brain-based devices
brain-based devices
Tuesday Oct 18, 2022
Tuesday Oct 18, 2022
We think of the cortex in terms of anatomical regions, but the cortex works as a whole. Static, gross anatomical divisions are superseded by the dynamical connectome of cortex.
This holistic viewpoint is detailed in the recent paper in the Journal Frontiers in Psychology: Consciousness Research, titled "Global Workspace Theory & Prefrontal Cortex: Recent Developments" (Baars, Geld & Kozma, 2021), which we discuss in this episode.
A wide range of experimental and theoretical studies in the field of consciousness emphasize the complex and rapid interactivity of numerous regions and connectivities in the cerebral cortex. That dynamical view of the cortex should give us pause about proposing dichotomies that may not be in evidence. This paper aims to clarify some empirical questions that have been raised, and review evidence that the prefrontal and posterior regions of the brain support dynamic global workspace functions, in agreement with several other authors.
Our special guest for Episode 23 is Dr. Robert Kozma, professor and director of the Center for Large-Scale Integrated Optimization and Networks (CLION) at the FedEx Institute of Technology, and professor of Mathematics in the Department of Mathematical Sciences at the University of Memphis. Ilian Daskalov, our student interviewer, joins us to explore this recent paper on GWT and Prefrontal Cortex.
To follow along with this discussion, here is the link to the source paper: Baars, B. J., Geld, N., & Kozma, R. (2021). Global Workspace Theory (GWT) and Prefrontal Cortex: Recent Developments. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 5163. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.749868
Talking Points
0:00 – Intro
4:04 – Divisions between PfC and other neuronal regions tend to be misleading.
5:57 – Global Workspace Theory: An Overview
10:23 – The Role of Metaphors in Science
15:37 – Consciousness is the Dynamic Core of the Brain.
21:44 – Unifying Principles of the Global Workspace “Family” of Theories
30:59 – What is “Binding” and “Broadcasting” in the Brain?
34:39 – What did Raccah et al. (2021) Get Wrong about GWT?
43:22 – What is Neuropercolation Theory?
58:12 – Conscious and Unconscious Metacognition
01:07:07 – The Dynamical Connectome of Cortex
01:12:01 – Functional Rich Clubs (FRICs) by Deco et al. (2021): Part of GW “Family”
01:17:30 – Final Thoughts
Links & Publications
— Website and Social Media —
Episode Summary: https://bernardbaars.com/episode-23
Website:https://bernardbaars.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BernardJBaars
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BernardJBaars/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bernardjbaars/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/OnConsciousnesswithBernardBaars
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/baarslab/?hl=en
— Robert Kozma, Ph.D. —
University of Memphis: https://www.memphis.edu/msci/people/rkozma.php
CLION: https://www.memphis.edu/clion/
IEEE: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/author/37284339400
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Kozma
Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Nddbg2gAAAAJ&hl=en
PubMed Publications: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=Kozma%2C%20Robert
Neuropercolation Theory (PDF): https://escholarship.org/content/qt2qn4778j/qt2qn4778j.pdf
Link to paper by Deco et al. (2021): https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-020-01003-6
Monday Jul 11, 2022
Monday Jul 11, 2022
“Can consciousness be seen as the key to understanding our surroundings and organizing our actions?” — David Edelman, PhD, Neuroscientist and Visiting Scholar in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Dartmouth College
Ep 22: Consciousness Has an Integrative Function with Neuroscientist, David Edelman
Episode 22 of our podcast On Consciousness brings back neuroscientist David Edelman, who graciously hosted this discussion in the home of his late father, Nobel Laureate Gerald M. Edelman. Some have argued that consciousness is only a side effect of the brain, but from an evolutionary point of view, major adaptations result from intense genetic pressures, which are causal. The exact nature of that causality is still under debate. One evolutionary function of consciousness is likely to be sensory and action (motor) integration. It seems that consciousness is needed anytime two sensory events have to be combined, like the sound of a bird and the sight of that same bird, or the sound of a singer and her lip movements. Even this sentence requires conscious involvement to combine the beginning with its ending. Consciousness has an integrative function.
Talking Points
0:00 – Intro by Nat Geld
0:53 – Is awareness just a side effect of the brain?
5:56 – Does consciousness occur with a delay?
9:13 – Resolving Ambiguity in the World
12:59 – From Uncertainty to Predictability: A major function of consciousness.
18:33 – Fine-tuning the Senses: Perceptual learning.
