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Trevor A. Harley
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The Science of Consciousness

Consciousness concerns awareness and how we experience the world. How does aware-
ness, a feature of the mental world, arise from the physical brain? Is a dog conscious, or
a jellyfish, and what explains what is conscious and what is not? How is consciousness
related to psychological processes such as perception and cognition? The Science of Con-
sciousness covers the psychology, philosophy, and neuroscience of consciousness. Written
for introductory courses in psychology and philosophy, this text examines consciousness
with a special emphasis on current neuroscience research, as well as comparisons of normal
and damaged brains. The full range of normal and altered states of consciousness, including
sleep and dreams, hypnotic and meditative states, anaesthesia, drug-induced states, and
parapsychological phenomena and their importance for the science of consciousness, is
covered, as well as the ‘higher’ states and how we can attain them. Throughout, the text
attempts to relate consciousness to the brain.

Trevor A. Harley is Emeritus Professor of Psychology at the University of Dundee and a

Fellow of the British Psychological Society. He is the author of The Psychology of Language,
4th edition (2013), Talking the Talk, 2nd edition (2017), and The Psychology of Weather
(2018). He is very widely published across psychology, including papers on consciousness
and dreams, and has kept a detailed dream diary for several years. He is always wondering
what his poodle Beau is thinking about.

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The Science of Consciousness

Waking, Sleeping and Dreaming

TREVOR A. HARLEY
University of Dundee

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Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9781107125285
DOI: 10.1017/9781316408889
© Trevor A. Harley 2021
This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception
and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,
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permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published 2021
A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Harley, Trevor A., author.
Title: The science of consciousness : waking, sleeping and dreaming /
Trevor A. Harley, University of Dundee.
Description: New York, NY : Cambridge University Press, 2021. | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020029739 (print) | LCCN 2020029740 (ebook) | ISBN
9781107125285 (hardback) | ISBN 9781316408889 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Consciousness. | Consciousness–Physiological aspects. |
Cognitive neuroscience.
Classification: LCC QP411 .H366 2020 (print) | LCC QP411 (ebook) | DDC
612.8/233–dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020029739
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020029740
ISBN 978-1-107-12528-5 Hardback
ISBN 978-1-107-56330-8 Paperback
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and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain,
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To Allan Hobson, who started it, and to Ruth, who finished it.

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List of Figures page xiii Thought Experiments 27

Preface xix The Mind and the Brain 28
Acknowledgements xxvi The Mind–Brain Problem 28
List of Abbreviations xxvii The Mereological Fallacy 29
Qualia 29
PART I THe NATuRe of CoNSCIouSNeSS Dualism and Monism 29
René Descartes and Substance Dualism 30
1 The Problem of Consciousness 3
Other Types of Dualism 31
Why Study Consciousness? 3
Monism 32
Consciousness and Psychology 3
Box 2.2 The History of Physics 33
Consciousness and Neuroscience 4
The Knowledge Argument 34
Consciousness and Philosophy 4
The ‘Mary’ Colour Thought Experiment 34
Box 1.1 The Homunculus Inside Us 5
For and Against Physicalism 35
Consciousness and Spirituality 5
The Inverted Colour Spectrum 36
How We Study Consciousness 6
The Problem of Pain 38
Scientific Experimentation 7
The Physical Aspect of Pain 39
Box 1.2 The Role of Falsification in Science 7
The Mental Aspect of Pain 39
Box 1.3 The History of Neuroscience 8
Pain in Babies 40
Philosophical Thought Experiments 10
P-zombies 41
Artificial Intelligence 11
Box 2.3 Zombies 41
Defining Consciousness 11
Is Consciousness Essential? 42
Definitions of Consciousness 12
Being Conceivable 42
Awareness 12
Materialism 43
The Problem of Other Minds 13
Reductive Materialism 43
The Hard and Easy Problems of Consciousness 15
Eliminative Materialism 44
Intentionality: Are We Always Conscious of
Functionalism 45
Something? 15
Silicon Neurons and Silicon Brains 45
Types of Consciousness 16
Box 2.4 Neurons 46
Phenomenal and Access Consciousness 16
The ‘China Brain’ Thought Experiment 47
Other Types of Consciousness 17
Box 2.5 What is Computation? 48
Degrees of Consciousness 18
Arguments Against Functionalism 49
The History of Consciousness Research 20
Mysterianism 51
The Problems of Consciousness 21
Chapter Summary 53
Chapter Summary 23
Review Questions 54
Review Questions 24
Recommended Resources 55
Recommended Resources 24

3 Do We Have free Will? 57

2 The Mind–Body Problem 26 People and Objects 57
Box 2.1 Philosophy: Terms and Disciplines 26 Determinism and Free Will 58

