Velmans, Max, ed. 2018. Consciousness (Critical Concepts in Psychology), Volume 2: Cognitive and Neuropsychological Approaches to the Study of Consciousness, Part 1. Abingdon: Routledge. ISBN 9781138848658 [Edited Book]

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Abstract or Description

This is the second volume of Velmans, M. (ed.) (2018) Consciousness (Critical Concepts in Psychology), a 4-volume collection of Major Works on Consciousness commissioned by Routledge, London. The introduction and 24 readings of volume 2 focus on the detailed relationship of phenomenal consciousness to mental processing described either functionally (as human information processing) or in terms of neural activity, in the ways typically explored by cognitive psychology and cognitive neuroscience. Beginning with reviews of functional differences between unconscious, preconscious and conscious processing and the different senses in which mental processing can be said to be "conscious", the readings turn to seminal work on blindsight and related phenomena, experimental evidence of perception without awareness, ways to combine "subjective" and "objective" measures of awareness, evidence for distinct neural pathways governing visual awareness and visual control of motor acts, and the complex ways in which consciousness of action relates to both voluntary and involuntary acts. The readings then focus on the intimate links between attention and consciousness, starting with the writings of William James and surveying the extensive work on this subject over the last 60 years that explores the relationships between and attended and non-attended processing, preconscious and conscious processing, and attention, primary (working, short-term) memory and consciousness. The readings go on to survey the evidence that attention contributes to the "neural binding" required for an integrated conscious experience and evidence that attention (in humans) is dissociable from consciousness, necessary for consciousness, but not sufficient for consciousness. The readings then turn to research on "inattentional blindness” and conclude with a review of Baars' global workspace theory, which integrates many theories and findings in this area into a coherent, global model. This is followed by seminal readings on learning, memory and consciousness; the extensive research on mental imagery, long thought to epitomize private, subjective conscious experience—and consequently ruled out of science by reductive, materialist philosophies of mind; the complex relations of consciousness to sleep and dreaming; the development of consciousness in human infants; and the debates surrounding, and extensive evidence for consciousness in non-human animals, with attendant consequences for their humane treatment.

Item Type:	Edited Book
Related URLs:	https://www.researchgate.net/publication...
Departments, Centres and Research Units:	Psychology
Date:	30 April 2018
Item ID:	26013
Date Deposited:	14 Mar 2019 09:13
Last Modified:	20 Mar 2019 14:21
URI:	https://research.gold.ac.uk/id/eprint/26013

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