Summary
Controversies Over Causality
Bernie and David mull over the causal role of consciousness in the brain. Bernie mentions that Darwin’s public advocate, Thomas Henry Huxley, claimed that consciousness might only be a side effect of the brain in the way that the steam whistle of a locomotive can be considered to be a side effect of the heating of the giant steam vessel. But this seems to violate the physics of the conservation of energy — the steam vessel is, in fact, driving the train whistle. Still, the notion of consciousness as a side effect continues to be debated in philosophy.
David then suggests that one causal role for consciousness may be a retrospective glance at sensory information in the very brief time after visual neurons are activated.
David suggests that consciousness may involve a retrospective assessment as opposed to anything else. Bernie agrees with David’s point, although it depends on the predictability of the input. When our senses encounter an unpredictable event, consciousness is needed to make the unpredictable, predictable. For biologically important events, like avoiding dangers or keeping your child from harm, consciousness is even more deeply involved.
Can consciousness be seen as the key to understanding our surroundings and organizing our actions?
David’s father, Gerald Edelman, was a famous biologist who thought deeply about consciousness, and wondered about the philosophical question of the causality of consciousness. Bernie offers that awareness is not only useful for interpretation of the world, but also for associative creativity. In general, consciousness is needed to reduce uncertainty and increase predictability.
Bernie and David then examine some of the classical experiments on integrative sensory processing. The cognitive scientist David Eagleman has done pioneering work on synesthesia, the ability some people have to link words and numbers with specific colors or sounds or feeling tones — a kind of 'merging of sensations'. Synesthesia is one aspect of artistic creativity that seems to require conscious involvement. Bernie suggests that consciousness has a kind of a pointing role, that allows us to emphasize important events in the world, and to communicate those events to each other.
In the final moments of the episode, Bernie and David agree that the conscious brain is remarkably adaptable to an enormous range of new and biologically important events. This “consciously-mediated adaptability” clearly disappears when we do not pay attention or get distracted, or lose alertness.
The conscious brain appears to have major bio-cultural functions.
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Bios
David Edelman, PhD: A neuroscientist and currently Visiting Scholar in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Dartmouth College, David has taught neuroscience at the University of San Diego and UCSD. He was Professor of Neuroscience at Bennington College until 2014 and visiting professor in the Department of Psychology, CUNY Brooklyn College from 2015-2017.
He has conducted research in a wide range of areas, including mechanisms of gene regulation, the relationship between mitochondrial transport and brain activity, and visual perception in the octopus. A longstanding interest in the neural basis of consciousness led him to consider the importance—and challenge—of disseminating a more global view of brain function to a broad audience.
Bernard Baars is best known as the originator of global workspace theory and global workspace dynamics, a theory of human cognitive architecture, the cortex and consciousness. Bernie is a former Senior Fellow in Theoretical Neurobiology at the Neurosciences Institute in La Jolla, CA, and Editor in Chief of the Society for MindBrain Sciences. He is author of many scientific papers, articles, essays, chapters, and acclaimed books and textbooks.
Bernie is the recipient of the 2019 Hermann von Helmholtz Life Contribution Award by the International Neural Network Society, which recognizes work in perception proven to be paradigm changing and long-lasting.
He teaches science. It keeps him out of trouble.
Monday Jun 06, 2022
#21 — The Duet of Physics & Psychology with Psychophysicist, Stanley Klein
Monday Jun 06, 2022
Monday Jun 06, 2022
"Subjectivity and consciousness are the two main mysteries that science is still faced with. I'm an optimist. I believe that in the next half a century we might make progress on understanding consciousness."
- Stanley A. Klein, psychophysicist, professor of Vision Science and Optometry at the University of California, Berkeley and a member of the Berkeley Visual Processing Laboratory.
Episode 21: The Duet of Physics & Psychology with Psychophysicist, Stanley Klein
In episode 21 of our podcast “On Consciousness” we welcome psychophysicist Stanley Klein, Professor of Vision Science and Optometry at the University of California, Berkeley. Stan’s major area of research is neuropsychology and neurotechnology, a field of science that studies the body and mind through the nervous system by electronics and mechanisms. Stan was a Consulting Editor for Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, a publication of the Psychonomic Society. In this conversation Bernie and Stanley discuss the links between physics & psychology, Galileo’s contributions, and how science grows.
Talking Points
0:00 – Intro
6:17 – Stan Klein’s academic and professional journey
14:50 – Does the brain enable the conscious mind?
22:16 – How Galileo helped to found physics.
32:06 – How do we agree on the nature of nature?
39:15 – The growth of physics
45:38 – Science grows through honest conversations.
53:50 – Stan Klein on the future of science
Summary
How do you think about subjectivity?
