By Bernard Baars, PhD | Nautilus Press Publishing Group
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The podcast currently has 30 episodes available.
How do we regulate our impulsive emotions, resist temptation, break bad habits, and come up to our best potential - and why do we sometimes run short? Is willpower anything like muscle power?
In this episode, we welcome prominent social psychologist Roy F. Baumeister, who has published some 700 scientific works, including 40 books. A recipient of many awards, in 2013 Roy received the highest award given by the Association for Psychological Science, the William James Fellow award, in recognition of his lifetime achievements.
Roy has studied major aspects of the self, the pros and cons of self-esteem, and why it is so hard to do mentally effortful tasks, like studying long hours for a math exam. He is especially known for his work on willpower, self-control, ego depletion, and the dark side of self esteem — how these factors relate to human morality and life success, and can even trigger interpersonal violence.
Talking Points
Links
— Website and Social Media —
Website: https://bernardbaars.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BernardJBaars
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BernardJBaars/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bernardjbaars/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BernardBaarsOnConsciousness
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/baarslab/?hl=en
— Roy F. Baumeister —
Personal Website: https://roybaumeister.com/
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Baumeister
Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=ShSEUuoAAAAJ&hl=en
Ted Talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwlDLe6O7NE
Books on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/stores/Roy-F.-Baumeister/author/B001H6IAJY?ref=ap_rdr&store_ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true
Neurobiologist Stuart Firestein, one of the world's leading experts on olfaction, joins Bernard Baars to discuss the similarities and surprising differences of smell and taste in relation to vision, hearing and somatosensory systems, like touch. The olfactory system presents us with alternative views of how sensory stimuli are parsed in the brain and how we integrate those into some sort of conscious worldview.
Dr. Stuart Firestein specializes in the olfactory system ⎯ why and how our brains and noses sense smell. Stuart is the former chair of Columbia University's Department of Biological Sciences and a neurobiology professor, where his laboratory studies the vertebrate olfactory system, possibly the best chemical detector on the face of the planet.
Stuart is devoted to the history, evolution, and future of science. Author of "Ignorance: How it Drives Science" and "Failure: Why Science is so Successful” (OUP), his books cast science as an unending quest to illuminate ignorance and failure as an essential component in that process.
Talking Points
Producer: Natalie Geld
Links
— Website and Social Media —
Website: https://bernardbaars.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BernardJBaars
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BernardJBaars/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bernardjbaars/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BernardBaarsOnConsciousness
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/baarslab/?hl=en
— Stuart Firestein —
Website: http://stuartfirestein.com/
Columbia University: https://www.biology.columbia.edu/people/firestein
Ted Talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nq0_zGzSc8g
Books:
- Ignorance: How It Drives Science: Buy at Amazon
- Failure: Why Science Is So Successful: Buy at Amazon
In this episode, we examine Human Consciousness and AI, and particularly the popular idea that AI will become conscious at some point.
Because conscious brains are the product of enormous periods of evolution and environmental conditions that keep changing in basic ways, the popular idea that machine consciousness is just around the corner is questioned by Bernard Baars. But very important ethical and practical questions are already emerging today.
Social media has trouble distinguishing between human messages and bots, and we are already seeing AI being used in armed drones in a major European war in the Ukraine. All kinds of important ethical and practical questions are already facing the world. In some ways, this is like the early days of nuclear weapons - people around the world are wondering what the new technologies will bring. What does the future hold?
AI technology is developing faster than most of us expected. The worldwide web has triggered a great information explosion that continues in wave after wave. Historically, information explosions are often very disruptive, as in the rise of the printing press, of radio and television, and now the spread of intelligent computers. Human beings need time to adjust to fast changes.
So today, we will discuss the future of Artificial Intelligence in relation to human consciousness, including major ethical questions raised by philosophers and others. We also discuss some of the latest promising, and positive, scientific advances in AI.
