Christof Koch on the Neuroscience of Consciousness (BS 163)

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Christof Koch on the Neuroscience of Consciousness (BS 163)

In BS 163 renowned neuroscientist Christof Koch discusses is latest book, The Feeling of Life Itself: Why Consciousness Is Widespread but Can't Be Computed. He explains why he doesn’t think the neural correlates of consciousness (NCC) are enough to explain experience. This is the 4th in our 4 part series on the neuroscience of consciousness.

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Update on Consciousness Research with Christof Koch (BSP 84)

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Christof Koch, PhD

he scientific study of consciousness was once viewed with skepticism, but this has changed dramatically in recent years.   According to pioneering neuroscientist, Christof Koch, "the great thing is we’re not condemned to just sort of philosophical speculation, but we can make some predictions, and then go out and measure them.  And those are the things I talk about in this book, Confessions of a Romantic Reductionist." In Brain Science Podcast  #84, Koch reflects on the progress that has been made since I interviewed him back in 2007 (BSP 22), and he also talks about the latest initiatives at the Allen Institute for Brain Research, where he as recently become the chief science officer. 

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  • New episodes of the Brain Science Podcast are always FREE.  All episodes posted after January 1, 2013, are free.  See the individual show notes for links the audio files.

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Guests Who Have Been on the Brain Science Podcast

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The Brain Science Podcast provides a unique opportunity for scientists and writers to discuss their work and ideas in depth. Here is a list of the guests who have been interviewed. This list is complete through June 13, 2008.

  • Michael Arbib, PhD: The role of mirror neurons in imitation and language; Episode 39.

  • Sandra Blakeslee: co-author of The Body Has a Mind of Its Own: How Body Maps in Your Brain Help You Do (Almost) Everything Better; Episode 23.

  • Louanne Brizendine MD: author of The Female Brain; Episode 20.

  • György Buzsáki, PhD: author of Rhythms of the Brain; Episode 31. (Interview Transcript)

  • Norman Doidge, MD: author of The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science; Episode 26.

  • Arthur Glenberg, PhD: Embodied cognition; Episode 36.

  • Elkhonon Goldberg, PhD: author of The Executive Brain: Frontal Lobes and the Civilized Mind and The Wisdom Paradox; Episode 18.

  • Jeff Hawkins: author of On Intelligence; Episode 38.

  • Rachel Herz, PhD: author of The Scent of Desire: Discovering our Enigmatic Sense of Smell; Episode 34.

  • Christof Koch, PhD: author of The Quest for Consciousness: A Neurobiological Approach; Episode 22. Interview transcript: http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg8sf6hf_33z9z29kfm

  • John Medina, PhD: author of Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School; Episode 37.

  • Read Montague, PhD: author of Why Choose This Book?: How We Make Decisions; Episode 15.

  • Rolf Pfiefer, PhD: author of How the Body Shapes the Way We Think: A New View of Intelligence ; Episode 25.

  • John J Ratey, MD: author of Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain; Episode 33.

  • Stuart Shanker, PhD: How the study of communication among bonobos provides clues about the role of emotional signaling in the evolution of language; Episode 7.

  • Edward Taub, PhD: revolutionary approach to stroke rehabilitation; Episode 28.

  • Maryanne Wolf, PhD: author of Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain; Episode 29.

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Consciousness with Christof Koch (BSP 22)

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Brain Science Podcast #22 is an interview with Dr. Christof Koch of Cal Tech, one of the pioneers in the neurobiological study of consciousness.  About two decades ago, when Koch and Francis Crick began looking for what they called the neural correlates of consciousness (NCC), such a quest was considered controversial; but now the field is increasing in popularity.  In our interview, we talked a little about his book,The Quest for Consciousness, as well as his on-going research and his thoughts about what the future might bring.

How to get this episode:

  • Premium Subscribers now have unlimited access to all old episodes and transcripts.

  • Buy mp3 for $1.

  • Buy Transcript for $1.

  • New episodes of the Brain Science Podcast are always FREE.  All episodes posted after January 1, 2013, are free.  See the individual show notes for links the audio files.

Here is a list of some of the topics we discussed:

  • Why Francis Crick was an outstanding mentor and colleague.

  • A Working definition of consciousness.

  • How consciousness relates to awareness.

  • What are neural correlates of consciousness.

  • Why vision is the focus of Koch's research.

  • The search for the "footprints" of consciousness.

  • The role of functional imaging and the use of monkeys.

  • Neurons-"the atoms of perception".

  • Why we need a theory of consciousness.

  • The role of the frontal lobes in consciousness.

  • Is consciousness an emergent property?

  • What about zombies?

  • Why do we need consciousness?

  • Will artificial intelligence become conscious?

  • The hard problem:  how does the brain generate subjective experience  (qualia).

Links:

Update on 2012-05-03 15:42 by Ginger Campbell, MD

Christof Koch returned to the Brain Science Podcast in Episode 84.