Category Archives: Psykologi

3 weeks until the unique event in Barcelona – Understanding Consciousness

Human Brain Project (HBP) invites scientists, physicians, philosophers and students to join project’s first large international conference devoted to the understanding of consciousness.

The conference will focus on fundamentals and theory, experimental studies, computational models, and clinical-societal implications of consciousness research. This is the first in a series of large, HBP international conference.

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How does our subjective experience emerge from the brain? How does consciousness relate to the physical world? These age-old, deep questions are now at last being addressed directly and broadly by neuroscience and will become crucial in the decades to come.

Where does consciousness arise? Where is the boundary between insentient matter and a spark of subjectivity? The spectrum of consciousness-related conundrums is rapidly expanding: we are saving islands of human brain from devastating injuries, growing cerebral organoids in a vat, and building intelligent machines that perform faster and better than any healthy subject.

Society needs to be scientifically and culturally prepared to face these emerging questions. To do so, an approach with the broadest scope is needed: diverse theoretical frameworks, brain anatomy, physiology, and chemistry across scales and species, detailed and large-scale computer simulations, deep learning, neuromorphic computing, robotics, clinical neurology, anaesthesiology, psychology, behavioural, computational, and philosophical analysis must interact and blend on a single infrastructure.

In the European Human Brain Project, a number of teams work together on consciousness and related questions, connecting neuroscience, philosophy, and technology. At the conference this research will be presented and discussed, along with presentations by world-leading scholars from outside the project, like Karl Friston,  and David Chalmers, Ned Block, Rodolfo Llinas, Wolf Singer, Emery Brown, Olaf Blanke.

Programme and Further Information

 

Excellent lecture by Adrian Owen in The Norwegian Academy of Science And Letters, October 7, 2014

The lecture hall of the Norwegian Academy of Science And Letters in Oslo was filled with scientists, philosophers, clinicians (MDs, psychologists) and others when Dr. Adrian Owen presented his outstanding research on consciousness in an excellent lecture: «Using Functional Neuroimaging to Detect Awareness After Serious Brain Injury».

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Professor Adrian Owen lecturing in Oslo: «Using Functional Neuroimaging to Detect Awareness After Serious Brain Injury»

The lecture was followed by questions and discussion, including a panel discussion with Adrian Owen, Olav Gjelsvik (philosophy, University of Oslo), Johan Storm (neurophysiology, University of Oslo), and Marianne Løvstad (clinical neurophysiology, Sunnaas Rehabilitation Hospital/Oslo University Hospital, Oslo).

 

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Panel discussion with (from left) Adrian Owen, Olav Gjelsvik (philosophy, University of Oslo), Johan Storm (neurophysiology, University of Oslo), and Marianne Løvstad (clinical neurophysiology, Sunnaas Rehabilitation Hospital /OUS, Oslo).
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Panel discussion

 

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Professor Nils Christian Stenseth (Biology, University of Oslo, leader of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters), opened the Meeting.

As before, this open meeting was hosted jointly by the Forum for Consciousness Research and the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters.

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Arian Owen in conversation with Johan F. Storm.
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Adrian Owen in conversation with Marianne Løvstad.

 

Large turnout and brilliant lecture by Stanislas Dehaene in Oslo / Godt oppmøte på foredrag av Dehaene

Av: Olve Moldestad, Johan F. Storm

Large turnout and brilliant lecture by Stanislas Dehaene in Oslo

There was a large turnout when Dr. Stanislas Dehaene  gave a brilliant lecture about his research on consciousness at Litteraturhuset in Oslo, in an open meeting hosted by the Forum for Consciousness Research and the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. The lecture hall was over-filled.

Sammen med Det Norske Videnskaps-Akademi, arrangerte forum for bevissthetsforskning et åpent møte med professor i kognitiv psykologi Stanislas Dehaene den 6. november. Mer en 150 deltakere møtte opp for å høre ham snakke om sin forskning på bevissthet. 

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Mer en 150 hadde møtt opp for å høre Stanislas Dehaene (foto: Olve Moldestad).

Dehaene holdt et foredrag om en serie eksperimenter han har gjort med sine samarbeidspartnere som forsøker å beskrive de endringene som skjer i hjernen når forsøkspersonene blir oppmerksom på ny informasjon. Forsøkene benytter små endringer i de eksperimentelle betingelsene som kan avgjøre om de samme stimuli blir registrert eller ikke. Det er, for eksempel, små endringer i hvor lenge et stimulus blir presentert for forsøkspersonene. Forskningen benytter EEG, fMRI og MEG for å studere endringer i hjernes aktivitet under disse eksperimentene.

Møtet ble holdt på Litteraturhuset 6. november 2013 (foto: Olve Moldestad).
Møtet ble holdt på Litteraturhuset 6. november 2013 (foto: Olve Moldestad).

Resultatene fra Dehaenes forskning indikerer at bevissthet er forbundet med global økning i sen synkronisert aktivitet (en cortical “antenning”) som er spredt over mange corticale områder. Sammen med sine medarbeidere har han utviklet en teori om et globalt nevronalt arbeidsminne eller -område i hjernen. I denne teorien er opplevelsen av bevissthet knyttet til tilgjengeligheten av informasjon i store nettverk i hjernen av pyramide-nevroner med langedistanse aksoner.

Foredraget ble etterfulgt av en debatt ledet av Visepreses Nils Chr. Stenseth, og i panelet satt professor i nevrofysiologi Johan F. Storm, førsteamanuensis i psykologi Thomas Espeseth, post. doc. i filosofi Sebastian Watzl sammen med professor i kognitiv psykologi Stanislas Dehaene.

Visepreses Nils Chr. Stenseth (ytterst til høyre) ledet debatten under møtet (foto: Olve Moldestad).
Visepreses Nils Chr. Stenseth (ytterst til høyre) ledet debatten under møtet (foto: Olve Moldestad).
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I panelet satt (fra venstre) professor i nevrofysiolog Johan F. Storm, førsteamanuensis i psykologi Thomas Espeseth, post. doc. i filosofi Sebastian Watzl og professor i kognitiv psykologi Stanislas Dehaene (foto: Olve Moldestad).