Higher-order Theories of Consciousness: An Adversarial Collaboration

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We're hiring a postdoc for this project. Read below for more info and if you meet the required qualifications please apply!

Project Description

This is a multi-site international adversarial collaboration funded by the Templeton World Charities Foundation through their Accelerating Research on Consciousness initiative. The overarching goal of the project is to arbitrate between four higher order theories: Higher-Order State Space model (HOSS; Fleming, 2020), Perceptual Reality Monitoring theory (PRM; Lau, 2019), Higher-Order Representation of a Representation (HOROR; Brown, 2015), and Self-Organising Meta-Representational theory (SOMA; Cleeremans, 2011; Cleeremans et al., 2020). The disagreement within Higher Order Theories of consciousness (HOTs) varies along two axes. One axis examines to what degree higher-order representations are rich or sparse. A second (related) axis of disagreement is on whether higher-order representations can “misrepresent” their first-order targets, and in what way. The two axes of disagreement will be tested in distinct experiments with a number of convergent methodologies. HOTs hypotheses cross-cut a number of different theories, with different theorists placing greater or lesser weight on the two axes. We seek to devise experiments that can identify whether the data are more consistent with one or other pole of these two axes.

In particular, this project involves experiments designed to provide a critical test of 1) whether perceptual/imagery vividness is coded in a rich or sparse manner, and 2) whether the nature of perceptual experience (“seeing” vs. “imagining”) relies on a dedicated higher-order reality monitoring signal (PRM), or whether inference on reality depends on thresholding a unidimensional code for phenomenal magnitude (HOSS).

Overall project personnel:

 

  • Lead PIs: Stephen Fleming and Axel Cleeremans
  • Project PIs: Jorge Morales, Megan Peters, Nadine Dijkstra, Rachel Denison, Zoltan Dienes, Guy Cheron
  • Scientific steering committee: Hakwan Lau, Richard Brown, Stephen Fleming, Axel Cleeremans, Elisabeth Pacherie
  • External advisory board: David Rosenthal, Matthias Michel, Joseph LeDoux, Lucie Charles

Postdoctoral Research Associate Recruitment

The Subjectivity Lab, directed by Jorge Morales, and located in the Department of Psychology at Northeastern University is seeking to recruit a Postdoctoral Research Associate to work on-site in Boston, Massachusetts. This research position is for research on a neuroimaging (fMRI), psychophysics, modeling, and machine learning project to arbitrate among competing higher order theories of consciousness. The focus of the project is on disentangling the neural substrates of vision and mental imagery and their respective support for conscious experiences.

The project is part of a multi-site, international adversarial collaboration funded by the Templeton World Charity Foundation as part of their initiative to Accelerate Research in Consciousness (see Project 6 here: https://www.templetonworldcharity.org/accelerating-research-consciousness-our-structured-adversarial-collaboration-projects). The successful candidate will have an opportunity to collaborate closely with Prof. Megan Peters and her team at UC Irvine and with Dr. Nadine Dijkstra at UCL, as well as with all the other researchers involved in the Collaboration. Dr. Peters and Dr. Dijkstra are leading researchers in the field of consciousness and mental imagery and this is an excellent opportunity to cast a wide international network for an early career researcher. Moreover, Northeastern has top research facilities and is located in the heart of Boston, a cosmopolitan city with lots of opportunities for research collaborations, quality of life and culture.
For more information about the project and for applying (just need submit a CV) you can visit https://subjectivity.sites.northeastern.edu/research/hot-project/. To read more about our lab visit https://subjectivity.sites.northeastern.edu. 
The Subjectivity Lab, as well as the Department of Psychology at Northeastern, is a collaborative, positive work environment with other postdoctoral researchers, graduate students and undergraduate that create a lively, fun, and supportive environment for doing science. The successful candidate will have access to a large network of mentors and the opportunity to pursue independent projects on top of their main responsibilities. Dr. Morales takes mentoring very seriously and the candidate will have an opportunity to work closely to him and other lab members. Formal and informal professional development is a huge part of this position. We have a respectful and diverse group, and encourage candidates from historically underrepresented minorities and marginalized communities in science to apply. 
The ideal starting date is late Spring/Summer 2024 but there is flexibility as to when to start. A PhD degree must be already awarded by the time the position begins. The application deadline for preferential consideration is February 29, 2024; but the position will remain open until the position is filled so please apply or email Jorge Morales for more information (j.morales@northeastern.edu). 
 
Qualifications  
Required: Must possess a Ph.D. in Psychology, Cognitive Science, Neuroscience, Philosophy or similar disciplines at the time of appointment. Candidates should have a record of published work (including preprints). Proficiency in advanced neuroimaging (fMRI preferred) and statistical analyses as well as programing skills is required. Strong analytic skills for designing experiments and for analyzing empirical and theoretical results is required.  
 
Preferred: Familiarity with psychophysical methods, signal detection theory and theories of consciousness is a plus but the candidate can learn more during the postdoc. An interest in studying mental imagery, perception and consciousness from neuroimaging, behavioral, and computational modeling perspectives is preferred.  
Compensation will be above the NIH minimum, at ~$62,000-68,000 annual salary (depending on qualifications) and it includes benefits (e.g., medical insurance) and a modest research fund for professional development. The initial appointment is for 1 year with potential for annual reappointments for up to 2 more years (3 years total).

Application

For official consideration, please submit your CV and some other required information to the Northeastern Job Portal.

Also, please feel free to get in touch with Jorge!

Apply