Journal of Consciousness Studies
January 30, 2023
Alfredo Pereira
The projection of conscious content is a central feature of Max Velmans' theory of consciousness, implying that conscious experiences are built within a conversation of minds and worlds in which they form a 'reflexive' unity – as stated in his reflexive monism theory. What are the neurobiological structures and functions that underpin the experience of conscious contents being located in a...
Scripta
November 21, 2022
Alfredo Pereira
The Online Workshop on Theories of Consciousness (OWTC), a set of live online (text only) discussions carried out in 2009 at the site Nature.com, was an attempt to organize and find minimal agreement on the epistemological bases for scientific and philosophical research on the Theory of Consciousness. This paper covers the guidelines I proposed to the group; some issues discussed after the...
August 1, 2020
J. S. Reddy, Alfredo Pereira, Edilene De Souza Leite et al.
Abstract What forms the basis for validating any knowledge? Should it be always verified based on the objective and analytical methods that we adapt according to our progressive advancements in science or is there any other way of conceiving knowledge? This is the context where modern sophistication should embrace an ancient perspective. Recently, there have been great advancements in the...
Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science
September 1, 2019
J Shashi Kiran Reddy, Sisir Roy, Edilene De Souza Leite et al.
9 citations
The present article is limited to research studies focused on understanding the phenomenon and construction of the concept of 'Self.' When we look at one's experience of the Self, as a whole, it involves various components associated with different aspects like self-identification, self-location and the sense of the existence of oneself or the sense of Self. While exploring the Self phenomenon,...
Trans/Form/Ação
2018
Alfredo Pereira
24 citations
Abstract: The development of the interdisciplinary areas of cognitive, affective and action neurosciences contributes to the identification of neurobiological bases of conscious experience. The structure of consciousness was philosophically conceived a century ago (HUSSERL, 1913) as consisting of a subjective pole, the bearer of experiences, and an objective pole composed of experienced...
Simbio-Logias Revista Eletrônica de Educação Filosofia e Nutrição
2018
Edilene De Souza Leite, Alfredo Pereira
1 citation
We review the variety of meditation practices and discuss the non-dual view of the mind and the body, proposing the concept of a Feeling Self, which is empty of essence and constituted by the dynamics of experience. This concept is consistent with the principles advanced by Nagarjuna in the Buddist Mahayana tradition and the interdisciplinary ontology of Triple-Aspect Monism. The principles of...
WORLD SCIENTIFIC eBooks
August 21, 2016
Alfredo Pereira, Ram Lakhan Pandey Vimal, Massimo Pregnolato
7 citations
A solution to the Hard Problem formulated by Chalmers should include a biophysical nonreductive explanation of the qualities of conscious experience ( subjective qualia). This task is nearly impossible to be performed in the context of Modern Physics, since most influential scientists and philosophers conceived such qualities as being mental phenomena without a physical counterpart. We propose...
December 31, 2013
Samuel C. Bellini-Leite, Alfredo Pereira
The Global Workspace Theory (GWT) proposed by Bernard Baars (1988) along with Daniel Dennett`s (1991) Multiple Drafts Model (MDM) of consciousness are renowned cognitive theories of consciousness bearing similarities and differences. Although Dennett displays sympathy for GWT, his own MDM does not seem to be fully compatible with it. This work discusses this compatibility, by asking if GWT...
Mens Sana Monographs
2013
Leonardo Ferreira Almada, Alfredo Pereira, Claudia Carrara-Augustenborg
The field of affective neuroscience has emerged from the efforts of Jaak Panksepp in the 1990s and reinforced by the work of, among others, Joseph LeDoux in the 2000s. It is based on the ideas that affective processes are supported by brain structures that appeared earlier in the phylogenetic scale (as the periaqueductal gray area), they run in parallel with cognitive processes, and can...
Mens Sana Monographs
2013
Alfredo Pereira
De Sousa's comprehensive two-part review of a diversity of contemporary approaches to the study of consciousness is highly welcome. He makes us aware of a proliferation of theoretical and empirical approaches targeting a common theme, but diverging in many ways. He skilfully accomplishes a classification of kinds of approach, identification of the main representatives, their contributions, and...
Nature Precedings
March 7, 2012
Alfredo Pereira
Abstract: In this work I attempt to justify the claim that the discovery of statistically relevant brain correlates of consciousness supports Non-Reductive Physicalism. First I distinguish the main varieties of Reductive and Non-Reductive Physicalism, selecting the right one that is benefited by progress in brain sciences. Second, I discuss epistemological problems in the search of brain...
International Journal of Machine Consciousness
June 1, 2011
Alfredo Pereira, Leonardo Ferreira Almada
13 citations
In the book Conceptual Spaces: the Geometry of Thought [2000] Peter Gärdenfors proposes a new framework for cognitive science. Complementary to symbolic and subsymbolic [connectionist] descriptions, conceptual spaces are semantic structures constructed from empirical data representing the universe of mental states. We argue that Gärdenfors' modeling can be used in consciousness research to...
Nature Precedings
April 28, 2010
Alfredo Pereira, Jonathan Edwards, Dietrich Lehmann et al.
Abstract An invited workshop on ‘Theories of Consciousness’ was organized in the format of a Nature Network closed group during the second semester of 2009. There were presentations by each of 15 authors active in the field, followed by debate with other presenters and invitees. A week was allocated to each of the theories proposed; general discussion threads were also opened from time to time,...
Annual Review of Biomedical Sciences
May 5, 2007
Alfredo Pereira, Fábio Augusto Furlan
8 citations
Molecular neurobiology has provided an explanation of mechanisms supporting mental functions as learning, memory, emotion and consciousness. However, an explanatory gap remains between two levels of description: molecular mechanisms determining cellular and tissue functions, and cognitive functions. In this paper we review molecular and cellular mechanisms that determine brain activity, and...
Mens Sana Monographs
January 2007
Alfredo Pereira
Cognitive Neuroscience is an interdisciplinary area of research that combines measurement of brain activity (mostly by means of neuroimaging) with a simultaneous performance of cognitive tasks by human subjects. These investigations have been successful in the task of connecting the sciences of the brain (Neurosciences) and the sciences of the mind (Cognitive Sciences). Advances on this kind of...