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2006> |
Course
Description |
States Of Consciousness
Anton Coenen
University Nijmegen, The Netherlands
e-mail: a.coenen@nici.ru.nl
The objective of this course is to provide students with an in-depth introduction to the neurophysiological, neuro-anatomical and behavioural characteristics of various states of consciousness, with a focus on sleeping, waking and dreaming, as well as on several altered states of consciousness. Neural correlates of consciousness form the core of the course. The anatomical brain structures involved in consciousness, such as located in brainstem and cortex, as well as the neurophysiological brain properties related to consciousness, are main topics. A state of high consciousness (alert wakefulness) will be contrasted with a state of low consciousness (slow wave sleep). REM sleep, as an enigmatic state of consciousness, will be related to dreaming. The mechanisms by which psychoactive drugs modulate consciousness will be reviewed. Also altered states of consciousness, such as meditation, hypnosis, narcolepsy, dementia, coma and anaesthesia, will be discussed. Hence, the focus of the course is on the states of consciousness, although the issue of consciousness as an experience will also be touched. All presentations will be in power-point.
Lecture 1. Neural correlates of consciousness
Literature
Zeman, A.:Consciousness. Brain 124: 1263-1289, 2001.
Lecture 2. States of high and low consciousness: wakefulness and sleep
Literature
Paré, D.
and Llinás, R.: Conscious and pre-conscious processes as seen from the
standpoint of sleep-waking cycle neurophysiology. Neuropsychologia 33:
1155-1168, 1995.
Coenen, A.M.L., Neuronal phenomena associated with vigilance and consciousness:
from cellular mechanisms to electroencephalographic patterns. Consciousness and
Cognition 7: 42-53, 1998.
Lecture 3. Enigmatic states of consciousness: REM sleep and dreaming
Literature
Maquet, P. et al.: Cognition during REM sleep and the activity profile within frontal and parietal cortices: a reappraisal of functional data. Progress in Brain Research 150: 219-227, 2005.
Lecture 4. Psychoactive drugs modulating consciousness
Literature
Alkire, M.T. and Miller, J.: General anesthesia and the neural correlates of consciousness. Progress in Brain Research 150: 229-244, 2005.
Lecture 5. Altered states of consciousness
Literature
Anton Coenen
Anton Coenen, PhD, is full professor in ‘Neurophysiological basis of behaviour’ and head of the Department of Biological Psychology of the Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands. After his study in biology he got his PhD in 1971 on a dissertation on 'Relation between input and output of single units of cat optic tract and lateral geniculate nucleus'. He was Director of the School of Psychology and Cognitive Sciences from 1998 to 2004. Coenen is ‘visiting professor’ of the Jagiellonian University at Kraków (Polen) and ‘guest professor’ at Atma Jaya UNIKA University in Jakarta (Indonesia).