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viii ContentS

Human Behaviour 59 Constructing an Artificial Brain 99

The Implications of Quantum Mechanics 60 Neuroprosthesis 101
Dualism and Free Will 60 The Future of AI 102
Box 3.1 What Is an Illusion? 61 The Technological Singularity 102
The Homunculus in the Cartesian Theatre 62 Box 4.3 Transhumanism 103
The Benefits of Believing in Free Will 62 Is AI a Threat? 104
Compatibilism 64 Chapter Summary 105
Environmental Effects on Behaviour 64 Review Questions 106
Box 3.2 Toxoplasma 65 Recommended Resources 106
Crime and Punishment 66
Moral Responsibility 67 5 Animal Consciousness 108
Box 3.3 The Purpose of Punishment 67 Which Non-human Animals might be Conscious? 108
The Role of Psychology in Understanding Crime 68 The Mind of an Animal 109
Deciding to Act 69 Animal Intelligence 110
Libet’s Experiments on ‘Voluntary’ Movement 70 Box 5.1 Learning Without Neurons 113
Box 3.4 Measuring Brain Activity with EEG 71 The Mirror Test of Self-recognition 114
Criticisms of Libet’s Experiments 72 Animals and Pain 116
Involuntary Action 73 Box 5.2 Do Plants Feel Pain? 117
Alien Hand Syndrome 73 Theory of Mind 117
Skill and Habit 74 The Importance of Social Interaction 119
Psychological Compulsions 76 The Evolution of Consciousness 120
Chapter Summary 76 Protoconsciousness 121
Review Questions 77 The Importance of Language 121
Recommended Resources 78 Recursion 122
The Bicameral Mind 123
4 Machine Consciousness 79 Panpsychism 124
Artificial Life 79 Chapter Summary 126
Artificial Intelligence 81 Review Questions 127
The Timeline of Progress in AI 82 Recommended Resources 127
Chess-playing Computers 84
Box 4.1 Computer Beats Human 86 PART II THe WoRkINgS of CoNSCIouSNeSS
The Turing Test 86 6 Looking at our own Minds 131
Early AI Models of Psychology 88 The Contents of Consciousness 131
How Smart Are Computers Now? 89 The Stream of Consciousness 132
The Computational Correlates of Consciousness 91 The Process of Introspection 133
LIDA 92 Phenomenology 135
Could a Disembodied AI Ever Be Conscious? 93 Experience Sampling 136
Robotics 94 The Limits of Introspection 137
Box 4.2 Aliens 96 Your Beliefs 138
Swarm Intelligence 96 The Reliability of Beliefs 139
Evolutionary Robotics 97 Box 6.1 Solipsism, Anti-realism, and Deceiving
Robots and Consciousness 98 Devils 140
Building a Brain 98 Delusions 141

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Box 6.2 Schizophrenia 141 8 Cognition and Consciousness 185

Mass Hysteria 143 Consciousness Is About Limitations 185
Confabulation 144 Language and Consciousness 186
Box 6.3 The Tanganyika Laughter Epidemic Language and Culture 186
of 1962 144 Thinking 188
Denial 145 Inner Speech 189
Box 6.4 Dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease 146 Mental Imagery 191
Is Anything Unavailable to Consciousness? 147 Attention 192
Freud and the Unconscious 147 Visual Attention 194
Box 6.5 Satanic Child Abuse 149 The Default Mode Network 194
Jung and the ‘Collective Unconscious’ 151 Box 8.1 The Default Mode Network 196
Subliminal Processing 152 Global Workspace Theory 197
Chapter Summary 153 The Neuronal Workspace Theory 198
Review Questions 154 Box 8.2 The Neuroscience of the Neuronal
Recommended Resources 155 Workspace Model 200
The Multiple Drafts Model 201
7 Self and Identity 156 Modelling the World 202
The Self 156 Mental Models 202
The ‘Self Model’ 157 Mental Time Travel 203
Ego and Bundle Theories 159 Metacognition 205
Box 7.1 Face Transplants 161 Representational Theories 206
The Knower and the Known 161 Recursion (Again) 207
Damasio’s Three Levels of Self 161 Box 8.3 What Is a Complex System? 209
Types of Self and the Executive Self 163 Emergence 209
The Continuity of Existence 165 Representation and Consciousness 210
Amnesia and the Loss of Memories 166 Free Energy 211
Box 7.2 Herpes simplex Encephalitis 167 Quantum Consciousness 212
The Neuroscience of the Self 169 Box 8.4 Quantum Mechanics 213
Disorders of the Physical Self 170 Chapter Summary 215
Split-brain Studies 171 Review Questions 216
Dissociative States 173 Recommended Resources 217
Box 7.3 Derealisation: A Case Study 175
Dissociative Identity Disorders 175 9 Perception and Consciousness 218
The Boundaries of the Self 176 Empiricism 219
Phantom Bodies 176 Are You Dreaming Now? 220
Phantom Limbs and Phantom Pain 177 Box 9.1 The Brain in a Vat 220
The Rubber Hand Illusion 178 Normal Visual Perception 220
Awareness of Motor Control 179 Filling in 221
Is the Self Restricted to the Body? 180 Bistable Figures 221
Is the Self Just Another Illusion? 181 Binocular Rivalry 222
Chapter Summary 182 Change Blindness and Inattentional
Review Questions 183 Blindness 224
Recommended Resources 184 Visual Illusions 225

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x ContentS

No-report Paradigm 227 Locked-in Syndrome 261

Disorders of Visuo-spatial Perception 227 Can We Escape Death? 262
Blindsight 227 Chapter Summary 263
Spatial Neglect 229 Review Questions 264
Synaesthesia 230 Recommended Resources 265
Proprioception 231
The Binding Problem 231
PART III oTHeR STATeS of CoNSCIouSNeSS
Box 9.2 Gamma Waves 232
Microconsciousness 234 11 Altered States of Consciousness 269
Visual Awareness 234 What Is an ASC? 269
Box 9.3 The Jennifer Aniston Neuron 235 Box 11.1 Psychonauts 270
The Grand Illusion 235 Types of ASC 272
Chapter Summary 236 Sensory Deprivation 272
Review Questions 237 The Ganzfeld 273
Recommended Resources 237 Out-of-body Experiences 274
Box 11.2 Laboratory-induced OBEs 275
10 Consciousness and the Brain 239 Explaining OBEs 275
Box 10.1 Studying the Living Brain 240 Migraine and Epilepsy 277
The Neural Correlates of Consciousness 241 Near-death Experiences 279
The ‘Astonishing Hypothesis’ 241 Box 11.3 How NDEs Reduce Fear of Death 280
Mind Reading: Finding Internal Content Biological Explanations of NDEs 281
from the Outside 242 Encephalitis Lethargica 282
The Electrophysiology of Consciousness 242 Other Types of ASC 283
Box 10.2 Brain Waves 243 Chapter Summary 284
The Evolution of the Brain 244 Review Questions 284
The Development of Consciousness 245 Recommended Resources 284
Incomplete Brains 246
General Anaesthesia 247 12 Sleep 286
Box 10.3 The History of Anaesthetics 248 What Is Sleep? 286
How Do General Anaesthetics Work? 249 Do All Animals Sleep? 287
Post-operative Recall 250 The Biology of Sleep 288
The Thalamus and Thalamo-cortical Systems 251 Circadian Rhythms 288
Are NCC Frontal or Posterior? 252 The Electrophysiology of Sleep 290
Re-entry and the Dynamic Core Hypothesis 252 The Neurology of Sleep 291
The Claustrum 253 The Neuropharmacology of Sleep 293
The Role of Anterior Cingulate 255 Box 12.1 Neurotransmitters 293
Integrated Information Theory 256 The AIM Model of Sleep and Dreaming 295
Radical Plasticity 256 Sleep Disorders 296
What Is Death? 257 Getting to Sleep and Staying Awake 296
Death as Loss of Higher Functions 259 Problems During Sleep 298
Disorders of Consciousness 259 Box 12.2 Talking in Your Sleep 298
Coma and Coma-like States 260 Box 12.3 Murder in Your Sleep 299
Definitions of Death 261 Sleep Deprivation 300