This friendly conversation is opened by Nat Geld, our podcast producer. She asks Stan how he thinks about subjectivity. Stan’s optimistic view is that within the next 40 years or so, science might be able to understand subjectivity and consciousness.
Bernie and Stan start a dialogue about his professional journey. As a physics undergraduate at Cal Tech, Stan had the honor of publishing a paper with Richard Feynman, the great physicist. After earning his PhD from Brandeis University in 1967, Stan taught at Claremont Colleges and finally arrived at the School of Optometry at UC Berkeley, where he has been since 1987.
Consciousness and the Brain
Stan asks, "Is consciousness located exclusively in the brain?"
Bernie says, “Consciousness emerges in an enormous universe of nature, but only in a very small part of that universe. All the conscious species we know are animals living in the outer crust of planet earth. Empirically, we know nothing else. These days, this brutal fact tends to be forgotten because we have so many speculative ideas that tend to confuse us about the basics. But in science, we always need to start from what we know for sure.
To the best of our knowledge today, the animal brain is the home of the conscious mind.”
Scientific definitions change over time.
For Galileo, gravity meant the speed of wooden blocks sliding down angled planes. For Newton, gravity meant the attractive force of planets in orbit around the sun. Finally, for Einstein, gravity meant the influence of time and space on the apparent acceleration of objects in space.
There is both great continuity between Galileo, Newton and Einstein, and at the same time, there is a constantly evolving concept of gravity.
The concept of consciousness is also evolving with every new discovery.
Stan suggests that the big revolution in physics occurred in the 1920s with the discovery that a photon can be a wave or a particle. Einstein passionately opposed this idea, and tried to disprove it for the rest of his life. That debate still continues today.
Bernie then mentions that new ideas and discoveries are always hard to accept, and they usually require a period of debate and adaptation. The idea of the conscious brain is now going through just such a period. But of course both sides tell stories from their own points of view. One side explains how the Vatican unreasonably refused to accept Galileo, and the other side explains how Galileo unreasonably refused to accept the Vatican. This is a perfectly normal debate in the history of science. There are two sides, not just one.
In the episode's final moments, Ilian talks with Stan about what he believes to be the future of science. "Science needs to focus on climate change," says Stan. "I believe that in the next half a century we might make progress on understanding consciousness."
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Bios
Stanley A. Klein is an American psychophysicist. He is a Professor of Vision Science and Optometry at the University of California, Berkeley and a member of the Berkeley Visual Processing Laboratory. He was a consulting editor for Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, a publication of the Psychosomatic Society which promotes the communication of scientific research in psychology and allied sciences. His major area of research has been neurotechnology, a field of science that studies the body and mind through the nervous system by electronics and mechanisms. He was the co-chair for the SPIE (an international society of the science and application of light) meetings on human vision. Klein has authored and co-authored numerous papers on visual perception in the human brain.
Ilian Daskalov is a senior undergraduate student at University of California, Irvine where he studies Cognitive Science. He holds an associate degree with honors from San Diego Mesa College. His research interests include sleep, psychedelics, and artificial intelligence. He is passionate about communicating science and promoting critical thinking.
Bernard Baars is best known as the originator of global workspace theory and global workspace dynamics, a theory of human cognitive architecture, the cortex and consciousness. Bernie is a former Senior Fellow in Theoretical Neurobiology at the Neurosciences Institute in La Jolla, CA, and Editor in Chief of the Society for MindBrain Sciences. He is author of many scientific papers, articles, essays, chapters, and acclaimed books and textbooks.
Bernie is the recipient of the 2019 Hermann von Helmholtz Life Contribution Award by the International Neural Network Society, which recognizes work in perception proven to be paradigm changing and long-lasting.
He teaches science. It keeps him out of trouble.
Sunday Nov 21, 2021
#16 — ”Global Workspace Theory: Exploring Origins and Evidence - Part One”
Sunday Nov 21, 2021
Sunday Nov 21, 2021
"One of the major features of the Global Workspace hypothesis began with limited capacity, that there has to be a compensatory event in the brain happening, and the most plausible one, for various reasons, including other people's work, of course, was that there's some kind of very wide recruitment of brain resources that happens as a function of becoming conscious of something."
– Dr. Bernard Baars, originator of Global Workspace Theory and Global Workspace Dynamics, a theory of human cognitive architecture, the cortex and consciousness.
