86-716 The Neuroscience of Consciousness

6 units, Carnegie Mellon University

This is a survey course critically examining the central neurobiological theories of consciousness, that is, theories that attempt to understand consciousness with an eye towards how the brain produces it. We will examine work by Block, Damasio, Dehaene, Koch, Lamme, and Tononi among others. The relation of consciousness to attention, working memory, informational integration, predictive coding and other key concepts will be explored. We might explore some case studies to put the theories into action. Some time might be reserved to explore relevant phenomena of interest to participants, including discussion of current work in the CNBC. This is a graduate course, limited to CNBC graduate students or graduate students from other related disciplines who have a background in neuroscience, psychology, philosophy or related fields. Students should contact instructor if there are any questions.

Prerequisites: none listed

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