Psychophysiology of Consciousness

This is the last major work of Eugene N. Sokolov, Professor of Psychophysiology at Moscow State University from 1950 to 2008. It summarizes the contributions of a lifetime on the neural mechanism of consciousness. Working at the intersection of psychology, neurophysiology and mathematics, Sokolov early introduced the concept of quantifiable 'difference in neuronal activity' and 'cognitive distance' as corresponding metrics in the physical and mental models ofreality. He demonstrated the power of multidimensional vector mathematics to represent the neural computations that mediate between the brain's neural model and the mind's mental model of reality. Sokolov and colleagues showed a mathematical commonality among the neuronal mechanisms that mediate the perception of basic features of visual stimuli including color, brightness, line orientation and motion. This led to a general vector model linking perceptual and memory processes to adaptive motor mechanisms. They extended the model to encompass broader, more complex functions, such as the perception of emotions in facial expressions, semantic differences in verbal stimuli and differentialexecutive control mechanisms. Integrating evidence from human psychophysics, animal neurophysiology and vector mathematics they developed a unified model to characterize quantitatively many complex relations between objective and subjective aspects of reality.Sokolov's studies of neuronal mechanisms of mental phenomena led him to distinguish two categories of neurons: 'consciousness neurons' directly associated with awareness of perceptual, emotional and cognitive events, and neurons that are necessary for, but not directly involved in, conscious processes. The book integrates his findings with major themes shaping twenty-first century understanding of the brain-mind relationship. It relates the findings both to work of other Russian investigators,such as Pavlov, Luria, and Rusinov, and to work of many Western researchers, including von Bekesy, Eccles, Edelman, Ehrenstein, Grossberg, John, Koch and Crick, Ledoux, Llinas, Milner, Penfield, Penrose, Posner, and Schrödinger.

"In this volume appearing after his death, Professor E. N. Sokolov, one of the greatest brain researchers of his generation, explores the relationship between the sequence of our subjective experience (consciousness) and brain activity. He proposes that consciousness neurons, some of which are found in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, link our subjective experience to the world of sensations and memories through a hierarchy of localized modules. While his proposals remain controversial, his discussion of them illuminates many of the most important methodological and substantive issues in modern Cognitive Neuroscience. As in his classic studies of the orienting reflex, Sokolov's work employs the latest methods to explore fundamental issues of the nature of subjective experience." Michael I. Posner, Professor Emeritus of Psychology, University Oregon, Adjunct Professor of Weill Medical College"Eugene Sokolov was a great pioneer in the field of behavioral neuroscience, starting with his classical work on the orienting reflex, and one of the field's seminal contributors for over a half-century. His work was truly interdisciplinary, combining multiple methods from experimental psychology and neuroscience with brain modeling. This excellent translation of his last book exemplifies his research methodology through his analysis of the psychophysiology of consciousness. Sokolov provides an interdisciplinary analysis of topics as far-ranging as visual perception, learning, attention, speech, bird song, emotion, working memory, cognition, numerical estimation, meditation, creativity, action, sleeping, dreaming, hallucinations, resonance, and synchronous oscillations. Critically, he attempts to link conscious behavioral experiences with their underlying neural mechanisms." Stephen Grossberg, Professor of Cognitive and Neural Systems, and Director, Center for Adaptive Systems, Boston University"The Psychophysiology of Consciousness is a great work integrating human perception/cognition and the neural correlates of consciousness. This book may interest researchers and students in the field of cognitive psychology and neuroscience, and it may be especially important for researchers studying consciousness." -Dawei Li, PsycCRITIQUES

Evgenii Sokolov is one of the most famous and decorated psychologists of the twentieth century. A professor at Moscow State University, he established the school's Department of Psychophysiology, which he chaired for more than thirty years. He pursued an exceedingly productive career of interdisciplinary research and teaching that ended only with his death at the age of 87, May 14, 2008. In 1984 he was elected to the Finnish Academy of Sciences and Letters andreceived the Pavlov Gold Medal Award from the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. In 1988 he became the first Russian scientist to receive the Award for Distinguished Contributions from the Society of Psychophysiological Research. And in 1998 he was recognized by the International Organization ofPsychophysiology as one of five most acclaimed neuroscientists of the twentieth century.