In Sherrington's Loom, Alan McComas provides a historical account of the research that has led to recognition of key mechanisms underlying consciousness. Evidence is assembled from a rich variety of sources--neurological patients, animal behavior, laboratory studies, and especially brain stimulation and recording in humans and animals. Among the remarkable advances in the field has been the ability to identify nerve cells in the human brain that store memories of specific people, places, and objects. In addition to dealing with the issue of "free will," the book assembles the information into possible working models for sensations, intentions, and actions. McComas concludes by considering the possibility of consciousness in artificially intelligent systems.

Alan McComas was born in Western Australia and educated in Britain, gaining degrees in physiology, medicine, and surgery at Durham University. Following postdoctoral studies at University College London and the National Hospital for Nervous Diseases, he established a muscle and nerve research laboratory at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. In 1971 he was appointed Professor of Medicine and Head of Neurology at McMaster University in Canada, where he has remained ever since. One of the first to record from single units in the human thalamus, Alan McComas has continued an active interest in brain neurophysiology, including the neural basis of migraine. Among other pioneering achievements he is known for having developed electrophysiological methods for estimating the numbers and types of motor nerve cell in the live human spinal cord and brain stem. The author of the 2014 award-winning Galvani's Spark: The Story of the Nerve Impulse (OUP, 2011), Alan McComas has published some 200 peer-reviewed scientific papers and other articles.

Preface Sherrington Vignette Chapter 1: Plan of the Book Chapter 2: Definition and the Mind-Body Problem Chapter 3: Concepts, Conferences and Controversies Chapter 4: Who Else Is Conscious? Chapter 5: Groundwork: Cellular Events Chapter 6: Mapping the Brain Chapter 7: Awaking the Cortex Chapter 8: Electricity Works Chapter 9: Single Units and Grandmother Cells Chapter 10: Making Sense of the Senses Chapter 11: Benjamin Libet's Big Experiment Chapter 12: Putting It All Together Chapter 13: Continuing the Synthesis Chapter 14: Looking to the Future Chapter 15: Summary Chapter 16: Postscript