The Limits of Consciousness

This book is based on an in-depth filmed conversation between Howard Burton and Martin Monti, Associate Professor in Psychology and Neurosurgery, Brain Injury Research Centre, UCLA. This extensive conversation examines Martin Monti’s innovative work with patients who are in a vegetative state or minimally conscious state which has led to some surprising results that might well prove to be integral to our development of a deeper understanding of consciousness.


This carefully-edited book includes an introduction, The Collective Unconscious, and questions for discussion at the end of each chapter:


Dualism and Science Journalism - Changing hearts and brains

Inside The Other - A constant concern

The Vegetative State - Evolving understanding

Probing Vegetative States - Some experimental details

Beyond Reflex - A thin line

Assessing Consciousness - Unlikely tennis players 

Extracting Information - Two types of controls 

Quantifying Consciousness- Towards more rigorous models 

Interdisciplinary Interlude - Mathematics, cognitive science and other issues 

Language and Thought - The Whorfian Hypothesis and Italian football

Structural Similarities? - Comparing language, mathematics and music

What Makes Us Human - In search of distinction



About Ideas Roadshow Conversations Series: 


This book is part of an expanding series of 100+ Ideas Roadshow conversations, each one presenting a wealth of candid insights from a leading expert in a focused yet informal setting to give non-specialists a uniquely accessible window into frontline research and scholarship that wouldn't otherwise be encountered through standard lectures and textbooks. For other books in this series visit our website: https://ideas-on-film.com/ideasroadshow/.