Department of Psychology, National Chengchi University Academic Seminar 114-2 Semester
Speaker: Dr. Yaron Caspi Postdoctoral Research Fellow(Brain and Consciousness Laboratory, National Taiwan University)
Title: Cerebellum and Consciousness
Date and Time: Thursday, April 9, 2026, 14:10–16:00
Venue: Room 080101, Department of Psychology, Guofu Building, National Chengchi University
All faculty members and students are cordially invited to attend.
Lecture Abstract:
The Scientific Studies of Consciousness, one of the fields of cognitive sciences that attracts increasing attention, aims at finding the brain substrate of conscious experiences. Usually, the search is cashed out in terms of the neural correlates of consciousness (NCC), which are supposed to represent brain regions that uniquely participate in conscious experiences (in contrast to unconscious processing). Within this framework, the cerebellum is typically presented as an example of a brain region that is not part of the NCC.
Traditionally, the cerebellum has been conceived as a motor-related brain part associated with the organism's output behavior or its kinematic state. Even today, this is the mainstream view in many cognitive neuroscience and neurobiology educational textbooks. Nevertheless, our understanding of the cerebellum has undergone a revolution in the last 25 years. Today, the cerebellum is recognized for its involvement in various brain functions, including cognition, affect, language, and working memory.
In the current lecture, I will claim that, despite the mainstream view in consciousness studies, the current published scientific literature also supports a function for the cerebellum in conscious experiences. This function exists on two levels. First, it supports the participation of the cerebellum in felt experiences (e.g., perception, episodic memory, mental time travel, psychedelics, fatigue, pain, illusions and hallucinations, body ownership and sense of agency, emotions, and even the female orgasm). Second, it supports the involvement of the cerebellum in the levels of consciousness (sleep-wake cycle, temporal lobe epilepsy, anesthesia, and disorders of consciousness). In both cases, the primary function of the cerebellum is to act as a modulator of consciousness. Finally, the cerebellum also participates in brain functions that are associated with consciousness, including attention, social cognition, and various psychiatric conditions.
I will present evidence that the cerebellum participates in various facets of conscious experience. I will further discuss some technical pitfalls and prejudices that contribute to this cortical myopia. Following, I will demonstrate how integrating knowledge about the cerebellum can instruct and support the development of theories of consciousness. Finally, I will discuss a framework for consciousness studies that expands the narrow view of the NCC to a broader framework. This modified framework – the Neural Modulators of Consciousness (NMC) is centered around the identification of modification mechanisms in the brain that influence conscious experience as the primary goal of Consciousness Studies.
Speaker Profile:
Dr. Yaron Caspi is currently a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Department of Psychology at National Taiwan University. With an interdisciplinary research background spanning biophysics, synthetic biology, microbial mechanics, plant signaling, neuroimaging, psychopathology, and aging, his work bridges multiple levels of analysis across the life sciences and cognitive sciences. His current research focuses on the biological foundations of conscious perception, particularly on how biological factors ranging from genetics and physiology to brain mechanisms relate to individual differences in consciousness and perceptual experience. He also investigates the role of the cerebellum in consciousness and considers the theoretical implications and broader applications of plasticity as a cross-disciplinary concept.
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