Latest Consciousness Stories
Do animals have reflective minds able to self-regulate perception, reasoning, memory? According to one of the leading scholars in the field, there is an emerging consensus among scientists that animals share functional parallels with humans' conscious metacognition -- that is, our ability to reflect on our own mental processes and guide and optimize them. In two new contributions to this influential field of comparative psychology, David Smith, PhD, of the University at Buffalo and his...
Public change rooms can cause body anxieties for women Sweating in the gym, surrounded by others, pounding to the beat in group exercise class has become the norm for many women. But when it comes to the experience of changing in the locker room, the acts of disrobing, dressing, showering and being naked in front of others, can be very discomfiting. It's a complex experience as women are faced with an awareness of their bodies different than in any other space. "I walk into the change...
Our senses aren’t just delivering a strict view of what’s going on in the world; they’re affected by what’s going on in our heads. A new study finds that hungry people see food-related words more clearly than people who’ve just eaten. The study, published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, finds that this change in vision happens at the earliest, perceptual stages, before higher parts of the brain have a chance to change the messages...
People who take Ritalin are far more aware of their mistakes, a University of Melbourne study has found. The study, by Dr Rob Hester from the Department of Psychological Sciences and colleagues at the Queensland Brain Institute, investigated how the brain monitors ongoing behavior for performance errors – specifically failures of impulse control. It found that a single dose of methylphenidate (Ritalin) results in significantly greater activity in the brain’s error monitoring network...
Distinguished scientists, leaders, and humanitarians will converge on Carlsbad, CA in less than two weeks to address some of the most important scientific, social, and spiritual questions of our time. The Chopra Foundation’s Third Annual Sages and Scientists Symposium is being held at the La Costa Resort and Spa Saturday, March 3 through Monday, March 5, 2012. Carlsbad, CA (PRWEB) February 22, 2012 The Chopra Foundation is excited to announce the speakers and topics planned for the...
The Chopra Foundation is pleased to announce the addition of retired General Wesley Clark to its lineup of distinguished scientists, leaders, and humanitarians that will gather next month to address the most important scientific, social, and spiritual questions of our time at Sages and Scientists in Carlsbad. Carlsbad, CA (PRWEB) February 14, 2012 Few people have had as profound a positive influence on the world as General Wesley K. Clark. The Chopra Foundation is proud to announce the...
For Bradley Duchaine, there is definitely more than meets the eye where faces are concerned. With colleagues at Birkbeck College in the University of London, he is investigating the process of facial recognition, seeking to understand the complexity of what is actually taking place in the brain when one person looks at another. His studies target people who display an inability to recognize faces, a condition long known as prosopagnosia. Duchaine is trying to understand the neural basis...
AMSTERDAM, January 25, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The Praemium Erasmianum Foundation has awarded the Erasmus Prize 2012 to the American philosopher Daniel C. Dennett (1942). The theme of the Erasmus Prize this year is 'the cultural meaning of the natural sciences'. Daniel Dennett is praised for his ability to translate the cultural significance of science and technology to a broad audience. (Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20120125/506089 ) Daniel Dennett...
The human subconscious has a bigger impact than previously thought on how we respond to danger, according to research led by the University of Exeter. Published today (I8 January), the study shows that our primitive response to fear can contradict our conscious assessment of danger. The findings have implications for how anxiety disorders, such as phobias, are treated. The research also suggests we share a primitive response to fear with other animals, despite being able to consciously...
What distinguishes information processing with conscious awareness from processing occurring without awareness? And, is there any role for conscious awareness in information processing, or is it just a byproduct, like the steam from the chimney of a train engine, which is significant, but has no functional role? These questions - which have long puzzled psychologists, philosophers, and neurobiologists - were recently addressed in a study by Hebrew University of Jerusalem researchers and...
