Vilayanur Ramachandran
Professor in Psychology and Neurosciences; Director, Center for Brain and Cognition
University of California, San Diego, United States
Profile – Vilayanur S. Ramachandran (b. 1951)
Usually known as Rama, V. S. Ramachandran is a flamboyant neuroscientist and lecturer. Born in Tamil Nadu, he trained as a doctor in India, did a PhD at Trinity College, Cambridge, and then worked on visual perception and neurology. He is Director of the Center for Brain and Cognition, and Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of California, San Diego. Ramachandran is best known for research on phantom limbs, rare neurological diseases, synaesthesia, and the ‘bedroom intruder’ in sleep paralysis. His original thinking has sometimes led to criticism that his speculations reach far beyond the evidence. He loves Indian painting and sculpture, and he thinks that the blind spot is filled in with qualia and that subjectivity resides mainly in the temporal lobes and cingulate gyrus.
More biographical information
The Marco Polo of neuroscience. Profile in the Observer, January 2011
Brain games: The Marco Polo of neuroscience. Detailed and fun profile in the New Yorker, May 2009
The Sherlock Holmes of neuroscience. Interview for Swarajya Magazine, April 2017
Center for Brain and Cognition, UC San Diego
Publications
Contributions on Edge
Citations on Google Scholar
Quotes on Goodreads
Selected publications relevant to consciousness
Ramachandran, V. S., and Blakeslee, S. (1998). Phantoms in the brain: Proving the mysteries of the human mind. London: Fourth Estate. Google Books preview here.
Ramachandran, V. S., and Gregory, R. L. (1991). Perceptual filling in of artificially induced scotomas in human vision. Nature, 350, 699–702. Direct PDF download (final version) here.
Ramachandran, V. S., and Hirstein, W. (1997). Three laws of qualia: What neurology tells us about the biological functions of consciousness. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 4 (5–6), 429–457. Paywall-protected journal record here. Direct PDF download (final version) here.
Ramachandran, V. S., and Hubbard, E. M. (2001). Synaesthesia – A window into perception, thought and language. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 8, 3–34. Paywall-protected journal record here. Direct PDF download (final version) here.
Video
Interview with Charlie Rose, December 2012
Embodied souls: Lessons from neurology. Graduate lecture at UC Berkeley, January 2016
Body and mind: Insights from neuroscience. Gifford lectures, University of Glasgow, 2012. Includes two talks (with blurb), on: Molecules, neurons, and morality; Illusions, delusions, and the brain
The neurons that shaped civilization. TEDIndia talk, November 2009
3 clues to understanding your brain. TED talk, March 2007
Audio
Interview with Sue Blackmore – this formed the basis for Rama’s chapter in Conversations on Consciousness, 2004
The emerging mind. Reith Lectures, BBC Radio 4 and World Service, 2003. Includes five talks (with transcripts), on: phantoms in the brain; synapses and the self; the artful brain; purple numbers and sharp cheese; neuroscience – the new philosophy