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ContentS xi

Box 12.4 Sleep Deprivation for Depression 301 Is There a Special Hypnotic State? 330
Why Do We Sleep? 301 Dissociation 330
Evolutionary Functions of Sleep 301 Non-state Theories of Hypnosis 331
Sleep and Learning 302 Effects of Hypnosis 332
Chapter Summary 303 Hypnotic Suggestions 332
Review Questions 304 Hypnosis and Memory 333
Recommended Resources 304 Box 14.4 Is Hypnosis Dangerous? 334
Hypnotic Anaesthesia 335
13 Dreams 305 The Neuroscience of Hypnosis 336
Are Dreams Real? 305 Self-hypnosis 337
Box 13.1 Zhuangzi’s (Chuang-Tzu’s) Butterfly What Hypnosis Tells Us About Cognition 338
Dream 306 Chapter Summary 338
What Is a Dream? 307 Review Questions 339
How Well Do We Remember Our Dreams? 308 Recommended Resources 339
Lucid Dreams 310
Dream Content 312 15 Drugs and Consciousness 341
Box 13.2 Dream Content 313 A Classification of Psychoactive Drugs 342
Nightmares 313 Cannabis 343
Box 13.3 Sleep Paralysis 314 Box 15.1 Medicinal Use of Cannabis 344
Recurring Dreams 315 Amphetamine and Other Stimulants 345
Why Do We Dream? 316 Amphetamine 345
Dreaming and Creativity 317 Box 15.2 Amphetamine Psychosis 346
Are Dreams a Way of Dealing with Threat? 318 Cocaine 347
Psychoanalysis and Dreams 319 Opiates and Opioids 348
Post-analytic Dream Theories 320 Morphine 348
Dreams and Learning 321 Heroin 349
Chapter Summary 321 Hallucinogenic Drugs 350
Review Questions 322 Deliriant Drugs 350
Recommended Resources 322 Dissociative Drugs 351
Psychedelic Drugs 352
14 Hypnosis 323 Peyote 352
The History of Hypnosis 323 Psilocybin 353
Box 14.1 Freud, Charcot, Hysteria, and DMT 353
Hypnosis 324 LSD 355
The Process of Hypnosis 325 Box 15.3 Urban Myths and LSD Use 356
Hypnotic Induction 326 The History of LSD Use 357
The Hypnotic Trance 327 Box 15.4 The Summer of Love 358
Individual Differences in Hypnotisability 327 Box 15.5 The Good Friday Marsh Chapel
Box 14.2 Categories of Question in the Tellegen Experiment 359
Absorption Scale 328 The Neuroscience of Hallucinogens 359
Can We Learn Suggestibility? 329 The Social Context of Drug Use 361
What Makes a Good Hypnotist? 329 The Dangers of Cannabis 361
Box 14.3 Snake Charmers and Horse Whisperers 329 Cultural Diversity in Drug Use 362

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xii ContentS

Therapeutic Use of Hallucinogens 362 Trait and State Studies 395

Chapter Summary 363 Experimenter Effects in Parapsychological
Review Questions 364 Research 395
Recommended Resources 364 Psychokinesis 395
Box 17.5 Poltergeist 396
16 Meditation and Transcendental experiences 366 What Would Convince a Sceptic? 397
Meditation 366 What Does Parapsychology Tell Us About
The Physiological Effects of Meditation 367 Consciousness? 398
Box 16.1 Raising Body Temperature Through Survival 398
Meditation 367 Box 17.6 Ghosts 399
The Neuroscience of Meditation 368 Reincarnation 400
Mindfulness 370 Chapter Summary 401
Transcendental Consciousness 371 Review Questions 402
Box 16.2 The Life of Colin Wilson 372 Recommended Resources 402
Consciousness Raising 373
Religious Experiences 374 18 Bringing it all Together 403
Box 16.3 The Nine Characteristics of Mystical How Do We Define Consciousness? 403
States 374 The ‘Hard Problem’ 404
Temporal Lobe Activity and Religion 376 What Are the Neural Correlates of Consciousness? 404
Entheogens 378 What Are the Cognitive Correlates of
Buddhism 378 Consciousness? 405
Zen 380 The Timing of Events 405
Chapter Summary 381 The Problem of Free Will 406
Review Questions 382 What Is the Self? 406
Recommended Resources 382 Why Are Some Things Unconscious? 407
Why Are We Conscious? 407
17 Parapsychology 384 Solving the Binding Problem 408
ESP and Psi 385 What Are Altered States of Consciousness? 408
Spontaneous Phenomena 386 Consciousness Around the World 409
Box 17.1 The Versailles Time Travel Incident 387 Can There Be a Science of Consciousness? 410
Box 17.2 Sonic Noise and Sonic Weapons 388 How This Book Will Help Your Life 411
How Spontaneous Phenomena Change with Chapter Summary 412
Time 389 Recommended Resources 412
Experimental Findings in Parapsychology 389
Box 17.3 Psychic Superstars 390 Glossary of General Terms 415
Issues in Experimental Design 391 Glossary of Basic Neuroanatomy Location Terms 422
Psi and Altered States of Consciousness 391 Glossary of the Most Common Neurotransmitters 422
Box 17.4 Hoax Mediums 392 Glossary of the Most Important Neuroanatomical
Psi in the Ganzfeld 393 Structures 422
Remote Viewing 393 References 426
Bem’s Experiments 394 Index 464

