Anil Seth

Geraint Rees

A Special Issue of Cognitive Neuroscience

Cognitive Neuroscience of Consciousness

How do conscious experience, subjectivity, and free will arise from the brain and the body? Even in the late 20th century, consciousness was considered to be beyond the reach of science. Now, understanding the neural mechanisms underlying consciousness is recognized as a key objective for 21st century science. The cognitive neuroscience of consciousness is a fundamentally multidisciplinary enterprise, involving powerful new combinations of functional brain imaging, computational modelling, theoretical innovation, and basic neurobiology. Its progress will be marked by new insights not only into the complex brain mechanisms underlying consciousness, but also by novel clinical approaches to a wide range of neurological and psychiatric disorders. These innovations are well represented by the contents of the present volume. A target article by Victor Lamme puts forward the contentious position that neural evidence should trump evidence from behaviour and introspection, in any theory of consciousness. This article and its several commentaries advance one of the fundamental debates in consciousness science, namely whether there exists non-reportable phenomenal consciousness, perhaps dependent on local rather than global neural processes. Other articles explore the wider terrain of the new science of consciousness. For example, Maniscalco and colleagues use theta-burst transcranial magnetic stimulation to selectively impair metacognitive awareness; Massimini and coworkers examine changes in functional connectivity during anesthesi, and Vanhaudenhuyse et al describe innovations in detecting residual awareness following traumatic brain injury. Together, then contents of this volume exemplify the `grand challenge of consciousness' in combining transformative questions about the human condition with a tractable programme of experimental and theoretical research.

Candidates taking the MRCP 1 examination will find this title essential reading. It provides invaluable guidance at practising 'Best of Five' format questions. The questions have up-to-the-minute clinical scenarios encountered in everyday hospital practice. Contains 300 brand new 'Best of Five' questions with expanded answers for focused revision.

300 Best of Five Questions and Answers

MRCP 1

Sarah Richmond

Sarah J. L. Edwards

Neuroscience raises many questions for bioethics of which one relates to our ideas of privacy. There seems nothing more private than one's thoughts, some of which we might choose to share with others, and some not. Whilst there is considerable interest in 'neuroethics', little has been published on the particular issue of privacy in relation to 'brain' or 'mind' reading. I know what you're thinking provides an account of the neuroscientific evidence on'mind reading', as well as a thorough analysis of both legal and moral accounts of privacy. It brings together leading academics from the fields of psychology, neuroscience, philosophy, and law. The bookconsiders the relevance of consent when considering violations of privacy. It also looks at the ever increasing use of brain imaging in medicine, and its application within the criminal justice system. It ends with a discussion of the various uses to which we might want to put brain images in psychiatry, law, and moral philosophy, and of the implications for the imaged subject.Providing a ground breaking exploration of how brain imaging technologies can throw light on our mentalcapacities, states, and acts, this is an important new book for psychologists, neuroscientists, bioethicists, philosophers, and lawyers.

Geraint Rees

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