How Could Conscious Experiences Affect Brains?

2002 Consciousness

Author : Max Velmans
Release : 2002
Genre : Consciousness
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 393/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis How Could Conscious Experiences Affect Brains? by : Max Velmans

Download or read book How Could Conscious Experiences Affect Brains? written by Max Velmans. This book was released on 2002. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In daily life we take it for granted that our minds have conscious control of our actions, at least for most of the time. But many scientists and philosophers deny that this is really the case, because there is no generally accepted theory of how the mind interacts with the body. Max Velmans presents a non-reductive solution to the problem, in which 'conscious mental control' includes 'voluntary' operations of the preconscious mind. On this account, biological determinism is compatible with experienced free will. Velmans' theory is put to the test by nine critics: Ron Chrisley, Todd Feinberg, Jeffrey Gray, John Kihlstrom, Sam Rakover, Ramakrishna Rao, Aaron Sloman, Steve Torrance and Robert Van Gulick.

How Could Conscious Experiences Affect Brains?

2002

Author :
Release : 2002
Genre :
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : /5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis How Could Conscious Experiences Affect Brains? by :

Download or read book How Could Conscious Experiences Affect Brains? written by . This book was released on 2002. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

The Structure of Conscious Experience

2019-08-15 Psychology

Author : Lee Roy Beach
Release : 2019-08-15
Genre : Psychology
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 559/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis The Structure of Conscious Experience by : Lee Roy Beach

Download or read book The Structure of Conscious Experience written by Lee Roy Beach. This book was released on 2019-08-15. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There must exist a point at which the molecular and electro-chemical processes that comprise brain function are transformed into rich, orderly conscious experience which seamlessly blends the present moment, what led up to it, and what will follow it. This is the stuff of our everyday lives, and it raises questions about its organization and how that organization facilitates engagement with the world at large. In short, what is the structure of conscious experience and what is gained by it being structured that way? This book argues that the structure is what is familiarly known as narrative form and that the gain is the ability to communicate about one’s experience with oneself and others, as well as to make informed predictions about what will happen in the fundamentally unknowable and potentially dangerous future. In the latter case, because the essence of narrative form is time and causality, structuring events from memory (the past) and from perception (the present) in narrative form causally implies future events (expectations). The potential threat (the bad or the absence of good) of these expected future events can be assessed, and, if required, action can be taken to prevent their occurrence or to diminish their impact. The implications about thinking and action, and about who we are as individuals, are also discussed here.

The Conscious Brain

2012-08-17 Philosophy

Author : Jesse J. Prinz
Release : 2012-08-17
Genre : Philosophy
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 13X/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis The Conscious Brain by : Jesse J. Prinz

Download or read book The Conscious Brain written by Jesse J. Prinz. This book was released on 2012-08-17. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The problem of consciousness continues to be a subject of great debate in cognitive science. Synthesizing decades of research, The Conscious Brain advances a new theory of the psychological and neurophysiological correlates of conscious experience. Prinz's account of consciousness makes two main claims: first consciousness always arises at a particular stage of perceptual processing, the intermediate level, and, second, consciousness depends on attention. Attention changes the flow of information allowing perceptual information to access memory systems. Neurobiologically, this change in flow depends on synchronized neural firing. Neural synchrony is also implicated in the unity of consciousness and in the temporal duration of experience. Prinz also explores the limits of consciousness. We have no direct experience of our thoughts, no experience of motor commands, and no experience of a conscious self. All consciousness is perceptual, and it functions to make perceptual information available to systems that allows for flexible behavior. Prinz concludes by discussing prevailing philosophical puzzles. He provides a neuroscientifically grounded response to the leading argument for dualism, and argues that materialists need not choose between functional and neurobiological approaches, but can instead combine these into neurofunctional response to the mind-body problem. The Conscious Brain brings neuroscientific evidence to bear on enduring philosophical questions, while also surveying, challenging, and extending philosophical and scientific theories of consciousness. All readers interested in the nature of consciousness will find Prinz's work of great interest.

Mind Time

2009-07 Medical

Author : Benjamin Libet
Release : 2009-07
Genre : Medical
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 168/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Mind Time by : Benjamin Libet

Download or read book Mind Time written by Benjamin Libet. This book was released on 2009-07. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Our subjective inner life is what really matters to us as human beings--and yet we know relatively little about how it arises. Over a long and distinguished career Benjamin Libet has conducted experiments that have helped us see, in clear and concrete ways, how the brain produces conscious awareness. For the first time, Libet gives his own account of these experiments and their importance for our understanding of consciousness. Most notably, Libet's experiments reveal a substantial delay--the mind time of the title--before any awareness affects how we view our mental activities. If all conscious awarenesses are preceded by unconscious processes, as Libet observes, we are forced to conclude that unconscious processes initiate our conscious experiences. Freely voluntary acts are found to be initiated unconsciously before an awareness of wanting to act--a discovery with profound ramifications for our understanding of free will. How do the physical activities of billions of cerebral nerve cells give rise to an integrated conscious subjective awareness? How can the subjective mind affect or control voluntary actions? Libet considers these questions, as well as the implications of his discoveries for the nature of the soul, the identity of the person, and the relation of the non-physical subjective mind to the physical brain that produces it. Rendered in clear, accessible language, Libet's experiments and theories will allow interested amateurs and experts alike to share the experience of the extraordinary discoveries made in the practical study of consciousness.

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How Could Conscious Experiences Affect Brains?

How Could Conscious Experiences Affect Brains?

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