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Science of Consciousness

Here is the follow up to an earlier post on The Royal Institution event:

presentations

discussion

Child Brain Development

Neuron is offering free access to this issue until Oct 8.

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September 9, 2010 Comments Off Short URL brain, brain damage, brain scans, brain science, child brain development, cognitive science, neuron, Neurophysics, neuroscience

How to Train the Aging Brain

Here’s an article from the New York Times

The brain, as it traverses middle age, gets better at recognizing the central idea, the big picture. If kept in good shape, the brain can continue to build pathways that help its owner recognize patterns and, as a consequence, see significance and even solutions much faster than a young person can.

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January 4, 2010 Comments Off Short URL Alzheimer's, brain damage, brain science, networks, neurobiology, neuron, neurophilosophy, Neurophysics, neuroscience, new york times

Here’s a rare treat to hear David Chalmers on the extended mind – typically, it’s been his co-author Andy Clark who has been exploring this idea in great detail. Here is their original paper; stay tuned for Rob Rupert’s review of Andy’s Supersizing the Mind to appear in the Journal of Mind and Behavior (as Chalmers says in his talk, he wrote the Forward to “Supersizing”).

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December 8, 2009 Comments Off Short URL Andy Clark, Bounds of Cognition, brain, brain damage, brain science, cognitive closure, cognitive science, cognitive systems, Cognitive Systems and the Extended Mind, consciousness, david chalmers, distributed cognition, extended cognitive systems, extended mind, externalism, journal of mind and behavior, metaphysics, mind body, neurobiology, neurophilosophy, neuroscience, personal identity, philosophy of mind, robert rupert, situated cognition, Supersizing the Mind, the "hard" problem

Robotic pet

Meet Paro. He’s a robotic seal developed by Japanese researchers to help dementia patients feel that they have companionship and a feeling of security, without the responsibilities of a living pet. (Thanks to Suzie Katz for alerting me to this story).

Made to emulate a live pet as much as possible, he can cuddle, nod and blink his big black eyes. Paro is currently being tested with patients in Baden-Baden and there are already 1,000 robot seals deployed in long-term care homes in Japan.

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December 1, 2009 Comments Off Short URL Alzheimer's, brain, brain damage, brain science, dementia, paro, psychology, robotics, robots

Charlie Rose in conversation with V.S. Ramachandran

V.S. is always good value for money – his enthusiasm is palpable. Click photo to view video.

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November 28, 2009 Comments Off Short URL brain damage, brain science, cognition, cognitive science, connectionism, consciousness, evolutionary biology, mirror neurons, neurobiology, neuron, neurophilosophy, Neurophysics, neuroscience, phantom limbs, philosophy of mind, plasticity, psychology, qualia, science, synesthesia, V.S. Ramachandran

V. S. Ramachandran

Speaking of homuncularity there is a nice profile of V. S. Ramachandran in the latest issue of The New Yorker (sorry it’s by subscription only). It’s a far superior piece than the one done on the Churchlands a while back. Beyond the areas that have made V.S. so well-known (synesthesia, phantom limb syndrome), several interesting topics (at least for me) that are covered include:

1. I had no idea that V. S. worked with (the very amusing) Richard Gregory

2. Penfield homunculus related to phantom limb syndrome

3. Picking up the Parma discoveries of mirror neurons in monkeys and seeing if he could, through non-evasive techniques, find them in humans.

In case you haven’t seen V.S in action, here is a video of him I posted some time back.

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May 14, 2009 Comments Off Short URL autism, brain damage, brain science, cognition, cognitive science, consciousness, homunculus, mind reading, mirror neurons, neurobiology, neurophilosophy, neuroscience, phantom limbs, philosophy of mind, Ramachandran, richard gregory, situated cognition, social cognition, synesthesia

Merging of Mind and Machine

merging-of-mind-and-machine_1

Ray Kurzweil’s article from last year’s Scientific American special on robotics is reprinted again here.

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March 24, 2009 Comments Off Short URL artificial intelligence, Bounds of Cognition, brain damage, brain science, cognitive modeling, cognitive science, cognitive systems, computational intelligence, consciousness, cyborgs, dementia, distributed cognition, extended mind, mind body, neurobiology, neurophilosophy, neuroscience, philosophy of mind, robotics, robots, science, scientific american

Extended Mind: An Introduction

If you’ve ever heard the term “extended mind” and thought it denoted some sort of hocus pocus, then this recording will set you straight. Zoe Drayson of Bristol University has recorded a superb overview of the notion and the ethical implications arising from it. Zoe’s motivation for coming to this multidisciplinary literature had resonance for me – Cartesian philosophy of mind seemed to be so tired and infertile.

Zoe’s piece starts at 2:25 minutes into the recording – so please don’t think you’ve got the wrong clip. This recording will remain available for only 6 more days. Click here.

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November 7, 2008 Comments Off Short URL Alzheimer's, Andy Clark, artificial intelligence, Bounds of Cognition, brain damage, Chalmers, cognitive closure, cognitive modeling, cognitive science, computational intelligence, connectionism, consciousness, cyborgs, dementia, distributed cognition, distributed knowledge, embodiment, extended mind, metaphysics, mind body, neurobiology, neurophilosophy, neuroscience, personal identity, philosophy of mind, philosophy of science, philosophy on the radio, psychology, robotics, robots, social cognition, Zoe Drayson

Alzheimer’s

Here’s a restrained and sensitive article from the Scotsman on Claude Wischik‘s work on Alzheimer’s disease. The tone of the article matches the low-key disposition and existential focus of Wischik. Speaking to an Alzheimic patient on a regular basis, I have often used synonyms for the metaphor of “tangles”:

Wischik has spent 24 years studying the neurofibrillary ‘tangles’ that first destroy nerve cells critical for memory and then neurons in other parts of the brain in those suffering from Alzheimer’s.

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August 2, 2008 Comments Off Short URL Alzheimer's, brain damage, Claude Wischik, cognitive science, consciousness, neurophilosophy, neuroscience, philosophy of mind, psychology, rationality, reason