We frame the question of what kind of subjective experience a brain simulation would have in contrast to a biological brain. We discuss the brain prosthesis thought experiment. Then, we identify finer questions relating to the original inquiry, and set out to answer them moving forward from both a general physicalist perspective, and pan-experientialism. We propose that the brain simulation is ...

More than eighty years ago, Cannon (1927) posited that the most defining aspects of the subjective experience of the various emotions arise directly from neural activity in the thalamus that projects to, and produces activation in, the neocortex. In more recent times, the neural origins of the most basic emotions have been identified principally with subcortical structures other than the thalam...

English dictionaries trace the origin of the word, 'experience' to knowledge of or skill in making experiments. Its etymology suggests an important conceptual truth: experiences are not merely personal and subjective but crucially related to interacting with something of interest, an artifact, an activity, or a situation involving other people. What we will explore here must therefore overcome ...

Four experiments showed that the decisions people make for future selves and other people are similar to each other and different from their decisions for present selves. Experiments involved decisions to drink a disgusting liquid for scientific purposes (Experiment 1), tutor peers during exam week (Experiment 2), receive e-mails for charity (Experiment 3), and defer a lottery prize for a large...

In the study reported here, we examined the role of conflict experience in cognitive adaptation to conflict. Although the experience of conflict is generally neglected in theoretical models of cognitive control, we demonstrated that it plays a critical role in cognitive adaptation. Using a masked-priming paradigm, we showed that conflict adaptation was present only after trials on which partici...