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FiGUReS

1.1 Diffusion tensor image of the living brain. page 4

1.2 Democritus (c. 460–c. 370 BCe). 4
1.3 Buddhist nuns practising kung fu. 6
1.4 Sir Karl Popper (1902–1994). 8
1.5 Accuracy or resolution of various neuroscience investigatory techniques. 9
1.6 Growing brain cells. 11
1.7 A bat using sonar. 13
1.8 Helen Keller with her teacher Anne Sullivan, in 1888. 14
1.9 Meet my miniature poodle, Beau. 14
1.10 Hofstadter’s ‘consciousness cone’. 19
1.11 B.F. Skinner (1904–1990) with the Skinner Box. 21

2.1 A red rose. 29

2.2 René Descartes (1596–1650). 30
2.3 the location of the pineal gland. 31
2.4 A monochrome rose. 34
2.5 A rainbow. 36
2.6 Colour spaces included in a version of a colour circle. 38
2.7 Chocolate. 39
2.8 Voodoo in Port au Prince, Haiti. 42
2.9 Humanoid robot dental therapy simulator ‘Simroid’. 44
2.10 neurons. 47
2.11 the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans. 51
2.12 Publicity material from the 1957 Japanese science-fiction movie The Mysterians. 52

3.1 A clockwork solar system. 59

3.2 British stage magician Jasper Maskelyne (1902–1973), at Whitehall theatre, London, 1948. 61
3.3 the brain’s reward circuitry. 63
3.4 Toxoplasma gondii. 66
3.5 Wormwood Scrubs prison in the UK. 67
3.6 Readiness potential. 70
3.7 An eeG cap. 71
3.8 the premotor cortex and surrounding areas. 74
3.9 Brain circuitry involved in obsessive-compulsive disorder 76

4.1 A flock of starlings (Sturnus vulgaris). 80

4.2 the boids simulation. 81
4.3 Four-colour map of the United States. 83
4.4 Computer-generated algorithmic art, Composition #72 by Patrick Gunderson. 83

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xiv LiSt oF FiGUReS

4.5 Deep Blue v. Kasparov (1996 match, Game 1). 84

4.6 Alan turing (1912–1954). 87
4.7 BLoCKSWoRLD, the microworld of Winograd (1972). 89
4.8 A plot showing the acceleration of the rate of development of important cultural and
technological events. 90
4.9 elektro the smoking robot. 94
4.10 CRonoS the robot. 95
4.11 the uncanny valley. 96
4.12 Aliens with tentacles. 97
4.13 the Golem Project; this robot form is called Arrow. 98
4.14 A cochlear implant. 101

5.1 Beau the poodle. 109

5.2 A puffin with fish. 109
5.3 Alex the talking parrot and irene Pepperberg. 111
5.4 Classical and modern views of a typical bird brain. 112
5.5 A common raven (Corvus corax) performing cognitive experiments. 112
5.6 ‘the blob’. 113
5.7 A slime mould. 114
5.8 the mirror test of self-recognition. 114
5.9 A forest fire: firefighters work to put out a forest fire on Signal Hill, Cape town. 117
5.10 A group of chimpanzees at ngamba island Chimpanzee Sanctuary, Lake Victoria, Uganda. 119
5.11 Dr Louis Herman researches dolphin sensory abilities. 122
5.12 the first controlled, powered and sustained human flight, 17 December 1903,
by the Wright brothers. 125

6.1 William James (1840–1910). 133

6.2 types of introspection. 134
6.3 A landscape of rainbow and tree. 136
6.4 A Kanizsa triangle. 139
6.5 Beatles hysteria. 144
6.6 the occipital lobe of the brain. 145
6.7 Freud’s iceberg model of the mind. 148
6.8 A Rorschach test item. 148
6.9 Jungian archetypes revealed in the major arcana of the tarot. 151
6.10 Subliminal advertising in the 1957 movie Picnic. 152

7.1 David Hume (1711–1776). 159

7.2 Location of the thalamus. 163
7.3 Reconstruction of the wound to Phineas Gage. 164
7.4 the hippocampus, and the seahorse from which it gets its name, and its location in the brain. 167
7.5 the Herpes simplex virus. 168
7.6 example of lesions to brain following a Herpes simplex encephalitis infection. 168

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LiSt oF FiGUReS xv

7.7 the insular cortex. 170

7.8 the brainstem. 170
7.9 the corpus callosum. 171
7.10 Split-brain testing setup 172
7.11 the mirror box setup. 178
7.12 the rubber hand setup. 178
7.13 the Petkova and ehrsson person-swapping setup. 179

8.1 Members of the Dani people of Papua, new Guinea. 187

8.2 the Muller–Lyer illusion. 188
8.3 Broca’s area. 190
8.4 the default mode network. 197
8.5 the phi illusion. 201
8.6 the brain and metacognition. 205
8.7 the Droste cocoa tin, 1904 design, illustrating recursion. 208
8.8 Microtubules at the edge of a cell. 212
8.9 A wave. 214
8.10 A quantum computer: the iBM Q System one. 214

9.1 the necker cube. 221

9.2 A bistable figure: which way up are the stairs? 222
9.3 the young girl–old lady figure. 222
9.4 ‘the Slave Market with the Disappearing Bust of Voltaire’, by Salvador Dali (1940). 223
9.5 A concealed figure. 223
9.6 Stimulus used in change blindness experiment. 225
9.7 Stimulus used in inattentional blindness experiment. 226
9.8 Selection of visual illusions. 226
9.9 the dorsal and ventral visual streams in the brain. 228
9.10 How the world appears to people with spatial neglect. 229
9.11 the copying task and spatial neglect. 229
9.12 Representation of colour–letter synaesthesia. 231

10.1 examples of eeG output. 243

10.2 the evolving brain (not to scale). 244
10.3 An infant being tested with eeG. 246
10.4 Hydrocephaly scan. 247
10.5 the location of the claustrum. 254
10.6 the location of the anterior cingulate. 255
10.7 Death is not always instantaneous. 257
10.8 Awareness plotted against arousal. 258

11.1 normal waking state and some other states as revealed by eeG. 270
11.2 timothy Leary (1920–1996). 271

