The Science of Consciousness : Waking, Sleeping and Dreaming

This introductory text examines the psychology, philosophy, and neuroscience of consciousness, emphasizing the strengths of a scientific approach to studying the mind. It surveys the full range of altered states of consciousness including sleep and dreams, hypnotic and meditative states, anesthesia, and drug-induced states.

Consciousness concerns awareness and how we experience the world. How does awareness, a feature of the mental world, arise from the physical brain? Is a dog conscious, or a jellyfish, and what explains the difference? How is consciousness related to psychological processes such as perception and cognition? The Science of Consciousness covers the psychology, philosophy, and neuroscience of consciousness. Written for introductory courses in psychology and philosophy, this text examines consciousness with a special emphasis on current neuroscience research as well as comparisons of normal and damaged brains. The full range of normal and altered states of consciousness, including sleep and dreams, hypnotic and meditative states, anesthesia, and drug-induced states, as well as parapsychological phenomena and their importance for the science of consciousness is covered, as well as the ''higher'' states and how we can attain them. Throughout the text attempts to relate consciousness to the brain.