Selves

Psy391D - Class 9

Supplemental Reading There is a good explanation of the experiments with split-brain patients and other experiments comparing the abilities of the two hemispheres in Left Brain, Right Brain by Springer and Deutsch.

One way to understand the difference between theater theories of consciousness and the Multiple Drafts Model is to consider the role of the "Self".

• In some theater theories, the Self is the audience.
  • Note: In Baars' Global Workspace theory, the audience is a complex collection of mental processes, including memory, perception, and expectations.
• In the Multiple Drafts Theory, there is no unified self.

Ego Theories of Self

• Single unified Self
• Self is continuous across time
• Generally assumed by most people.

 Bundle Theories of Self

• Self is bundle of different experiences
• Counterintuitive for most people
• Similar to ideas described by Buddha
• Hume claims he cannot find an experiencer inside himself; only bundles of perceptions.

 Split-Brain Patients

• Corpus callosum cut, disconnecting left and right hemispheres of cortex.
• Surprising few behavioral consequences.
• Visual stimulation from one side of space only available to contralateral hemisphere.
• Right hemisphere usually cannot produce language, but can produce other responses, such as pointing.
• Left hemisphere sometimes confabulates explanations for behaviors from right hemisphere.
• The two hemispheres can report different desires.

Are there two consciousnesses inside a split-brain patient?

• Are there two consciousnesses inside your head?
  • How would you know?
• Difficult question for ego theorists, but not for bundle theorists.

Self as String of Pearls (Galen Strawson)

• In considering bundle theories, we questioned whether the self is unified.
• In considering split-brain patients, we questioned whether there is only one self per person.
• We can also question whether the self is continuous over time.
• Only one self at a time, but each one ends as a new one begins.

Relevant Web Site

• Multiple Consciousnesses

Next class: Free Will

Psych 391D: Consciousness Kyle Cave Psychology Dept. U. Mass.