Our special guest is Dr. Susan Schneider, Founding Director of the Center for the Future Mind at Florida Atlantic University, where she also holds the William F. Dietrich Distinguished Professorship. She is co-director of the MPCR Lab at FAU’s new Gruber Sandbox, a large facility which builds AI systems drawing from neuroscience research and philosophical developments.
Susan recently completed a three year project with NASA on the future of intelligence. She now works with the United States Congress on AI policy. Susan is also an author, and her current book “Artificial You'' discusses the philosophical implications of AI, and, in particular, the enterprise of “mind design.”
Also joining us today is postdoctoral fellow Rachel St. Clair, the founder and CEO of Simuli Inc., whose passion and goal is to help build beneficial AGI.
Talking Points
Links
— Website and Social Media —
Website: https://bernardbaars.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BernardJBaars
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BernardJBaars/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bernardjbaars/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BernardBaarsOnConsciousness
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/baarslab/?hl=en
— Susan Schneider —
Personal: https://schneiderwebsite.com/index.html
Center for the Future Mind: https://www.fau.edu/future-mind/
Susan's Latest Book "Artificial You": https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691180144/artificial-you
Florida Atlantic University Profile: https://www.fau.edu/artsandletters/philosophy/susan-schneider/index/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/drsueschneider
Center for the Future Mind Twitter: https://twitter.com/CenFutureMind
— Rachel St. Clair —
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachelaileenstclair/
Rachel's Startup Simuli, Inc.: https://www.simuli.ai/
MPCR Lab Profile: https://mpcrlab.com/people/Rachel-St-Clair/
Producer: Nat Geld
The home of the late Nobel Laureate, Gerald Edelman, is the setting for this elevated discussion on human consciousness. In this episode, Bernie is joined by Gerald's son and neuroscientist David Edelman, developmental neuropsychiatrist Dr. Jay Giedd, and professional magician Mark Mitton.
What level of biology is relevant to the study of conscious processing? Is it a matter of molecules? Or cells? Or networks?
Talking Points
Links
— Website and Social Media —
Show Notes: Ep #24 Full Summary
Website: https://bernardbaars.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BernardJBaars
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BernardJBaars/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bernardjbaars/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/OnConsciousnesswithBernardBaars
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/baarslab/?hl=en
— David Edelman, PhD —
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-edelman-b5b16315/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/doctorocto
Elsevier: https://www.elsevier.com/connect/contributors/david-edelman-phd
— Jay Giedd, PhD —
University of California, San Diego: https://profiles.ucsd.edu/jay.giedd
Doximity: https://www.doximity.com/pub/jay-giedd-md
Brain and Behavior Foundation: https://www.bbrfoundation.org/about/people/jay-n-giedd-md-0
— Mark Mitton —
Personal Website: http://markmitton.com/index.html
Twitter: https://twitter.com/mark_mitton?lang=en
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-mitton-4204696/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/markmittonmagic/?hl=en
We think of the cortex in terms of anatomical regions, but the cortex works as a whole. Static, gross anatomical divisions are superseded by the dynamical connectome of cortex.
This holistic viewpoint is detailed in the recent paper in the Journal Frontiers in Psychology: Consciousness Research, titled "Global Workspace Theory & Prefrontal Cortex: Recent Developments" (Baars, Geld & Kozma, 2021), which we discuss in this episode.
A wide range of experimental and theoretical studies in the field of consciousness emphasize the complex and rapid interactivity of numerous regions and connectivities in the cerebral cortex. That dynamical view of the cortex should give us pause about proposing dichotomies that may not be in evidence. This paper aims to clarify some empirical questions that have been raised, and review evidence that the prefrontal and posterior regions of the brain support dynamic global workspace functions, in agreement with several other authors.
