🚀 go-pugleaf

		  	        CSCI 4830 / 7222
	            Special Topics in Artifical Intelligence:
	          The Scientific Investigation of Consciousness

	       		       Tu, Th 11:00-12:15
			           Duane G116

			      Instructor: Mike Mozer
				   


   Modern discussions about the mind are astoundingly parochial.  Physicists 
   advocate quantum mechanics, biologists neurons, and good computationalists
   like myself, computers, each looking with bemused condescension upon their 
   eccentric neighbors.  Can we not get some bakers to participate in this 
   forum, who will advocate that the roots of consciousness reside in the 
   eclair? 
     				-- Joshua Stern in Psyche-D 



This course will explore the nature, function, and underlying mechanisms 
of consciousness from the interdisciplinary perspectives of cognitive science 
and cognitive neuroscience.  The questions to be addressed include:

   * How does the mind relate to the brain?
   * What are the neurobiological correlates of consciousness?
   * How do conscious and unconscious mental processes relate to one another?
   * What is the computational role of consciousness?
   * Can computers ever be conscious?

Only recently has this area of research become accepted within the academic 
community.  As John Searle puts it, raising the subject of consciousness in 
cognitive science discussions is no longer considered to be "bad taste," 
causing graduate students to "roll their eyes at the ceiling and assume 
expressions of mild disgust."  Indeed, consciousness research has been 
extremely active the past few years, and has led to significant results 
in experimental psychology, neuroscience, and computational modeling.

Most people are interested in consciousness not just because of the academic 
and interdisciplinary challenges, but because it is at the core of their 
personal experience.  However, to make progress in studying consciousness, 
precise and rigorous analysis is required.  Uninformed introspection will 
not be well received, lest the entire course degenerate into rambling 
discussion.

Topics covered will include:

   * major philosophical and theoretical perspectives
   * criteria for the ascription of consciousness
   * amnesic syndromes
   * blindsight
   * hemispatial neglect
   * subliminal perception
   * implicit memory and learning
   * attention
   * single cell correlates of awareness
   * techniques and implications of brain imaging (fMRI, EEG, SQUID, ERP)
   * computational modeling


The course will be organized as a seminar.  All participants (enrolled
or auditing) will be expected to read and present topical papers, and
enrollees will write a review paper.  We hope to have funds to invite
several leading researchers to interact with the class; the choice of
whom to invite will be made by class participants.

While the course has no formal prerequisites, priority will be given to those
students with some background in cognitive science or cognitive neuroscience.

Advanced undergraduates are invited to participate with permission of the 
instructor.