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Full Description
The Origins of Consciousness challenges the dominant view that consciousness is an emergent property of the complex human brain.
Based on his pioneering research on a variety of organisms, Vallortigara argues that the most basic forms of mental life do not require large brains, and that the neurological surplus observed in some animals such as humans is likely at the service of memory storage, not of the processes of thought or, even less, of consciousness. The book argues for a simple neural mechanism that can provide the crucial event that brings into effect the minimum condition for subjective experience. Implications of the hypothesis for the appearance of consciousness in different organisms are discussed, as well as links with a variety of fascinating human phenomena such as disorders of consciousness, tickling and visual illusions.
Challenging widely accepted theories of consciousness, the book is a must-read for students and researchers of human and animal consciousness.
Contents
Introduction 1. Earthworm Consciousness 2. Robinson, the Caterpillar and the Butterfly 3. The Most Interesting Surface on Earth 4. A Brain for All Seasons 5. Faces, Flowers and Profiles 6. Faces of Memory 7. Big Concepts for Small Brains 8. Information Lies in Differences, and Other Fundamental Principles 9. Neurons Large and Small, in Variously Crowded Spaces 10. The Boundaries of Intelligence 11. A Minimalist Approach to the Issue of Consciousness 12. The Scent of the Rose 13. Primum Movens 14. Early Animals, Early Neurons 15. The Crooked-Headed Fly 16. Imminence of a Revelation 17. Experience, in Brief 18. Hearing the Song of the Cricket that Is not There 19. Tickling Yourself 20. The Corollary Discharge of Thought 21. Feeling and Cogitating 22. Traces of Feeling 23. And So...
