Behavioral Methods in Consciousness Research

by Morten Overgaard (Editor)

Overview

The past two decades have seen a surge of interest in the topic of consciousness, with the result that the research literature has expanded greatly. However, until now, there has been little consensus on just which methods are the most effective for the study of consciousness. As a result, a wide range of experimental paradigms have been employed, sometimes making it difficult to compare and contrast experimental findings. 'Behavioral Methods in Consciousness Research' is the first book of its kind, providing an overview of methods and approaches for studying consciousness. The chapters are written by leading researchers and experts, who describe the methods they actually use in their own studies, along with their pitfalls, problems, and difficulties. For all students and researchers embarking on research in this area - and even seasoned researchers - this book is a valuable source of information in helping them design, perform, and analyze scientifically rigorous experiments.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780191002762
Publisher:	OUP Oxford
Publication date:	03/26/2015
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	288
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Morten Overgaard is Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at Aarhus University and of Neuropsychology at Aalborg University. He started his career developing his own research group (Cognitive Neuroscience Research Unit/CNRU) and his own approach to studying and thinking about consciousness. He has headed several national and international research projects, integrating aspects of neuroscience, psychology and philosophy in order to answer a variety of questions in basic research and clinical practice. His primary focus is however what is considered to be the perhaps most challenging research question in history: Why are we conscious? How can it be that physical processes in the brain seem to be accompanied with subjective experience?

Table of Contents

Section One Introduction
1. Consciousness research methods: The empirical "hard problem", Morten Overgaard
2. The challenge of measuring consciousness, Morten Overgaard
3. How can we measure awareness? An overview of current methods, Bert Timmermans and Axel Cleeremans
Section Two Experimental Paradigms
4. Unmasking the pitfalls of the masking method in consciousness research, Talis Bachmann
5. A Behavioral Method to Manipulate Metacognitive Awareness Independent of Stimulus Awareness, Man Song, Ai Koizumi, and Hakwan C. Lau
6. Inferences about Consciousness Using Subjective Reports of Confidence, Maxine Sherman, Adam B. Barrett and Ryota Kanai
7. Direct and indirect measures of statistical learning, Arnaud Destrebecqz, Ana Franco, Julie Bertels and Vinciane Gaillard
8. Binocular rivalry and other forms of visual bistability, J.W. Brascamp
Section Three: Subjective Measures
9. Measuring consciousness with confidence ratings, Elisabeth Norman & Mark C. Price
10. Intentional Binding: A measure of agency, Mads Jensen, Steven Di Costa and Patrick Haggard
11. Using the Perceptual Awareness Scale (PAS), Kristian Sandberg and Morten Overgaard
Section Four: Analysis and Statistics
12. How Bayesian statistics are needed to determine whether mental states are unconscious, Zoltan Dienes
13. Handling the p - and how real evidence goes beyond p-values, Kim Mouridsen
Section Five: Metachapters
14. Variability, convergence and dimensions of consciousness, Colin Klein and Jakob Hohwy