Sizing Up Consciousness: Towards an Objective Measure of the Capacity for ExperienceEveryone knows what consciousness is: it is what vanishes when we fall into dreamless sleep and reappears when we wake up or when we dream. However, we become less and less confident when we are called to answer fundamental questions about the relationships between consciousness and the physical world. Why is the cerebral cortex associated with consciousness, but not the liver, the heart, the cerebellum or other neural structures? Why does consciousness fade during deep sleep, while cortical neurons remain active? Can unresponsive patients with an island of active cortex surrounded by widespread damage be conscious? Is an artificial system that outperforms people at driving, recognizing faces and objects, and answering difficult questions conscious? Using the Integrated Information Theory (IIT) as a guiding principle, Sizing up Consciousness explores these questions, taking the reader along a fascinating journey from the cerebral cortex to the cerebellum, from wakefulness to sleep, anesthesia, and coma, supercomputers, octopuses, dolphins, and much more besides. By translating theoretical principles into practical measurements, the book outlines a preliminary attempt to identify a general rule to size up the capacity for consciousness within the human skull and beyond. Sizing up Consciousness is a short, accessible book, spanning neuronal activity to existential considerations and is essential reading for anyone interested in awareness and cognition. |
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able activity animals assessed associated awareness become behavior billion brain camera capacity causal cerebellum cerebral cortex chapter circuits coma comes communicate complex condition connections consciousness considered correlates cortical dark detect differentiation dream effects electrical elements et al example exist experience eyes fact feel Figure functional fundamental hand hemisphere human imagine indicates input integrated integrated information interactions intrinsic light matter measure mechanisms mind motor move movements natural neural neurons Neurosci NREM object observed organized outputs patients perturbations photodiode physical playing possible practical presence principle problem processing question reason recorded remain response sensory simple single sleep slow specific stimulation structure student subjects thalamocortical system theory turn unconscious University unresponsive visual VS/UWS wakefulness waves zombie