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SCIENCE & CONSCIOUSNESS REVIEW
SCI-CON.ORG NEWSLETTER
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May 13, 2004

ARTICLES IN THIS ISSUE
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1. SCR Feature - A specific drug for consciousness, Bernard J. Baars
2. News - Animal minds
3. News - Autonomic responding to aversive words without conscious
valence discrimination
4. News - Increasing Implicit Self-Esteem Through Classical Conditioning
5. News - Why it hurts less to be a man
6. New issue - Self and subjectivity
7. New books from MIT Press
8. New book - Philosophy of the brain
9. New book - Consciousness, Emotional Self-Regulation and the Brain
10. Book reviews from Metapsychology
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1. SCR Feature - A specific drug for consciousness
Bernard J. Baars
Original to SCR
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Millions of people rely on strong coffee every morning to really wake
up. All-night truck drivers sometimes take amphetamines to stay
conscious on the road, and for centuries South American peoples have
chewed coca leaves to stay alert and increase physical endurance. Yet
none of these compounds are specific "consciousness" drugs. They
stimulate waking along with many side effects. A novel pharmaceutical,
modafinil (provigil), may be the most specific consciousness-promoting
drug yet.

Read more: http://www.sci-con.org/articles/20040701.html
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2. Animal Minds
New Scientist Print Edition
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Do animals have minds of their own, and if they do, what might they be
like? It is an innocent-sounding question, but one that has provoked
tremendous strife among scientists and non-scientists alike. Try
telling a dog-lover that their pet is devoid of personality. Yet there
are those who insist that only humans have minds worthy of the name,
because it is only humans who have complex language. Others apply the
definition to humans and some other primates. Others still ascribe a
mind of some description to all animals, and claim we just need more
research to determine what sort of minds they have. Now we are on the
verge of a revolution that may settle the question.

Read More:
http://archive.newscientist.com/secure/article/article.jsp?rp=2&id=mg182245=
15.100
[requires subscription, free 7-day trial available]
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3. Autonomic responding to aversive words without conscious valence
discrimination
Laetitia Silverta, Sylvain Delplanquea, Hammou Bouwalerh
Université de Lille, France
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A growing body of data suggests that the emotional dimension of a
stimulus can be processed without conscious identification of the
stimulus. The arousal system could be activated by unrecognised
biologically significant stimuli through simple physical stimulus
features related to threat, without any evaluation of the meaning of
the stimulus. However, unconscious processing of emotionally laden
words cannot rely only on perceptual features but must include some
analysis of symbolic meaning. The first aim of the present study was
to assess whether masked (unrecognised) aversive words can elicit
enhanced skin conductance responses (SCRs), a major autonomic index of
emotional arousal, in normal participants. Our second aim was to
determine whether any autonomic activation related to affective value
of words is independent from access of this value to consciousness.
Thus, the presentation duration of masked aversive and neutral words
was determined, for each participant, in such a way that (1)
identification was precluded, (2) valence discrimination was at
chance, as indicated by performance in a forced-choice two-alternative
task and by confidence ratings of the responses, and (3) emotional and
neutral words were not detected differentially. SCRs were recorded
during masked and unmasked presentations of both types of word. SCRs
elicited by unmasked words, and also by masked words, were of greater
magnitude when the words were emotional than when they were neutral.
Consequently, in normal participants, autonomic activation can be a
discriminative marker of the affective dimension of unrecognised
verbal material in the absence of conscious valence identification.

Read More:
http://tinyurl.com/2snn3 [ScienceDirect]
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4. Increasing Implicit Self-Esteem Through Classical Conditioning
Jodene R. Baccus, Mark W. Baldwin, and Dominic J. Packer
McGill University, Canada
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Implicit self-esteem is the automatic, nonconscious aspect of
self-esteem. This study demonstrated that implicit self-esteem can be
increased using a computer game that repeatedly pairs self-relevant
information with smiling faces. These findings, which are consistent
with principles of classical conditioning, establish the associative
and interpersonal nature of implicit self-esteem and demonstrate the
potential benefit of applying basic learning principles in this domain.

Read More:
http://www.psychologicalscience.org/members/journal_issues/psinpress/Baccus=
.pdf
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5. Why it hurts less to be a man
Nature Science Update
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It will come as no surprise to some... men are less sensitive than
women, at least to pain. Researchers have found that the male hormone
testosterone masks feelings of discomfort. They believe that such
tolerance effects may help men to maintain their stamina in fights,
when testosterone levels are high.

