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Learning outcomes
Learning outcomes
In this honors colloquium, team taught by faculty in Physics (W. Shew) and Philosophy (J. Lyons), we will seek to understand the nature of consciousness. We will examine the state-of-the-art neuroscience which attempts to identify the neural underpinnings of consciousness by doing experiments. We will explore traditional and contemporary philosophical theories of consciousness and debates about the limits of scientific measurements in understanding consciousness. We will learn (in a non-technical way) about the physics and mathematics of emergent phenomena - when the interaction of many simple parts gives rise to quite unexpected collective behavior of the whole. We will discuss the evolutionary origins of consciousness.
Instructors
Instructors
Class
Class
Tuesday 4 - 6:30 PM
Champions Hall Classroom 425
Assignments
Assignments
- Seven short (400-500 words) weekly papers (20%), on weeks of your choosing. Either (a) carefully unpack and reconstruct a difficult argument or position; or (b) briefly explore a reaction paper: either a critical discussion of some point, or a paper that would build on some aspect of the week’s reading. Be clear which reading you’re reacting to. These are due 24 hours before class. Please really do limit them to about 500 words.
- Emergence "lab" (5%). Do a study, acquiring some qualitative data using computer simulations and instructions HERE. (Don't worry - no programming is required. You will be using a simulation that somebody else created already).
- Take-home exam (25%). This will be a combination of long and short essay questions. It will be distributed, with further instructions, the week before it is due.
- 5-7 page paper (25%). You'll articulate and defend some position regarding the nature of consciousness.
- Final exam (25%). In our normal classroom. Will be a combination of long and short essay questions.
Reading assignments
Reading assignments
Students are to complete these readings before class each week.
Introduction to questions and concepts
- Reading 1. Nagel, T. (1974). What is it like to be a bat?
- Reading 2. Chalmers, D.J. (2002). The puzzle of conscious experience. Note the Crick and Koch response on pgs 94-95
- Reading 3. Dehaene, S. (2014). Consciousness and the Brain, chapter 1
Philosophical theories of mind: the standard views (varieties of dualism and physicalism)
- Reading 1: Chalmers, D. J. (2003). Consciousness and its place in nature
- Reading 2: Lycan, W. (2015). Representational theories of consciousness
Philosophical theories of mind: the nonstandard views (panpsychism and quantum theories)
- Reading 1: Leibniz, G.W. (1714). Monadology -- paragraph 17 only
- Reading 2: Chalmers, D. J. (2013) Panpsychism and panprotopsychism.
- Reading 3: Penrose, R., & Hameroff, S. (2011). Consciousness in the universe: Neuroscience, quantum space-time geometry and Orch OR theory. Journal of Cosmology, 14, 1-17.
Illusions and case studies
- Demonstrations of limits of conscious access and perception: https://youtu.be/IGQmdoK_ZfY , https://youtu.be/LUODrEHC8qM
- Reading 1: Koch & Krick (2001) The zombie within (This one's short)
- Reading 2: Ramachandran (2009) Self-awareness: the last frontier
- Reading 3: Sperry, R. W. (1968) Hemisphere deconnection and the unity in conscious awareness
- Reading 4: Persaud, N., Cowey, A. (2008) Blindsight is unlike normal conscious vision: Evidence from an exclusion task
Brief introduction to neuroscience
- Video 1: Adrian M Owen speaks about finding consciousness within vegetative patients (This is the video we meant for you to watch last week. Please watch this week.)
The purpose of the following readings is to give you a basic introduction to how the brain works and the two most common ways that we measure brain activity in humans. We do not expect you to memorize the technical terminology and/or details of anatomy, but you should, hopefully, be able to understand better some of the future readings after reading these introductory textbook-ish articles.
- Large scale organization: Nervous system, brain regions, lobes. Read this text up to the section on memory (skip the rest).
- Neurons, circuits, action potentials, and synapses. Read this text.
- Measuring the human brain in action 1. EEG and brain rhythms. Read this text.
- Measuring the human brain in action 2. fMRI and brain networks. Read this text, up to and including the section on Networks (skip the rest).
- LECTURE SLIDES from 2/19 class
Neural correlates of consciousness
- Reading 1: Koch et al. Neural correlates of consciousness: progress and problems
- Reading 2: Alkire et al. Consciousness and anesthesia
- Reading 3: Block Two neural correlates of consciousness
- Reading 4: Blanke et al. Behavioral, Neural, and Computational Principles of Bodily Self-Consciousness [You are required to read only the Introduction section of this paper. You don't need to read all of it. It's quite long and detailed.]
