track the general capacity for information processing rather than subjective experience per se. Accordingly, their relevance for theory arbitration may actually be limited.
Acta Psychologica
February 13, 2026
Hina Kawaguchi, Vincent Taschereau-Dumouchel, Hakwan Lau et al.
Story reading is often accompanied with mental visualization of the described scenes and events. Recent findings indicate that individuals who report not experiencing any visual imagery (a condition called aphantasia), also report being less absorbed and engaged when reading stories. In the present study, we explored how aphantasics (n = 8) and controls (n = 20) read imagery-rich stories. We...
Current Biology
August 1, 2023
Joseph E LeDoux, Jonathan Birch, Kristin Andrews et al.
There is growing interest in the relationship been AI and consciousness. Joseph LeDoux and Jonathan Birch thought it would be a good moment to put some of the big questions in this area to some leading experts. The challenge of addressing the questions they raised was taken up by Kristin Andrews, Nicky Clayton, Nathaniel Daw, Chris Frith, Hakwan Lau, Megan Peters, Susan Schneider, Anil Seth,...
In Consciousness we Trust
February 10, 2022
Hakwan Lau
Abstract Most of us agree that consciousness emerged at some time through our evolutionary history. Many also find probable that it is a relatively recent invention; simple organisms like bacteria are presumably not conscious. However, evolution is a long and complex process. Consciousness could have evolved mostly as a byproduct or for reasons that we do not intuitively expect. So, what good...
In Consciousness we Trust
February 10, 2022
Hakwan Lau
Abstract This chapter argues that the subjective quality of a conscious experience can be understood in terms of how similar it is to all other possible experiences. We discuss how these similarity relationships can be implicitly and conveniently assessed, given the structure of the mammalian sensory cortices. These mechanisms allow the subject to “know”, without effort, what an experience is...
February 10, 2022
Hakwan Lau
Abstract This book puts forward a mechanistic account of subjective experience based on a review of the current cognitive neuroscience literature on conscious perception, attention, and metacognition. It is argued that current empirical studies are often misinterpreted. An undue focus has been placed on perceptual capacity rather than subjective experience per se. Null findings are often...
Trends in Cognitive Sciences
September 1, 2019
Richard Brown, Hakwan Lau, Joseph E LeDoux
The higher-order theory (HOT) of consciousness has often been misunderstood by critics. Here, we clarify its position on several issues, and distinguish it from other views, such as the global workspace theory (GWT) and early sensory models (e.g., first-order local recurrency theories). For example, HOT has been criticized for overintellectualizing consciousness. We show that, while...
Nature Human Behaviour
February 1, 2019
M. Michel, Diane M Beck, Ned Block et al.
Scientific research on consciousness is critical to multiple scientific, clinical, and ethical issues. The growth of the field could also be beneficial to several areas including neurology and mental health research. To achieve this goal, we need to set funding priorities carefully and address problems such as job creation and potential media misrepresentation.
Frontiers in Psychology
November 5, 2018
Matthias Michel, Stephen M Fleming, Hakwan Lau et al.
The scientific study of consciousness emerged as an organized field of research only a few decades ago. As empirical results have begun to enhance our understanding of consciousness, it is important to find out whether other factors, such as funding for consciousness research and status of consciousness scientists, provide a suitable environment for the field to grow and develop sustainably. We...
Current Biology
July 1, 2018
J. Knotts, Brian Odegaard, Hakwan Lau
Key theories of consciousness predict that the prefrontal cortex (PFC) plays important roles, but there has been relatively little causal evidence showing that manipulation of activity in the region can broadly affect conscious experiences. A new study provides crucial findings to help resolve this issue, showing that direct pharmacological stimulation of PFC restores wakefulness in...
Science
October 27, 2017
Stanislas Dehaene, Hakwan Lau, S. Kouider
The controversial question of whether machines may ever be conscious must be based on a careful consideration of how consciousness arises in the only physical system that undoubtedly possesses it: the human brain. We suggest that the word “consciousness” conflates two different types of information-processing computations in the brain: the selection of information for global broadcasting, thus...
The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience
October 4, 2017
Brian Odegaard, Robert T. Knight, Hakwan Lau
Is activity in prefrontal cortex (PFC) critical for conscious perception? Major theories of consciousness make distinct predictions about the role of PFC, providing an opportunity to arbitrate between these views empirically. Here we address three common misconceptions: (1) PFC lesions do not affect subjective perception; (2) PFC activity does not reflect specific perceptual content; and (3)...
Neuroscience of Consciousness
2016
Megan A. K. Peters, T. Ro, Hakwan Lau
Response bias (or criterion) contamination is insidious in studies of consciousness: that observers report they do not see a stimulus may not mean they have absolutely no subjective experience; they may be giving such reports in relative terms in the context of other stimuli. Bias-free signal detection theoretic measures provide an excellent method for avoiding response bias confounds, and many...
Journal of Vision
February 23, 2011
H. Lou, Joshua Skewes, Kristine Rømer Thomsen et al.
83 citations
Liberal acceptance, overconfidence, and increased activity of the neurotransmitter dopamine have been proposed to account for abnormal sensory experiences, for instance, hallucinations in schizophrenia. In normal subjects, increased sensory experience in Yoga Nidra meditation is linked to striatal dopamine release. We therefore hypothesize that the neurotransmitter dopamine may function as a...
WIREs Cognitive Science
2011
Hakwan Lau
AbstractI review the major contenders for the neural correlates of visual awareness. Different views of the neural correlates turn out to support different theories, such as the global workspace theory, local visual processing theories, and the higher‐order representation theory. Therefore, studying the neural correlates of consciousness may prove useful to theoretical development, although...
Journal of Vision
June 4, 2010
Brian Maniscalco, Elisabeth Rounis, John C. Rothwell et al.
47 citations
Introduction Current theories suggest that prefrontal cortex (PFC) plays an important role in visual awareness (Dehaene 2003). This hypothesis has been supported by a number of brain imaging studies (Rees 2002). However, critics have challenged that there has been a lack of neuropsychological demonstration of the essential role of PFC in visual awareness: PFC damage does not seem to result in...
Hakwan Lau
preprint
There are (at least) two possible readings of Block’s recent suggestion that consciousness may depend on subcomputational biological mechanisms [1]. First, there could be distinct mechanisms that support the same computations, yet only some biological ones give rise to subjective experiences. These mechanisms may differ functionally in ways that cannot be characterized in purely computational...