“Global Workspace Theory: Exploring Origins and Evidence - Part 1” with Ilian Daskalov & Alea Skwara
In episode 16 of the Podcast On Consciousness, psychobiologist and author Bernard Baars, and Student Interviewers Alea Skwara, a PhD candidate at UC Davis and Ilian Daskalov, a senior undergrad student at UC Irvine unpack the origins and various components of Baars’ Global Workspace Theory (GWT), a theory of human cognitive architecture, the cortex, and consciousness. GWT is a widely used framework for the role of conscious and unconscious events in the functioning of the brain, a set of explicit assumptions that can be tested, as many of them have been in the last twenty years. Global Workspace Dynamics (GWD) is the most current version of GWT – attempting to take into account the complexities of the living brain.
Talking Points
0:00 – Intro by Natalie Geld, Bernard Baars, Alea Skwara & Ilian Daskalov
5:58 – Is a Stream of Consciousness a Passive State?
11:59 – How is Consciousness Defined?
18:29 – Unpacking the Origins of Global Workspace Theory
28:37 – Features of Global Workspace Theory
37:45 – The Limited Capacity of Conscious Awareness
42:36 – Parallel Integrated Computing
50:28 – Widespread Integration and Broadcasting
1:00:55 – What People Get Wrong About GWT
Summary
Bernie opens the conversation with the point that consciousness has largely been perceived as a passive state. When scientists initially started recording brain activity, the collection of brain regions which were active in the absence of a given task were considered to be “the brain’s metabolic baseline.” This notion, however, has received plenty of pushback in recent years, and this baseline is now regarded as an active cognitive task.
In an effort to get everyone on the same page, Ilian asks Bernie to define consciousness for the listeners. By using a metaphorical comparison to Galileo and his thermometer, Baars indicates that our current science is only able to give us an “operational definition,” which may differ from what consciousness actually is. In addition, by reiterating one of Baars’ metaphors, Alea explains that awareness is like a shining spotlight in a theater, while the unilluminated part of the stage, which is the majority of it, is where all the unconscious processes occur.
Origins of Global Workspace Theory
Ilian asks Bernie about the origins of Global Workspace Theory, and what inspired his thought process.
Bernie shares his story on how he became interested in studying consciousness, which was initially ignited by the limitations of strictly behavioristic views imposed upon the scientific thinking of the time. Additionally, by exploring altered states of consciousness through the practice of transcendental meditation and inspired by the field of artificial intelligence, Bernie began to formulate a model to explain the nature of awareness. The key to any scientific concept is “relative evidence.” Without that we simply get lost. And the history of speculation about consciousness is mostly about people getting lost, arguing about semantic questions and frankly wasting time. What we want, in fact, is to study nature through facts. Baars has argued that “contrastive evidence” involves the most relevant set of facts, such as sleep and waking states.
The Bottleneck Paradox: Exploring the Limited Capacity of Consciousness
Diving further into the various characteristics of Global Workspace and the questions which the theory attempts to answer, Bernie and Alea examine one of its most notable features, namely Limited Capacity, or the process of being aware of only a small percentage of what is happening in one’s mind. Limited capacity appears to be a genuine feature of the brain that continues to be a paradox. In the history of science, puzzles like this are the hardest fundamental questions to solve.
Building on this topic, they also incorporate the subject of parallel integrated computing, which describes how a number of processors simultaneously tackle the same problem in order to reach the most optimal solution.
Global Access, Integration, and Some Clarifications
The discussion then moves on to the core prediction of GWT, which is “widespread integration and broadcasting.” Bernie uses the example of a chirping bird to explain that integration is the process of sound traveling to both ears at slightly different times, all the while being perceived as one.
Furthermore, Alea summarizes the broadcasting aspect of Global Workspace as the ability to “hyper focus on a narrow piece of experience.”
In the final segment of the episode, Ilian and Bernie discuss some of the common misconceptions about Global Workspace Theory. Referring to the analogy of a traffic jam’s changing epicenter, Baars explains that the Global Workspace is a dynamic hub in the brain - and not static - as commonly thought.
In Episode 17 - Part 2 of our series on GWT, Bernie, Ilian, and Alea will explore the links between cutting edge brain evidence and how that supports or updates our understanding of consciousness and the Global Workspace Theory. They will begin with Bernie’s co-authored paper from 2013 -- “Global Workspace Dynamics: Cortical “binding and propagation” enables conscious contents” -- the result of four decades of cumulative work, which is important because it pulls all the current strands together. Three recent scientific papers will be unpacked that point out a plausible way in which all our sources can converge - can come together into a single conception.
This is only a start and we hope that this conversation triggers further questions.
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Bios
Alea Skwara is a PhD candidate at the University of California, Davis where she studies cognitive neuroscience. Her primary research focuses on compassion and responses to suffering. The main question that Alea is currently trying to answer is whether meditational practices can expand the range of people that a person can feel compassion for.
