Thought some of you might be interested in a conference I am involved in organising. Though the issue of uploading is probably a little wild for the conference proper, the areas covered will certainly be relevant, and there will certainly be lots of time to talk about wilder things between papers.
This will be the 3rd ASSC conference: the first at Claremont concentrated on consciousness and implicit processing; the 2nd in Bremen on the neural correlates of consciousness; the 4th in Brussels in 2000 is intended to look at capacity limits in consciousness.
best, patrick
ASSOCIATION FOR THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF CONSCIOUSNESS
CALL FOR PAPERS, POSTERS & WORKSHOP PRESENTERS
FOR A CONFERENCE ON:
CONSCIOUSNESS AND SELF: NEURAL, COGNITIVE, AND PHILOSOPHICAL ISSUES
UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN ONTARIO
JUNE 4-7, 1999: LONDON, ONTARIO, CANADA
The third conference of the Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness will be held from June 4-7, 1999, at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario, on the theme of "Consciousness and Self".
Consciousness involves not just the passive experience of sensory
contents, but the active involvement of an agent. Phenomena such as volition, social cognition, metacognition, self-recognition, self- modeling, reflection, and planning all suggest that self-related phenomenamay be central to an understanding of consciousness.
Recent neurophysiological and neuroimaging research has linked these self-related activities to specific brain activities, especially in prefrontal cortex. Neuropsychologists have studied numerous disorders of the self, often forcing our intuitive ideas about self to be revised. Psychologists have investigated the role of self and agency in memory, personality, volition, metacognition, and many other areas. Cognitive models have suggested a central role for executive systems in understanding these self-related phenomena of consciousness. And philosophers have analyzed the relationship between consciousness, self, and self-consciousness, with some arguing that self-directed cognition is at the core of consciousness. The third ASSC conference will bring together researchers from numerous disciplines to discuss these issues. Topics that
will be discussed include:
--the role of executive systems in conscious agency
--neuropsychological disorders of the self
--brain imaging of self-related processes
--the role of prefrontal cortex
--self-recognition in animals and humans
--consciousness and metacognition
--self-knowledge and theory of mind in schizophrenia and autism
--the relationship between consciousness and self-consciousness
--the role of self-knowledge in memory
--the role of self-models in spatial cognition and action
--the relation between sensory perception and controlled action
--the unity or multiplicity of "the self"
--cross-cultural conceptions of self
--face perception and consciousness
Confirmed speakers include: Jonathan Cole, Chris Frith, George Gallup Jr., Marc Jeannerod, Nancy Kanwisher, Alan Leslie, Tom Nelson, Thomas Metzinger, Morris Moscovitch, David Perrett, Giacomo Rizzolatti, David Rosenthal, Endel Tulving, and Daniel Wegner.
While the central theme of ASSC 3 is "consciousness and self", speakers in concurrent sessions are invited to talk on any topic relevant to the scientific study of consciousness. Physiological, psychological, and philosophical perspectives are all welcome.
Submissions for both posters and talks will be accepted. Any person may present only one submission, but may be co-author on more than one. Oral presentations will be limited to 20 minutes, to be followed by a 10-minute discussion period.
Concurrent sessions, posters, symposia, and plenary lectures will all be held in the Social Science Centre at The University of Western Ontario.
This notice is also intended as a call for workshop presenters. One aim of this meeting is to allow researchers to gain a background in areas that they may know little about. Towards that end a number of workshops are planned. Is there a topic you or perhaps one of your colleagues might want to present? Some participants in the conference would be very interested in learning about technical matters such as fMRI or other brain imaging techniques. Others might enjoy a seminar on a philosophical topic. If you have recently published a book or major article on some topic you might want to lead a discussion on it. As with papers the focus of all workshops should naturally fit within the overall theme of the conference. Sample topics might include:
--The latest methods and implications of various brain scanning
techniques (e.g. fMRI, EEG, SQUID, ERP) --Blindsight, neglect, or other neuropsychological syndromes. --Neural network or other theoretical models of processing in areas
related to conscious activity
--Differences and similarities between conscious and unconscious
processing
--Current models of the visual system
--Consciousness and metacognition
--Criteria for the ascription of consciousness
--Philosophical issues concerning the self
--Please suggest other sample topics, or modify the above!!
Workshops will be held in parallel sessions on the morning and afternoon of June 4th. Each workshop is intended to last approximately three hours. The sizes of workshops will vary between a minimum of 10 to a maximum of around 25 people. Workshops that do not achieve the minimum enrollment of 10 people will not be offered. Workshop presenters will receive an honorarium of 750 Canadian dollars. The cost of attending workshops will be 75 Canadian dollars.
WORKSHOP PROPOSALS MUST BE RECEIVED BY JANUARY 15th 1998
PAPER AND POSTER SUBMISSIONS MUST BE RECEIVED BY FEBRUARY 15TH 1998
Submissions to be a presenter of either a paper, workshop or poster must include the following information:
For papers and poster presenters:
4. A specification of which co-author will present the paper/poster at the
meeting.
5. Be sure to indicate whether this is submitted as a
In case your presentation cannot be included as a talk, please indicate your willingness to present it as a poster instead: Yes__ No__
Please send - using email where possible - proposals to:
ASSC3
C/- Mel Goodale
Department of Psychology
University of Western Ontario
London Ontario N6A 5C2
CANADA
Email: assccon3-request@julian.uwo.ca
Phone: +1-519-661-2070; Fax: +1-519-661-3961
Deadline for early registration: April 15, 1999
Registration fees: Early Late
Non-members $200 $250
ASSC members $150 $185
Students $75 $100
Student ASSC members $50 $75
Note: All fees are in Canadian dollars.
PST and GST are included.
Membership registration must be received by May 1, 1999 to ensure
discount.
Information about paper, poster, and workshop submissions, and registration forms for the conference as well as application forms for membership in the society are all available from:
http://www.phil.vt.edu/assc
http://watermelon.psych.uwo.ca/~assccon3
Please check these sites for updates to program information and general information about the society's activities. In addition you can find out more about two ASSC journals at the following websites:
Consciousness & Cognition: http://www.idealibrary.com/
PSYCHE: http://psyche.cs.monash.edu.au/
Please address any further enquiries regarding the conference to the ASSC organising committee at <assccon3-request@julian.uwo.ca>. The conference organizing committee consists of: Bernard Baars, William Banks, David Chalmers, Mel Goodale, Christof Koch, and Patrick Wilken.
Patrick Wilken http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~patrickw/ Editor: PSYCHE: An International Journal of Research on Consciousness Secretary: The Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness http://psyche.cs.monash.edu.au/ http://www.phil.vt.edu/ASSC/