Attention and consciousness
- Reading 1: Block Perceptual consciousness overflows cognitive access
- Reading 2: Cohen et al The attentional requirements of consciousness
- Reading 3: Koch & Tsuchiya Attention and consciousness: related yet different
- Reading 4: Prinz Is Attention Necessary and Sufficient for Consciousness?
Integrated information theory
- Reading 1: Tononi et al Integrated information theory: from consciousness to its physical substrate
- Reading 2: Cerullo The Problem with Phi: A Critique of Integrated Information Theory
- do your midterm exam (click here)
Global workspace
- Reading 1: Dehaene Theorizing Consciousness Ch 5 from Consciousness and the Brain
- Reading 2: LeDoux & Brown A higher order theory of emotional consciousness
- here's something from LeDoux's band: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMI3hbgRj6o
- Reading 3: Carruthers In Defence of First-Order Representationalism
Emergence, phase transitions, and consciousness
- Start on the Emergence Lab (click here). This is closely related to your readings this week, but your work is due Apr 9. Warning: I suspect you'll not be able to do this on your phone. You'll need a PC.
- Reading 1: Chialvo Emergent complex neural dynamics
- Reading 2: Chalmers Strong and weak emergence
For both the following readings, you are required to read only the Abstracts, Introductions, and Conclusions. Looking at the figures may be helpful too. If you want to dig into the Methods and Results sections, feel free, but it get's pretty technical.
- Reading 3: Tagliazucci et al. Large-scale signatures of unconsciousness are consistent with a departure from critical dynamics
- Reading 4: Khajehabdollahi et al. The emergence of integrated information, complexity, and consciousness at criticality
Free-energy principle and consciousness
Read the first 11 pages of the Colombo and Wright article (skip the parts about organicism and mechanism, unless you really want to read that too). These pages provide a relatively understandable introduction to the free-energy principle, which is central to the Solms and Friston piece.
- Reading 1: Colombo and Wright First principles in the life sciences: the free-energy principle, organicism, and mechanism
- Reading 2: Solms and Friston How and why consciousness emerges
- Finish the Emergence Lab (click here).
Animal consciousness
These are all from the online journal Animal Sentience. Look at some of the short replies while you're there, especially any that reference zombies.
- Reading 1: Key, Why fish do not feel pain
- Reading 2: Sneddon et al., Fish sentience denial: Muddying the waters
- Reading 3: Klein and Barron, Insects have the capacity for subjective experience
Machine consciousness
- Reading 1: Dehaene et al What is consciousness, and could machines have it?
- Watch this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpHy73N1BgE
- Reading 2: Albantakis et al. Evolution of Integrated Causal Structures in Animats Exposed to Environments of Increasing Complexity
- Reading 3: Manzotti and Chella, Good Old-Fashioned Artificial Consciousness and the Intermediate Level Fallacy
Evolution of consciousness
- Reading 1: Godfrey-Smith, The evolution of consciousness in phylogenetic context
- Reading 2: The human brain in numbers: a linearly scaled-up primate brain
- Reading 3: Ginsburg and Jablonka, The transition to experiencing II
- Reading 4: just this one page at the Julian Jaynes fan club site
Academic Dishonesty: As a core part of its mission, the University of Arkansas provides students with the opportunity to further their educational goals through programs of study and research in an environment that promotes freedom of inquiry and academic responsibility. Accomplishing this mission is only possible when intellectual honesty and individual integrity prevail. Each University of Arkansas student is required to be familiar with and abide by the University’s ‘Academic Integrity Policy’ which may be found at honesty.uark.edu/policy. Students with questions about how these policies apply to a particular course or assignment should immediately contact their instructor.
Inclement Weather: Unless classes have been officially canceled by the University, you are expected to attend all lectures and exams. If you live someplace from which you feel it would be dangerous to travel to the University, email the instructors. If you miss a test for this reason, you will be required to take an alternate test that we will attempt to make of the same difficulty as the missed exam. You are responsible for making the decision to travel in bad weather. Please do not put yourself at risk to attend class.
Illness: If you are ill, please stay home. If you have an extended illness, please contact the instructors and we will make provisions. If you miss a test due to illness and have a doctor’s note to attest that you were ill, you will be required to take an alternate test that we will attempt to make of the same difficulty as the missed exam.
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