Our special guest for Episode 23 is Dr. Robert Kozma, professor and director of the Center for Large-Scale Integrated Optimization and Networks (CLION) at the FedEx Institute of Technology, and professor of Mathematics in the Department of Mathematical Sciences at the University of Memphis. Ilian Daskalov, our student interviewer, joins us to explore this recent paper on GWT and Prefrontal Cortex.
To follow along with this discussion, here is the link to the source paper: Baars, B. J., Geld, N., & Kozma, R. (2021). Global Workspace Theory (GWT) and Prefrontal Cortex: Recent Developments. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 5163. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.749868
— Website and Social Media —
Episode Summary: https://bernardbaars.com/episode-23
Website:https://bernardbaars.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BernardJBaars
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BernardJBaars/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bernardjbaars/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/OnConsciousnesswithBernardBaars
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/baarslab/?hl=en
— Robert Kozma, Ph.D. —
University of Memphis: https://www.memphis.edu/msci/people/rkozma.php
CLION: https://www.memphis.edu/clion/
IEEE: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/author/37284339400
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Kozma
Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Nddbg2gAAAAJ&hl=en
PubMed Publications: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=Kozma%2C%20Robert
Neuropercolation Theory (PDF): https://escholarship.org/content/qt2qn4778j/qt2qn4778j.pdf
Link to paper by Deco et al. (2021): https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-020-01003-6
“Can consciousness be seen as the key to understanding our surroundings and organizing our actions?” — David Edelman, PhD, Neuroscientist and Visiting Scholar in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Dartmouth College
Ep 22: Consciousness Has an Integrative Function with Neuroscientist, David Edelman
Episode 22 of our podcast On Consciousness brings back neuroscientist David Edelman, who graciously hosted this discussion in the home of his late father, Nobel Laureate Gerald M. Edelman. Some have argued that consciousness is only a side effect of the brain, but from an evolutionary point of view, major adaptations result from intense genetic pressures, which are causal. The exact nature of that causality is still under debate. One evolutionary function of consciousness is likely to be sensory and action (motor) integration. It seems that consciousness is needed anytime two sensory events have to be combined, like the sound of a bird and the sight of that same bird, or the sound of a singer and her lip movements. Even this sentence requires conscious involvement to combine the beginning with its ending. Consciousness has an integrative function.
Bernie and David mull over the causal role of consciousness in the brain. Bernie mentions that Darwin’s public advocate, Thomas Henry Huxley, claimed that consciousness might only be a side effect of the brain in the way that the steam whistle of a locomotive can be considered to be a side effect of the heating of the giant steam vessel. But this seems to violate the physics of the conservation of energy — the steam vessel is, in fact, driving the train whistle. Still, the notion of consciousness as a side effect continues to be debated in philosophy.
David then suggests that one causal role for consciousness may be a retrospective glance at sensory information in the very brief time after visual neurons are activated.
David suggests that consciousness may involve a retrospective assessment as opposed to anything else. Bernie agrees with David’s point, although it depends on the predictability of the input. When our senses encounter an unpredictable event, consciousness is needed to make the unpredictable, predictable. For biologically important events, like avoiding dangers or keeping your child from harm, consciousness is even more deeply involved.
David’s father, Gerald Edelman, was a famous biologist who thought deeply about consciousness, and wondered about the philosophical question of the causality of consciousness. Bernie offers that awareness is not only useful for interpretation of the world, but also for associative creativity. In general, consciousness is needed to reduce uncertainty and increase predictability.
Bernie and David then examine some of the classical experiments on integrative sensory processing. The cognitive scientist David Eagleman has done pioneering work on synesthesia, the ability some people have to link words and numbers with specific colors or sounds or feeling tones — a kind of 'merging of sensations'. Synesthesia is one aspect of artistic creativity that seems to require conscious involvement. Bernie suggests that consciousness has a kind of a pointing role, that allows us to emphasize important events in the world, and to communicate those events to each other.
In the final moments of the episode, Bernie and David agree that the conscious brain is remarkably adaptable to an enormous range of new and biologically important events. This “consciously-mediated adaptability” clearly disappears when we do not pay attention or get distracted, or lose alertness.