Read More:
http://tinyurl.com/2w3rn [Nature.com]
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6. Self and subjectivity
Volume 3 Number 3/July-September 2004 of Self and Identity is now
available on the Taylor & Francis - Psychology Press web site at
http://psychologypress.metapress.com.
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This issue contains:

Self-Construal and Cooperation: Is the Interdependent Self More
Cooperative Than the Independent Self?
p. 177
Sonja Utz

URL of article:
http://psychologypress.metapress.com/link.asp?id=AQHBA1054U3NG7N0

Helping New Acquaintances Make the Right Impression: Balancing Image
Concerns of Others and Self
p. 191
Barry R Schlenker, Audra Lifka, Scott A Wowra

URL of article:
http://psychologypress.metapress.com/link.asp?id=H4XEW7Y5Y05AJP5L

Feeling Controlled and Drinking Motives Among College Students:
Contingent Self-Esteem as a Mediator
p. 207
Clayton Neighbors, Mary E Larimer, Irene Markman Geisner, C Raymond Knee

URL of article:
http://psychologypress.metapress.com/link.asp?id=66Q6RWPC1FE7Y8XH

Empathy and the Self-Absorption Paradox II: Self-Rumination and
Self-Reflection as Mediators Between Shame, Guilt, and Empathy
p. 225
Jeff Joireman

URL of article:
http://psychologypress.metapress.com/link.asp?id=70YT9056C5DBJYVX

A Three-Factor Model of Social Identity
p. 239
James E Cameron

URL of article:
http://psychologypress.metapress.com/link.asp?id=VK29UV7RU2WJD4FB

Stress-Buffering Effects of Self-Complexity: Reduced Affective
Spillover or Self-Regulatory Processes?
p. 263
Klaus Rothermund, Christian Meiniger

URL of article:
http://psychologypress.metapress.com/link.asp?id=N7T65YKT2WCWCCQC
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7. New Books from MIT Press
What Is Thought?
By Eric B. Baum
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Toward a computational explanation of thought: an argument that
underlying mind is a complex but compact program that corresponds to
the underlying complex structure of the world.

http://mitpress.mit.edu/item.asp?ttype=2&tid=9978&mlid=291

Visual Agnosia Second Edition
By Martha J. Farah

The second edition of the classic book on visual agnosia, updated to
include disorders of semantic knowledge and topographic recognition,
and integrating perspectives from functional neuroimaging throughout.

http://mitpress.mit.edu/item.asp?ttype=2&tid=10116&mlid=291
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8. Philosophy of the Brain
The brain problem
Georg Northoff
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John Benjamins Publishing Company is pleased to announce the
publication of
the following book in the field of Consciousness Studies:


Philosophy of the Brain
The brain problem

Georg Northoff
Harvard University, Cambridge, MA

Advances in Consciousness Research 52
2004. x, 433 pp.

U.S. and Canada: Cloth: 1 58811 416 3 / USD 119.00
Everywhere else: Cloth: 90 272 5183 5 / EUR 99.00

U.S. and Canada: Paper: 1 58811 417 1 / USD 81.95
Everywhere else: Paper: 90 272 5184 3 / EUR 68.00

"What is the mind?"
"What is the relationship between brain and mind?"
These are common questions. But "What is the brain?" is a rare
question in both the neurosciences and philosophy. The reason for this
may lie in the brain itself: Is there a "brain problem"? In this fresh
and innovative book, Georg Northoff demonstrates that there is in fact
a "brain problem". He argues that our brain can only be understood
when its empirical functions are directly related to the modes of
acquiring knowledge, our epistemic abilities and inabilities. Drawing
on the latest neuroscientific data and philosophical theories, he
provides an empirical-epistemic definition of the brain. Northoff
reveals the basic conceptual confusion about the relationship between
mind and brain that has so obstinately been lingering in both
neuroscience and philosophy. He subsequently develops an alternative
framework where the integration of the brain within body and
environment is central. This novel approach plunges the reader into
the depths of our own brain. The "Philosophy of the Brain" that
emerges opens the door to a fascinating world of new findings that
explore the mind and its relationship to our very human brain.

Table of contents

Acknowledgements ix
1. The 'Brain problem': 'Mind problems', hypothesis of 'embedment' and
the neurophilosophical method 1-57
2. Neuroepistemological account of the brain: 'Epistemic-empirical
relationship' 59-174
3. 'Philosophy of the brain': Empirical hypothesis of the brain,
'epistemology of the brain' and 'ontology of the brain' 175-335
4. The 'Embedded brain': 'Mind problems', hypothesis of 'Embedment',
and 'Paradigm shifts' 337-364
References 365-401
Author index 403-404
Subject index 405-429
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9. Consciousness, Emotional Self-Regulation and the Brain
Edited by Mario Beauregard
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John Benjamins Publishing Company is pleased to announce the following
new
books in the field of Consciousness Studies:
Consciousness, Emotional Self-Regulation and the Brain

Edited by Mario Beauregard
Universit de Montreal
Advances in Consciousness Research 54
2004. xii, 294 pp.
U.S. and Canada: Cloth: 1 58811 458 9 / USD 119.00
Everywhere else: Cloth: 90 272 5187 8 / EUR 99.00
U.S. and Canada: Paper: 1 58811 459 7 / USD 77.95
Everywhere else: Paper: 90 272 5188 6 / EUR 65.00

