Find your starting point in the science of consciousness.

From your first free lesson to university-level mastery — learn at your own pace, guided by one of the field’s founding scientists.

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On Consciousness & The Brain​

TIER 1 — Start Free

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“Great educational material.

Really appreciating these Mini-Courses. The challenge of operationally defining consciousness is something I find endlessly fascinating.”

~Rajveer Kapoor

Your Stream of Consciousness: Creative States & the Science of the Conscious Mind

Discover why William James' 150-year-old insight into the flowing, spontaneous nature of your awareness remains science's most accurate description of conscious experience. (15 mins)
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FREE

How Your Inner World Truly Matters: Science of conscious experience and selective attention

Understand why your private, subjective experience is not a philosophical abstraction but a scientifically measurable process that shapes how your brain develops and changes. (20 mins)
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FREE

What Is Consciousness? How science understands and defines the undefinable.

Walk away with a precise, foundational science-backed definition of consciousness — the conceptual foundation every serious student of the mind needs before going further. (30 mins)
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FREE

TIER 2 — Go Deeper

Short and focused. 

Built from the leading edge of science.

Join over 2,300 students who have completed the Build-a-Brain series.

BUILD-A-BRAIN I: Vertical Tour

Build a working mental model of the brain's architecture from brainstem to cortex, so you can finally see how structure determines the very possibility of conscious experience. (20 mins)
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$19

BUILD-A-BRAIN II: Functional Matrix

See how the brain's specialized regions coordinate as a unified system and why that integration is the key to understanding how consciousness arises from biology. (36 mins)
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$29

Circular Maps of the Brain: The Connectome

Read the brain's wiring diagram the way leading neuroscientists do, as dynamic street and traffic maps of the 100 trillion connections that make your conscious life possible. (20 mins)
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$19

Visualizing Actual Living Fiber Tracts in the Brain

Go beyond anatomy textbooks and see the brain's living highways of communication exactly as neuroscientists image them — in a real, live human brain. (20 mins)
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$19

What Does the Biology of Subjectivity Mean?

Discover why your experience of being "you" — privileged, private, and unrepeatable — is not a philosophical mystery but a measurable product of your brain's unique history. (35 mins)
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$29

The Developing Brain and Consciousness

Trace the remarkable moment when developing brains first cross a threshold into conscious experience & see why sleep, memory, and connectivity are architects of a self. (32 mins)
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$29

Get the Complete Mini-Course Library

All 9 mini-courses — including 3 free and 6 premium — in one complete foundational package.
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What’s included

✦ Mini-Courses #1–3: free starter courses, consolidated in your account

✦ Mini-Courses #4–9: ($19-$29 each)

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Complete Library: $89

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TRUSTED BY ACADEMICS

WHAT LEADERS IN THE FIELD HAVE TO SAY
The works of Bernard Baars are among the foundational texts of the scientific study of consciousness. Their influence in cognitive science and philosophy of mind is enormous, and their influence on my own thinking has been profound.
Murray Shanahan, PhD
Murray Shanahan, PhDProfessor of Cognitive Robotics, Imperial College London
Baars' preference for testable hypotheses as opposed to dead-end thought-experiments have made a major difference in shifting the topic to a secure knowledge base from which real progress can be made. His work is always insightful, careful, and trustworthy ~ virtues that have become increasingly elusive in philosophical approaches.
Patricia Churchland
Patricia ChurchlandProfessor of Philosophy Emerita, UCSD
Bernie Baars is the leading thinker behind the Global Workspace Theory of consciousness that has been recently championed by top neuroscientists, such as Stanislas Dehaene.
Peter Tse
Peter TseProfessor, Dept. of Psychological & Brain Sciences, Dartmouth College
Baars' book "On Consciousness" is landmark effort to comprehensively address, in an accessible way, the various dimensions of the Global Workspace, from its cognitive architecture to the living brain dynamics through which it is manifest.
Dr. George Mashour
Dr. George MashourUniversity of Michigan
Baars is brilliantly well versed in past writers who have explored human experience, from Aristotle to Marcel Proust, and on to a wide range of contemporary neuroscientists. As with William James, Bernard Baars communicates in an effortless and deeply thoughtful way, populated by the kinds of details and reflections that mark a scientist who has spent a lifetime becoming intimately familiar with his topic.
Leslie Allan Combs
Leslie Allan CombsSociety for Consciousness Studies
Consciousness will not become acceptable without 3 things: empirical evidence that overcomes the consciousness deniers, a satisfying account of subjectivity, and a global understanding of the mind's staggering complexity. Bernard Baars is perhaps our most important voice on all 3 fronts, and "On Consciousness: Science & Subjectivity" raises a high bar for future exploration in the field.
Deepak Chopra, MD
Deepak Chopra, MDClinical Professor of Family Medicine and Public Health, UCSD
No scholar understands consciousness as well as Bernard Baars, and few can express this understanding as lucidly. His Global Workspace Theory is practical and elegant, addressing both conscious and unconscious activity. If anyone thinks there is a "hard problem" in this field, they need to listen to Bernard Baars before they make that assumption.
Stanley Krippner
Stanley KrippnerProfessor of Psychology, Emeritus, Saybrook University
Bernie Baars started, almost single-handedly, the "consciousness revolution" in cognitive psychology over 30 years ago. Baars is a giant on whose shoulders the future science of consciousness will stand.
Antti Revonsuo, PhD
Antti Revonsuo, PhDProfessor of Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Skövde, Sweden
In these works, expert authority Bernard Baars explains many exciting insights of the complex workings of the brain.
György Buzsáki, PhD
György Buzsáki, PhD Biggs Professor of Neuroscience at New York University School of Medicine

