Characterizing Consciousness: From Cognition to the Clinic?
Characterizing the computational architecture and neurobiological mechanisms underlying consciousness is a major unsolved problem in cognitive neuroscience. Yet, thanks to new advances in stimulation paradigms, brain imaging techniques, and neuronal theor
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Stanislas Dehaene
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Yves Christen
Editors
Characterizing Consciousness: From Cognition to the Clinic?
Editors Stanislas Dehaene, PhD Professor at Colle`ge de France INSERM-CEA Cognitive Neuroimaging Unit 91191 Gif sur Yvette France [email protected]
Yves Christen, PhD Fondation IPSEN pour la Recherche Therapeutique 65 quai George Gorse 92650 Boulogne Billancourt Cedex France [email protected]
ISSN 0945-6082 ISBN 978-3-642-18014-9 e-ISBN 978-3-642-18015-6 DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-18015-6 Springer Heidelberg Dordrecht London New York Library of Congress Control Number: 2011929691 # Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2011 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilm or in any other way, and storage in data banks. Duplication of this publication or parts thereof is permitted only under the provisions of the German Copyright Law of September 9, 1965, in its current version, and permission for use must always be obtained from Springer. Violations are liable to prosecution under the German Copyright Law. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. Cover design: WMXDesign GmbH, Heidelberg, Germany Printed on acid-free paper Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com)
Introduction: Recent Advances in Consciousness Research
Consciousness was long considered as the “holy grail” of cognitive psychology and neuroscience: a vague and uncertain goal, so remote as to seem almost entirely out of reach. Today, however, the perspective has changed. Characterizing the computational architecture and neurobiological mechanisms underlying consciousness remains a major unsolved problem in cognitive neuroscience, but it has become an area of intense research. Thanks to new advances in stimulation paradigms, brain imaging techniques, and neuronal theorizing, the issue now appears to be empirically addressable. Yet a major challenge still confronts these novel empirical and theoretical proposals: will they be able to help clinicians confronted with patients in coma or vegetative state? Can they help define novel diagnostic or even therapeutic tools? In the present book, which is the outcome of a Fondation Ipsen meeting held in Paris on May 3rd 2010, 13 renowned neuroscientists and clinicians examine whether consciousness research is ripe for applications, from cognition to the clinic. The diversity of empirical research is impressive, and the theoretical convergence is quickly growing. At the cognitive level, paradigms such as backward masking, binocular rivalry or change blindness, together with quantitative probing of
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