There is no single answer to the question 'What is consciousness?' Definitions vary depending on the knowledge domain. Philosophy, ethics, biology, medicine or even computer science have rather different viewpoints. For FET Open project LUMINOUS consciousness is about the electric nature of the brain: the waves, the connections, and their synchronization. LUMINOUS focuses on neuroscience and envisages that consciousness will someday be electromagnetically measured and altered. This will provide science and particularly cognitive science with crucial insights. Applications for patients with mental disorders or the advancement of artificial intelligence are only two examples of the possible impact.

Experts in different fields such as neuroscience, physics, mathematics, consciousness, computational science, clinical research, and biomedical engineering have joined forces in this interdisciplinary project. Together they want to understand consciousness and its alterations in different human states, including perception, sleep, anesthesia, locked-in syndrome, disorders of consciousness, and in utero. With the help of computational neuroscience simulations, non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) will be applied to measure brain activity. The project will also explore using NIBS to alter consciousness. Ethical implications resulting from the research are closely followed throughout the project.

More information can be found on the website of this EU-funded project.