Why and how consciousness emerges from the brain is one of the fundamental questions about human existence. While the question on the origin of consciousness has a long history, scientific approach to this problem is relatively new, because the subjective nature of consciousness had long been believed to evade objective science. However, the last 25 years have seen a surge of new empirical results from neuroscience showing the relationships between the brain and conscious experience. In particular, neural substrates for the contents of subjective experience and the levels of consciousness (i.e, the neural correlates of consciousness) have been extensively studied both in animals and humans. Moreover, new theoretical researches into consciousness, such as the integrated information theory, are now providing new insights into the informational basis of consciousness. In this symposium, researchers from diverse fields of neuroscience and beyond will discuss the origin of consciousness and possible future directions.

Registration is required and will close on June 30 or earlier when it's full. So please register soon if you are interested.