Broadcast: Events

Neuroscience is finally beginning to address what is arguably the most exciting question one can tackle, namely: What are the fundamental mechanisms in our brains that generate consciousness (i.e. subjective experience)? In this seminar I explore potential answers that ascribe a key role to information integration and/or dynamical complexity. I describe my theoretical stance, as well as my work on developing quantitative measures of conscious level that can be applied to brain imaging data to test these theories. Specifically, this involves:

(i) A discussion of my hypothesis that consciousness reduces at the most fundamental level to intrinsic information in electromagnetic field patterns.

(ii) My development of a measure of synergistic information-sharing for Gaussian variables. That is the information about a target variable that arises synergistically from two sources and is not attributable to either source on its own. This involves extensions to standard Shannon information theory.

(iii) Application of practical measures of complexity to scalp EEG and intracranial depth electrode data from subjects in different states of consciousness (wakeful rest, general anaesthesia, sleep).

By: Luke Scott
Last updated: Wednesday, 5 November 2014