Select one of the following books about consciousness and evolutionary neuroscience. Read your chosen book between Monday March 20 and Sunday March 26.
Groups of students with common readings will have book club-like discussions in class on Tuesday March 28. On Thursday March 30 there will be between-group un-book club-type sharing.
The Books
- The Feeling of Life Itself: Why Consciousness Is Widespread but Can’t Be Computed by Christof Koch. [Swem] [Amazon]
- The Deep History of Ourselves: The Four-Billion-Year Story of How We Got Conscious Brains by Joseph LeDoux. [Swem] [Amazon]
Note: If your preferred choice of book would result in financial hardship please speak to me and we will make arrangements.
Here are some questions to consider while you read, or to use as ice-breakers for peer-to-peer discussions.
Consciousness
What is the author’s definition of consciousness, and how does it differ from other definitions that you have encountered?
How does the author approach the question of whether consciousness is a product of the brain, and what evidence is used to support the author’s perspective?
Did the author’s perspective connect in any way well-known theories of consciousness, such as the global workspace theory and the integrated information theory?
Does the author make a distinction between cognition and emotions? Between intelligence, problem solving, and subjective experience?
How does is the author’s perspective on consciousness relate to animal minds? What evidence is presented in the book for the existence of animal consciousness, and how convincing is it?
Were there any aspects of animal intelligence and problem-solving abilities that were new to you?
What is the concept of embodied cognition? Did the book present any examples?
What are some of the limitations of studying animal consciousness from the perspective of neuroscience? Are there any other perspectives that could help address these limitations?
What are the limitations of studying human consciousness using brain imaging and phenomenological reports?
Did your reading change your perspective on the possibility of human’s creating conscious machines and/or artificial general intelligence?
Are there any key takeaways from the book? How might we apply these to our own lives and to our interactions with others?
Evolutionary Neuroscience
In broad strokes, how has the central nervous system evolved over time? What are some of the key milestones in the evolution of animal brains?
How do the concepts of adaptation and selection apply to the development of the nervous system, and what implications do they have for our understanding of brain function?
How does the study of comparative neuroanatomy across different extant species inform our understanding of the evolution of the brain?
What specific neuroscientific insights arise from the study of cephalopod intelligence?
What are the key insights that evolutionary neuroscience brings to our understanding of the human brain and behavior?
How has the study of evolutionary neuroscience helped to shed light on the evolution of specific brain regions or neural systems?
Does the author’s perspective on evolutionary neuroscience have any implications our understanding of mental health and mental illness? How might a deep understanding of evolutionary neuroscience improve treatments for neuropsychiatric diseases?
In what ways might evolutionary neuroscience contribute to our understanding of the origins and development of consciousness?
Computational Neuroscience 