What Does Implicit Cognition Tell Us About Consciousness?
Anmerkung des GK-Schriftführers:
Diese Konferenz der ASSC (Association for the Scientific Study Of Consciousness) wird von GK-Mitglied Thomas Metzinger mitveranstaltet.
Auch diejenigen, für die eine persönliche Teilnahme nicht möglich ist, können anhand der beigefügten Beschreibung einen Eindruck von einigen Themen und Methoden der modernen Bewußtseinsforschung gewinnen. Auch die angegebene WWW-Seite der ASSC ist in dieser Hinsicht informativ.
THE ASSOCIATION FOR THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF CONSCIOUSNESS
CALL FOR PAPERS, POSTERS & WORKSHOP PRESENTERS
FOR A CONFERENCE ON:
WHAT DOES IMPLICIT COGNITION TELL US ABOUT CONSCIOUSNESS?
CLAREMONT COLLEGES & CLAREMONT GRADUATE SCHOOL
JUNE 14-16, 1997: CLAREMONT, CALIFORNIA
The first conference of the Association for the Scientific Study of
Consciousness will be held at the Claremont Colleges, about an hour's
drive from Los Angeles, over three days between the 14th and 16th of
June 1997. The organising committee for the conference consists of:
William Banks (Pomona College)
Thomas Metzinger (Universitat des Saarlandes)
Patrick Wilken (Monash University)
Currently scheduled speakers include Bernard Baars, David Chalmers,
Patricia Churchland, Owen Flanagan, John Gabrieli, Melvyn Goodale,
Anthony Greenwald, Larry Jacoby, Christof Koch, Philip Merikle, David
Milner and Daniel Schacter.
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PAPERS
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The phenomena of implicit cognition -- implicit memory, implicit
learning, unconscious perception, blindsight, and so on -- have
attracted widespread attention in recent years. This is partly because
of their intrinsic interest, and partly because the study of these
processes holds great promise as an empirical method for investigating
consciousness. But although research in these areas has proliferated,
the connections between this research and issues about consciousness
have not yet been fully articulated. What have we learned about the
conscious mind from the study of implicit cognition?
This conference is intended to address this question, drawing systematic
connections between implicit cognition and consciousness. Contributions
to the conference should address both topics -- implicit cognition and
consciousness -- rather than just one. We welcome both empirical
contributions, using experimental research to help understand the nature
of conscious and unconscious processes, and theoretical contributions
that analyze or integrate existing work.
A non-exclusive list of the issues that will be explored include:
implicit memory in normals and amnesics and its relation to
consciousness; perception without awareness; blindsight; perception of
unattended material; non-conscious thought; neural correlates of
conscious and unconscious processes; criteria for the ascription of
consciousness; the function of consciousness; and the capacities and
limitations of unconscious processing. It is intended that these topics
will be covered in an interdisciplinary manner and towards this end
speakers are invited to discuss these issues from philosophical,
psychological and/or physiological perspectives.
Papers will be accepted on the basis of their quality and suitability
and not according to the author's affiliation with the association. Any
person may only present one paper, but may be the co-author of others.
Presentation time will be limited to 30 minutes, which includes a five
minute discussion period. Sessions will be strictly timed. In addition to
spoken papers there will be an opportunity to present posters during the
conference.
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WORKSHOPS
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This notice is also intended as a call for workshop presenters. One of
the aims of this meeting is allow researchers to gain a background in
areas that they may know little about. Towards that end a number of
workshops are planned. Is there a topic you or perhaps someone in your
laboratory might want to present? Some participants in the conference
would be very interested in learning about technical matters such as
fMRI or other important brain imaging techniques. Others might enjoy a
seminar on a philosophical topic, or on an article or recent book. If
you have recently published a book or major article on some topic you
might want to lead a discussion on it. As with papers the focus of all
workshops should naturally fit within the overall theme of the
conference.
A non-exclusive list of topics that we intend presenting given
sufficient interest include background briefings in:
* The latest methods and implications of various brain
scanning techniques (e.g. fMRI, EEG, SQUID, ERP).
* Amnesic syndromes.
* Blindsight.
* Attentional and pre-attentional processes.
* Neglect.
* Current models of the visual system.
* Criteria for the ascription of consciousness.
The workshops will presumably be afternoon affairs, taking about 3
hours. Workshop presenters will receive a minimum honorarium of $500.
The sizes of workshops will vary between a minimum of 10 to a maximum of
around 20 people. Charges for workshops will be of the order of $50 to
$100.
When the announcement for the conference goes out in March, registrants
will be asked to rank their preferences among the workshops (or choose
none at all), and we will use a fair algorithm to assign people to their
choices. Workshops that do not achieve the minimum enrollment of 10
people will not be offered. We will mail each attendee the workshops
they have been enrolled in, along with a list of those that are not
filled and can accept last-minute additions.
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SUBMISSION OF PROPOSALS
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ABSTRACTS OF PAPERS MUST BE RECEIVED BY JANUARY 20TH 1997.
Submissions to be a presenter of either a paper, workshop or poster must
include the following information:
1. Title.
2. An abstract of 150-250 words
3. Name(s)
Institutional affiliation(s)
Postal address(es)
Email address(es)
Telephone and fax numbers
Membership status in the Association for the Scientific Study of
Consciousness (Full member, Affiliate, or Nonmember)
For papers and poster presenters:
4. A specification of which co-author will present the paper/poster at
the
meeting
5. Be sure to indicate whether this is submitted as a
a. Spoken presentation
b. Poster
And also, if your spoken presentation cannot be
fit into the program, please indicate your willingness
to present it as a poster instead: Yes__ No__
Please send - using email where possible - paper and poster proposals to:
William Banks
ASSC Conference Committee
Department of Psychology
Pomona College
Claremont, CA 91711
Email: wbanks@pomona.edu
Vox: +1-909-607-2227; Fax: +1-909-621-8623
Workshop proposals to:
Patrick Wilken
ASSC Conference Committee
Department of Computer Science
Monash University
Clayton VIC 3168
Australia
Email: patrickw@cs.monash.edu.au
Vox: +61-3-9905-5227; Fax: +61-3-9905-5146
Further details concerning this conference will be placed on the ASSC
website http://www.phil.vt.edu/assc over the coming months.