Ilian Daskalov is a senior undergraduate student at University of California, Irvine where he studies Cognitive Science. He holds an associate degree with honors from San Diego Mesa College. His research interests include sleep, psychedelics, and artificial intelligence. He is passionate about communicating science and promoting critical thinking.
Bernard Baars is best known as the originator of global workspace theory and global workspace dynamics, a theory of human cognitive architecture, the cortex and consciousness. Bernie is a former Senior Fellow in Theoretical Neurobiology at the Neurosciences Institute in La Jolla, CA, and Editor in Chief of the Society for MindBrain Sciences. He is author of many scientific papers, articles, essays, chapters, and acclaimed books and textbooks.
Bernie is the recipient of the 2019 Hermann von Helmholtz Life Contribution Award by the International Neural Network Society, which recognizes work in perception proven to be paradigm changing and long-lasting.
He teaches science. It keeps him out of trouble.
Friday May 14, 2021
Friday May 14, 2021
"The idea is to help people understand how this science is relevant to their daily lives. Our brain likes novelty. It gets this sort of dopamine hit when you give it new information. Capturing attention and getting people excited about the information is really important, especially when dealing with things like public health issues, for example.”
– Dr. Heather Berlin, Neuropsychologist and Assistant Clinical Professor at Mount Sinai
Episode 15: "Communicating Science Effectively and The Notion of Free Will" with Dr. Heather Berlin *On Consciousness*
For Episode #15, our returning guest is neuropsychologist Dr. Heather Berlin, an Assistant Clinical Professor in Psychiatry at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Dr. Berlin is a trained neuroscientist and a clinical psychologist. She is also interested in the neural basis of consciousness, dynamic unconscious processes, the use of psychedelics to treat mental disorders, and in the neural basis of creativity. We discuss her work and passions in this episode.
Talking Points
0:00 - Intro with Bernard Baars, Dr. Heather Berlin & Student Interviewer, Ilian Daskalov
1:14 - Self-regulation and impulsivity
6:59 - Communicating science effectively
10:57 - The future of AI
16:23 - The notion of free will
19:30 - Future scientific discoveries
22:33 - Advice for neuroscience students
Summary
Bernie Baars expresses his interest in the topic of human impulsivity and invites Dr. Berlin to share how her work has been shaped by studying the nature of self-regulation. Heather discusses her pursuit of trying to understand what makes us distinctly human, which led her on a journey of studying the functions of the prefrontal cortex. Additionally, the two also briefly touch on how Freud’s work has contributed to our understanding of the human mind.
Bernie then welcomes Student Interviewer Ilian Daskalov, a Cognitive Science student at University of California, Irvine into the conversation to further explore her unique work, research and creative endeavors.
Relating Science to Our Daily Lives
They begin with the question “What makes someone an effective science communicator?” Heather explains that while there are many ways to communicate science, the key to capturing your audience’s attention stems from relating science information to their daily lives. Heather says:
“First of all, find what you are good at, what medium you might be best at. You know, my husband raps about science, right? That's his medium. Then start to cultivate your medium. I think the kind of overarching aim that runs across them all is about connecting with people. I think on an emotional level, on a personal level -- because sometimes science can be abstract and objective, and that's what we want with science. It's objective. It's not amenable to our subjectivity, but at the same time that can feel very clinical. Distant.
The idea is to help people understand how this science is relevant to their daily lives. How it's meaningful and what it means to them. Even if it's just inspiring a sense of awe, like, I don't know for sure about astrophysics, maybe it doesn't have any direct impact on our daily life, but just living in this universe and the enormity of it!! It’s awe inspiring!
Our brain likes novelty. It gets this sort of dopamine hit when you give it new information. Capturing attention and getting people excited about the information is really important, especially when dealing with things like public health issues, for example.”
Conscious AI and the Notion of Free Will
Recalling a recent interview between Heather Berlin and Sophia the Robot, Ilian seeks to understand where the future development of general artificial intelligence is heading. Both Bernie and Heather express their skepticism that humanity will be able to create conscious machines. They go on to explain that while our understanding of consciousness is yet incomplete, the biological components that it consists of appear to be fundamental building blocks.
Following the topic of AI, the discussion moves on to the notion of Free Will. Heather points out that although there is no evidence for the Cartesian definition of Free Will, the unconscious processes may not be predetermined. She further highlights the fact that the lack of Free Will does not excuse inappropriate human behavior as we have evolved the capacity to have self-control, primarily due to the maturation of the prefrontal cortex.
