Workshop
CSCA Workshop “Debates on Consciousness” with Christof Koch
On Thursday June 25th, 2009, the Cognitive Science Center Amsterdam of the University of Amsterdam organises a Workshop around visiting professor Christof Koch of the California Institute of Technology. The Workshop is set up in the form of several debates that reflect currently hot issues in the field. For each debate we have invited renowned researchers that will defend often opposing viewpoints. First, Pieter Roelfsema and Rodrigo Quiroga will discuss the relative importance of lower visual areas versus temporal lobe structures in consciousness. Second, Andreas Engel and Fernando Lopes da Silva will focus on the role of brain rhythms in consciousness and in the binding or integration of sensory features. Finally, Geraint Rees and Anil Seth will debate to what extent the parietal and prefrontal cortices, and their feedback to lower sensory areas, are essential for consciousness. We anticipate that this will be a highly interesting and stimulating event.
The debates will be moderated by professor Koch, who is one of the world leaders in consciousness research. He has made many outstanding contributions to a number of research areas, most notably in the computational neuroscience of vision and – together with the late Francis Crick – in theory and experiments on visual consciousness.
The Workshop has an entrance fee of € 15,- for researchers and PhD students working within the general area of Cognitive Science or Neuroscience (participants will have to take care of their own hotel accommodation).
Deadline for registration: May 15, 2009.
For registration, click here
For more information, please contact Neeltje Peters-van Gemert, email: n.g.vangemert@uva.nl
Program
09:30 – 10.30 | Pieter Roelfsema and Rodrigo Quiroga – Importance of primary visual cortex versus medial temporal lobe for consciousness
11:30 – 12.30 | Andreas Engel and Fernando Lopes da Silva – Brain rhythms, consciousness, and the Binding Problem
13:30 – 14:30 | Geraint Rees and Anil Seth – The role of the Parietal and Prefrontal Cortex, and their recurrent feedback to lower sensory areas