During the last decade, the study of emotional self-regulation has
blossomed in a variety of sub-disciplines belonging to either
psychology (developmental, clinical) or the neurosciences (cognitive
and affective). Consciousness, Emotional Self-Regulation and the Brain
gives an overview of the current state of this relatively new
scientific field. Several areas are examined by some of the leading
theorists and researchers in this emerging domain. Most chapters seek
to either present theoretical and developmental perspectives about
emotional self-regulation (and dysregulation), provide cutting edge
information with regard to the neural basis of conscious emotional
experience and emotional self-regulation, or expound theoretical
models susceptible of explaining how healthy individuals are capable
of consciously and voluntarily changing the neural activity underlying
emotional processes and states. In addition, a few chapters consider
the capacity of human consciousness to volitionally influence the
brain=92s electrical activity or modulate the impact of emotions on
the psychoneuroendocrine-immune network. This book will undoubtedly be
useful to scholars and graduate students interested in the
relationships between self-consciousness, emotion, the brain, and the
body.

Table of contents

List of Contributors vii

Introduction ix

1. Emotion self-regulation
Maren Westphal and George A. Bonanno 1

2. Temperament and emotional regulation: Multiple models of early
development Susan D. Calkins 35

3. Emotion dysregulation and psychopathology
Kimberly Shipman, Renee Schneider and Amy Brown 61

4. Neural substrates of conscious emotional experience: A cognitive-
neuroscientific perspective Richard D. Lane and Kateri McRae 87

5. Self-regulation by the medial frontal cortex: Limbic representation
of motive set-points Phan Luu and Don M. Tucker 123

6. Neural basis of conscious and voluntary self-regulation of emotion
Mario Beauregard, Johanne L=E9vesque and Vincent Paquette 163

7. The volitional influence of the mind on the brain, with special
reference to emotional self-regulation Jeffrey M. Schwartz, Henry P.
Stapp and Mario Beauregard 195

8. EEG biofeedback ("Neurofeedback") and affective disorders J. Peter
Rosenfeld and Elsa Baehr 239

9. Consciousness, emotional self-regulation, and the psychosomatic
network: Relevance to oral biology and medicine
Francesco Chiappelli, Paolo Prolo, Elaina Cajulis, Scott Harper,
Elaine Sunga and Edna Concepcion 253

Name index 275
Subject index 279
John Benjamins Publishing Co.
Offices: Philadelphia=20
Amsterdam:
Websites: http://www.benjamins.com=20
http://www.benjamins.nl
E-mail: service@...=20
customer.services@...
Phone: +215 836-1200 +31 20 6304747
Call toll free to order: 1-800-562-5666
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10. Book reviews from Metapsychology
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We have published the following reviews on Metapsychology
Online of possible interest:

Daniel Dennett
Reconciling Science and Our Self-Conception
by Matthew Elton
Review by Martin Allen on Jun 10th 2004
http://mentalhelp.net/books/books.php?type=de&id=2195

John Searle
by Barry Smith (Editor)
Review by Constantine Sandis on Jun 10th 2004
http://mentalhelp.net/books/books.php?type=de&id=2194

Essential Sources in the Scientific Study of Consciousness
by Bernard J. Baars, William P. Banks, James B. Newman
(Editors)
Review by G.C. Gupta, Ph.D. on Jun 3rd 2004
http://mentalhelp.net/books/books.php?type=de&id=2169

Soul Made Flesh
The Discovery of the Brain--and How it Changed the World
by Carl Zimmer
Review by Maura Pilotti, Ph.D. on May 28th 2004
http://mentalhelp.net/books/books.php?type=de&id=2168

Opening Skinner's Box
Great Psychological Experiments of the Twentieth Century
by Lauren Slater
Review by Maura Pilotti, Ph.D. on May 28th 2004
http://mentalhelp.net/books/books.php?type=de&id=2167

Cracked
Recovering after Traumatic Brain Injury
by Lynsey Calderwood
Review by Roy Sugarman, Ph.D. on May 28th 2004
http://mentalhelp.net/books/books.php?type=de&id=2165

Biological Complexity and Integrative Pluralism
by Sandra D. Mitchell
Review by Arantza Etxeberria on May 21st 2004
http://mentalhelp.net/books/books.php?type=de&id=2157

Trusting the Subject?
Volume 1
by Anthony Jack and Andreas Roepstorff (Editors)
Review by Liam Dempsey, Ph.D. on May 21st 2004
http://mentalhelp.net/books/books.php?type=de&id=2153

All new reviews at
http://mentalhelp.net/books/books.php?type=li&cat=new_reviews

Philosophy reviews at
http://mentalhelp.net/books/books.php?type=li&cat=philosophy

Ethics reviews at
http://mentalhelp.net/books/books.php?type=li&cat=ethics