November 3, 2012
The Conscious Id, Revisited: A Panel Discussion
Based on neuroscientific evidence that consciousness depends on brainstem nuclei, and that these nuclei are centrally involved with the primary emotional and motivational processes that we associate with the id, Mark Solms has proposed that the id is fundamentally conscious. He also argues that the neuroscientific evidence suggests that the ego processes which mediate learning, automatization, and prediction are fundamentally unconscious (and derive their consciousness from the id). In this panel, Jaak Panksepp will review some of the key neuroscientific findings which support the central role of subcortical brain circuits for consciousness and affect; Mark Solms will reprise his main arguments and explore some of the implications for psychoanalytic theory; and Heather Berlin will provide additional commentary integrating neuroscientific findings on the “cognitive and affective unconscious” and the dynamic unconscious. A discussion between the three presenters will be followed by Q&A from the audience. In preparation, attendees are encouraged to read a recent article by Solms and Panksepp entitled “The ‘id’ knows more than the ‘ego’ admits: Neuropsychoanalytic and primal consciousness perspectives on the interface between affective and cognitive neuroscience” appearing in Brain Sciences. To download a free PDF of the article, visit http://www.mdpi.com/2076-3425/2/2/147.
Mark Solms, Ph.D. University of Cape Town
Jaak Panksepp, Ph.D. Washington State University
Heather Berlin, Ph.D. Mount Sinai Medical School
Moderator: Maggie Zellner
at the Auditorium, New York Psychoanalytic Institute, 247 East 82nd Street, (between 2nd and 3rd Avenues) New York
ALL WELCOME!