TIER 3 — Full Courses

University-level depth. 

Taught by scientists leading their fields.

“Bernard Baars’ influence in cognitive science and philosophy of mind is enormous, and his impact on my own thinking has been profound.”   

~Murray Shanahan, Google DeepMind

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GLOBAL WORKSPACE THEORY: Origins & Evidence
Gain the conceptual framework used by the world's leading consciousness researchers.
  • Cognitive Neuroscience
  • Medicine, Psychology
  • Information Sciences
  • AI & Maching Learning
  • Video & Audio Lessons
  • Full Transcripts
  • PDF Readings
  • Quizzes & Certificate
  • All Levels
  • 5h 18m
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  • ENROLL TODAY
Secrets of Animal Consciousness: Is Anatomy Destiny?
Understand how and why anatomy determines the boundaries of conscious experience across species.
  • Cognitive Neuroscience
  • Behavioral Psychology
  • AI & Machine Learning
  • Video Lessons
  • Quizzes
  • PDF Transcripts
  • All Levels
  • 3h 48m
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  • ENROLL TODAY
The Developing Brain & Consciousness
See how consciousness emerges and develops through the many stages of brain development.
  • Cognitive Neuroscience
  • Psychology
  • AI & Machine Learning
  • Video & Audio Lessons
  • Quizzes
  • PDF Transcripts
  • All Levels
  • 3h 48m
Learn More + register to Start this Course
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  • Coming Soon
IS CORTEX THE ORGAN OF MIND? Understanding the Evidence
The cortex is proposed to be the organ of mind (Penfield and Roberts, 1959) for both conscious and unconscious functions. Is it true?
  • Fundamental Science
  • Video & Audio Lessons
  • Quizzes
  • Medical Evidence
  • Full Transcripts
  • PDF Downloads
  • All Levels
  • 6h 48m

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Psychology, Neuroscience, Cognitive Science, AI

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On Consciousness Science and Subjectivity by Bernard J Baars All Editions On Sale Now

The Foundation for Baars Lab Courses

“A clear-eyed, open-minded analysis of the problems of consciousness, and a wide-ranging synthesis of a variety of approaches. For those who want to join the race to model consciousness, this is the starting line.”

DANIEL C. DENNETT, PhD (1942-2024)

Author; Cognitive Scientist & Philosopher, Tufts University

Consciousness is a core question of life.

Making progress in understanding therefore has an endless number of benefits ⎯ philosophical, scientific, medical, and practical.

BERNARD J. BAARS, PhD 

Author & Psychobiologist, Center for the Future Mind, FAU

stream-of-consciousness-observe-your-own-inner-thoughts

FAQ

Most Frequently Asked Questions and Answers

These courses are for you if you are interested in, or teach, or study any of the following subjects: Cognitive or Clinical Psychology, Cognitive Neuroscience, Contemplative Sciences, the Information Sciences, Neuroscience and Education, Health Education, or Philosophy. 

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Yes! Please contact us for group discounts and special registration passes. Email your request to: BaarsLab [at] gmail [dot] com

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