The scientific study of consciousness

doi:10.1017/CBO9780511550072.011

10 - The scientific study of consciousness

from Part V - Consciousness and will

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 January 2010

Chris Frith

Edited by

Maria A. Ron and

Trevor W. Robbins

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Chris Frith: Affiliation:
Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, UK
Maria A. Ron: Affiliation:
Institute of Neurology, London
Trevor W. Robbins: Affiliation:
University of Cambridge

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Summary

Introduction

Scientists rediscover consciousness

In one of the most striking developments to occur at the end of the twentieth century scientists became increasingly eager to study the physiological basis of consciousness. This was a dramatic change in attitude since for much of the early part of that century consciousness was not considered an appropriate topic for scientific study. This attitude held even for psychologists (or at least for experimental psychologists) who switched from the study of the mind to the study of behaviour on the grounds that only behaviour could be studied objectively. As is often the case, the change in attitude which led to the study of consciousness was driven by advances in technology. The development of information theory (Shannon and Weaver 1949) enabled the construction of digital computers and had a strong influence on psychology (Attneave 1959). Computers were ‘electronic brains’. Computer engineers were not restricted to studying the behaviour of these thinking machines. They could study directly mechanisms of memory and perception both in terms of the computations that achieved these functions and in terms of the electronic hardware that made the computations. Psychologists applied the same ideas to the study of thinking people. They began to speculate about the invisible processes that enabled behaviour to occur. This new study of ‘information processing’ led on to the development of cognitive psychology, now the dominant approach.

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Type: Chapter
Information: Disorders of Brain and Mind , pp. 197 - 222

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511550072.011 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2003

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