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xvi LiSt oF FiGUReS

11.3 A quiet place: inside an anechoic chamber. 272

11.4 A salt water sensory deprivation tank. 273
11.5 Lesions affecting the sense of self in space leading to oBes. 276
11.6 Migraine aura. 278
11.7 eeG during an epilepsy seizure. 278
11.8 encephalitis lethargica sufferer. 282

12.1 A typical sleep laboratory. 286

12.2 A manatee sleeping on the sea floor. 288
12.3 Melatonin production. 288
12.4 the location of the pineal gland. 289
12.5 Brain activation in sleep. 290
12.6 Brain transections: cerveau isolé and encéphale isolé. 292
12.7 eeG of a cat. 292
12.8 Brainstem structures. 293
12.9 Hobson’s AiM model of consciousness. 295
12.10 non-drug treatments of insomnia. 297
12.11 Randy Gardner. 300

13.1 Beau asleep. 306

13.2 Zhuangzi’s butterfly dream. 307
13.3 Blood flow differences in high and low dream recallers. 309
13.4 Stimulation at 25–40 Hz of the frontal and temporal regions increases lucidity. 310
13.5 Frontal and parietal areas are more involved in lucid dreaming than in non-lucid dreaming. 311
13.6 ‘the nightmare’ (1802) by Henry Fuseli. 315
13.7 Activation of the default mode network in waking and ReM states contrasted with slow-wave
sleep as shown by fMRi. 317
13.8 the structure of benzene. 317
13.9 ‘the round dance of monkeys’: six monkeys holding hands and paws. 318
13.10 Dream symbols. 319

14.1 Franz Mesmer (1734–1815). 324

14.2 Jean-Martin Charcot (1825–1893). 325
14.3 Group hypnosis. 326
14.4 Billy Graham (1918–2018). 329
14.5 A snake charmer. 330
14.6 A group of smokers trying hypnosis to kick the habit. 333
14.7 Betty Hill’s star map. 334
14.8 A Caesarean operation carried out under hypnosis in the maternity ward of Saint-Gregoire
hospital in Rennes, France. 335
14.9 neural correlates of hypnotic induction. 337

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LiSt oF FiGUReS xvii

15.1 A cannabis plant. 344

15.2 Caffeine and adenosine. 345
15.3 Coca plant fields in Yungas, Bolivia. 347
15.4 Morphine opioids activating receptors. 349
15.5 the peyote cactus. 352
15.6 Magic mushrooms. 353
15.7 Plant source of ayahuasca from the Amazonian basin in Peru. 354
15.8 Ayahuasca ceremony in Yarinacocha, in the Peruvian Amazon, 2018. 354
15.9 LSD tabs. 355
15.10 Representation of fractals in a psychedelic LSD experience. 356
15.11 the Summer of Love, 1967. 358
15.12 imaging the hallucinating brain. 360
15.13 Carlos Castaneda (1925–1998). 362

16.1 the brains of novice controls (left) and skilled meditators (right) while meditating. 368
16.2 Brain regions involved in mindfulness meditation. 369
16.3 Mindfulness training seems to affect many of the same brain regions as other types
of meditation. 370
16.4 George ivanovitch Gurdjieff (1877–1949). 372
16.5 Colin Wilson (1931–2013). 372
16.6 Women’s liberation: an equal rights march. 374
16.7 Whirling dervishes perform the Sema Ritua. 375
16.8 Average additional brain activation of Carmelite nuns in mystical states. 376
16.9 the ‘God helmet’. 377
16.10 A representation of the sacred Buddha, Wuxi city, Jiangsu province, China. 379
16.11 A group of westerners practising Zen Buddhism. 380

17.1 An ‘unidentified flying object’ (UFo). 385

17.2 Zener cards. 389
17.3 Uri Geller. 390
17.4 Sensory leakage. 391
17.5 ectoplasm apparently appearing out of the head of the medium Marthe Beraud. 392
17.6 the ganzfeld. 393
17.7 Some targets in the ganzfeld. 393
17.8 Remote viewing. 394
17.9 Psychokinesis? 396
17.10 Poltergeist: pointing at the location of a rapping sound – or is it a portal to another dimension? 397
17.11 Victorian photograph of a ghost. 399
17.12 Reincarnation: the case of the Pollock twins. 400

18.1 Moon rocks. 403

18.2 Computer cables and power. 405

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18.3 Guard on prison security tower. 406

18.4 Mountain (or eastern) gorillas, Gorilla beringei. 408
18.5 What changes in an altered state of consciousness? 409
18.6 Captain James Cook meeting indigenous people in the tropics, circa 1700. 409
18.7 equations on a blackboard. 411

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The late twentieth century saw the emergence of cognitive science as an interdisciplinary
approach to studying the mind, a strategy that took what was needed from experimental
psychology, computer science, philosophy, linguistics, anthropology, and comparative psy-
chology, and, increasingly, neuroscience. As I have taught the study of consciousness over
the past 30 years – first as part of an introductory cognition class, and then as an advanced
option – I have seen the ways in which the evidence gleaned from neuroscience in particu-
lar has become essential to our understanding of consciousness. Indeed, all of psychology
has become substantially intertwined with neuroscience. During this period, consciousness
has moved from being a fringe topic to one taking centre stage, unifying different areas of
psychology in the process.
Yet many students are surprised by the idea that there might be nothing more to us
than our brain and bodies; and if psychology students are troubled by this notion, those
without a psychology background are often shocked. This insight – that our brain is all there
is, and therefore that neuroscience must play a major role in our discussion of conscious-
ness – is the main reason for the creation of this text. As an instructor, I began to feel the
need of a text that could succinctly address consciousness in light of the available scientific
information by putting neuroscience front and centre in the discussion, while maintaining
philosophical integrity. I want a text that can show that there is still a glorious mystery ever
present in our lives, and that science can cast light on that mystery. The Science of Con-
sciousness is that text.

Approach
Primarily an undergraduate text, The Science of Consciousness is appropriate for psychology
and philosophy courses in consciousness and cognitive psychology. I hope, however, that it
will reach a broader audience, and consequently have written with the educated lay person
in mind. As a comprehensive introduction to the science of consciousness, the text is dis-
tinguished by the following characteristics.

