The Diving Bell And The Butterfly
2013

Maiden Alley Cinema Paducah, KY

with

Dr. J. Ian Norris

Experimental Psychologist and Assistant Professor, Murray State University

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly— The Biological Bases of Consciousness

A discussion of the current state of neuroscientific thoughts of the biological bases of consciousness. The questions explored included: What is consciousness? Is it a biological phenomenon? How do we know if someone is conscious? What can we learn about consciousness from people in minimally conscious states?

Maiden Alley Cinema Paducah, KY

Film Synopsis

The true story of Elle editor Jean-Dominique Bauby who suffers a stroke and has to live with an almost totally paralyzed body; only his left eye isn't paralyzed.

Jean-Dominique Bauby (Mathieu Amalric), editor-in-chief of French fashion magazine Elle, has a devastating stroke at age 43. The damage to his brain stem results in locked-in syndrome, with which he is almost completely paralyzed and only able to communicate by blinking an eye. Bauby painstakingly dictates his memoir via the only means of expression left to him. Though trapped in his body, Bauby is still able to escape his "diving bell" by letting his imagination take flight like a butterfly. Artist and filmmaker Julian Schnabel won the Best Director award at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival for this fiercely beautiful, quietly moving adaptation of Jean-Dominique Bauby's remarkable memoir.

About the Speaker

Dr. J. Ian Norris is an experimental psychologist and assistant professor at Murray State University. His research involves the intersection of emotion and judgment, and how the context of judgment influences affective experience. Ultimately he is interested in their relationship to happiness and well-being, as well as consumer decision-making, choice, and preference, and the relationship of consumer behavior to values, motivation, and well-being.