The conscious brain appears to have major bio-cultural functions.
Get a 40% Discount for your copy of Bernie Baars' acclaimed new book On Consciousness: Science & Subjectivity - Updated Works on Global Workspace Theory
David Edelman, PhD: A neuroscientist and currently Visiting Scholar in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Dartmouth College, David has taught neuroscience at the University of San Diego and UCSD. He was Professor of Neuroscience at Bennington College until 2014 and visiting professor in the Department of Psychology, CUNY Brooklyn College from 2015-2017.
He has conducted research in a wide range of areas, including mechanisms of gene regulation, the relationship between mitochondrial transport and brain activity, and visual perception in the octopus. A longstanding interest in the neural basis of consciousness led him to consider the importance—and challenge—of disseminating a more global view of brain function to a broad audience.
"Subjectivity and consciousness are the two main mysteries that science is still faced with. I'm an optimist. I believe that in the next half a century we might make progress on understanding consciousness."
- Stanley A. Klein, psychophysicist, professor of Vision Science and Optometry at the University of California, Berkeley and a member of the Berkeley Visual Processing Laboratory.
Episode 21: The Duet of Physics & Psychology with Psychophysicist, Stanley Klein
In episode 21 of our podcast “On Consciousness” we welcome psychophysicist Stanley Klein, Professor of Vision Science and Optometry at the University of California, Berkeley. Stan’s major area of research is neuropsychology and neurotechnology, a field of science that studies the body and mind through the nervous system by electronics and mechanisms. Stan was a Consulting Editor for Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, a publication of the Psychonomic Society. In this conversation Bernie and Stanley discuss the links between physics & psychology, Galileo’s contributions, and how science grows.
This friendly conversation is opened by Nat Geld, our podcast producer. She asks Stan how he thinks about subjectivity. Stan’s optimistic view is that within the next 40 years or so, science might be able to understand subjectivity and consciousness.
Bernie and Stan start a dialogue about his professional journey. As a physics undergraduate at Cal Tech, Stan had the honor of publishing a paper with Richard Feynman, the great physicist. After earning his PhD from Brandeis University in 1967, Stan taught at Claremont Colleges and finally arrived at the School of Optometry at UC Berkeley, where he has been since 1987.
Stan asks, "Is consciousness located exclusively in the brain?"
Bernie says, “Consciousness emerges in an enormous universe of nature, but only in a very small part of that universe. All the conscious species we know are animals living in the outer crust of planet earth. Empirically, we know nothing else. These days, this brutal fact tends to be forgotten because we have so many speculative ideas that tend to confuse us about the basics. But in science, we always need to start from what we know for sure.
To the best of our knowledge today, the animal brain is the home of the conscious mind.”
For Galileo, gravity meant the speed of wooden blocks sliding down angled planes. For Newton, gravity meant the attractive force of planets in orbit around the sun. Finally, for Einstein, gravity meant the influence of time and space on the apparent acceleration of objects in space.
There is both great continuity between Galileo, Newton and Einstein, and at the same time, there is a constantly evolving concept of gravity.
Stan suggests that the big revolution in physics occurred in the 1920s with the discovery that a photon can be a wave or a particle. Einstein passionately opposed this idea, and tried to disprove it for the rest of his life. That debate still continues today.
Bernie then mentions that new ideas and discoveries are always hard to accept, and they usually require a period of debate and adaptation. The idea of the conscious brain is now going through just such a period. But of course both sides tell stories from their own points of view. One side explains how the Vatican unreasonably refused to accept Galileo, and the other side explains how Galileo unreasonably refused to accept the Vatican. This is a perfectly normal debate in the history of science. There are two sides, not just one.
In the episode's final moments, Ilian talks with Stan about what he believes to be the future of science. "Science needs to focus on climate change," says Stan. "I believe that in the next half a century we might make progress on understanding consciousness."
