STOCKHOLM    MAY 1-8, 2011   AULA MAGNA HALL

Plenary 12,

FRIDAY, MAY 6         2:00 pm to 4:10 pm

Neural correlates of consciousness II

GERMUND HESSLOW, Lund,  The Inner World As Simulated Interaction With The Environment
HENRIK EHRSSON,  Karolinska, How We Come To Experience That We Own Our Body: The Cognitive

  Neuroscience of Body Self-Perception

FREDRIK ULLÉN, Karolinska, The Psychological Flow Experience: From Phenomenology to Biological Correlates

  GERMUND HESSLOW                       HENRIK EHRSSON                      FREDRIK ULLÉN 

  Lund                                                        Karolinska                                      Karolinska

Germund Hesslow is a professor of neuroscience and associate professor of philosophy at Lund University in Sweden. He has worked in the philosophy of science, mainly the concept of causality. His main work presently concerns the physiological mechanisms  underlying associative learning. Research is focused on the physiology of the cerebellum which contains the neural substrate for classical (Pavlovian) conditioning. He also has an interest in the mechanisms underlying consciousness and cognition, including robot simulations of cognition.

Henrik Ehrsson  Associate Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience Brain, Body & Self Laboratory Department of Neuroscience  Karolinska Institutet is a cognitive neuroscientist interested in the problem of how we come to sense that we own our body. He thinks the key to solving this problem is to identify the multisensory mechanisms whereby the central nervous system distinguishes between sensory signals from one's body and from the environment. By clarifying how the normal brain produces a sense of ownership of one’s body, we can learn to project ownership onto artificial bodies and simulated virtual ones; and even make two people have the experience of swapping bodies with one another. This could have important applications in the fields of virtual reality and neuro-prosthetics. Dr. Ehrsson is a Senior Lecturer, Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet.

Fredrik Ullén acclaimed pianist and active scientist, Dr. Ullen regularly collaborates with the Stockholm Brain Institute for special research concerning the development of musicians' brain.   The Stockholm Brain Institute is a consortium for Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience, joining three leading Swedish Universities; Karolinska Institutet, Royal Institute of Technology and Stockholm University, in the endeavour to enhance the understanding of higher brain functions.

Professor Fredrik Ullén / Född 1968 i Västerås. Fredrik Ullén är en hyllad pianist och professor i kognitiv neurovetenskap på Karolinska Institutet, där han forskar på expertis, inlärning, och kreativitet. Ett speciellt intresse är musiker och den musicerande hjärnan. Han är också verksam inom centrumbildningen Stockholm Brain Institute, som består av forskargrupper från Karolinska Institutet, Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan och Stockholms universitet.

*photo credit: Sara Appelgren