HOW TO SOUND LIKE AN EXPERT
Consciousness is a complex subject, which spans biology, psychology and philosophy. As a subject of debate, it’s a relatively recent arrival on the academic scene ... but what it lacks in longevity it has more than made up for in terms of accumulating in-house jargon.

The phraseology ranges from the technical to the highly abstract, so there’s plenty of scope if you fancy joining in pub discussions on the subject. Given the huge span of opinion on even basic terms of reference, beginners are only a few crib notes away from speaking like an expert - and getting away with it at least until their jargon is trumped by someone else’s ...

A FEW BASICS
Casual references to "the hard problem" of consciousness tend to go down well. "The hard problem" refers to the question of why consciousness feels like it does. You could work out all the "easy problems", such as what it is about neurons that gives rise to consciousness, and how it’s processed from sensory input, and still be no nearer to solving the hard problem. Which is what makes it hard. The "explanatory gap" is another way of talking about this conundrum.

Another great buzzword. "Epiphenomenalism" is the theory that consciousness is simply a by-product of brain activity, and doesn’t interact causally with the material world at all. In other words, it has no real function, and we could do everything we do equally well as zombies, without any of that stream-of-consciousness stuff flooding through our inner worlds ...

The idea of "emergence" comes from the school of thought that holds that consciousness arises from the sheer complexity of brain action. This would be analogous to saying that acceleration arises from the workings of a car - but is more than the sum of its parts. So you could refer to consciousness as "an emergent property".

PREMIER LEAGUE JARGON
"Metacognition" means the full monty of elements making up consciousness - memory, thinking, self-awareness and so on, as well as simple perception and awareness. Memory, imagination and so on are considered "higher functions".

Try using a sentence like "The recent findings on metacognition in dreams, are of course, extremely interesting ..." and make sure you change the subject before anyone asks "why?"

"Oscillation" is a hot subject in consciousness research. Neurons - ie brain cells - oscillate. In other words, their electrical potential varies in a wave-like way. It’s thought that when a group of neurons oscillate together at the same rate they create a conscious experience. The rates of oscillation are numbered ’theta’, beta’, ’delta’ etc.

So a phrase like "Is cortical theta oscillation a more likely candidate for consciousness than global alpha, do you think?" would give you instant credibility with the neuroscience brigade - though the answer may leave you feeling your own consciousness is clinging on by its fingertips!

Mathematicians and physicists have thrown their hats in the ring, with the idea that consciousness may come about due to quantum mechanics. Most people will feel at sea with this concept as soon as you bring it up - but to finish them off, you could remark "I’m rather taken with the idea of consciousness as a continuous collapsing of the wave function. What’s your opinion?" Final whistle - you win.

TECHNICAL DETAILS ...
Current technology however has meant that disciplines like neuroscience and artificial intelligence have been able to come at the question of consciousness from a practical, evidence-based perspective. Quite a refreshing change after centuries of philosophical introspection on the subject of ’the mind’. Computation and brain physiology might not be able to answer all the questions to everyone’s satisfaction - but the experimental results can’t be ignored.

"Neural networks" - or "neural nets" as they’re known by those in the biz - are models of brain activity which are ’plastic’ in the sense that they grow and evolve into more complicated forms from very simple states. The AI (artificial intelligence) contingent are very keen on these - so if you mention them to a tech-head you’ll have made a friend...

Brain imaging is a huge new source of information - and it’s worth knowing a few key facts about each. In addition to helping you sound erudite, the acronyms often appear as questions on TV quiz shows, so they’re definitely worth knowing about! Here’s the lowdown on the main techniques.
PET scanning (pronounced as in ’your *pet* dog’). PET stands for Postitron Emission Tomography.

In the past, the only way to examine the inside of a brain  was to wait until after the post mortem....

Now, fortunately, it’s possible for scientists to examine the structure of the living brain by non-invasive means. These imaging techniques work in a similar way to the X-rays and CAT scans that are used elsewhere in medical research. The technology is now so advanced that it’s possible to watch the brain at work, literally like a "live broadcast".

The experimental subject has to lie in a scanner, and they are often given mental tasks to do while they are in there, to get their brain to flex its muscles, so to speak. These tests range from reading a computer manual, speaking a foreign language, watching horror movies or recalling memories from their nursery group. The resulting images are helping neuroscientists to map the practical workings of the mind within the physical brain.

fMRI is the best technique in terms of giving precise locations of events in the brain - but there’s a crucial time lag involved.

PET and MEG scans are less precise, but much speedier, so the images have to be used in conjunction with each other.

MRI stands for Magnetic Resonance Imaging.

"Functional MRI" - fMRI - is one step better because it means you can see the brain activity as it happens.

MEG - is the shortened form of Magneto- encephalogram.