A Multidisciplinary Approach. Because of the profound effect on the study of con-

sciousness by discoveries in diverse academic fields, only an interdisciplinary approach
can expose students to the broadest and most up-to-date understanding of consciousness.
Consequently, the text examines every major subject in terms of the light that can be shed
on it by a wide range of disciplines – from social sciences to biological sciences to computer
science to philosophy.

Theoretical Framework. This book is a text, not a monograph, or a piece of original re-
search, or a mission statement. I have endeavoured to be as neutral as possible while cov-
ering a range of material from many sources, some of which contradict each other.

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Psychology is distinguished by a lack of consensus in the way that would not be evident
in, say, an undergraduate physics text, where much more is known and certain about the
discipline being studied. It is one of the challenges of a psychology or related course that
the student has to learn to live with and evaluate the uncertainty.
Although bias has no place in a text, it might occasionally shine through. My views are
closer to those of Chalmers than of Dennett. I think enormous progress has been made in
understanding consciousness over the last few decades, mainly as a result of sophisticated
psychology experiments and advances in neuroscience, while philosophy has sharpened the
issues to be debated. There is a core of problems (the ‘hard problem’) where advances have
been less rapid, and there may be some problems that are never solved. But progress isn’t
achieved by giving up, and nothing would be more depressing to a student than a defeatist
text. This book is called The Science of Consciousness because I think science is humanity’s
greatest invention.

Little Prior Knowledge Assumed. An interdisciplinary approach brings the challenge

that few readers have a background in all of the component disciplines. Not all readers of
the text will have the same level of knowledge of these diverse fields, particularly when
a major contributor to understanding consciousness is neurobiology, often a difficult sub-
ject for the nonspecialist under any circumstances. Students may be apprehensive, finding
it difficult to remember all the names and acronyms used in the topic. Understanding
the subject can seem more like a test of memory rather than a matter of understanding
principles.
Consequently, I have tried to assume as little prior knowledge as possible. Explanations
take into account the reality that readers are not students of neuroscience. In addition,
rather than weigh down the text with background material that not all readers will need, I
have put some information in boxes so that it does not interrupt the flow of the text. Also,
I have focused on trying to make the text move seamlessly from subject to subject so that
concepts build organically regardless of the discipline from which they emerge. The early
part of the text contains a lot of philosophy and a few experiments; later, as we examine
consciousness-related topics such as attention and sleep, the text focuses less on philosophy
and a great deal more on experiments.

Strong Foundation in Neuroscience. Recent rapid advances in the study of the brain have
transformed our ideas about consciousness. No serious consideration of consciousness can
proceed without substantial input from neuroscience. Consequently, the discussion of dis-
coveries in neuroscience is an essential aspect of the text. As neuroscience informs every
aspect of the subject, the material is integrated throughout rather than shunted into one
separate chapter. The glossary though provides a resource for students with less back-
ground in neuroscience.

Integration Throughout of ‘Atypical’ States of Consciousness. While other texts cover

sleep and dream science very briefly, three full chapters are devoted to the recent discoveries

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in this field – discoveries that are especially important to psychology students interested in
the latest psychotherapeutic interventions. Other chapters are devoted to ‘atypical’ states
of consciousness; it is easy to gain the impression from the literature that consciousness is
one simple state.

Inclusion of Cross-cultural Aspects of Consciousness. Most psychology experiments

might be carried out on western young undergraduate students, but we must remember
that they might not always be representative of the world’s population of what is expected
to soon be 8 billion. Different cultures have different views of consciousness; for example,
contrast western and eastern approaches to consciousness and spirituality. Different reli-
gions place different emphases on altered states of consciousness and means of obtaining
them (including prayer and drugs). Even differences between languages affect the way we
think of the world.

Engaging Pedagogical Features. The text includes many pedagogical features. Students are
encouraged to attempt activities, experiments, and thought experiments, labelled ‘Try this’,
throughout the text; these exercises prompt them to examine different conceptual problems.
No other subject lends itself so well to self-exploration as does consciousness. ‘Try this’
suggestions are clearly marked in the text.
To maintain the flow of the narrative, as well as to break up the text, boxes contain
nonessential material that some students might find useful or interesting. In particular, I
have provided background information about interdisciplinary approaches that many un-
dergraduates might not know. I have illustrated the book as richly as possible, taking care to
use illustrations that really add information or aid understanding, rather than being merely
decorative or token. Each figure is captioned so as to aid skimming and remembering the
associated material.
Each chapter contains recommendations for exploring further reading and other material.
To make the supplemental reading as accessible as possible, I have focused on approachable
secondary sources that will prepare the student for the primary sources of peer-reviewed
journal articles and books.
Every chapter begins with a roadmap of what that chapter is about. At the end of each
chapter is a clear bullet point summary telling the reader what they need to be able to take
away from each chapter. The summaries can also act as another form of self-test for readers
to be able to evaluate their understanding and knowledge of each topic. There are explicit
self-test questions at the end of each chapter.
I think reading the text from Chapter 1 through to Chapter 18 is the best order, but have
tried to make each chapter as independent as possible. There is a glossary to assist readers.
Items in the glossary are in bold red on first mention (outside the introduction). There is a
separate glossary of neuroanatomical location terms, with entries in the text in bold black
italic, a glossary of common neurotransmitters with entries in non-bold red, and a glossary
of neurotransmitter structures with entries in bold black. Other important technical terms
whose scope is usually confined to one chapter are in italics. There is also a list of abbrevi-
ations and acronyms.

