From Matter to Mind

Will we ever understand how our brain generates consciousness, the most fundamental aspect of our existence? This question will be discussed in light of recent scientific progress in the field, which includes several large scientific collaborations that are testing the contrasting predictions of the most debated theories of consciousness. Indeed, the cause for this debate is a recent grant award to experimentally test concrete predictions from three theories against each other.

After an introduction on the history of the study of consciousness by neuroscientist Cyriel Pennartz (University of Amsterdam), we will survey the state of the study of consciousness. Andy Clark (University of Sussex, UK), Melanie Boly (University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA), and Anil Seth (University of Sussex, UK) will present their views not only on why we need to understand consciousness, but also if this is possible at all and how scientists can tackle this fundamental question. The debate will be moderated by neuroscientist Umberto Olcese (University of Amsterdam), and will be joined by philosopher and cognitive scientist Jakob Hohwy (Monash University, Australia).

About the speakers

Cyriel Pennartz is a professor in cognitive and systems neuroscience at the University of Amsterdam. He investigates neuronal mechanisms of cognitive functions such as memory, motivation, decision making, perception and consciousness. His laboratory uses behavioral and neurophysiological techniques as well as computational modeling to investigate these themes. Professor Pennartz proposed the theory of Neurorepresentationalism of consciousness, described in The Brain’s Representational Power and in De Code van het Bewustzijn.

Andy Clark is a professor in cognitive philosophy from the University of Sussex, United Kingdom. He is known as a leading scholar on Philosophy of Mind. Professor Clark is perhaps most famous for his hypothesis on the “Extended Mind,” stating the mind is not bound by the organism but able to extend in the environment. Further work involves neuronal processes of epistemology, artificial intelligence, embodied cognition and transhumanism.

Anil Seth is a professor in cognitive and computational neuroscience at the University of Sussex, United Kingdom. The focus of his research is to understand the biological basis of consciousness by combining several disciplines: neuroscience, mathematics, computer science, psychology, philosophy and psychiatry. He is the author of several books, including the recent Sunday Times Bestseller Being You: A New Science of Consciousness.

Melanie Boly is a neurologist and neuroscientist from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA. She has over twenty years of experience with consciousness research, with focus primarily on human neurophysiology in altered states of consciousness such as sleep, anesthesia and vegetative states. Her lab uses different neuroimaging techniques, such as fMRI, EEGPET and TMS to research states of consciousness in a theoretical framework called The Integrated Information Theory, with the aim to elucidate neural mechanisms of consciousness in healthy subjects and neurological patients.

Jakob Hohwy chairs the Philosophy department at Monash University, Australia. There, he leads the Cognition and Philosophy lab, where perception and cognition are investigated with an interdisciplinary effort combining philosophy, psychology, physics, neuroscience, psychiatry and engineering.

Umberto Olcese (moderator) is associate professor in cognitive and systems neuroscience at the University of Amsterdam. He is an expert in the neurophysiology of perception, ranging from neurons to phenomenology. His laboratory studies how the same sensory stimulus can elicit different perceptual responses, how sleep leads to a state where we are unaware of the world, and what neural mechanisms underlie conscious perception. Olcese combines several neurophysiological techniques such as advanced large scale recordings, optogenetics, and behavior.