Contents

Vol. 14, No.4, April 2007

Refereed Papers

William L. Mikulas   abstract
Buddhism & Western Psychology: Fundamentals of Integration
W. von Lucadou,  H. Römer & H. Walach   abstract
Synchronistic Phenomena as Entanglement Correlations in Generalized Quantum Theory
E.G. Milán, M. Hochel,et al.   abstract
Experimental Study of Phantom Colours in a Colour Blind Synaesthete
Uriah Kriegel   abstract
Gray Matters: Functionalism, Intentionalism and the Search for NCC in Jeffrey Gray’s Work

Book Reviews   full text

Paul Marshal
Graham Dunstan Martin, Does It Matter? The Unsustainable World of the Materialists
Sophie R. Allen
Uriah Kriegel & Kenneth Williford (ed.), Self-Representational Approaches to Consciousness
Michael Bavidge
Bruce E. Wexler, Brain and Culture
Peter Howorth
Bill Fulford, Tim Thornton & George Graham, Oxford Textbook of Philosophy and Psychiatry
Books received

ABSTRACTS

E.G. Milán, M. Hochel, A. González, F. Tornay, K. McKenney, R. Díaz Caviedes, J.L. Mata Martín, M.A. Rodríguez Artacho, E. Domínguez García & J. Vila

Experimental Study of Phantom Colours in a Colour Blind Synaesthete

Abstract: Synaesthesia is a condition in which one type of stimulation evokes the sensation of another, as when the hearing of a sound produces photisms, i.e. mental percepts of colours. R is a 20 year old colour blind subject who, in addition to the relatively common grapheme-colour synaesthesia, presents a rarely reported cross modal perception in which a variety of visual stimuli elicit aura-like percepts of colour. In R, photisms seem to be closely related to the affective valence of stimuli and typically bring out a consistent pattern of emotional responses. The present case study suggests that colours might be an intrinsic category of the human brain. We developed an empirical methodology that allowed us to study the subject’s otherwise inaccessible phenomenological experience. First, we found that R shows a Stroop effect (delayed response due to interference) elicited by photisms despite the fact that he does not show a regular Stroop with real colours. Secondly, by manipulating the colour context we confirmed that colours can alter R’s emotional evaluation of the stimuli. Furthermore, we demonstrated that R’s auras may actually lead to a partially inverted emotional spectrum where certain stimuli bring out emotional reactions opposite to the normal ones. These findings can only be accounted for by considering R’s subjective colour experience or qualia. Therefore the present paper defends the view that qualia are a useful scientific concept that can be approached and studied by experimental methods.

Correspondence: M. Hochel, University of Granada, Spain. Email: mhochel@ugr.es or egomez@ugr.es

Uriah Kriegel

Gray Matters: Functionalism, Intentionalism, and the Search for NCC in Jeffrey Gray’s Work

One of the great contributors to the investigation of the neural correlates of consciousness was Jeffrey Gray, who sadly died in April of 2004. His book Consciousness: Creeping up on the Hard Problem (Gray, 2004), appeared three months after his death. The book is a fascinating organization of a wealth of empirical findings that inform a cohesive general approach to consciousness — consciousness in the phenomenal, not merely cognitive, sense (that is, in the sense that pertains to the experiential, rather than merely mechanical, dimension of our conscious life). The book caps a career spanning three decades of important contributions to the neuropsychology of anxiety (first) and consciousness (later). In what follows, I assess the main tenets of Gray’s approach to consciousness, as it emerges from his lifelong work and summarized in his posthumous book.

Correspondence: Uriah Kriegel, Center for Consciousness Studies, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA. theuriah@gmail.com

William L. Mikulas

Buddhism & Western Psychology: Fundamentals of Integration

Abstract: Essential Buddhism, the fundamental teachings of the historical Buddha and the core of all major branches of Buddhism, is psychology, not religion or philosophy. Essential Buddhism is described from a psychological perspective and interrelated with Western psychology in general, and cognitive science, behaviour modification, psychoanalysis, and transpersonal psychology, in specific. Integrating Buddhist psychology and Western psychology yields a more comprehensive psychology and more powerful therapies.

Correspondence: William L. Mikulas, Department of Psychology, University of West Florida, Pensacola, Florida 32514-5751, USA. wmikulas@uwf.edu

Walter von Lucadou, Hartmann Römer and Harald Walach

Synchronistic Phenomena as Entanglement Correlations in Generalized Quantum Theory

Abstract: Synchronistic or psi phenomena are interpreted as entangle- ment correlations in a generalized quantum theory. From the principle that entanglement correlations cannot be used for transmitting information, we can deduce the decline effect, frequently observed in psi experiments, and we propose strategies for suppressing it and improving the visibility of psi effects. Some illustrative examples are discussed.

Correspondence: Walter von Lucadou, WGFP, Hildastr. 64, 79102 Freiburg, Germany. lucadou@freenet.de
Hartmann Römer, Physikalisches Institut, University of Freiburg, Hermann-Herder-Str. 3, 79104 Freiburg,Germany. hartmann.roemer@physik.uni-freiburg.de
Harald Walach, University of Northampton, School of Social Sciences, Samueli Institute of Information Biology, European Office, Park Campus, Boughton Green Road, Northampton NN2 7AL, UK. harald.walach@northampton.ac.uk

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