Get a 40% Discount for your copy of Bernie Baars' acclaimed new book On Consciousness: Science & Subjectivity - Updated Works on Global Workspace Theory
Stanley A. Klein is an American psychophysicist. He is a Professor of Vision Science and Optometry at the University of California, Berkeley and a member of the Berkeley Visual Processing Laboratory. He was a consulting editor for Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, a publication of the Psychosomatic Society which promotes the communication of scientific research in psychology and allied sciences. His major area of research has been neurotechnology, a field of science that studies the body and mind through the nervous system by electronics and mechanisms. He was the co-chair for the SPIE (an international society of the science and application of light) meetings on human vision. Klein has authored and co-authored numerous papers on visual perception in the human brain.
Ilian Daskalov is a senior undergraduate student at University of California, Irvine where he studies Cognitive Science. He holds an associate degree with honors from San Diego Mesa College. His research interests include sleep, psychedelics, and artificial intelligence. He is passionate about communicating science and promoting critical thinking.
The brain seeks meaning and patterns. It would be very adaptive to do so in nature, because you need to know how to predict danger and to develop social ties. So our brains are very good at recognizing patterns, but also at creating them, even when they're not there.
- Dr. Jay Giedd, Chair of Child Psychiatry at Rady Children's Hospital - San Diego and Director of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Professor of Psychiatry at UCSD School of Medicine, and Professor in the Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Episode 20: Neural Traffic Flow in the Conscious Brain with Dr. Jay Giedd
In this lighthearted conversation, Bernard Baars welcomes returning guest, developmental neuropsychiatrist Dr. Jay Giedd, Professor of Psychiatry at UC San Diego School of Medicine. Their discussion touches on the nuances of unconscious and conscious states, the relationship between dreams and waking moments, and what the recent science tells us about different brain specializations.
Jay Giedd shares with Bernie Baars one of the utmost questions on his mind as of late, namely, at what point do we cross the threshold from being unconscious to being conscious?
They examine how sleep studies and improving brain imaging technology can help us understand the nature of consciousness, and Jay considers the notion that emergence of awareness is caused not only by the quantity of brain neurons, but also by the types of connections.
The duo discuss dream content, and Jay reflects on his initial training as a Freudian psychoanalyst, part of which included keeping a dream journal. He makes the observation that although the dreaming mind can create a narrative where the laws of physics and biology are defied, our dreams are nonetheless connected to our day-to-day activities. Bernie suggests that one possible hypothesis for this phenomenon is the cortex trying to find meaning, even with random input.
Jay highlights the fact that perception and cognition do not always accurately represent reality. In terms of increasing our chances of survival, it may be more important that our perception and pattern recognition skills actually work, rather than how accurate they are. Jay also emphasizes that over time, the physiology underlying conscious signals might have been strengthened by providing humans the ability to cooperate and better understand one another, thus further increasing our odds of survival.
Bernie makes a distinction between the functional and the anatomical connectivity of the brain. Jay reinforces this by explaining how neural traffic flow can be measured. Scientific tools have greatly improved, but there are still many puzzles that are unsolved.
In the final moments of their conversation, Jay shares his belief that one day, consciousness will not seem incomprehensible, although he acknowledges that we still have a long way to go. He emphasizes the immense complexity of the developing brain and the emergence of consciousness.
“Good science always raises more questions than answers,” concludes Dr. Giedd. “And consciousness is a great example of that.”
Get a 40% Discount for your copy of Bernie Baars' acclaimed new book On Consciousness: Science & Subjectivity - Updated Works on Global Workspace Theory
Studies show that, especially for young children, if you prematurely wake them up and deprive them of that much needed sleep, it becomes detrimental to their proper cognitive development further down in life. I just wonder about the amount of damage we're doing to kids with 7:20 AM school start times.
