Cohen / Stemmer Consciousness and Cognition

Fragments of Mind and Brain
1. Auflage 2011
ISBN: 978-0-08-047119-8
Verlag: Elsevier Science & Techn.
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 6 - ePub Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, 288 Seiten

What were the circumstances that led to the development of our cognitive abilities from a primitive hominid to an essentially modern human? The answer to this question is of profound importance to understanding our present nature. Since the steep path of our cognitive development is the attribute that most distinguishes humans from other mammals, this is also a quest to determine human origins. This collection of outstanding scientific problems and the revelation of the many ways they can be addressed indicates the scope of the field to be explored and reveals some avenues along which research is advancing. Distinguished scientists and researchers who have advanced the discussion of the mind and brain contribute state-of-the-art presentations of their field of expertise. Chapters offer speculative and provocative views on topics such as body, culture, evolution, feelings, genetics, history, humor, knowledge, language, machines, neuroanatomy, pathology, and perception. This book will appeal to researchers and students in cognitive neuroscience, experimental psychology, cognitive science, and philosophy.
* Includes a contribution by Noam Chomsky, one of the most cited authors of our time

Autoren/Hrsg.

Cohen, Henri

Stemmer, Brigitte

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1;Front Cover;1
2;Consciousness and Cognition;4
3;Copyright Page;5
4;Contents;6
5;Contributors;9
6;Introduction;27
7;Chapter 1. How Did Modern Human Cognition Evolve?;30
7.1;Our large brain: does size matter?;32
7.2;Tools, decoration and art;34
7.3;Where did modern human consciousness come from?;39
7.4;Conclusion;44
8;Chapter 2. Taking Up Arms;46
8.1;Thinking big;46
8.2;The question of language;47
8.3;Language is a hand-me-down!;48
8.4;Convincing myself;48
8.5;Book for sale;49
8.6;Objections;49
8.7;When did autonomous speech emerge?;50
8.8;Not with a bang, but with a whimper;53
9;Chapter 3. Celebrating 300 Million Years of the Mind: A Bird’s Eye View;56
9.1;What do we mean by ‘the mind’?;57
9.2;Flying without frontal lobes;58
9.3;What is intelligence, and how can this be measured in birds?;58
9.4;Birds, like humans, learn from careful observation;60
9.5;How is this possible with so little neocortical tissue?;61
9.6;From stories to controlled experiments;62
9.7;Talking with Alex;65
9.8;Bird play;66
9.9;If my bird looks happy, is she really happy?;67
9.10;Anthropomorphism;68
9.11;Conclusion;69
10;Chapter 4. Was Medieval Cell Doctrine More Modern Than We Thought?;72
10.1;A brief historical sketch – the standard view;72
10.2;New version – it was in the brain all along;73
10.3;Early studies of patients with brain damage;74
10.4;A little Latin to help sort out the puzzle;75
10.5;Information flow – making the model dynamic;75
10.6;The brain’s control of movement;77
10.7;A summary and outline;78
11;Chapter 5. Can Evolution Produce Robots?;80
11.1;Artificial intelligence;80
11.2;How does artificial evolution work?;83
11.3;How artificial neurons work;85
11.4;How to get robots to behave;85
11.5;What artificial neural nets can do;86
11.6;A useful application: getting rid of trash;88
11.7;Learning and evolution;88
11.8;What is the current state of things?;89
11.9;Of what importance is evolutionary robotics?;91
11.10;Future visions;91
12;Chapter 6. The Thought-Translation Device;96
12.1;Using brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) to translate thoughts into action;97
12.2;Communicating with slow cortical potentials;98
12.3;The origin of slow cortical potentials in the human brain;99
12.4;The TTD in a nutshell;99
12.5;Setting up and using the TTD;101
12.6;How the language support program works;101
12.7;The training procedure;103
12.8;The training of patient E.M.;104
12.9;TTD – visions for the future;107
13;Chapter 7. Babes in Arms: Studies in Laterality;110
