The second conference of the Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness (ASSC) will be held from June 19 to June 22, 1998, in Bremen, Germany, hosted and sponsored by the Hanse Institute for Advanced Study.
The search for neural correlates of consciousness (NCC)-specific systems in the brain that correlate with states of conscious experience-has become an active area of research in recent years. Methods such as single-cell recording in monkeys and brain imaging and electrophysiology in humans, applied to such phenomena as blindsight, implicit/explicit cognition, and binocular rivalry (among others), have generated a wealth of data. At the same time a number of theoretical proposals about the location and function of neural correlates of consciousness have been put forward. In addition, important conceptual questions raised by this work are beginning to be addressed.
The ASSC conference will bring together neuroscientists, psychologists, and philosophers to focus on these issues. Empirical data from many different paradigms will be presented, along with proposals about what these results suggest concerning NCC location. Theorists will address conceptual and methodological issues concerning the search for NCCs. The conference will provide an opportunity for experimental and theoretical researchers to compare and contrast NCC proposals, to consider key foundational questions, and to assess the current state and future of this area of research.