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On Consciousness & The Brain​

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TIER 1. FREE

“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)
→ START LEARNING FREE → Email only. No credit card, ever.
FREE

How Your Inner World Truly Matters: The science of selective attention

Understand why your private, subjective experience is a scientifically measurable process that shapes how your brain develops and changes, and matters more than you think. (20 mins)
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FREE

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

Walk away with a 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

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

Short and focused. 

Built from the leading edge of science.

TIER 2. FOCUS

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)
→ CONTINUE LEARNING → $19 Instant access. Your pace.
$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)
→ CONTINUE LEARNING → $29 Instant access. Your pace.
$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. (22 mins)
→ CONTINUE LEARNING → $19 Instant access. Your pace.
$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

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TIER 3. DEPTH

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

~Murray Shanahan, Google DeepMind

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$149 - 5 Video Seminars with Bernard Baars
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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
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  • Quizzes & Certificate
  • All Levels
  • 4h 20m
$149 * Learn More + Enroll
$149 - Full Video Seminar with Bernard Baars
  • coming soon
GLOBAL WORKSPACE THEORY Crucial Predictions
Trace what the leading edge in brain evidence demonstrates about Global Workspace Theory
  • Cognitive Neuroscience
  • Behavioral Psychology
  • Neurobiology
  • AI & Maching Learning
  • Video Lessons
  • Full Transcripts
  • PDF Downloads
  • Quizzes & Certificate
  • All Levels
  • 3h 30m
$149 * coming Soon
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$129 - 4 Video Roundtables with Edelman, Baars & Giedd
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The Developing Brain & Consciousness
See how consciousness emerges and develops through the many stages of brain development.
  • Cognitive Neuroscience
  • Behavioral Psychology
  • Neurobiology
  • AI & Machine Learning
  • Video & Audio Lessons
  • PDF Downloads
  • Full Transcripts
  • Quizzes & Certificate
  • All Levels
  • 4 hours
$129 * Learn More + Enroll
*FREE - 6 Video Seminars & Tutorials with Leading Scientists
  • coming soon
Darwin, Neurons & Nervous Systems
Understanding Neural Darwinism: See how selection in the brain unfolds across three stages: developmental, experiential, and re-entrant.
  • Cognitive Neuroscience
  • Behavioral Psychology
  • Neurobiology
  • AI & Machine Learning
  • 6 Video Lessons
  • Quizzes & Certificate
  • PDF Downloads
  • Full Transcripts
  • All Levels
  • 3h 20m
*FREE * Enroll Today * Email only!
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$99 - 18 Video Seminars with Baars & Edelman
  • ENROLL TODAY
Secrets of Animal Consciousness: Is Anatomy Destiny?
Understand how and why anatomy may determine boundaries of conscious experience across species.
  • Cognitive Neuroscience
  • Behavioral Psychology
  • Veterinary Medicine
  • AI & Machine Learning
  • 18 Video Lessons
  • Quizzes & Certificate
  • PDF Downloads
  • Full Transcripts
  • All Levels
  • 3h 28m
$99 * Learn More + Enroll
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*$79 - 3 Video Seminars with Bernard Baars
  • 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 & Certificate
  • Medical Evidence
  • Full Transcripts
  • PDF Downloads
  • All Levels
  • 45m
*FREE - Full Video Seminar with Baars, Kozma & Davis
  • *Free course* - Freeman & Kozma's Breakthroughs
THE CLICKY CINEMATIC CORTEX: Phase Transitions & Chaotic Collapse
See how the brain's nonlinear dynamics operate at near criticality, based on Walter J. Freeman and Robert Kozma's groundbreaking research.
  • Cognitive Neuroscience
  • Clinical Psychology
  • Systems Neuroscience
  • 1 Full Video Seminar
  • PDF Downloads
  • Quiz & Certificate
  • All Levels
  • 2hrs
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The "NATURALIZING CONSCIOUSNESS" Series

A tribute to the big ideas of nobel laureate, gerald M. Edelman
*$129 - 13 Video Seminars with Leading Experts
  • coming soon: Naturalizing consciousness series
Consciousness in Context
Examine valuable scientific insights on what cephalopods, card tricks, and antibodies teach us about the conscious brain.
  • Fundamental Science
  • 13 Video Lessons
  • Quizzes & Certificate
  • Medical Evidence
  • Full Transcripts
  • PDF Downloads
  • All Levels
  • 2h 35m

Psychobiologist Bernard Baars and neuroscientist David Edelman are joined by renowned master of misdirection and sleight of hand, professional magician Mark Mitton, as they consider consciousness within the larger scope of biology.

$129 * Coming Soon
*$59 - 1 Video Seminar with Leading Scientists
  • coming soon: Naturalizing consciousness series
Consciousness & Connectedness
Trace dynamic aspects of conscious cognition and brains across development, evolution & machines.
  • Fundamental Science
  • 1 Video Lesson
  • Quizzes & Certificate
  • Medical Evidence
  • Full Transcripts
  • PDF Downloads
  • All Levels
  • 1h 20m

“The brain seeks meaning and patterns. It would be very adaptive to do so in nature, because you need to know how to predict danger and to develop social ties. Therefore our brains are very good at recognizing patterns, but also at creating them, even when they're not there.” — Dr. Jay Giedd

$59 * Coming Soon
*$59 - 1 Video Seminar with Leading Experts
  • coming soon: Naturalizing consciousness series
The Conscious Brain Evolved
Recognize how consciousness and biology are highly adaptive, and rewire how you think about fit, fear, and the conscious brain.
  • Fundamental Science
  • 1 Video Lesson
  • Quizzes & Certificate
  • Medical Evidence
  • Full Transcripts
  • PDF Downloads
  • All Levels
  • 1h 20m

What level of biology is relevant to the study of conscious processing? Is it a matter of molecules? Or cells? Or networks?

$59 * Coming Soon
*$35 - 1 Video Seminar with Leading Scientists
  • coming soon: Naturalizing consciousness series
Neural Traffic Flow in the Conscious Brain
From nodes to edges, understand how connectivity gives rise to conscious experience and learning.
  • Fundamental Science
  • 1 Video Lesson
  • Quiz & Certificate
  • Medical Evidence
  • Full Transcript
  • PDF Downloads
  • All Levels
  • 48m

“Good science always raises more questions than answers, and consciousness is a great example of that.” — Dr. Jay Giedd

$35 * Coming Soon
*$35 - 1 Video Seminar with Leading Scientists
  • coming soon: Naturalizing consciousness series
Consciousness Has An Integrative Function
From epiphenomenon to integration, learn how consciousness earns its causal role and examine the controversies and issues science confronts.
  • Fundamental Science
  • 1 Video Lesson
  • Quiz & Certificate
  • Medical Evidence
  • Full Transcript
  • PDF Downloads
  • All Levels
  • 40m

“Can consciousness be seen as the key to understanding our surroundings and organizing our actions?” — David Edelman, PhD

$35 * Coming Soon

Foundation for 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

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

Consciousness is a core question of life.

Making progress in understanding 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

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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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