Dick Bierman
PUBLICATIONS
Given the limited possibilities in this university home page system I have set up a link to my publications.
publications
CURRENT RESEARCH
The current research topics focus on Consciousness and the underlying non conscious processes. In research onintuition new methods have been developed where the use of an eye marker formeasurement of the pupil dilation during problem solving is a crucial aspect. Using this method we can discriminate between several factors contributing to the intuitive problem solving, namely implicit learning, somatic marker formation, 'listening' to the somatic marker and the more controversial aspect of presentiment.(see recent article on intuition in CABN below). In research of the measurement problem in Quantum Physics we have extended the original work of Shimony et al by using brain signals rather than verbal report to see if pre-observation of a quantum even has an effect on later observation. Preliminary data seem to lend some support to the 'radical subjective solution of the measurement problem'. I.e. conscious observation is a condition to make a measurement complete (link to article in Mind & Matter below).
Recent intuition article
Recent Quantum&Consciousness article
CURRENT EDUCATION
I supervise students thateither write reviews or do some original experimental work on one or more of the topics: Consciousness, Intuition and Anomalous experiences.
POPULAR BIO
Dick Bierman started his university studies in experimental physics at the age of 16. Too young to realize that perhaps theoretical physics would have been better for his later interests. His Masters Thesis was on the extremely boring topic of Auger electron emission at metal surfaces. This research set the stage for his PhD work comparing behavior of metal surface- and gaseous targets under ion bombardment. After his PhD he headed the Instrumentation dept of the faculty of Psychology of the University of Amsterdam for a few years. In that period he was also teaching the course ‘Computer-Art’ for Crea, the Universities student society for Arts. The computer used was a PDP-11 (from DEC) and had to be booted (too often) using manual toggling in some machine code. He started also a local educational television show and produced simulations for a TV program on Statistics using the old PDP 11. Under his supervision a large scale project of 60 hours Courseware to teach Statistics was finished. After over 15 years this courseware is still in use, thus reducing the actual costs per student contact hour to less than 10 eurocents. As a consequence he became involved in AI-research in the field of so called Intelligent Tutoring Systems. From that (rather disappointing) experience he concluded that in the teaching process lots of non verbal and often non conscious processes are crucial. His interest therefore shifted towards consciousness studies in general and the relation between conscious and non conscious processes in particular.
He was visiting researcher at Interval, Paul Allen’s thinktank in California, where he was involved in studyingthe roleof the operator of Quantum Computers. Hewas also visiting researcher at StarLab in Brussels where he headed the Emotics group.
Currently he is involved in research on intuitive decision making and research on the relation between consciousness and Quantum Physics. The latter research was triggered by his long standing interest in highly controversial but less boring so-called paranormal phenomena. In his view these phenomena, if real, should be incorporated in physics in an attempt to unify physics and psychology.