- Ilian Daskalov, senior undergraduate student at University of California, Irvine
Ep 19: The Sleeping Brain: Better Than a Cup of Coffee
This episode of the Podcast On Consciousness riffs on the discussion with Bernard Baars in Episode 18 on sleep, waking, connectivity, and global workspace functions. Alea Skwara, PhD, UC Davis, and Ilian Daskalov, a cognitive neuroscience upper division student from UC Irvine, pull at the threads of conscious and unconscious states in this thought-provoking discussion to unravel the topics of consciousness and sleep.
What differentiates conscious and non-conscious states? Alea explains that depending on the context of the conversation and various definitions, when talking about sleep, consciousness can be described as the ability to integrate information in a unitary and cohesive way. Ilian and Alea talk about how limitations in our vocabulary may restrict our understanding of consciousness.
Their dialogue evolves into the topic of sleep. Alea shares a personal lucid dreaming experience, where different levels of conscious awareness made her realize that she was actually in a dream state.
Ilian explores his interest in the practical side of having a good night’s sleep, and shares details about the book by neuroscientist Matthew Walker, titled “Why We Sleep.” He shares Walkers’ disappointment at how society has glorified the sacrifice of sleep for various other activities, and some inherent consequences to this.
In the final moments of the conversation, Ilian discusses some of the tools that he uses to optimize his sleep routine, emphasizing how the regularity of our sleep schedule is as important as the length of the sleep itself. Surprisingly, viewing early morning light is crucial to maintaining a regular circadian rhythm, which, in turn, is essential for one’s overall well-being and longevity.
“Why We Sleep” by Matthew Walker - https://www.sleepdiplomat.com/author
Get a 40% Discount for your copy of Bernie Baars' acclaimed new book On Consciousness: Science & Subjectivity - Updated Works on Global Workspace Theory
Alea Skwara is a PhD candidate at the University of California, Davis where she studies cognitive neuroscience. Her primary research focuses on compassion and responses to suffering. The main question that Alea is currently trying to answer is whether meditational practices can expand the range of people that a person can feel compassion for.
Ilian Daskalov is a senior undergraduate student at University of California, Irvine where he studies Cognitive Science. He holds an associate degree with honors from San Diego Mesa College. His research interests include sleep, psychedelics, and artificial intelligence. He is passionate about communicating science and promoting critical thinking.
Global Workspace Theory is probably oversimplified, just like the Newtonian theory of the planets and their orbits. And that's what framework theories usually do. You don't want to go to them for the details, you want to go to them for the overview. And Global Workspace is really an overview.
– Dr. Bernard Baars, originator of Global Workspace Theory and Global Workspace Dynamics, a theory of human cognitive architecture, the cortex and consciousness.
Ep 18: Global Workspace Functions, the Brain and Consciousness: Connectivity, Waking, & Sleep - Part 3
In Episode 18 of our podcast On Consciousness with Bernard Baars, the third in a three-part series on GWT Origins & Evidence, we continue to explore the links between cutting edge brain evidence and how that supports or updates our understanding of consciousness and the Global Workspace Theory.
Talking Points
Summary
After some quick introductions and a summary of the previous two episodes by Ilian, the trio delves right into the main subject of the conversation, namely what can sleep tell us about the conscious mind. Bernie explains that in everyday life, sleep is the most natural absence of consciousness and that it can serve as a comparison to moments of awareness.
Next, Alea introduces the work of Marcello Massimini M.D., Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences at the University of Milan, Italy, whose papers are the central topic of discussion in this episode. She points out that Massimini’s research is devoted to understanding changes in thalamocortical networks when consciousness fades and recovers, such as when we sleep and reawaken. The organ of consciousness inside the brain is a system that includes the cortex, and an egg-shaped structure inside the cortex, called thalamus. They work closely together and we call it the corticothalamic (CT) system. Alea emphasizes that in addition to neurophysiology, Massimini is interested in the theoretical and philosophical implications of the neuroscience of consciousness.
