“Behind and Beyond the Brain”

“Behind and Beyond the Brain”

BEHIND AND BEYOND THE BRAIN
Casa do Médico - Porto

28th to 31st March 2012

Sleep and Dreams

The 9th Symposium “Behind and Beyond the Brain” is dedicated to the theme “Sleep and Dreams”, a topic with many facets that will be discussed by world-renowned experts. This theme has been a constant concern of the human mind since the dawn of civilization. Why do we sleep? What happens in the human body when we sleep? Why do we dream? What do dreams represent? Questions like these have been, over the centuries, issues of poetic imagination, of philosophical analysis, of mythological confabulations. Currently this theme is the subject of scientific research in a wide area of Neurosciences. In the last decades our knowledge about the nature of "Sleep and Dreams" has advanced spectacularly, and these phenomena are now multidisciplinary and rigorously studied. This Symposium is dedicated to the analysis and discussion of the nature of "Sleep and Dreams" in light of latest and more relevant research.

The 2012 Symposium follows the same general format as previous symposia. In the opening session a general keynote lecture will be given by Professor Allan Hobson (Harvard, USA) with the title "Dream Consciousness". In the morning of the following three days 3 sessions will take place: the first is dedicated to the “Neurobiology of Sleep and Cognition”, ending with a keynote lecture entitled “Lying awake of insomnia: imaging causes and consequences” by Professor Eus van Someren (Amsterdam); the second to “Dreams and Anomalous Cognition”, ending with a keynote lecture on the theme “The Psychology of precognitive dream experiences” by Professor Caroline Watt (Edinburgh); and in the third session multidisciplinary aspects will be approached “Sleep, Dreams and Society”, ending with a keynote lecture entitled “Exploring the world of lucid dreaming” by Professor Stephen LaBerge (Stanford, USA).

The first session will be moderated by Axel Cleeremans (Brussels) and will have contributions by the invited lecturers Robert Stickgold (Harvard, USA), Sophie Schwartz (Geneva), Kai Spiegelhalder (Freiburg). It will end with a keynote lecture by Eus van Someren.

The second session will be moderated by Dick Bierman (Amsterdam) and will include contributions by Carlos Alvarado (Virginia, USA), Sally Rhine Feather (North Carolina, USA), Christopher A. Roe (Northampton). It will end with a keynote lecture by Caroline Watt.

The third session will be moderated by Alexandre Castro-Caldas (Lisbon) and will have contributions by Michael Schredl (Mannheim), Teresa Paiva (Lisbon), Peter Halász (Budapest). It will end with a keynote lecture by Stephen LaBerge (Stanford, USA).

The Symposium is a Forum where those BIAL Foundation Fellows who most recently finished their projects are able to present their work to the public by way of posters sessions and oral communications, and where all participants are invited to discuss the Symposium themes with the speakers, particularly in an Evening Encounter on Friday 30, coordinated by Mário Simões (Lisbon) and moderated by the journalist Andreia Azevedo Soares.

Organizing comittee
FERNANDO LOPES DA SILVA (Amsterdam) - President
DICK BIERMAN (Amsterdam)
MIGUEL CASTELO-BRANCO (Coimbra)
ALEXANDRE CASTRO-CALDAS (Lisbon)
AXEL CLEEREMANS (Brussels)
RUI MOTA CARDOSO (Porto)
MÁRIO SIMÕES (Lisbon)
CAROLINE WATT (Edinburgh)

Participants
Carlos Alvarado (Virginia)
Dick Bierman (Amsterdam)
Miguel Castelo-Branco (Coimbra)
Alexandre Castro-Caldas (Lisbon)
Axel Cleeremans (Brussels)
Sally Rhine Feather (North Carolina)
Péter Halász (Budapest)
Allan Hobson (Harvard)
Stephen LaBerge (Stanford)
Fernando Lopes da Silva (Amsterdam)
Teresa Paiva (Lisbon)
Christopher A. Roe (Northampton)
Michael Schredl (Mannheim)
Sophie Schwartz (Geneva)
Mário Simões (Lisbon)
Kai Spiegelhalder (Freiburg)
Robert Stickgold (Harvard)
Eus van Someren (Amsterdam)
Caroline Watt (Edinburgh)