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Research Area
Every day I ride my bicycle through Amsterdam from Central Station to the university building, and every day it’s a little miracle I survive the trip. While listening to music through my earphones, I mostly depend on my vision to avoid pedestrians, tourists unaware of the many bikers in Amsterdam or taxi drivers who seem to stop for nothing or nobody. To arrive safely, it is of great importance that my brain quickly transforms the many visual inputs into appropriate motor outputs. As a pedestrian takes a sudden turn onto the street, you have to undertake proper actions to avoid a collision. In some situations a quick adjustment of actions is of great importance for an adequate reaction. Fortunately not every visual event has to be consciously perceived in order to make the appropriate motor responses. While riding my bicycle, it once happened that I made an emergency stop before a taxi, suddenly appearing with great speed from the left, hit me. However, I responded and came toastopwithout even knowing it; I did not consciously perceive the taxi and decided to stop, but I realized the taxi suddenly came towards me after I responded to the approaching vehicle. It felt like I acted in a reflex-like manner. So, it seems that our actions can be influenced by visual events that have not yet been consciously perceived. The above-described example made me interested in consciousness-related experimentation during my study at the University of Amsterdam . How does it work? When do we have it? Are animals conscious? In recent years the study of the neural underpinnings of consciousness has enjoyed great interest. The use of fMRI, EEG/MEG and TMS makes it possible to link neural activity to consciousness- related processes. But how can these neural correlates of consciousness be investigated?
In most research third person observations or introspection are used. However, by asking subjects about their conscious experiences (e.g., a verbal report or a manual response), a cascade of neural processes is being triggered, making consciousness-related processes to be easily confounded with more cognitive processes (i.e., decision operations, attention, working memory). To establish an objective measure for consciousness, we should replace introspection and third person observations with a neural measure of consciousness.
Because the visual system has been extensively investigated, much is known about its neural connectivity and physiology, making this system well suited for research into the neural correlates of awareness. Therefore, the main focus of my own experiments will be on establishing what processes and what areas are (and what areas are not) necessary for the emergence of visual awareness. In order to unravel the mysteries of visual awareness I will use an exciting combination of TMS and EEG.
Cognitive Neuroscience Group |
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Werktijden
Martijn is ma t/m vr te vinden op de Roetersstraat 15. Zaterdag en zondag is hij elders.
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