Bernie, Alea, and Ilian describe the stages and the mechanisms of the sleep cycle, namely the REM and non-REM phases. The trio also define some of the terminology used in this conversation, focusing on neuronal oscillation, or the electrical patterns of activity in the central nervous system. When examined with an EEG, oscillations throughout the brain display which regions are active during a particular state.
The Sleep Slow Oscillation as a Traveling Wave, Massimini et al. (2004) is the first of two papers analyzed. Alea thoroughly summarizes the contents of the paper, indicating that the researchers detected traveling waves in the sleeping brain, particularly during nREM sleep. These waves had a site of origin and a direction, and most frequently originated in anterior (frontal) regions, and propagated posteriorly (back), although they can originate anywhere and propagate in any direction.
Bernie makes the point that a fundamental framework for Global Workspace Theory is precisely this broadcast and build concept. GWT implies that there is information being transmitted and these traveling waves are obviously one possible way that can reflect the transmission of information.
The second paper, titled Breakdown of Cortical Effective Connectivity During Sleep, Massimini et al. (2005), makes the observation that when we fall asleep, consciousness fades, yet the brain remains active. The researchers set out to understand why that is. They hypothesize that it is due to changes in information transfer. This ability to transfer and integrate information across multiple systems requires something called “effective connectivity” - or the ability of firing in one group of neurons to affect the firing of another. Massimini and his team suggest that consciousness is dependent on the brain’s ability to integrate information. This paper does seem to offer evidence for the breakdown of long-range connectivity during sleep. This is consistent with the broadcasting hypothesis which was discussed in parts I and II of this GWT series.
Bernie highlights the fact that even though the results appear to support the idea that this ability to transfer and integrate information across distant brain regions is necessary for conscious experience, the paper does have its limitations, such as the timing and measurement of the TMS (transcranial magnetic stimulation) pulse.
In the final moments of the episode, the trio ponder what these findings might tell us about consciousness. Bernie believes that for him, the conclusions from these papers do not support the grand hypothesis of how consciousness is formed. Alea agrees, and says that although complex questions cannot be answered by a single paper, such studies serve as fundamental stepping stones to gain a better understanding of the grander picture.
Some people suggest that dreaming is a kind of conscious state. Very early sources claim that waking is consciousness of the world, dreaming is consciousness of an inner world, and unconscious sleep is lack of any kind of conscious content. There are several things that we think we know, and there are a lot of things we don’t know. So we make our best guesses and when we find new evidence we change our guesses.
“I actually have a take-home lesson. This is to scientists and it's private. So don't tell anybody else. Try asking your subjects what they are experiencing and maybe you'll learn something.”
-Bernard Baars, PhD
Massimini, M., Ferrarelli, F., Huber, R., Esser, S. K., Singh, H., & Tononi, G. (2005, September 30). Breakdown of cortical effective connectivity during sleep. Science. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1117256
Massimini, M., Huber, R., Ferrarelli, F., Hill, S., & Tononi, G. (2004, August 4). The sleep slow oscillation as a traveling wave. Journal of Neuroscience. https://www.jneurosci.org/content/24/31/6862
Get a 40% Discount for your copy of Bernie Baars' acclaimed new book On Consciousness: Science & Subjectivity - Updated Works on Global Workspace Theory
Alea Skwara is a PhD candidate at the University of California, Davis where she studies cognitive neuroscience. Her primary research focuses on compassion and responses to suffering. The main question that Alea is currently trying to answer is whether meditational practices can expand the range of people that a person can feel compassion for.
Ilian Daskalov is a senior undergraduate student at University of California, Irvine where he studies Cognitive Science. He holds an associate degree with honors from San Diego Mesa College. His research interests include sleep, psychedelics, and artificial intelligence. He is passionate about communicating science and promoting critical thinking.
The podcast currently has 30 episodes available.