Toward a Science of Consciousness 2008

April 8-12, 2008. Tucson ARIZONA
Tucson Convention Center

The eighth biennial Tucson conference continues an interdisciplinary tradition of intense, far-ranging and rigorous discussions on all approaches to the fundamental issue of how the brain produces conscious experience.

• Conference Website: http://www.consciousness.arizona.edu/tucson2008.htm

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Comments (1)

1  Final Announcement and Conference Overvi Written by This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it , on 07-02-2008 12:45 Final Announcement and Conference Overview  Toward a Science of Consciousness 2008  April 8-12, 2008, Tucson Convention Center, Tucson, Arizona    www.consciousness.arizona.edu/tucson2008    sponsored by  The Center for Consciousness Studies, University of Arizona    *Early Registration Ends February 10, 2008*  *Registration must be completed by February 10 for inclusion in the program*    The program is set for the biennial Tucson conference  Toward a Science of Consciousness, April 8-12, 2008.    Held in even-numbered years since 1994, the Tucson conferences are the  major world gatherings on all approaches to the question of how the  brain produces conscious experience, a question which addresses who  we are, the nature of reality and our place in the universe.    An estimated 700 attendees from 43 countries on 6 continents will  participate in 400 presentations included in 21 Pre-Conference Workshops,  12 Plenary sessions, 21 Concurrent Talk sessions, 2 Poster Sessions and,  for the first time, an interactive Art and Technology of Consciousness  Exhibit.    Plenary Session Overview:    Is Attention Necessary for Consciousness?  Can we be conscious of objects to which we are not paying attention?  Neuroscientists Stanislas Dehaene and Christof Koch and philosopher  Michael Tye discuss top-down brain attentional mechanisms and their  relation to consciousness. If attention doesnt cause consciousness,  what does?    Libet, Intentionality and the Timing of Conscious Experience  Does consciousness play a role in action, or does it just tag along for  the ride? A panel of experts discuss recent evidence pertaining to the  pioneering work of Benjamin Libet on backward time referral of conscious  experience, intention and free will.    Keynote: Consciousness and the Three Bears  What would a proper theory of consciousness look like? Philosopher Andy Clark  suggests that qualitative perceptual experience (consciousness) occurs within  the brain in a zombie-free zone of just the right amount of access to internal  information processing.    Sex and Consciousness  How can we understand the special sort of consciousness present during sexual  experience and orgasm? Neuroscientist Barry Komisaruk discusses functional  brain imaging during female orgasm, and author Jennifer Wade describes  transcendental sexual mental states. A panel surveys sexual experience, Tantric  sex and altered sexual states.    Is Consciousness Local or Global?  Cognitive neuroscientists Bernard Baars, Rafael Malach and Naotsugu Tsuchiya  debate whether consciousness requires global, distributed brain activity, or  can occur locally, restricted to more specific brain regions. What specific  type of neuronal activity corresponds with consciousness?    Keynote: Consciousness and Brain Synchrony  Pioneer neuroscientist Wolf Singer describes how synchronized electrical  activity in the beta and gamma EEG ranges are distributed throughout  wide regions of brain, and represent the best measurable correlate of  consciousness. How is synchrony mediated globally? How does it relate to  consciousness?    First Person Methodologies and the Richness of Consciousness  Is conscious experience rich in detail and meaning, or sketchy and minimalist?  Can we answer this question from the inside? Philosopher Eric Schwitzgebel  asks whether there is consciousness outside attention, philosopher Susanna  Siegel discusses whether perceptual consciousnesss includes high-level meaning,  and psychologist Chris Heavey addresses whether we have unsymbolized  conscious thought.    Sub-Neural and Quantum Approaches to Consciousness  Is quantum coherence necessary for consciousness? Is it feasible in the warm  brain? Biophysicist Gustav Bernroider and physician Stuart Hameroff discuss  neuronal brain behaviors which seem to demand quantum coherence, the question  of decoherence at brain temperature, and the neuronal functional organization  required for consciousness.    Brain Imaging as Mind Reading Technology  Can functional brain imaging (fMRI) read conscious thoughts? Neuroscientist  Frank Tong reports on its use to determine content of conscious perceptions.  Adrian Owen reports on using fMRI to detect consciousness in vegetative  patients. Daniel Langleben reports on fMRI determination of subjects lying vs  telling the truth. Can technological mind reading be reliable? What are the  ethical considerations?    