« Nostalgia for a future that never happened: Bruce McCall on TED.com | Main | How to grow your own fresh air: Kamal Meattle on TED.com »
19 March 2009
Where does consciousness originate? All over our brain
New Scientist is running a fascinating article on new brain research happening at INSERM that appears to show that consciousness arises from activity distributed across the brain -- rather than any single locus or "seat."
Gaillard's team flashed words in front of volunteers for just 29 milliseconds. The words were either threatening (kill, anger) or emotionally neutral (cousin, see).
The words were preceded and followed by visual "masks", which block the words from being consciously processed, or the masks following the words weren't used, meaning the words could be consciously processed. The volunteers had to press a button to indicate the nature of the word, allowing the researchers to confirm whether the volunteer was conscious of it or not.
And watch Dan Dennett's fun, intriguing 2003 TEDTalk on consciousness.
Discuss this Blog Post
Loading Comments... 
Become a Fan of TED
on Facebook
Follow TED on Twitter:
@TEDNews | @TEDTalks
Subscribe to TED RSS feeds:
TED Blog | More RSS Options
Recent Comments
KrishnaBaalu on East vs. West -- the myths that mystify: Devdutt Pattanaik on TED.com
doorhanger on LHC back in action
doorhanger on LHC back in action
BiG007BosS on Meet Anwar Dafa-Alla, TED translator
jzurawell on LHC back in action
abhijitchauhan on East vs. West -- the myths that mystify: Devdutt Pattanaik on TED.com
CassieZ on Jim Fallon on CBS' Criminal Minds tonight!
satyadev on The thrilling potential of SixthSense technology: Pranav Mistry on TED.com
Restlesswriter on TED loves classical music
kvinkal on An interview with Pranav Mistry, the genius behind Sixth Sense
News from TED
Learn about TEDIndia conference >>
Find all our posts about TEDGlobal 2009 >>
Follow the TED Fellows blog >>
Throw your own TED-style event with TEDx >>
TED takeaway
TED ringtones:
TEDTalks Classic tune in [mp3] [m4r]
TEDTalks Phase II tune in [mp3] [m4r]
Subscribe to TED's weekly newsletter
Get the latest news on the TED Prize on TEDPrize.org >>
Archives
TED Bloggers
Chris Anderson | Curator
June Cohen | Director of TED Media
Amy Novogratz | TED Prize Director
Tom Rielly | Community
Bruno Giussani | TED European Director
Jason Wishnow | Director, Film + Video
Emily McManus | Editor, TED.com
Matthew Trost | Assistant Editor, TED.com
Shanna Carpenter | Writer and Community Organizer, TED.com
Diego Rodriguez | Guestblogger
Jane Wulf | TED Scribe
Blogs we watch
+ TEDPrize.org
+ TED Fellows blog
+ Thomas Dolby | TED Musical Director, blogging at ThomasDolby.com
+ Emeka Okafor | TEDAfrica Director, blogging at Timbuktu Chronicles and Africa Unchained
+ The indispensable Global Voices
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons license.
Powered by Movable Type
