The Behavioral and brain sciences
June 25, 2026
Susan Blackmore
The authors make common assumptions that I reject: that consciousness has functions distinct from those of the brain processes on which it depends, that there is a moment at which consciousness happens, and that consciousness itself can be measured. This leads to Cartesian materialism and asking such unanswerable questions as when and why consciousness evolved. An alternative view is proposed.
March 13, 2024
Susan Blackmore, Emily T. Troscianko
46 citations
Altered states of consciousness (ASCs) are surprisingly hard to define and to measure. Neither ‘subjective’ methods (like verbal reports) nor ‘objective’ measures (such as how the state is induced, or physiological and behavioural criteria) are entirely satisfactory. Attempts to map ASCs are reviewed, including two- or three-dimensional maps such as Tart&s;s and Laureys’, and Hobson&s;s AIM...
March 13, 2024
Susan Blackmore, Emily T. Troscianko
After briefly surveying the basics of waking, sleeping, and dreaming, this chapter turns from physiology to experience. Dreams are often bizarre, with incongruity, uncertainty, and sudden scene changes, possibly due to failed feature binding. Studies of dream recall and content reveal sex differences in content and show how children&s;s dreams develop along with their cognitive abilities. Dream...
Journal of Scientific Exploration
March 8, 2021
Marilyn Schlitz, Daryl Bem, † Davíd et al.
11 citations
Two experiments involving an international collaboration of experimenters sought to replicate and extend a previously published psi experiment on precognition by Daryl Bem that has been the focus of extensive research. The experiment reverses the usual cause–effect sequence of a standard psychology experiment using priming and reaction times. The preregistered confirmatory hypothesis is that...
Oxford University Press eBooks
October 26, 2017
Susan Blackmore
112 citations
Consciousness is ‘the last great mystery for science’. How can a physical brain create our experience of the world? What creates our identity? Do we really have free will? Could consciousness itself be an illusion? Exciting new developments in brain science are continuing these debates, and the field has now expanded to include biologists, neuroscientists, psychologists, and philosophers....
Consciousness: A Very Short Introduction
September 14, 2017
Susan Blackmore
18 citations
‘Altered states of consciousness’ discusses the states of consciousness during sleep, dreaming, hallucinations, out-of-body experiences, near-death experiences, meditation, and after taking psychoactive drugs. Psychologist Charles Tart defines an altered state of consciousness (ASC) as ‘a qualitative alteration in the overall pattern of mental functioning, such that the experiencer feels his...
Consciousness: A Very Short Introduction
September 14, 2017
Susan Blackmore
‘The human brain’ considers the brain as a vast network of connections from which come our extraordinary abilities: perception, learning, memory, reasoning, language, and somehow or another—consciousness. Different areas deal with vision, hearing, speech, body image, motor control, and forward planning. They are all linked, but this is not done through one central processor, but by millions of...
Consciousness: A Very Short Introduction
September 14, 2017
Susan Blackmore
‘The evolution of consciousness’ begins with two questions. First, which living creatures are conscious and in what way? Secondly, when and how did consciousness evolve? Consciousness could be an all-or-nothing phenomenon, with some creatures having it and others not. Or it might be a continuous variable, with some having more than others. Different theories of evolution of consciousness are...
Oxford University Press eBooks
June 23, 2005
Susan Blackmore
‘Time and space’ discusses a range of experiments and theories of consciousness using examples such as neuroscientist Benjamin Libet's ‘half second lag’ and the ‘cutaneous rabbit’ test. Theories considered include dualism, quantum computing, ‘higher-order thought’, and psychologist Bernard Baars' global workspace theory. None of these theories can solve the basic mystery of subjective...
Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine
February 1, 1996
Susan Blackmore
55 citations
Reactions to claims of near-death experiences (NDE) range from the popular view that this must be evidence for life after death, to outright rejection of the experiences as, at best, drug induced hallucinations or, at worse, pure invention. Twenty years, and much research, later, it is clear that neither extreme is correct.