Is consciousness beyond the reach of science? How can one study it in the lab? What brain-imaging signals convey information about consciousness?

Can’t be better than having Stanislas Dehaene, receiver of the Brain Prize 2014, to answer these questions.

How a subjective state of consciousness arises from an objective state of brain tissue is often considered as the Holy Grail of neuroscience. In the past twenty years the problem has ceased to be insurmountable. Tens of experimental paradigms, thousands of studies and several theories have begun to address the Consciousness challenge. Stanislas Dehaene will show how we can use visual illusions, subjective reports, and advances in machine learning to “decode” subliminal images from brain signals and to identify the signatures of consciousness that emerge when these images pop into consciousness. Although much theoretical work will be needed to relate these macroscopic signals to the underlying neuronal computations, those empirical advances are already being transferred to the clinic, where they facilitate the detection of residual consciousness in patients with coma, vegetative state and related disorders.

Later in the evening, we will have Kvindebandet, playing unpolished music that transcends genres and is created with a natural blend of humor, severity and melancholia. Kvindebandet explores the absurdity of grandeur and the satiety of minimalism, and their motivation is simple: A desire for a musical unison.

By the way, Stanislas Dehaene enjoyed writing the book Consciousness and the brain, which you might like to take a look at if you feel like reading something scientific.

Event organised in cooperation with Institut Français du Danemark.