Bernie shares his thoughts on consciousness and the sense of Free Will:
“Consciousness has been a huge taboo in the last 100 years, and so people are very often a little bit ashamed or inhibited or afraid of getting criticized when they speak freely of consciousness and Free Will. The key move in this new and confusing area is to state our questions in a testable and open-minded way. In good science, we should never impose our answers onto nature.
The way to study the sense of freedom that we all have is profoundly important -- it is very real -- and not an illusion. There are profound biological reasons as to why humans and animals prefer freedom over coercion. Once we ask the question this way, we can study it.”
Future Science
In the final moments of the episode, Ilian inquires about any future scientific discoveries that Heather is most enthusiastic about. She shares her excitement for the potential uses of neural implants which will aid in manipulating pathways in our brains, leading to enhanced memory, creativity, and intelligence. She also expresses optimism that through gene editing, we would be able to eliminate some neurological illnesses, such as Alzheimer’s Disease.
In closing, Ilian asks: “What general advice do you have for students of neuroscience and psychology?” Heather responds by urging science students to be persistent in chasing their goals and to always be bold and take risks, and says,
“Just keep going, keep going, keep going, and don't let anybody stop you unless it's illegal.”
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Bios:
Dr. Heather Berlin is a dual-trained neuroscientist and clinical psychologist, and assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mont Sinai in NY. She explores the neural basis of impulsive and compulsive psychiatric and neurological disorders with the aim of developing novel treatments. She is also interested in the brain basis of consciousness, dynamic unconscious processes, and creativity. Clinically, she specializes in lifespan (child, adolescent, and adult) treatment of anxiety, mood, and impulsive and compulsive disorders (e.g. OCD), blending her neural perspective with cognitive behavioral therapy, mindfulness, and humanistic approaches. You can visit her website at https://www.heatherberlin.com/
Ilian Daskalov is a senior undergraduate student at University of California, Irvine where he studies Cognitive Science. He holds an associate degree with honors from San Diego Mesa College. His research interests include sleep, psychedelics, and artificial intelligence. He is passionate about communicating science and promoting critical thinking.
Bernard Baars is best known as the originator of global workspace theory and global workspace dynamics, a theory of human cognitive architecture, the cortex and consciousness. Bernie is a former Senior Fellow in Theoretical Neurobiology at the Neurosciences Institute in La Jolla, CA, and Editor in Chief of the Society for MindBrain Sciences. He is author of many scientific papers, articles, essays, chapters, and acclaimed books and textbooks.
Bernie is the recipient of the 2019 Hermann von Helmholtz Life Contribution Award by the International Neural Network Society, which recognizes work in perception proven to be paradigm changing and long-lasting.
He teaches science. It keeps him out of trouble.
Monday Feb 01, 2021
Monday Feb 01, 2021
“In many cases you can see an immediate effect, as in chronic depression – suddenly you turn on the electrodes – you don't tell them when it's on or off, right? And their whole face lights up. And you ask, "What do you feel like?" And they say, "Oh, it feels wonderful. It feels like I won the lottery! It's so great!"
– Dr. Heather Berlin, Neuropsychologist and Assistant Clinical Professor at Mount Sinai
Episode 14: "Psychedelics, Impulsivity, and Brain Stimulation" with Dr. Heather Berlin *On Consciousness*
In this episode, our guest is neuropsychologist Dr. Heather Berlin, an Assistant Clinical Professor in Psychiatry at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Dr. Berlin conducts research to better understand the neural basis of impulsivity, compulsivity, and emotion with the goal of more targeted treatment. She employs neuroimaging and neuropsychological and psychopharmacological testing of brain lesion and compulsive, impulsive, and personality disorder patients. She is also interested in the neural basis of consciousness, dynamic unconscious processes, the use of psychedelics to treat mental disorders, and in the neural basis of creativity. We discuss her work and interests in this episode.
Talking Points:
0:00 – Introduction
3:09 – Impulse Control and Associated Brain Areas
9:27 – Finding a Balance: Healthy Brain vs Impairment and Self Regulation
17:40 – The Essence of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders
24:40 – The Big News: Deep Brain Stimulation as an Effective Treatment for OCD
29:29 – Brain Aspects of Stress and Resilience
37:01 – How Effective is Deep Brain Stimulation?
41:59 – Advances in Psychedelic Research
45:15 – Psilocybin and Ego Dissolution
54:18 – Pharmaceutical Addiction Tapering
58:12 – Flow States, Mystical Experiences: “The Cosmic Perspective”
01:04:46 – Possibilities
Summary:
Dr. Berlin has done an enormous range of work, which you can distill into this very profound question: “How do we control our unwanted impulses, our desires, our emotions, our reactions with other people?” These are very common questions, starting very early in life.