Anomalies of Consciousness  Does extra-sensory perception actually occur? Rupert Sheldrake will present his  controversial evidence for non-local perceptions (e.g. the sense of being  stared at) as a product of evolution. A panel of critical discussants will  evaluate his claims.    Consciousness and Psychedelic Drugs  What can we learn about consciousness from altered states? Biologist Tom Ray  discusses discusses the chemical basis of the entire space of altered states.  Anthropologist Frank Echenhofer reports on experiences with the shamanic  psychedelic brew ayahuasca in the Amazon, including artistic accounts of mental  imagery and measurements of gamma synchrony EEG.    Development of Consciousness  Are babies more conscious than adults? Psychologist Alison Gopnik suggests  babies are more conscious, but less focused, than adults. Do babies lack  top-down attentional mechanisms? Psychologist Phil Zelazo discusses how  consciousness correlates with embryonic, childhood and adolescent development.  Sarah Akhter will present beeper studies of the first-person perspective  pertaining to the development of consciousness during adolescence.    Pre-Conference Workshops  Globalist theories (Baars), Mathematical physics (Freeman etc), Social brain  (Craik, Whitehead), East/West consciousness (Droege, Maitra), Quantum  mechanisms (Bernroider, Sheehan, Hameroff), Philosophical theories (Kriegel),  Vision (Martinez-Conde, Macknik), Libet, time and action (Sinnott-Armstrong,  Nadel etc.), Lucid dreaming (LaBerge), Neurological disturbances (Feinberg),  Julian Jaynes (McVeigh, Kuijsten), Panpsychism (Skrbina, Deiss), Ayahuasca  (Echenhofer), Transformations (Schlitz, Vieten), Inner experience (Hurlburt,  Schwitzgebel), Higher states and orgasm (Ormos), Attention and consciousness  (Koch, Tsuchiya), How do you feel? (Craig), Unity of consciousness (Bayne)    Concurrent Sessions (5 speakers per session)  Materialism/Dualism, Phenomenology of Thought, Emotion/Theory of Mind, Vision,  Psychopathology and Therapy, Time, Social Approaches, Panpsychism, Contents of  Consciousness, CNCC, Neurobiological Models, Altered States, Consciousness and  Julian Jaynes, Art and Literature, Theories of Consciousness, Concepts of  Consciousness, Action/Embodiment,Unconscious States, Physics, Evolution of  Consciousness, Technology    Poster Sessions  Approximately 300 posters will be presented Wednesday and Friday evenings    Art and Technology Exhibit (Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday evenings)  Curated by Rene Stettler    NeuroFloat Meehae Song & Steven Barnes  Interactive EEG navigates user through real-time 3-D visualization of the  human brain.    Optimal Experience TingTing Chen  Technology of attention and ordering of consciousness    Hello World Margaret Dolinsky  Iluminated script collage of phenomenal experience    BrainPaint Deborah DuSold, William Scott  EEG biofeedback user generates dynamic abstract art    Psychosomatic Art Ana E. Iribas-Rudin  Bodily changes from unconscious motivations    Lucid 2.0 Gino Yu  A virtual reality platform designed for interactive first person experience    Social Events  Tuesday evening Welcome Reception, Tucson Convention Center (TCC)  Attendees mmingle with food and drinks indoors (amidst book and  art/technology exhibits) and outdoors under mesquite trees on TCC veranda    Thursday evening conference dinner, Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum  Free afternoon allows visits to world-famous Desert Museum followed by dinner  and drinks in spectacular Baldwin room with panoramic vista    Friday night Poetry SLAM/Zombie Blues Talent Show, Tucson Convention Center  Participants recite poems about consciousness, and sing verses of The Zombie  Blues to a late-night cheering and jeering audience.    Saturday night End-of-Consciousness Party, Cushing Street Bar and Grill  The talent show and End-of-Consciousness Party will feature The Brains, a  new band (alter ego of The Theory) performing three new songs Im  your brain, You think therefore you are, and Soul Organ.    Side Trips  Kitt Peak Observatory, Mars Mission Center, Sabino Canyon and DeGrazia Gallery,  San Xavier Mission, Colossal Cave    Book/Commercial Exhibits  Oxford University Press  MIT Press  Journal of Consciousness Studies  Conference Recording Services  Applied fMRI San Diego  Center for Consciousness Studies      For further information or questions, please contact  Arlene 'Abi' Montefiore  Mgr, Center for Consciousness Studies  University of Arizona, Department of Psychology  www.consciousness.arizona.edu  Tel: 520-621-9317  Fax: 520-626-6416  POB 210068  Tucson, AZ 85721-0068      TUCSON 2008 PROGRAM COMMITTEE    Bernard Baars, Neurosciences Institute, San Diego  David Chalmers, Australian National University  Anthony Freeman, Journal of Consciousness Studies  Stuart Hameroff, University of Arizona  Valerie Gray-Hardcastle, Virginia Tech University  Terry Horgan, University of Arizona  Al Kaszniak, University of Arizona  Christof Koch, California Institute of Technology  Uriah Kriegel, University of Sydney  Hakwan Lau, Columbia University  Marilyn Schlitz, Institute of Noetic Sciences     www.consciousness.arizona.edu/tucson2008

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