Consciousness and the Social Brain

by Michael S. A. Graziano

Overview

What is consciousness and how can a brain, a mere collection of neurons, create it? In Consciousness and the Social Brain, Princeton neuroscientist Michael Graziano lays out an audacious new theory to account for the deepest mystery of them all. The human brain has evolved a complex circuitry that allows it to be socially intelligent. This social machinery has only just begun to be studied in detail. One function of this circuitry is to attribute awareness to others: to compute that person Y is aware of thing X. In Graziano's theory, the machinery that attributes awareness to others also attributes it to oneself. Damage that machinery and you disrupt your own awareness. Graziano discusses the science, the evidence, the philosophy, and the surprising implications of this new theory.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199301645
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	08/01/2013
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	240
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Michael S. A. Graziano, Professor of Neuroscience at Princeton University, is an internationally renowned scientist and an award-winning novelist. His books include the popular science book God, Soul, Mind, Brain and the short novels The Divine Farce, The Love Song of Monkey, and Death My Own Way.

Table of Contents

Part I: The Theory Chapter 1: The magic trick Chapter 2: Introducing the theory Chapter 3: Awareness as information Chapter 4: Being aware versus knowing that you are aware Chapter 5: The attention schema Chapter 6: Illusions and myths Chapter 7: Social attention Chapter 8: How do I distinguish my awareness from yours? Chapter 9: Some useful complexities Part II: Comparison to previous theories and results Chapter 10: Social theories of consciousness Chapter 11: Consciousness as integrated information Chapter 12: Neural correlates of consciousness Chapter 13: Awareness and the machinery for social perception Chapter 14: The neglect syndrome Chapter 15: Multiple interlocking functions of the brain area TPJ Chapter 16: Simulating other minds Chapter 17: Some spiritual matters Chapter 18: Explaining the magic trick

Editorial Reviews

"Graziano proposes a new and intriguing theory of consciousness.. Graziano guides readers step-by-step through his captivating and convincing theory of consciousness, explaining how the theory accounts for many oddities in human perception. This book is an essential read for anyone interested in consciousness from either a scientific or philosophical perspective." — Library Journal

"The author offers an engaging and accessible explanation of his theory. Rather than merely touting its merits, he aims to show how it is compatible with other popular theories. Avoiding technical details, he uses anecdotes, drawings, and metaphors to convey an understanding of the important concepts. [Consciousness and the Social Brain] turns the field's contemporary wisdom on its head, and from its new vantage point one has the sense that an answer to the problem of consciousness might be in sight. Graziano's attention schema theory marks a milestone by offering a plausible, mechanistic answer to the hard problem." —Aaron Schurger, Science Magazine

"Well known for his work on the motor cortex, Graziano is a newcomer to the field of consciousness research. His ideas and approach here are outliers in the theoretical arena, but that makes Consciousness and the Social Brain all the more intriguing. It turns the field's contemporary wisdom on its head, and from its new vantage point one has the sense that an answer to the problem of consciousness might be in sight." —Science

From the Publisher

The question of how the brain creates consciousness has been debated for hundreds of years, with some experts deeming the issue a "hard problem" that can never be solved. Neuroscientist and best-selling novelist Graziano (psychology, Princeton Univ.; God, Soul, Mind, Brain; The Divine Farce) proposes a new and intriguing theory of consciousness that explains how the brain creates and makes use of subjective awareness and sets out to resolve perceptual illusions, such as the "out-of-body" experience and the misattribution of consciousness to inanimate objects. Graziano asserts that consciousness is an informational description, or "sketch" of attention, and the attribution of awareness to one's self and to others is essentially the same process, which inextricably links consciousness to social perception. Basing his work on neuroscience research, Graziano identifies two brain areas that may be critical for subjective awareness—the temporo-parietal junction and the superior temporal sulcus. Finally, he impartially discusses implications for free will, the existence of God, and eternal life. VERDICT Graziano guides readers step-by-step through his captivating and convincing theory of consciousness, explaining how the theory accounts for many oddities in human perception. This book is an essential read for anyone interested in consciousness from either a scientific or philosophical perspective.—Katherine G. Akers, Emory Univ. Libs., Atlanta

Library Journal