13.1;The left side rules;110
13.2;A bias rediscovered;112
13.3;Is the bias just a matter of handedness?;115
13.4;Some things to know about handedness;116
13.5;What handedness could explain about the holding-side bias;117
13.6;Problems for a handedness explanation;118
13.7;Is the bias a matter of posture?;120
13.8;What’s the difference between babies and books?;122
13.9;Types of holds and their functions;124
13.10;States of ‘action-approach’;124
13.11;The anatomy of emotion;128
13.12;Emotions, attention, and side of holding;129
13.13;Can the attention hypothesis account for other details of the holding-side bias?;130
13.14;An exception to the left-side rule;132
13.15;Why don’t left-hand prohibitions decrease left-side holding?;134
13.16;In Sum;135
14;Chapter 8. Why a Creative Brain? Evolutionary Setups for Off-Line Planning of Coherent Stages;142
14.1;Creativity is an evolutionary newcomer;142
14.2;Creativity for language instead?;143
14.3;When an advance plan is needed;144
14.4;Innovation during get-set;145
14.5;The Darwinian process;146
14.6;Speeding up the Darwinian process;147
14.7;New uses for old things;148
14.8;Long sentences and coherence;149
14.9;Creating new levels of organization;150
15;Chapter 9. Creativity: Method or Magic?;154
15.1;What is not creative?;155
15.2;Creative trait or creative state?;158
15.3;Underlying mechanisms;158
15.4;Conclusions;164
16;Chapter 10. The Cross-Cultural Brain;166
16.1;Alexithymia;167
16.2;The laterality hypothesis of alexithymia;168
16.3;A ‘flashy’ way to do experiments;168
16.4;The experiments;170
16.5;An invitation to participate in our online experiments;173
17;Chapter 11. Where’s the Missing Body? A Puzzle for Cognitive Science;176
17.1;Act I;176
17.2;Act II;178
17.3;Act III;180
17.4;Act IV;184
18;Chapter 12. Whose Free Will is it Anyway? or, The Illusion of Determinism;190
18.1;Is free will more than a feeling?;190
18.2;Neuroscience, neural reductionism and determinism;191
18.3;The implications of reductionism and determinism for society and psychology;192
18.4;Psychology and materialism of the mind;193
18.5;Modern neuroscience and non-determinism: radical changes of the late twentieth century;194
18.6;The crux of the free-will debate: is brain activity predictable?;195
18.7;Future perspectives;197
19;Chapter 13. Affective Neuroscience and the Ancestral Sources of Human Feelings;200
19.1;Some personal lessons and LESSNS about the evolved nature of emotions;200
19.2;Archaeology of mind: the affective sources of consciousness;202
19.3;Five distinctions between affective consciousness and cognitive consciousness;204
19.4;The emotional underpinnings of human nature – toward a neuroevolutionary psychobiology;206
19.5;Learning in emotional systems and more on the pervasive emotion-cognition interactions;209
19.6;Development of new psychiatric medications;210
19.7;Mind views: emotional states and cognitive information processing;211
19.8;In sum;212
20;Chapter 14. The Funny Meat Behind Our Eyes;218
20.1;Humor and laughter for fun and (maybe) health;220
20.2;Humor and laughter from a biological perspective;221
20.3;The functional cognitive anatomy of a joke;227
20.4;Where do we go from here?;229
21;Chapter 15. Practicing Safe Stress: A Selective Overview of the Neuroscience Research;232
21.1;Stress and stressors;232
21.2;Acute stress and memory;237
21.3;Chronic stress, brain structure, and function;240
21.4;Stress and mental health;242
21.5;How stress sculpts the developing brain;245
21.6;Gender, stress, and the brain;247
21.7;Coping with stress;248
22;Chapter 16. Petrol Sniffing, the Brain, and Aboriginal culture: Between Sorcery and Neuroscience;252
22.1;Petrol sniffing;252
22.2;Aboriginal culture;255
22.3;Neuroscience;258
22.4;Both ways;265
22.5;Conclusion;269
23;Chapter 17. Chatting with Noam Chomsky;272
24;Index;282
24.1;A;282
24.2;B;282
24.3;C;283
24.4;D;284
24.5;E;284
24.6;F;284
24.7;G;284
24.8;H;285
24.9;I;285
24.10;J;285
24.11;K;285
24.12;L;285
24.13;M;286
24.14;N;286
24.15;O;286
24.16;P;286
24.17;R;286
24.18;S;287
24.19;T;287
24.20;U;287
24.21;V;287
24.22;W;287
24.23;Y;287
25;Color Plates;288