Summer Institute June 29 - July 11 on: The Evolution and Function of Consciousness http://www.summer12.isc.uqam.ca/page/renseignement.php?lang_id=2 Among the 54 lecturers: Dennett, Damasio, Searle, Ledoux, Edelman, Baron-Cohen...) In Commemoration of the Centenary of the birth of Alan Turing Theme: When, where, how and why - since the origin of life on Earth about 4 billion years ago - did organisms' input/output functions become conscious input/output functions? What is the causal role of consciousness? Registration is open Scholarships are available Posters submissions are open (and a requirement for scholarships) Place: Montreal, Canada (Institute of Cognitive Sciences, UQaM) Dates: June 29 to July 11, 2012 (followed by an optional 2-day practical workshop on imaging techniques for measuring consciousness July 10-11) The Institute is intended for: Graduate and post-graduate students from the participating disciplines: cognitive science, neuroscience, evolutionary biology, artificial intelligence, robotics, psychology, philosophy Faculty, scholars, engineers, and professionals from interested disciplines. Themes: Felt Function Turing Testing Know-how High-Level Know-How What's Feeling for? Feelings and Firing Doing Things Because You Feel Like It Consciousness and Causality Evolutionary Advantages of Felt Functions Measuring Consciousness (Satellite Workshop on Measuring Consciousness) OPENING LECTURES: DAN DENNETT - A Phenomenal Confusion About Access and Consciousness ANTONIO DAMASIO - Feelings and Sentience JACK COPELAND - Alan Turing: Code Breaker and AI Pioneer MARK MITTON - (Surprise) CLOSING LECTURE: JOHN SEARLE - Consciousness and Causality CAMPBELL, JOHN - What does Visual Experience Have to do with Visual Science? JOSEPH LEDOUX - The Perplexing Relationship Between Emotions and Consciousness WOLF SINGER - Consciousness: Unity in Time Rather Than Space? DAVID ROSENTHAL - Does Consciousness Have any Utility? STEVAN HARNAD - How and Why the Problem of Explaining the Causal Role of Consciousness is Hard JORGE ARMONY - Neural Bases of Emotion INMAN HARVEY - No Hard Feeling Why Would An Evolved Robot Care? AXEL CLEERMANS - Consciousness and Learning PATRICK HAGGARD - Volition and Agency: What is it, and What is it For? ERIK COOK - Are Neural Fluctuations in Cortex Causally Linked to Visual Perception? GREGORY DUDEK - Autonomous Robotics FERNANDO CERVERO - Cellular and Molecular Mechanisms of Pain DAVID FREEDMAN - Brain Mechanisms of Visual Categorization and Decision-Making BJORN BREMBS - Behavoral Freedom and Decision- Making in Flies: Evolutionary precursor of "Free Will"? BJORN MERKER - The Brain's Need for Sensory Consciousness: From Probabilities to Estimates SHIMON EDELMAN - Being in Time DARIO FLOREANO - Evolution of Adaptive Behavior in Autonomous Robots PHILLIP JACKSON - The Brain Response to the Pain of Others: Fleeing Versus Caring JULIO MARTINEZ - Voluntary Attention and Working Memory in The Primate Bain: Recording from Single Cells BERNARD BAARS - Psycho-Biological Risks/Benefits of Consciousness MICHAEL GRAZIANO - Consciousness and the Attention Schema CHRISTOPHER PACK - Neural Correlates of Consciousness in Primate Cortex WAYNE SOSSIN - Aplysia: If we Understand the Cellular Mechanisms Underlying Sensation and Learning, What Do we Need Consciousness for? ROY BAUMEISTER - The Why, What and How of Consciousness KARIM NADER - Fear and Motivational Memory CATHERINE TALLON-BAUDRY - Is Consciousness an Executive Function? DAVID EDELMAN - Studying Consciousness in Cephalopods MICHAEL SHADLEN - Consciousness as a Decision to Engage BARBARA FINLAY - Continuities/Discontinuities in Vertebrate Brain Evolution and Cognitive Capacities: Implications for Concsiousness ? SIMON BARON-COHEN - Mind Reading ALAIN PTITO - Neural Mechanisms of Blindsight after Hemispherectomy: Tapping into the Unconscious ALFRED MELE - Do Conscious Decisions Ever Play a Role in Action Production STEFANO MANCUSO - Evolution of Plant Intelligence GUALTIERO PICCININI - Is Consciousness a Spandrel? AMIR SHMUEL - Functional Neuro-Imaging: Neuroshysiological Mechanisms of Hemodynamic GARY COMSTOCK - Feeling Matters HAKWAN LAU - Volition and the Function of Consciousness DAVID JACOBS - Evolution of Sense Organs LUIZ PESSOA - Cognitive-Emotional Interactions GILLES PLOURDE - General Anesthetics for the Study Consciousness EZEQUIEL MORSELLA - The Primary Function of Consciousness in the Brain MARK BALAGUER - A Scientifically Reputable Version of Indeterministic Libertarian Free Will AMIR RAZ - Hypnosis as Experimental Tool to Study Metacognition, Causality and Volition MALCOLM MACIVER - Sensory and Motor Spaces and the Emergence of Multiple Futures JENNIFER MATHER - Evolutionary Pressures and Cephalopod Consciousness ADRIAN WARD - The Feeling of Willing PAUL CISEK - The Vanishing Central Executive: Distributed Neural Mechanisms for Decision-Making EVA JABLONKA - Evolutionary Origins of Experiencing CLOSING LECTURE: JOHN SEARLE - Consciousness and Causality OPTIONAL WORKSHOP July 10th, am: Functional Connectivity July 10th, pm: Transcranial Stimulation July 11th, am: Sleep and Dreams July 11th, pm: Magnetoencephalography http://www.summer12.isc.uqam.ca/page/intro.php