Experimental Phenomena of Consciousness: A brief dictionary

Although it was treated respectfully by early researchers such as Wilhelm Wundt, William James, and Edward Titchener, the concept of consciousness virtually disappeared from academic psychology until the 1980s, when it made a triumphant return to the behavioural sciences and reappeared as a legitimate subject of empirical study. There is, however, no succinct handbook or dictionary covering the most important experimental phenomena and research paradigms that have become the psychophysical basis for the modern empirical study of consciousness. This volume provides the first systematic listing and description of the typical experimental phenomena and effects where consciousness appears as a variable of interest. The authors describe the names and labels of these phenomena, the principal authors behind the respective research, the basic experimental designs needed to produce research, and provide a list of useful references that will help readers to expand and deepen their own knowledge of the consciousness.

Table of Contents:
Selection Criteria for Dictionary Terms Dictionary Additional Terms Name Index Subject Index

About the Author :
Talis Bachmann: studied psychology at the University of Tartu, Estonia. He has Ph.D.-level degrees in psychology and in psychophysiology. He is a full-time professor at the University of Tartu and is internationally known for his research in perception, attention, and consciousness. Bachmann is also the author or editor of three internationally distributed titles and 10 Estonian-language books, the two-time recipient of the Estonian national prize for scientific studies, and the former Rector of the Tallinn University in Estonia. Bruno Breitmeyer: is Professor of Psychology at the University of Houston. He studied mathematics at the University of Illinois and received his Ph.D. in psychology from Stanford University in 1972. Best known for his work on visual masking, he currently uses visual masking as a means of exploring the types and levels of both nonconscious and conscious visual processing. Haluk Ögmen: obtained his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Université Laval, Québec, Canada. He is currently professor and chair of the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering and director of the Center for Neuro-Engineering and Cognitive Science at the University of Houston. His research combines experimental and theoretical approaches for the study of visual perception and cognitive dynamics

Review :
"This book presents a solid sampling of experimental phenomena that cast light on human consciousness. It is a useful, brief manual for courses focused on the empirical study of human consciousness." --Bernard J. Baars, Senior Fellow in Theoretical Neurobiology, The Neurosciences Institute "Bachmann, Breitmeyer, and Ogmen have done neuroscientists, psychologists, and philosophers an enormous service. They have put together a single comprehensive dictionary of the experimental paradigms and phenomena that characterize research in consciousness. This book will not only be useful for students, but also for established investigators working in this exciting field. Philosophers, who are increasingly drawing on empirical work to bolster their ideas, will find it particularly valuable." --Melvyn A. Goodale, Canada Research Chair in Visual Neuroscience, Department of Psychology, University of Western Ontario "Experimental Phenomena of Consciousness offers a very compact and handy compendium of the relevant, empirically approachable aspects of consciousness. It is a handbook that every student of consciousness should own." --Christof Koch, Lois and Victor Troendle Professor of Cognitive and Behavioral Biology, California Institute of Technology "This dictionary is an indispensable little guide to the wonders of conscious sensation and perception. It provides both the student and the researcher with a lucid introduction to the variety and multiplicity of conscious phenomena that, ultimately, the science of consciousness should explain." --Antti Revonsuo, Professor, University of Turku, Finland and University of Skovde, Sweden "Only rarely is a reference work unflaggingly entertaining, instructive, and worth reading through from beginning to end; this is such a work. Bachmann, Breitmeyer, and Ögmen present a collection of about 125 psychological effects that involve sensory consciousness. Each one is intriguing, and some are spectacular." -- Choice "...slim, instructive, well-referenced, and also entertaining...This is a pioneering "dictionary" of counterintuitive phenomena, concisely but clearly annotated and referenced. Specialist readers will discover intriguing unfamiliar phenomena. Generalists will be offered a glimpse of how carefully and confidently (and yet fallibly) the visual mind/brain edits its representation of the world."-- Quarterly Review of Biology