Dr Sue Pockett
MSc, PhD (Otago)
Phone: 64 9 373 7599 X 85760
Research Areas
The nature of consciousness.
Current Research
EEG correlates of conscious sensations
I am currently involved in testing the hypothesis that conscious sensations (aka qualia) are brain-generated, roughly brain-sized, spatiotemporal electromagnetic patterns. This hypothesis, together with a considerable amount of empirical evidence which already exists to support it, answers to some commonly advanced objections to its plausibility and some material on its implications, is laid out in a book published in 2000, called
The Nature of Consciousness: A Hypothesis. The book can be browsed here (PDF) and purchased at any online bookseller.
A further line of work involves the relative timing of the sensation of willing a movement and the movement itself, and the related question of whether or not consciousness causes behavior.
Recent Publications
Pockett S and Purdy SC (2010) Are voluntary movements initiated preconsciously? The relationships between readiness potentials, urges and decisions. In: W Sinnott-Armstrong and L Nadel (Eds) Conscious Will and Responsibility: A Tribute to Benjamin Libet. Eds, New York; OUP. In press. (PDF)
Pockett S and Holmes MD (2009) Intracranial EEG power spectra and phase synchrony during consciousness and unconsciousness. Consciousness and Cognition, in press. (PDF)
Pockett S, Bold GEJ and Freeman WJ (2009) EEG synchrony during a perceptual-cognitive task: Widespread phase synchrony at all frequencies. Clinical Neurophysiology 120, 695-708. (PDF)
Pockett S (2009) Brain basis of voluntary control. In: WP Banks (Ed), Encyclopedia of Consciousness Volume 1, pp 123-133. Oxford: Elsevier. (PDF)
Pockett S, Whalen S, McPhail AVH and Freeman WJ (2007) Topography, independent component analysis and dipole source analysis of movement related potentials. Cognitive Neurodynamics 1, 327-340.
Pockett S, Zhou ZZ, Brennan BJ and Bold GEJ (2007) Spatial resolution and the neural correlates of sensory experience. Brain Topography 20, 1-6. (PDF)
Pockett S and Miller A (2007) The rotating spot method of timing subjective events. Consciousness and Cognition 16, 241-254. (pdf)
Pockett S (2007) The concept of free will: philosophy, neuroscience and the law. Invited Paper: Behavioral Sciences and the Law 25, 281-293. (pdf)
Banks WP and Pockett S (2007) Libet's work on the neuroscience of free will. Blackwell Companion to Consciousness, Blackwell.
Pockett S (2007) Difficulties with the electromagnetic field theory of consciousness: an update. Invited paper: NeuroQuantology 3, 271-275.
Pockett S., Banks W.P. and Gallagher S. (2006) Does consciousness cause behavior? Cambridge Mass: MIT Press. http://mitpress.mit .edu/catalog/item/default.asp?ttype=2&tid=10887
Pockett S (2006) The neuroscience of movement. In Does Consciousness Cause Behavior? Eds S. Pockett, W. Banks and S. Gallagher. Cambridge Mass., MIT Press.
Pockett S, Banks WP and Gallagher S (2006) Editors' introduction. In Does Consciousness Cause Behavior? Eds S. Pockett, W. Banks and S. Gallagher. Cambridge Mass., MIT Press.
Pockett S. Unpublished epilogue. Not in Does Consciousness Cause Behavior? Eds S. Pockett, W. Banks and S. Gallagher. Cambridge Mass., MIT Press. (pdf)
Pockett S (2006) The great subjective back-referral debate: do neural responses increase during a train of stimuli? Consciousness and Cognition 15, 551-559.
