Brain and Consciousness Research Center

The Brain & Consciousness Research Centre (BCRC) is housed at Taipei Medical University’s (TMU) Shuang Ho Hospital (SHH), in New Taipei City, Taiwan. BCRC comprises scientists, clinicians and philosophers who investigate consciousness, its levels and contents, as well as its relationship to self, cognition, and viscera. Our PIs investigate normal and altered states of consciousness or cognition, in healthy subjects and in patients who suffer from neurological or psychiatric diseases. Ongoing projects include unresponsive wakefulness syndrome, sleep, blindsight, general anesthesia, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, major depressive disorder, etc. Our team members are also investigating the brain’s executive functions, lie detection, circadian rhythms, social cognition in non-humans, the brain-viscera nexus, as well as methodological issues at the heart of neuroimaging. Center equipment includes EEG, TMS, EyeLink, 3T MRI and PET. We also have access to MEG at neighboring research institutions. Our PIs are from Italy, Korea, Scotland, Switzerland, Taiwan, and the United States. Although all focus on one or more aspects of neuroscience, PI academic backgrounds are diverse, including studies in electrical engineering, experimental psychology, mathematics, formal logic, pharmacology, neurology, psychiatry, philosophy, and physics. BCRC is the research wing of TMU’s Graduate Institute of Mind, Brain, and Consciousness (GIMBC). GIMBC is a thoroughly international Institute that offers courses of study leading to MS and Ph.D. degrees. Students, the majority of whom carry out research projects at BCRC, represent countries throughout Asia, Europe, as well as North & South America.