Synapse, a neuroscience-focused student group, hosted a panel of four Washington University professors on the neural basis of consciousness and free will Nov. 28.

The panelists, whose backgrounds included neuroscience, philosophy and psychology, discussed concepts of consciousness, free will and distinctions between the mind and the brain.

The discussion began with panelists answering the question, “What does your field tell you about mind and consciousness?”

“It’s an interesting field because it’s characterized by debate,” assistant professor of philosophy Dr. Elizabeth Schechter said. “Within the philosophy of mind, the major question right now is a question of consciousness and whether consciousness will ever fully admit a scientific explanation.”

Assistant professor of biology Dr. Keith Hengen said that he believes in the computational approach to consciousness.

“The idea is that anything that has intrinsic cause and effect power over itself, that can change its own internal states has consciousness—and there’s nothing special about humans; you’ve just scaled it up trillions fold,” Hengen said. “So, your thermostat is conscious, you’re just a lot more conscious than your thermostat. That’s the best computational approach to it that I’ve heard, it’s actually measurable…and it’s not circular. I think that’s a good place to start.”

The question of consciousness turned to a debate between panelists when Schechter asked Hengen whether he thinks his thermostat can feel things.

“How many different possible patterns does the brain have…is it so surprising that something you describe as joy arises from a system that complex?” Hengen said. “No, I don’t think it is.”

Philosophy lecturer Dr. Christopher Dorst said that he believes you have to slow down and think about the meaning of the term consciousness.

“In normal cases, if I ask, ‘Is someone conscious?’ How do you answer that? Well, you see, if they are awake, if they’re responsive, are they knocked out, are they sleeping…So, that seems very very far removed from a thermostat reporting a temperature,” Dorst said. “Maybe there are different definitions of consciousness here, but we’ve gotten very far away from how we ordinarily use that concept. I wonder if we’re clear on what we’re asking when we’re asking is a thermostat conscious?”

Synapse co-president junior Courtney Chan said she thought consciousness would be a great topic selection because it would engage members of different fields.

“Three of these professors are my own professors; so, I’m sitting in class and thinking, ‘It would be really cool to have these professors debate different questions and topics I have,’” Chan said. “I think it’s interesting to open up to the entire community…and bring together a think tank of people to listen to different ideas.”

Synapse co-president senior Eric Song said he thought the interdisciplinary nature of the panel led to the higher than expected turnout.

“We had people interested in philosophy, people interested in psychology and people interested in neuroscience all show up,” Song said.

Senior Tommy Baumel found the panel informative and meaningful to his own academic interests.

“They were really informative, and, personally, this has importance to me because it’s something I’m studying,” Baumel said. “I’m learning about…instilling purpose and meaning as a therapy to help people, and consciousness and free will definitely add a layer to that sort of research.”