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 Founded in 1994, the ASSC is the only international scholarly, scientific membership organization specifically devoted to the study of consciousness and its related issues. Members are drawn from the disciplines of psychology, philosophy, and neuroscience, and the society welcomes all scholars with a serious academic interest in the study of consciousness.
The ASSC organizes annual scientific meetings in North America, Europe and Asia. For information about the most recent meeting visit http://assc2007.neuralcorrelate.com
As with all ASSC conferences, contributed papers are welcome on all topics relevant to the rigorous study of consciousness.
In addition to the annual meeting, the ASSC publishes the online journal PSYCHE http://psyche.cs.monash.edu.au which publishes articles, runs email discussion lists on the topic of consciousness, and holds an international competition for the best paper by a new researcher in the field of consciousness studies.
The ASSC has also created the ASSC eprint archive http://eprints.assc.caltech.edu a new electronic archive of consciousness related journal articles, book chapters, conference presentations and other miscellaneous items.
c3's member and co-founder Kate McCallum attended the July 2008 conference held in Las Vegas and had the opportunity to ask Susana Martinez-Conde, PhD, the Director of the Laboratory of Visual Neuroscience Division of Neurobiology, the following questions...
c3: How would you as a scientist describe the term "Consciousness?"
Martinez-Conde: It is the first person experience of our lives.
c3: What is science learning about Consciousness?
Martinez-Conde: Science is showing that consciousness is a brain process. It is mediated by circuits in the brain, it takes energy to generate consciousness, and consciousness fails as a function of brain damage. Future work will isolate circuits in the brain that specifically mediate consciousness and determine their exact nature.
c3: What drew you to the study of Consciousness?
Martinez-Conde: It is the most important question in human history. It is the very definition of our existence.
c3: What is your specialty in the area of Consciousness Studies?
Martinez-Conde: I study the neural correlates of visual perception and visual awareness.
c3: You had two different tracks at the Conference; science and philosophy. How did that turn out?
Martinez-Conde: The philosophers are outstanding at asking poignant questions. Scientists are better at answering them.
c3: What does the Future of Consciousness look like?
Martinez-Conde: A group (or groups) will isolate a circuit that mediates some form of consciousness and will map it in a replicable manner. Then, those circuits will be manipulated so as to determine the limits of conscious processing, and consciousness itself.
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