10 papers in the library · publishing 2022
In Consciousness we Trust February 10, 2022 Hakwan Lau
Abstract: When we don’t pay attention, we don’t perceive many details. But our experience may be subjectively “inflated” beyond what we actually represent in the sensory cortices. This poses troubles for local theorists. At the same time, the inflation account also suggests that the role played by the prefrontal cortex in consciousness isn’t as straightforward as global broadcast. This chapter...
In Consciousness we Trust February 10, 2022 Hakwan Lau
Abstract: The so-called NCC project started in the 1990s. But as with the whole idea of a “revival” of consciousness science, there too is a long and often neglected history well before that. Not knowing our history is a problem because we are prone to repeating the same mistakes. The trouble is that some conceptual issues are hard to avoid, even when we think we are focusing on...
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...
In Consciousness we Trust February 10, 2022 Hakwan Lau
Abstract: In the chapter we address the remaining issues of consciousness in animals and robots. A good way to address this may be to first figure out what in principle accounts for consciousness in the human cases. From there, we can see if similar mechanisms exist or not in the animals or robots. To make this inductive generalization, we need a theory of consciousness. We introduce the...
In Consciousness we Trust February 10, 2022 Hakwan Lau
Abstract: The theory of perceptual reality monitoring connects two important notions of consciousness: subjective experience, and our rational grasp of reality. Studies in the social sciences, psychiatry, and clinical psychology have focused on this latter notion of consciousness for over a century. To many, that’s where the concept of consciousness really comes from, or at least that’s what...
In Consciousness we Trust February 10, 2022 Hakwan Lau
Abstract: The main goal of this chapter is to take stock of what we have reviewed so far, and to assess the broader theoretical implications. The previous chapters already covered the first three issues introduced in Chapter 1: the neural correlates of consciousness, the relationship between attention and consciousness, the functions of consciousness, and whether animals and robots can be...
In Consciousness we Trust February 10, 2022 Hakwan Lau
Abstract: The chapter begins by questioning whether the prefrontal cortex plays a causal role in conscious perception. The dorsolateral prefrontal areas and the frontal polar cortex of the prefrontal cortex are identified as important because they seem to have survived the controls for all three kinds of confounders discussed in this volume: stimulus, report, and performance capacity. However,...
In Consciousness we Trust February 10, 2022 Hakwan Lau
Abstract: This book will focus on subjective experience, also known as phenomenal consciousness. But this may also relate to other notions of consciousness such as wakefulness and volitional control (contra automaticity). An important distinction has been made between subjective experience and informational access. However, just because two concepts are distinct does not mean that they are...
In Consciousness we Trust February 10, 2022 Hakwan Lau
Abstract: A brief review of the history of the science of consciousness suggests that since the 1990s, important studies from experimental psychology and cognitive neuroscience have been sidelined, to make room for rather speculative metaphysical and physics-centric theorizing. Some arguments are given in favor of restoring this balance. These include some considerations about the longevity and...