BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Memento EPFL//
BEGIN:VEVENT
SUMMARY:"Accelerating Research on Consciousness"
DTSTART:20190826T110000
DTEND:20190826T114500
DTSTAMP:20260407T043520Z
UID:15a3b645c7597c024b15e1e7a721114991866129c87785dc967c2147
CATEGORIES:Conferences - Seminars
DESCRIPTION:Prof. Lucia MELLONI (Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesth
 etics & New York University School of Medicine)\nAbstract: Thirty years a
 go\, a seminal paper by Crick and Koch (re)introduced the scientific study
  of consciousness to the fields of psychology and neuroscience. This trigg
 ered a surge of research on the neural basis of consciousness\, and concur
 rently the development of multiple empirically-based theories of conscious
 ness. Since then\, the science of consciousness has progressed from a nasc
 ent to a more established field. With growing maturity\, new challenges em
 erge: how do we test the validity and predictive power of current theories
 ? How do we know which theory best ‘explains’ consciousness? Conscious
 ness research today is confronted with the question of how to move forward
 . How do we go from the accumulation of empirical findings supporting one 
 theory or another\, to solid theoretical foundations that can explain cons
 ciousness\, predict its presence and absence\, and improve the diagnosis a
 nd treatment of disorders in which consciousness is compromised? Here\, we
  will discuss efforts underway to accelerate and transform research on con
 sciousness based on best practices established in other fields\, such as p
 hysics: large\, collaborative team efforts oriented towards a common goal\
 , adversarial collaboration\, preregistration\, open data and open science
  protocols. The use of such practices has the potential to bring the scien
 ce of consciousness forward and help arbitrate among competing theories. T
 his approach entails a new sociology of science\, and we will discuss how 
 this by itself can help make progress\, while also creating unique challen
 ges. Given adequate resources and buy-in from our research community\, the
 se efforts may not only enable progress in research on consciousness but m
 ay also position our field at the frontier of science by providing a new m
 odel of how science can be done. \n\n\nBio: Lucia Melloni is a research 
 group leader at the Max Planck for Empirical Aesthetics and an assistant p
 rofessor at NYU school of medicine. In her research she uses a combination
  of neuroimaging\, electrophysiology\, and behavior to dissect the neural 
 circuits that give rise to perception and cognition in humans. Her researc
 h primarily focuses on two questions: 1) consciousness – what make us to
  have an experience – and 2) language – how do we communicate infinite
  number of ideas with a limited set of string. Her approach aims at reveal
 ing the elementary computations and neural mechanisms of those processes\,
  and to develop a novel framework to study the physiology of uniquely huma
 n cognitive processes.\n 
LOCATION:B1 6 272.043 https://plan.epfl.ch/?room==B1%206%20272.043
STATUS:CONFIRMED
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR