Measuring consciousness: on the search for the neural correlates of consciousness

Students are introduced to cognitive science as an experimental discipline. They read literature, develop research ideas and discuss experimental designs. They carry out their own experiment and write up a graded report at the end.

Instructor: together with Pablo R. Grassi

Term: Winter

Time: February 24th–26th, 2021

Course Overview

Experimentation plays a central role in studying the human mind. The goal of this module is to help the student understand how experimental research works and to give them the opportunity to carry out their own experiment.

Learning goals

  • Read, understand, discuss existing scientific papers
  • Develop a research question
  • Devise a research plan
  • Prepare an experiment
  • Apply statistical tools and make inferences from observed data
  • Interpret and discuss one’s own findings

Requirements

Submission of research report (graded), presence and active participation!

Literature

  • “Das psychologische Experiment” by Oswald Huber
  • “Experimentology” by Frank et al. (2025)
  • “Discovering Statistics Using R” by Andy Field, Jeremy Miles, and Zoe Field