The Science of Consciousness

About this event

Our purpose in this group is to explore the science of consciousness, drawing from sources that range from neuroscience to cognitive psychology to philosophy of mind. Although we will occasionally draw from the insights of spiritual introspective traditions, our focus here will be on what can be supported by the best current science regarding how the mind supervenes on the brain. Vivid dreaming often conjures-up imaginary novel images during the sleep. Humans can also imagine novel mental images consciously and purposefully in the process of Prefrontal Synthesis (PFS). Despite both processes commonly referred to as 'constructive imagination,' their mechanisms of mental image creation are very different. PFS is completely dependent on the lateral prefrontal cortex (LPFC) and patients with damage to the LPFC often lose their PFS ability. Conversely, dreaming is not controlled by the LPFC: the LPFC is inactive during the sleep. Clearer neurobiological definitions of separate imagination mechanisms can lead to better understanding of hominin evolution and better educational strategies in children with neurodevelopmental delays. This week we are considering these two papers by Andrey Vyshedskiy: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/333824857_Neuroscience_of_Imagination_and_Implications_for_Human_Evolution & https://www.researchgate.net/publication/411791090_How_one_small_tribe_conquered_the_world_70000_years_ago