Most people both inside neuroscience and in the general public associate consciousness with the higher cerebral cortex. In this talk, Dr. Mark Solms will argue that this is incorrect: consciousness arises from the primitive brainstem. Moreover, he will argue that consciousness is not fundamentally perceptual and cognitive but rather fundamentally affective and emotional. He will present clinical neurological and experimental evidence to support these arguments, which have their historical origins in two ideas of Freuds, namely, that perception and cognition are largely unconscious and that affective feelings are intrinsically conscious.

Learning objectives:
1. Describe the brain structures that generate conscious versus unconscious mental states.
2. Explain the functional relationship between conscious and unconscious mental states.
3. Implement revised therapeutic techniques for making unconscious strategies conscious, leading to less automatised decision-making.