The Science of Consciousness Waking, Sleeping and Dreaming

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.

Preface; Part I. The Nature of Consciousness: 1. The Problem of Consciousness; 2. The Mind-Body Problem; 3. Do We Have Free Will?; 4. Machine Consciousness; 5. Animal Consciousness; Part II. The Workings of Consciousness: 6. Looking at our Own Minds; 7. Self and Identity; 8. Cognition and Consciousness; 9. Perception and Consciousness; 10. Consciousness and the Brain; Part III. Other States of Consciousness: 11. Altered States of Consciousness; 12. Sleep; 13. Dreams; 14. Hypnosis; 15. Drugs and Consciousness; 16. Meditation and Transcendental Experiences; 17. Parapsychology; 18. Bringing it all Together; Glossaries; List of Abbreviations; References; Index.

Trevor A. Harley is Emeritus Professor of Psychology at the University of Dundee and a Fellow of the British Psychological Society. He is the author of The Psychology of Language, 4th edition (2013), Talking the Talk, 2nd edition (2017) and The Psychology of Weather (2018). He is very widely published across psychology, including papers on consciousness and dreams, and has kept a detailed dream diary for several years. He is always wondering what his poodle Beau is thinking about.