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online Resources
The field of consciousness research is fast changing and the reader will want a way of keep-
ing up to date with what has happened since the book’s publication. There is, of course,
also far more material than can be presented in one book. In an attempt to deal with these
issues, there is a website for this book at: www.trevorharley.com/consciousness.html.
Under Consciousness you will find corrections, additions, comments, news of recent
work, informative reviews of other books on consciousness, and frequently asked questions.
One of the most difficult decisions for the writer is how many citations to include. If ab-
solutely everything is referenced, the book will be enormous and the flow disrupted at least
once a sentence. On the other hand, every statement must be obviously true or easily verifiable
by the reader. If you think a particular assertion needs additional clarification or verification
please email me. More generally, an enormous number of resources are available online. The
number of blogs on consciousness alone is daunting, but the difficulty with blogs is that unlike
journal articles they are not peer-reviewed. I have posted links to some of them on my website.
Some instructors will think this topic should be in and that topic should be out. If you
think a particular topic should be covered, please contact me. If you think I should cite
particular research, again please just email me. I hope that as time passes new research will
overthrow old ideas and give us fresh understanding.

organisation and Coverage

The early chapters focus on what consciousness is. After giving the matter some thought, I
decided to put a chapter on machine and animal consciousness relatively early on. I think
students new to the subject matter will find this discussion enhances their understanding
of the nature of consciousness. In general, I have made each chapter as independent as
possible, so the order of material can be determined by the instructor. I suggest though that
the first three chapters be covered first.
The chapters are grouped into three parts.
Part I is on the nature of consciousness. We try to come to grips with what conscious-
ness is.
Chapter 1 surveys the field of consciousness, explaining why it is such a difficult subject
to study. The chapter summarises the whole book. The conclusion is that the ‘problem’ of
consciousness is really several related problems.
Chapter 2 discusses the relationship between the mind and brain – a relationship that
some have viewed as between hardware and software. This chapter is mainly a philosoph-
ical one. It is essential reading if you want to appreciate what the problems are, and how
they might be solved. The focus is mainly on what has been called the ‘hard problem’ of
consciousness: why does it feel like something to be me? This chapter summarises the main
philosophical approaches to consciousness in the philosophy of mind.
Chapter 3 addresses the problem of free will. It asks who is making decisions about
when to do something. It also examines the legal implications of this discussion; if we don’t
have free will, can we really be held responsible for our actions? Can we ever really be guilty

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of a crime? The chapter covers philosophical, psychological, and neuroscientific approaches

to deciding to act.
Chapter 4 is the first of two about other types of consciousness. Could a computer or
robot ever be conscious? How would we tell? Are there any ethical issues or fears associated
with machine consciousness?
Chapter 5 talks about awareness in animals, asking this time how we might tell that an
animal is self-aware. What are the ethical issues concerning possible consciousness in some
animals? A related issue to animal consciousness concerns the evolution of consciousness.
Why are some animals conscious (presumably) but not others, and why did consciousness
evolve in humans? How is the development of consciousness related to the development of
human consciousness and of social groups and organisation?
Part II is about the workings of consciousness. How does consciousness arise from the
brain, and how is it related to cognitive and perceptual processing?
Chapter 6 examines introspection and what we can learn about consciousness. What
do we think about? What are the contents of consciousness? We think we know all about
our own consciousness because it is so immediate, but psychologists understand that ap-
pearances are deceptive. Our behaviour is prone to all sorts of bias and self-deception. Some
illnesses and damages to the brain have interesting and revealing effects on our abilities to
access information about ourselves. This chapter also examines Freud’s conception of an
actively repressed unconscious and his theory about the structure of the mind. The chapter
concludes with an examination of subliminal processing and priming.
Chapter 7 is about the self and our views of our own identity. Do we have a stable
identity that persists over time? Is there a core ‘me’? The chapter focuses on the contrast be-
tween ego and bundle theories of the sense. The text examines various illusions that show
how the self can be misled about what it is, which leads into a discussion of how brain
damage can disrupt our identities. In particular, the chapter explores the extent to which we
derive our sense of self from our memories and what happens when our autobiographical
memories are extremely disrupted by brain damage. Again, we focus on the neuroscientific
basis of our sense of self.
Chapter 8 focuses more on the cognitive psychology of consciousness. We are ‘thinking’
all the time we are awake, but what is thought? Many of us experience an inner voice com-
menting on our experience. Where does this inner voice come from, and how is it related
to other language systems? We examine whether the form of our language affects the way
in which we think and perceive the world. ‘Attention’ is an important topic in cognitive
psychology and is clearly related to consciousness, but as the chapter shows, attention
and consciousness are not the same thing. The text discusses the neuroscience of attention
and particularly the idea that there is a ‘default mode’ network busy when we are doing
nothing else – a system that generates daydreaming. The chapter presents several models
of consciousness that emphasise cognition. Finally, we look at accounts of consciousness
involving quantum mechanics.
Chapter 9 takes a look at the closely related topics of the relationships between visual
perception, visual awareness, the brain, and consciousness. A great deal of research has
been done on visual awareness. What have we learned from all this research?

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Chapter 10 examines in detail the key question of how consciousness is related to the
brain. At first sight we might need look no further than how anaesthetics function, but as
we shall see, although the workings of anaesthetics are instructive, they provide no de-
finitive answers. We can learn a great deal by examining how damage to the brain affects
consciousness. We can also learn something with new techniques of imaging the brain, al-
though some caution is needed in drawing conclusions from these results. Several models of
consciousness and the brain are discussed in this chapter. It looks at death, the end of con-
sciousness. Or is it? Is there any continuation of consciousness after death? And how should
we define death in the first place? Is death a sudden or lingering process, and what affects
the duration of any transition from consciousness to death? Is it possible to avoid death?
Part III is about states of consciousness other than normal waking consciousness –
what are called ‘altered states of consciousness’, including sleep, dreams, hypnosis, and
drug-induced states.
Chapter 11 introduces the notion of an altered state of consciousness, a state of con-
sciousness that is in some way different from our normal waking consciousness. We con-
sider what happens to make the state of consciousness seem altered: how do changes in
the brain lead to changes in phenomenology? This chapter looks at a range of altered states
with different origins, such as sensory deprivation and out-of-body experiences.
Chapter 12 looks at that most familiar altered state, sleep, in which consciousness is
largely absent. The mechanisms that control the sleep–wake cycle are likely to reveal much
about what maintains wakefulness and consciousness. We look at brain structures, the
connectivity of the brain, and neurotransmitters. The chapter also examines the effects of
sleep deprivation and sleep disorders. Finally, we ask why we sleep, and to what extent is
sleep involved in learning?
Chapter 13 examines the related topic of dreams. Dreaming is the altered state of con-
sciousness with which everyone is most familiar. What do people dream about, and why
do we dream? The subject of dreams is naturally a time to revisit Freud, but there are many
other accounts of dreaming, and they are not necessarily contradictory. We ask how the
brain generates dream content, and we examine dream pathology – the nightmare. We also
consider lucid dreaming, when people are aware that they are dreaming and can sometimes
influence dream content.
Chapter 14 discusses hypnosis. There has been much debate among psychologists and
psychotherapists about whether hypnosis is indeed an altered state of consciousness, and
this chapter examines the debate and the evidence. How do we induce hypnosis, and why
are some people more easily hypnotised than others? We look at how post-hypnotic sug-
gestions work, and what the clinical applications of hypnosis are. And we also address the
issue of whether people can be hypnotised to do things they don’t want to do.
Chapter 15 reviews the effects of psychoactive drugs – drugs that influence our mental
state. There are a huge number of such drugs with many different effects – some synthe-
sised, some naturally occurring, some used as medical treatment, some for recreation, some
legal, some illegal. This chapter focuses on those drugs that tell us the most about con-
sciousness, particularly LSD. The key question is, how do changes to the brain (particularly
the chemistry of the brain) lead to changes in perception and consciousness? We look at

