How Brain Reveals Mind Neural Studies Support the Fundamental Role of Conscious Experience

Abstract

Abstract: In the last decade, careful studies of the living brain have opened the way for human consciousness to return to the heights it held before the behavioristic coup of 1913. This is illustrated by seven cases: (1) the discovery of widespread brain activation during conscious perception; (2) high levels of regional brain metabolism in the resting state of consciousness, dropping drasti-cally in unconscious states; (3) the brain correlates of inner speech; (4) visual imagery; (5) fringe consciousness; (6) executive functions of the self; and (7) volition. Other papers in this issue expand on many of these points. (Roepstorff; Leopold & Logothetis; Bærentsen; Haggard; Hohwy & Frith). In the past, evidence based on subjective reports was often neglected (e.g., Ericsson, this issue). It is still true that brain evidence has greater credibility than subjective reports, no matter how reliable. What is new is increasing con-vergence between subjective experiences and brain observations. For that rea-son it is no longer rare to see the word ‘consciousness ’ and ‘subjectivity ’ in major science journals.

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