Professor Nao Tsuchiya

Monash University: 2020-01-01 to present | Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health. Professor (School of Psychological Sciences)

Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International: Kyoto, Japan
2023-07-01 to present | Department head (Qualia Structure)

Why and how does our subjective conscious experience emerge from physical electrochemical activity in the brain? Why is neuronal activity in the cortex, but not in the cerebellum, responsible for consciousness? Do any other animals experience subjectivity? If so, how can we know? Will there be conscious machines or robots? How can we test it? These are fascinating fundamental questions, which used to be questions for philosophers, but now they are for neuroscientists. In particular, our current projects focus on:
1. Behavioural effects and neuronal correlates of conscious and non-conscious processing.
2. Clarifying the differences and relationship of the neuronal mechanisms of consciousness and attention.
3. Analysis of multi-channel neurophysiological data to understand the neuronal mechanisms of consciousness.
4. Testing and developing quantitative theories of consciousness using empirical neuronal data.