Conference: Neural Mechanisms of Conscious Awareness in Humans

题目：人类意识的神经机制人类意识的本质和基础是哲学和科学中最古老、最深奥的奥秘之一。我们每天晚上睡觉，进入无意识状态，然后每天早上醒来，回到意识状态。意识是如何产生的？意识的起源是一个困扰了哲学家们数千年的问题。大脑活动是如何产生意识的？由于新的行为范式、测量大脑活动的神经成像技术以及描述性和定量理论的快速发展，神经科学家最近对意识的本质和神经基础有了新的认识。意识科学领域，探索意识的神经基础和相关关系，在过去的三十年里经历了爆炸式的增长，这一相对年轻的科学学科有望对神经科学、医学、社会和技术产生巨大的潜在影响。意识的神经生物学研讨会是与美国国立卫生研究院（NIH）联合资助的，将于2023年6月在美国国立卫生研究院的主校区举行。会议将以网络研讨会的形式进行直播，面向广大感兴趣的科学家和公众。研讨会将促进在不同领域工作的科学专家之间的深入讨论，这些领域的整合对于理解意识的神经生物学至关重要。研讨会的主要目标是综合当前关于意识的知识状态，讨论和设计实验来批判性地测试现有的意识理论，定义最令人兴奋的新方法来推进该领域，并为意识科学的未来发现制定路线图。《认知神经科学杂志》将专门出版一期会议报告。除了已建立的科研人员外，研讨会还将包括博士后培训生和早期研究人员参加这个备受瞩目的研讨会。将优先向妇女和人数不足的少数民族提供支付旅费的实习研究金，以加强意识研究领域的多样性。研讨会还将包括一个教育项目，为来自少数民族服务机构的本科生提供研讨会前的意识研究领域介绍，以进一步扩大包容性和多样性，并鼓励下一代意识研究人员。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

NSF Conference Award: PI – Dr. Biyu He, New York University Title: Neural Mechanisms of Conscious Awareness in HumansThe nature and basis of conscious awareness in humans is one of the oldest and deepest mysteries in philosophy and science. We go to sleep every night and enter an unconscious state and then wake up every morning and return to consciousness. How does consciousness arise? The origin of conscious awareness is a question that has puzzled philosophers for thousands of years. How does brain activity give rise to consciousness? Recent insights from neuroscientists into the nature and neural basis of consciousness have arisen thanks to the rapid development of new behavioral paradigms, neuroimaging techniques to measure brain activity, and both descriptive and quantitative theories. The field of consciousness science, exploring the neural basis and correlates of consciousness, has seen explosive growth over the past three decades and this relatively young scientific discipline promises to have an enormous potential impact on neuroscience, medicine, society, and technology. The Workshop on the Neurobiology of Consciousness is jointly funded with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and be held on the main NIH campus in June, 2023. Talks will be live-streamed as a Webinar for a broad audience of interested scientists and the public. The Workshop will facilitate in-depth discussion between scientific experts working in divergent fields whose integration is essential to understanding the neurobiology of consciousness. Key goals of the Workshop are to synthesize the current state of knowledge about consciousness, discuss and design experiments to critically test existing theories of consciousness, define the most exciting new approaches to advance the field, and develop a roadmap for future discoveries in the science of consciousness. A special issue of the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience will be devoted to publication of conference presentations. In addition to established scientific investigators, the Workshop will also include postdoctoral trainees and early investigators to participate in this high-profile workshop. Trainee fellowships to cover travel expenses will be preferentially given to women and under-represented minorities in order to enhance diversity in the field of consciousness research. The Workshop will also include an educational program that will provide a pre-Workshop introduction to the field of consciousness research to undergraduates from minority serving institutions to further broaden inclusion and diversity and encourage the next generation of consciousness researchers.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.