Consciousness: questions

thomashawk @ Flickr

General

On the basis of neuropsychological data reject two theories of consciousness.

Discuss three theories of consciousness. Reject two of them and support one.

Discuss a theory of consciousness, explaining how it might account for sleep and waking, anaesthesia and coma data.

Is consciousness localised?

Is consciousness a property of the brain?

What evidence should a theory of consciousness account for? What is the best theory that does this?

Discuss some of the philosophical problems of consciousness.

What are the ‘hard’ and ‘easy’ problems of consciousness? Discuss an attempt to solve the ‘hard’ problem.

Is the study of consciousness a scientific or philosophical endeavour?

The Department for Children, Schools and Families contacts you asking for a 1500 word brief on what to include in a new A-level called 'Consciousness'. Write this brief explaining, with justification, what to include.

Discuss how consciousness might arise out of the activity of nervous brain tissue.

Brain Damage - Cortical

Cortical damage tells us little about the nature of consciousness. Discuss.

What do brain damaged patients tell us about consciousness?

Consciousness is a product of the cortex. Discuss.

What can split-brains tell us about consciousness?

Can a language-based theory of consciousness be supported by cortical brain damage data?

Brain Damage - Subcortical

What can subcortical damage tell us about consciousness?

Discuss the role of subcortical systems in the maintenance of attention and cortical arousal.

A scientific paper reports that damage to a small region of the subcortex leads to an obliteration of consciousness. The authors conclude that they have localised consciousness. Have they?

What role might the thalamus play in consciousness?

What do studies of sub-cortically brain-damaged patients tell us about consciousness?

"Time is as important as space in the neurobiology of consciousness" (Adude, 2008). Discuss.

Attention

Is attention consciousness?

What can the study of attention tell us about consciousness?

Sleep

What can we learn about consciousness from the study of sleep and waking?

What can REM sleep in particular tell us about consciousness?

The time the majority of humans spend unconscious at night is one of the most fertile periods for the understanding of consciousness. Discuss.

How can the neurobiology of sleep be useful in supporting or rejecting theories on the nature of consciousness?

"Freud said dreams were the royal road to the unconscious. Actually, the neurobiology of dreaming (REM) may be the royal road to the understanding of consciousness." (Abloke, 2008). Discuss.

Functionalism

Will machines ever be conscious?

Assess the arguments for and against the claim that the brain is functionally equivalent to a computer.

Criticise functionalism.

Is the problem of consciousness one that can be addressed scientifically?

“If all that matters is the computation, we can ignore the brain’s wiring diagram, and its chemistry, and just worry about the ‘software’ that runs on it” (Dennett, 2001). Critically evaluate this functionalist argument.

Can cognitive psychology provide a complete account of consciousness, or are alternative approaches required?

The film The Matrix takes as an assumption that human consciousness can be represented computationally. Can it?

Why might the "whir of information processing" (Chalmers, 1995) be insufficient for explaining first person experience.

"Consciousness is not borne of algorithm" (Antifunctionalist, 2008). Discuss.