ON CONSCIOUSNESS - Baars, Bernard J.

Biographie:
Bernard J. Baars is best known as the originator of the Global Workspace Theory (GWT), a theory of human cognitive architecture, the cortex, and consciousness. Recipient of International Neural Network Society 2019 Hermann von Helmholtz Award recognizing scientific life contributions proven to be paradigm changing, which demonstrate outstanding research achievements in perception. As professor of psychology at the State University of New York, Stony Brook, and as faculty member at the Wright Institute, he conducted research into the causation of human errors and the Freudian slip. A former Senior Fellow in Theoretical Neurobiology at The Neurosciences Institute in La Jolla, CA., he is currently Editor in Chief of the Society for Mind Brain Sciences. Baars co-founded the Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness and the Academic Press journal Consciousness and Cognition: An International Journal, which he also edited, with William P. Banks for fifteen years.In addition to research on global workspace theory with Professor Stan Franklin and others, Baars is working to re-introduce the topic of the conscious brain into the standard college and graduate school curriculum. Baars has also published on animal consciousness, volition, and feelings of knowing, and has published an approach to higher states, as defined in the meditation traditions. New brain recording methods continue to reveal unexpected evidence on those topics.

Sommaire:

One of the most important and influential theories of consciousness. A MUST READ for anyone interested in the scientific treatment of consciousness. David Rosenthal, CUNY

The works of Bernard Baars collected here are among the foundational texts of the scientific study of consciousness. Their influence in cognitive science and philosophy of mind is enormous, and their impact on my own thinking has been profound. Murray Shanahan, DeepMind

Bernard Baars' Global Workspace Theory (GWT) is a theory of human cognitive architecture, the cortex, and consciousness. GWT is a widely used framework for the role of conscious and unconscious events in the functioning of the brain. Global Workspace Dynamics (GWD) is the most current version of GWT - attempting to account for complexities of the living brain.

These updated works, from the recipient of INNS 2019 Hermann von Helmholtz Life Contribution Award for paradigm changing, long lasting influence and impact in perception:

• form a coherent effort to organize a large and growing body of scientific evidence about conscious brains,
  
• and trace the beginnings of GWT/GWD through the continued rise of brain evidence and psychological understanding.
  

Throughout human history, people have perceived the conscious brain as the great nexus of human life, of social relationships, of their personal identities and histories, in encounters with new challenges. Consciousness under its many labels and manifestations is widely seen to be one of the core mysteries of life.

Making progress in understanding consciousness has a vast number of implications - philosophical, metaphysical, scientific, clinical, and practical. Many therapeutic approaches can be viewed in a Global Workspace framework, including:

• traditional psychodynamics
• depth psychology
• cognitive behavioral techniques
• many other carefully studied human functions
  

BRILLIANT! Deepak Chopra, MD

A magnificent achievement! Pat Churchland, UCSD