Professor Geraint Rees FMedSci, UK : "The conscious phenotype"
Speaker:
Professor Geraint Rees FMedSci
Dean of the UCL Faculty of Life Sciences
Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, UK
Title: "The conscious phenotype"
Abstract: Consciousness is central to the human condition, furnishing us with phenomenal awareness of the external world and the ability to reflect upon our own thoughts and experiences. Almost half our communication concerns the contents of our thoughts and experiences. The shared language we use to do this obscures the more recent realisation that there is substantial variability in how different people experience the same physical environment. Moreover, key aspects of this variability in conscious experience are heritable, suggesting a conscious phenotype with adaptive significance. In this talk I will explore the nature of individual differences in conscious perception and their neural basis, focusing on both structure and function of the human brain. Such a methodological orientation leads naturally to approaches to explaining behaviour and brain function that appreciate its high dimensionality. I will describe the consequences of such dimensionality, both for understanding the brain and its disorders but also for my own research programme.
About Neuroscience Seminars
Neuroscience seminars at the QBI play a major role in the advancement of neuroscience in the Asia-Pacific region. The primary goal of these seminars is to promote excellence in neuroscience through the exchange of ideas, establishing new collaborations and augmenting partnerships already in place.
Seminars in the QBI Auditorium on Level 7 are held on Wednesdays at 12-1pm, which are sometimes simulcast on Zoom (with approval from the speaker). We also occassionally hold seminars from international speakers via Zoom. The days and times of these seminars will vary depending on the time zone of the speaker. Please see each seminar listed below for details.
