Enchanted looms

Rodney Cotterill bridges the gap between the bottom-up approach to understanding consciousness, anchored in the brain's biochemistry, anatomy and physiology, and the top-down strategy, which concerns itself with behaviour and the nervous system's interaction with the environment. Equally at home describing the intricacies of neural networks, the methods of monitoring brain activity and relevant aspects of psychology, the author argues that an explanation of consciousness is now at hand, and extends the discussion to include intelligence and creativity. Those who believe that their conscious…