This course is intended for all students interested in the topic of consciousness and the NCC, i.e. the Neural Correlate of Consciousness.

Each session will include a presentation by one of the organizers, and will be followed by a general discussion.

The course's main language is english, but discussions and questions in german are also possible.

Requirements:

Most topics will be covered in articles and notes available on this web site, or that will be distributed during the course.
There will be three unannounced quizzes (multiple choice format) that will determine the final grade. You need at least two completed quizzes
to pass. In addition, you need to contribute 3 significant postings to the consciousness forum.

Here are instrcutions for the Forum:

1. go to https://ilias-app1.net.ethz.ch/goto.php?target=grp_4134&client_id=net_ilias
2. find the Login-Button in the upper right corner and log in, using your ETH or Uni username and
password (e.g. for ETH, the nethz-login)
3. after login you will be taken to the forum page. there is a tab with a link called "join". click it.
4. register using the password "bewusst09" (this is necessary only once)
5. enter the forum by clicking on the forum name ("Consciousness: from Philosophy to
Neuroscience")
6. read the two STICKIES before you post anything
7. now you can make a bookmark that takes you directly to the forum
postings

The forum is closed, that means, nobody from outside can see what you are posting. Only members of our seminar with a password can register.

Credits

Successful completion of the course yields three credits.

Schedule:

 

Date:	Organizer:	Topic / illustrations
Sept. 17, 2009	A. Gamma D. Kiper	Introduction and organisation issues (D. Kiper), and definition of qualia (A. Gamma)
Sept. 25, 2009	A. Gamma	Qualia
Oct. 1, 2009	A. Gamma	Here are the slides, and here are four papers to read: Chalmers_consc_place_nature.pdf Chalmers_facing_up.pdf Levine_qualia_explanatory_gap.pdf Nagel_bat.pdf
Oct. 8, 2009	A. Gamma	Here is the article on "Animal consciousness" we mentioned in the class.
Oct. 15, 2009	A. Gamma	Here are the slides
Oct. 22, 2009	A. Gamma	How to study consciousness. Here is a zip file containing several relevant papers.
Oct. 29, 2009	D. Kiper	What can we learn about consciousness from the visual system Here is the Moutoussis and Zeki paper
Nov. 5, 2009	D. Kiper	Further visual experiments
Nov. 12, 2009	D. Kiper	Electrical stimulation experiments (and a bit of free will)
Nov. 19, 2009	D. Kiper	A bit more free will, and time
Nov. 26, 2009	K. Eng	Here are his slides on Virtual Reality
Dec. 03, 2009	D. Kiper	More examples of visual phenomena
Dec. 10, 2009	D. Kiper	Two general models