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what the study of psychoactive drugs tells us about ‘normal’ consciousness. Also included
is a brief discussion of the social context of these drugs, looking at how recreational drugs
might have helped shape cultural changes.
Chapter 16 examines meditation. What is meditation, and does it work – and, if it does,
how? An overwhelming amount of evidence suggests that regular meditation is beneficial
in a large number of ways, and this chapter considers these. The chapter also examines the
related idea of mystical and religious experiences. The chapter concludes by asking whether
there is a state of consciousness that is in some way ‘better’ than our normal resting state,
or at least a ‘heightened’ state of consciousness.
Chapter 17 reviews the existence of paranormal phenomena, and the methodological
difficulties involved in testing for them. What is the evidence for extrasensory perception
and related phenomena? And what if anything does the subject tell us about consciousness?
Finally, Chapter 18 revisits the questions posed at the end of the first chapter and sum-
marises what we have learned.

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ACKnoWLeDGeMentS

I have many people to thank for this book. Several anonymous reviewers have improved
the book immeasurably. The discussion of artificial intelligence has benefitted from years of
argument with Richard Loosemore.
This book would not have happened in this form without the enthusiasm and encour-
agement of Allan Hobson. I am grateful for his generosity, hospitality, experience, knowl-
edge and enthusiasm. I am conscious of the fact that he won’t always approve of the
approach I have taken, but nevertheless, Allan, this book is for you. Numerous other people
helped. Matthew Bennett of Cambridge University Press (CUP) got the project rolling, and
I am grateful to CUP for all their help and particularly their patience. I would like to thank
Lisa Pinto for all her guidance and patience, and Linda Stern for all her detailed comments
and hard work; I hope you think it has paid off. Jane Adams has been a superb editor.
Particular thanks are due to Rachel Norridge for the extraordinary amount of time and help
she has given me. I have had many conversations over many years with Richard Wilton
about many of the topics in this book. We have recently written a book together (Science
and Psychology), which has a chapter about consciousness and another about free will, and
I am sure my current approach to the legal issues surrounding free will has been influenced
by cowriting the latter chapter in particular. Frank John Snelling read chapters as an ‘intel-
ligent lay person’, and his comments on what he found difficult or needing definition were
illuminating.
Finally, here is a word of consolation. The study of consciousness is difficult; if you find
it hard going at times, it isn’t just you. It’s right up there in conceptual difficulty with quan-
tum mechanics and relativity. And more difficult than rocket science and brain surgery.

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ABBReViAtionS

ACC Anterior cingulate cortex

AI Artificial intelligence
AIM Activation input modulation
APA American Psychological Association
ASC Altered state of consciousness
ASPD Antisocial personality disorder
AVH Auditory verbal hallucination
CBD cannabidiol
CN Caudate nucleus
CSF Cerebrospinal fluid
CLIS complete locked-in syndrome
DBS Deep-brain stimulation
DCH dynamic core hypothesis
DID Dissociative identity disorder
DLPFC Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex
DMN Default mode network
DMT N,N-dimethyltryptamine
DN Default network
DSM The American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of
Mental Disorders
EEG Electroencephalogram
ESM Experience sampling method
ESP Extrasensory perception
fMRI Functional magnetic resonance imaging
fNIRS functional near infrared spectroscopy
GWT Global workspace theory
GESP a general extrasensory perception
HPPD hallucinogen persisting perception disorder
IIT Integrated information theory
LIFG left inferior frontal gyrus
LRE life review experience
LIS Locked-in syndrome
MAOI Monoamine oxidase inhibitor
MEG Magnetoencephalography
mPFC Medial prefrontal cortex
MCS Minimally conscious state
MRI Magnetic resonance imaging
ms Millisecond, 1/1000 th of a second
MSR Mirror test of self-recognition

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MVPA multi-voxel pattern analysis

NCC Neuronal correlates of consciousness
NDE Near-death experience
NREM Non-rapid eye movement sleep
OBE Out-of-body experience
OCD Obsessive-compulsive disorder
OFC Orbito-frontal cortex
PCC Posterior cingulate cortex
PCP phencyclidine
PET Positron emission tomography
PK psychokinesis
PGO Ponto-geniculo-occipital
POSTS Positive occipital transients of sleep
PPC posterior parietal cortex
PTSD Post-traumatic stress disorder
PVS Persistent vegetative state
REM Rapid eye movement (sleep)
REST Restricted environmental stimulation therapy
RP Readiness potential
SCN Suprachiasmatic nucleus
SSRI Selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitor
SWS slow-wave sleep
TUTs task unrelated thoughts
TST threat simulation theory of dreaming
THC Tetrahydrocannabinol
TLE Temporal lobe epilepsy
TMS Transcranial magnetic stimulation

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