Brain story. Part 6, The final mystery.

Prof. Susan Greenfield (Univ. of Oxford) considers that identifying the seat of consciousness in the brain is the ultimate quest for science. People with blindsight - the ability to respond to visual events that they cannot physically see - may provide a clue to the location of consciousness as they employ more than ordinary awareness. Anaesthesia suggests another line of enquiry - what happens in the brain when consciousness is lost? An unusual theatrical demonstration of mind over matter in which performers undergo all kinds of normally agonising feats without feeling pain, shows how consciousness can be manipulated. Experiments in the U.S. and Britain challenge the assumption that ordinary actions are the results of free will as the brain appears to prepare for the action before the subject has decided to carry it out. All these findings seem to add to the mystery of consciousness rather than elucidate it. Among those taking part in the programme are Prof. Larry Weiskrantz (Univ. of Oxford), Dr. Franz Vollenweider (Psychiatric Hospital, Univ. of Vienna), Dr. Patrick Haggard (University College, London), Prof. M. Gazzaniga (Dartmouth College, New Hampshire).