What To Know
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Psychology, Neuroscience, Cognitive Science
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English
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How does a brain become conscious — and does that change as we grow? This course gives you the science to understand how consciousness emerges, develops, and changes across an entire human life.
11
Lessons
4
Videos
Beginner
Skill Level
4 hrs
to complete
Flexible
Learn at your pace
From the moment a brain begins to form in the womb to the slow changes of aging, consciousness is not fixed, it emerges, shifts, and deepens.
In these roundtable discussions, three of the world’s leading neuroscientists examine how and why.
Leading scientists and clinicians talk candidly about their understanding of the developing brain and cognition and bring their extensive knowledge to bear on the emergence of consciousness throughout life:
- David Edelman, PhD is a neuroscientist focused on consciousness in non-human animals
- Bernard Baars, PhD is a psychobiologist and originator of Global Workspace Theory, a theory of conscious cognition
- Jay Giedd, MD, PhD is a psychiatrist and neuroscientist who has spent more than thirty years exploring the growth of the human brain from embryogenesis through childhood and adolescence into adulthood
In a special tribute to Nobel Laureate Gerald M. Edelman, his son, neuroscientist David Edelman, moderates these Roundtable Seminars from his father's home.
Nobel Laureate, Gerald M. Edelman
The common thread running through scientific pursuits of David Edelman’s father, Nobel Laureate Gerald Edelman, was an enduring interest in the relationship between biology and experience. Neuronal Group Selection, or Neural Darwinism, is the culmination of his efforts to reconcile the two.
Neuroscientists Edelman, Baars & Giedd
"Our journeys into the nature of consciousness serve as a tribute to my Dad, Nobel Laureate Gerald Edelman, to his verdant imagination, immense creativity, prodigious output, and the many discussions about the scientific study of consciousness and biological science generally that were shared within these four walls."
More about this course
After completing this course you will gain the skills to
- Explain the fundamental differences and behavioral transitions between deep sleep and waking states.
- Demonstrate why changes in observable brain activity provide clues as to the nature of consciousness.
- Explain how the brain changes in connectivity from infancy into adulthood.
- Understand how the myelin sheath is a consequential structure in the development of a conscious brain.
- Demonstrate the importance of functional connectivity in the behavioral expression of the brain.
Who is this course for?
This course is for you if you are interested in, or teach, or study any of the following subjects: Psychology, Neuroscience and Education, Cognitive Science, Health Education, or Philosophy.
Learning Path
Consciousness may seem simple and obvious to many of us. When we’re awake, we are aware of the outer world and of our own inner thoughts and feelings. When we fall asleep, inner and outer awareness slips away.
It is thought that there must be a time when the emerging brain changes from a small, non-conscious collection of neurons to a massive, 86 billion-cell structure enabling conscious feelings, sensory perception and thoughts. When is that time of transition? When do the first useful memories form?
How do we scientifically study the phenomenon of consciousness as a process in the brain? By the end of Part 1, you’ll have the scientific framework to begin answering that question yourself.
Video 13 Min + 7 Min read to complete + Quiz
What is it about a particular animal’s makeup ⎯ its nervous system, its senses, its behavior, its social interactions ⎯ that indicates that it is truly conscious?
Baars, Edelman and Giedd explore main aspects of consciousness from varying perspectives and with an evolutionary lens in a thought-provoking discussion. We start with the simplest of observational definitions that lay out the logic of scientific discovery. Science has to be open to surprising new ideas, but we can start with what we can test.
By the end of Part 2, you will have the skills to demonstrate the difference that makes an observable difference in humans and other animals.
Video 39 Min + 14 Min reads to complete + Quiz
How does consciousness come together in the brain? How does memory figure into consciousness?
Knowing how we acquire coherent perceptual insights about the world and then commit those insights to memory, can we tune the learning process to optimize the acquisition of new skills? And when do humans and some non-human animals cross this rubicon of awareness?
By the end of Part 3, you will gain the science and the understanding to explain some of the complexities of conscious experiences.
Video 21 Min + 16 Min reads to complete + Quiz
Video 21 Min + 18 Min reads to complete + Quiz
Trusted by academics
“Baars was just waaaay ahead of everyone else in approaching questions concerning consciousness as scientific questions. He's done vastly more than metaphor-slinging philosophers to make progress. His 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.”
“Eyebrows are no longer raised even among neuroscientists when the topic of consciousness is discussed, largely due to authors like Bernard Baars. His works explain many insights of the complex workings of the brain.”
“Bernard Baars is both one of the pioneers of the cognitive study of consciousness and currently one of its most important contributors.”
“Bernard Baars is the leading thinker behind the Global Workspace theory of consciousness that has been recently championed by top neuroscientists, such as Stanislas Dehaene.”
