Abstract: Who Am I? What insights can we glean from neuroscience and neuropsychology in order to answer the question? This talk explores the idea that our sense of self is a construction, a complex process that is active moment-by-moment. A construction can come apart, as it does in conditions such as Alzheimer's disease, schizophrenia or during out-of-body experiences; in each case, certain aspects of our sense of self are disrupted, even destroyed. Examining some of the ways in which one’s perception of oneself is altered lets us understand how the brain and body, acting in concert, put together our sense of self in the first place. This thesis forms the basis of Anil Ananthaswamy's book, The Man Who Wasn't There, which was published by Dutton (Penguin Random House, 2015) and was longlisted for the 2016 PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award.
Speaker
Anil Ananthaswamy