For example, imagine yourself as a child looking at the most delicious food, let’s use ice cream, and not being allowed to eat it… impulse control is having to wait. Impulse control is not just a problem in childhood, it is perhaps the major problem in adults who have significant psychological troubles. This includes the addictions, but also severe mood swings that adults want to change, but do not seem to have the power to change in these moments. When it is hard to control repeated impulses, we talk about compulsions; cigarette smoking can be seen as a compulsion. When repetitive thoughts are hard to regulate, we talk about obsessions.
There seems to be a tug of war between those deep midbrain nuclei and the control system which involves the prefrontal cortex. Various areas of the prefrontal cortex have somewhat different effects, but prefrontal is associated with self regulation, while midbrain nuclei have to do with impulses, motivations, emotions, and so on. The prefrontal cortex is sometimes called the “organ of civilization” or as Heather dubs it, “the brake system”.
The Big News
It is amazing how low level electrical stimulation by microscopic electrodes can profoundly change human mood disorders, like severe depression. The brain areas stimulated include the nucleus accumbens and ventral striatum of the basal ganglia, and local areas in the prefrontal cortex.
“Medical science is often an art as well as a science, but Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) really can have significant effect and impact on people with difficult-to-treat conditions, like OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder), but also people with intractable or untreatable depression,” says Dr. Heather Berlin.
DBS can be surprisingly effective. As Dr. Berlin points out, “DBS is a huge success story. 40 to 50% of patients with severe untreatable depression, and about 60 to 70% of patients with severe OCD all have significant improvement in people who’ve tried every first line treatment and nothing has worked. In many cases you can see an immediate effect, as in chronic depression -- suddenly you turn on the electrodes -- you don't tell them when it's on or off, right? And their whole face lights up. And you ask "What do you feel like?" And they say "Oh, it feels wonderful. It feels like I won the lottery! It's so great!" And as they're talking, you turn off the electrodes and you just see their whole affect drop right back down.”
Surprising Advances in Psychedelic Research
In the 1960s, psychedelics got a mixed reception, because many people had spectacular experiences, but physicians often wondered if there were harmful side effects. Now we are seeing a return to psychedelics as a promising treatment for different neuropsychiatric conditions.
The new therapies always combine the psychedelic-assisted treatment with the presence of a specialized psychotherapist. Dr. Berlin gives us a summary of the new discoveries in the use of psychedelics, including MDMA for the treatment of PTSD, psilocybin to treat anxiety and people with end of life issues, ketamine, a dissociative anesthetic, for the treatment of severe depression and particular suicidality, and more recently DMT (or ayahuasca) as a treatment for certain psychiatric illnesses.
After 50 years of persistent efforts to find solutions, in the last decade we finally have treatments with dramatic positive effects. Dr. Heather Berlin presents us with recent medical breakthroughs for very severe life problems that have been difficult to address.
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Bios:
Dr. Heather Berlin is a dual-trained neuroscientist and clinical psychologist, and assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mont Sinai in NY. She explores the neural basis of impulsive and compulsive psychiatric and neurological disorders with the aim of developing novel treatments. She is also interested in the brain basis of consciousness, dynamic unconscious processes, and creativity. Clinically, she specializes in lifespan (child, adolescent, and adult) treatment of anxiety, mood, and impulsive and compulsive disorders (e.g. OCD), blending her neural perspective with cognitive behavioral therapy, mindfulness, and humanistic approaches. You can visit her website at https://www.heatherberlin.com/
Bernard Baars is best known as the originator of global workspace theory and global workspace dynamics, a theory of human cognitive architecture, the cortex and consciousness. Bernie is a former Senior Fellow in Theoretical Neurobiology at the Neurosciences Institute in La Jolla, CA, and Editor in Chief of the Society for MindBrain Sciences. He is author of many scientific papers, articles, essays, chapters, and acclaimed books and textbooks.
Bernie is the recipient of the 2019 Hermann von Helmholtz Life Contribution Award by the International Neural Network Society, which recognizes work in perception proven to be paradigm changing and long-lasting.
He teaches science. It keeps him out of trouble.
Thursday Apr 16, 2020
Thursday Apr 16, 2020
In this episode of "On Consciousness," neuroscientists Bernie Baars, Jeff Krichmar, and David Edelman engage in a freewheeling conversation that begins with mulling over the possible development of conscious machines -- or ‘conscious artifact,’ as Gerald Edelman put it -- sometime in the not-so-distant future.
