We are at the threshold of crucial understanding that will have radical implications in terms of how we understand ourselves and how we perceive the world around us. The exponential growth of technology twinned with the development of science in key areas which all interlink, particularly genomics, consciousness science and AI technology, will have a huge impact upon the world we live in. David Deutsch says that knowledge has infinite reach and is a source of almost unlimited power in the universe.
Experimental research methods have a vast range of clinical applications, including psychiatry and robotics. More to the point, new scientific enquiry questions the ‘reality’ we live in and what we mean by mental health.
The theme of consciousness and psycholinguistics, how we explore and understand the world around us on a physical, psychological and cultural level, brings into question the nature of perception, the overlap between the science of mind and the psychology of self.
In this project there is an ambiguity of the documentary image: the test subject can appear less human, more robotic, despite the fact that the scientific enquiry is aimed at discovering what makes us human.
The Sussex Centre for Consciousness Science seeks to unravel the complex brain mechanisms that generate consciousness through a variety of methods, including the use of hypnagogic scanners and adapted Oculus Rift Goggles. Augmented reality environments are created in order to investigate interoception (awareness of bodily states), proprioception (awareness of how our body is positioned in space) and out of body experiences.
The Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics researches the psychological, social and biological foundations of language and is at the forefront of interdisciplinary research into the foundations of language and communication.
Thresholds of the Mind is a photography project documenting research centres that are at the forefront of this scientific research. It is an enquiry into the objective and subjective sense of self, asking the questions of what it means to be conscious, sentient and human.
The images for this project were taken at The Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science, Sussex University, UK and the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, Netherlands.
Copyright © All rights reserved Barry Falk 2022
Test Subject, Faraday Cage, Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science
Test Subject / Research Assistant , Faraday Cage, Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science
Test Subject / Research Assistant, TMS/EEG, Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science
Professor Anil Seth, Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience, Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science
Test Subject, VR Lab, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics
Self Portrait, VR Lab, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics
VR Lab, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics
VR Lab, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics
VR Lab, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics
VR Lab, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics
Researcher wearing a virtual reality helmet, VR lab, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics
Max Planck, Experiment Room 145
Dr Charlotte Rae, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science
Professor Sarah Garfinkel, Psychiatry and Consciousness Science, Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science
Dr Keisuke Suzuki, Research Fellow, Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science
Dr Lionel Barnett, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science
Professor Peter Hagoort, Director of the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics
Recording Equipment, Gesture Lab, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics
Projectors, VR Lab, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics (montage)
Researcher, Behavioural Lab, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics
Augmented Reality, Simulated image through adapted Oculus Rift Goggles
Test Subject, Sussex university Campus
Professor Anil Seth, Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience, Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science
Copyright © All rights reserved Barry Falk 2018