Based on a workshop organized under the auspices of the Centre for Applied Mathematics and Computational Science, at the Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, Calcutta, November 21-24, 2006.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

The phenomenon of consciousness has always been a central question for philosophers and scientists. Emerging in the past decade are new approaches to the understanding of consciousness in a scientific light. This book presents a series of essays by leading thinkers giving an account of the current ideas prevalent in the scientific study of consciousness. The value of the book lies in the discussion of this interesting though complex subject from different points of view ranging from physics, computer science to the cognitive sciences. Reviews of controversial ideas related to the philosophy of mind from western and eastern sources including classical Indian first person methodologies provide a breadth of coverage that has seldom been attempted in a book before. Additionally, chapters relating to the new approaches in computational modelling of higher order cognitive function and consciousness are included. The book is of great value for established as well as young researchers from a wide cross-section of interdisciplinary scientific backgrounds, aiming to pursue research in this field, as well as an informed public. * Presents the latest developments in the scientific study of consciousness * Critically reviews different theoretical and philosophical explanations related to the subject * An important book for both students and researchers in designing research projects on consciousness.

How to separate conceptual issues from empirical ones in the study of consciousness / M. Velmans -- The disunity of consciousness / S. Zeki -- Consciousness: the radical plasticity thesis / A Cleeremans -- A higher order Bayesian decision theory of consciousness / H.C. Lau -- Subjective measures of unconscious knowledge / Z. Dienes -- Interdependence of attention and consciousness / N. Srinivasan -- Computational studies of consciousness / I. Aleksander, H. Morton -- Identification of neuroanatomical substrates of set-shifting ability: evidence from patients with focal brain lesions / P. Mukhopadhyay [and others] -- Thinking is believing / R. Kasturirangan -- The emergence of mind and brain: an evolutionary, computational, and philosophical approach / K. Mainzer -- Dynamic geometry, brain function modeling, and consciousness / S. Roy, R. Llinás -- Understanding the mind of a worm: hierarchial network structure underlying nervous system function in C. elegans / N. Chatterjee, S. Sinha -- Neural network modeling / B.K. Chakrabarti, A. Basu -- Retinomorphic image processing / K. Ghosh, K. Bhaumik, S. Sarker -- Modeling the sub-cellular signaling pathways involved in reinforcement learning at the striatum / S.M. Wanjerkhede, R.S. Bapi -- Rythmic structure of Hindi and English: new insights from a computational analysis / T. Das, L. Singh, N.C. Singh -- Empirical perspectives from the self-model theory of subjectivity: a brief summary with examples / T. Metzinger -- Vipassana: the Buddha's tool to probe mind and body / D.V. Chavan -- Buddha and the bridging relations / R. Banerjee.

Print version record.

Elsevier ScienceDirect All Books