10th Annual Pinkel Endowed Lecture
Friday, March 28, 2008
Room G17, Logan Hall
12:00 noon, reception to follow
Christof Koch, Professor of Biology and Engineering
California Institute of Technology
The Biology of Consciousness
Half a century ago, many did not think it was possible to understand the secret of life. Then two scientists, Jim Watson and Francis Crick, discovered the structure of DNA, forever changing biology and the way we view ourselves in the natural order of things. We are now once again facing a similar pursuit in determining the material basis of the conscious mind. Consciousness is one of the major unsolved problem in science today. How do the salty taste and crunchy texture of potato chips, the unmistakable smell of dogs after they have been in the rain, or the awfulness of a throbbing tooth pain, emerge from networks of neurons and their associated synaptic and molecular processes?
I will summarizes what is known about the biology and neurology of consciousness, outline the limits to our knowledge, and describe ongoing experiments using visual illusions to manipulate the relationship between physical stimuli and their associated conscious percepts. I will introduce the audience to the modern, empirical program to discover and characterize the neuronal correlates of consciousness (NCC),. I will conclude by discussing the limitations of a scientific approach to consciousness.
Bibliography
Koch, C. The Quest for Consciousness: A Neurobiological Approach. Roberts & Publishers,
Denver, Colorado, 2004. (www.questforconsciousness.com)
Biography
Born in 1956 in the American Midwest, Christof Koch grew up in Holland, Germany, Canada, and
Morocco, where he graduated from the Lycèe Descartes in 1974. He studied Physics and Philosophy
at the University of Tübingen in Germany and was awarded his Ph.D. in Biophysics in 1982.
After four years at MIT, Dr. Koch joined Caltech in 1986, where he is the Lois and Victor
Troendle Professor of Cognitive and Behavioral Biology. He lives in Pasadena, and loves to run
and to climb. The author of three hundred scientific papers and journal articles, and several books,
Dr. Koch studies the biophysics of computation, and the neuronal basis of visual perception,
attention, and consciousness. Together with Francis Crick, he is one of the pioneers of the
neurobiological approach to consciousness.
The Benjamin and Anne A. Pinkel Endowed Lecture Fund was established though a generous gift from Sheila Pinkel on behalf of the estate of her parents, Benjamin and Anne A. Pinkel, and serves as a memorial tribute to the lives of her parents. Benjamin Pinkel, who received a BSE in Electrical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania in 1930, was actively interested in the philosophy of the mind and published a monograph on the subject, Consciousness, Matter, and Energy: The Emergence of Mind in Nature, in 1992, the objective of which is a "re-examination of the mind-body problem in the light of...new scientific information." The lecture series is intended to advance the discussion and rigorous study of the deep questions which engaged Dr. Pinkel's investigations.