We unpack the various ‘bumps in the road’ in the quest to build intelligent, sentient machines--the problems of efficiency (with regard to energy utilization, brains run circles around any present-day computers) and dissipation of heat in increasingly miniaturized microcircuitry, among others.
And though Bernie casts a critically important skeptic’s eye on the prospect of in silico conscious artifacts, we all eventually arrive at a sort of amicable consilience: a recognition that such a development is at least possible.After a tangential--but fun and diverting--foray into the thickets of human evolution and the serendipitous biocultural path that led to modern humans, we return to pondering the road leading to conscious artifacts.
We conclude on an optimistic note, with the promise of the biologically based approach so steadfastly championed by Jeff and a small community of like-minded computational neuroscientists.
Special Guest: Professor Jeff Krichmar, PhD, Department of Cognitive Sciences and the Department of Computer Sciences, University of California, Irvine: http://www.socsci.uci.edu/~jkrichma
Hosts
Cognitive psychobiologist and originator of GWT Bernard J. Baars, Author of "ON CONSCIOUSNESS: Science & Subjectivity - Updated Works on Global Workspace Theory"
Neuroscientist and paleoanthropologist David Edelman, PhD, Visiting Scholar, Dept of Psychological & Brain Sciences, Dartmouth College
Special Podcast VIP 40% Discount for Bernie Baars' new book, "On Consciousness: Science & Subjectivity - Updated Works on Global Workspace Theory" - GO TO: https://shop.thenautiluspress.com/collections/baars
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Talking Points:
0:00 – David Edelman introduces himself and briefly describes his path to exploring consciousness (particularly in animals), starting as a human paleoanthropologist to studying the behavior of cephalopods.
3:11 – Jeff Krichmar introduces himself, summarizing how he went from being a computer scientist to one of the first neuroroboticists.
6:05 – Bernard Baars gives his thoughts on the trajectory of artificial consciousness and the hurdles in the scientific realm that one had to go through in the past, due to their interest in studying consciousness.
7:41 – David Edelman on the importance of defining consciousness and how the difference in brain activity during conscious (waking) and unconscious (sleeping) states makes consciousness an observable phenomenon that one can actively study.
11:30 – Bernard Baars on why attributing consciousness to a machine would be an ambitious task.
12:52 – Counterarguments by David and Jeff to Bernie’s proposal on how consciousness in machines can emerge.
17:33 – Jeff Krichmar on how energy efficiency is essential for the improvement of our computers in order to be able to simulate a human brain.
23:11 – Baars initiating a conversation revolving around the expensiveness and disadvantages of the human brain’s size.
28:30 – Edelman on how human sociality has impacted the survivability of the species.
32:08 – Edelman, Krichmar, and Baars discussing the possible existence, timeline, and road to “conscious artifacts” in the near future.
39:10 – Edelman and Krichmar close out the conversation with a brief discussion on the evolution of neural networks and the moral and ethical concerns in the field.
**Watch the Bonus Video Episode: The History of Brain-Based Devices and Cognitive Robots with Neuroroboticist Jeff Krichmar
Jeff Krichmar discusses how an overarching theory of the brain, known as Neural Darwinism, was tested using a series of increasingly complex Brain-Based Devices. These robots show cognitive behavior, such as perception, goal-driven behavior, learning and memory.
This led to the development of the emerging fields of Neurorobots and Cognitive Robotics where Krichmar and other researchers are making smarter robots based on how brain activity lead to interesting behavior.
Visuals Credits:
Visualization of MRI brain scan data from a single person, showing nerve fiber bundles near or feeding into part of the hippocampus. Neuroscientist Tyler Ard, NIH-supported lab of Arthur Toga, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles
Jim Stanis, Arthur W. Toga, Ryan Cabeen, Laboratory of Neuro Imaging (LONI), USC Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute;
NIH Brain initiative 2019 Network architecture of the long-distance pathways in the macaque brain. Dharmendra S. Modha, Raghavendra Singh. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Jul 2010, 107 (30) 13485-13490; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1008054107
Dynamic mapping of human cortical development during childhood through early adulthood. Nitin Gogtay, Jay N. Giedd, Leslie Lusk, Kiralee M. Hayashi, Deanna Greenstein, A. Catherine Vaituzis, Tom F. Nugent, David H. Herman, Liv S. Clasen, Arthur W. Toga, Judith L. Rapoport, Paul M. Thompson. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences May 2004, 101 (21) 8174-8179; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0402680101