Consciousness and the Brain by Stanislas Dehaene
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Consciousness and the Brain
- Deciphering How the Brain Codes Our Thoughts
- By: Stanislas Dehaene
- Narrated by: David Drummond
- Length: 11 hrs and 17 mins
- Categories: Health & Wellness
Publisher's Summary
How does the brain generate a conscious thought? And why does so much of our knowledge remain unconscious? Thanks to clever psychological and brain-imaging experiments, scientists are closer to cracking this mystery than ever before. In this lively book, Stanislas Dehaene describes the pioneering work his lab and the labs of other cognitive neuroscientists worldwide have accomplished in defining, testing, and explaining the brain events behind a conscious state. We can now pin down the neurons that fire when a person reports becoming aware of a piece of information and understand the crucial role unconscious computations play in how we make decisions. The emerging theory enables a test of consciousness in animals, babies, and those with severe brain injuries.A joyous exploration of the mind and its thrilling complexities, Consciousness and the Brain will excite anyone who is interested in cutting-edge science and technology and the vast philosophical, personal, and ethical implications of finally quantifying consciousness.
©2014 Stanislas Dehaene (P)2014 Tantor
Tristan
I had no idea we knew this much.
I mean really: they can now tell whether a “vegetative” person is partially-conscious or not by looking at brain scans. They can actually see four distinct signatures of consciousness. That’s amazing.
Scientists now understand how subliminal stimuli can “prime” the mind to think about certain things without registering in the conscious mind, right down to the nuts and bolts of it. I honestly didn’t think science knew that yet.
A credible explanation for what’s actually going wrong in schizophrenic minds is presented. Not a hand-wavy “chemical imbalance,” but a physical mechanism, with evidence. Definitely wasn’t expecting that.
The idea that consciousness is a “global workspace” sheds light on the advantages of consciousness and why we evolved it in the first place, as well as its limitations. You will leave the book reflecting on the different aspects of your mind that are contributing to your conscious experience right now. Funny enough, most of your pre-frontal cortex is being told to shut up until it’s needed.
If you’re looking for a non-mystical, science-based update on what we know about consciousness right now, get this book. It was more than I hoped for.
100 people found this helpful
Jim
Great book for advanced readers
Would you listen to Consciousness and the Brain again? Why?
Parts of it I did indeed listen to.
What about David Drummond’s performance did you like?
Competent, clear, with some odd pronunciations that could have been looked up in dictionaries.
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
The stories about people in weird states of consciousness being brought back to the aware world.
Any additional comments?
The author has definitely identified where in the brain the experience of consciousness takes place, and explains well why most of what our brain does is unconscious. His global workspace theory is well explained, too. His only big mistake is that he dislikes qualia. (These are the raw “feelings” of an experience, like trying to explain what “green” is, or a bat trying to explain his perceptions when his sonar lets him zero in on insects and avoid hazards.) But qualia are real, and his denigration of them near the end of the book is disappointing.
61 people found this helpful