Download or read book How Brains Make Up Their Minds written by Walter J. Freeman and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2000 with total page 190 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: I think, therefore I am. The legendary pronouncement of philosopher René Descartes lingers as accepted wisdom in the Western world nearly four centuries after its author's death. But does thought really come first? Who actually runs the show: we, our thoughts, or the neurons firing within our brains? Walter J. Freeman explores how we control our behavior and make sense of the world around us. Avoiding determinism both in sociobiology, which proposes that persons' genes control their brains' functioning, and in neuroscience, which posits that their brains' disposition is molded by chemistry and environmental forces, Freeman charts a new course--one that gives individuals due credit and responsibility for their actions. Drawing upon his five decades of research in neuroscience, Freeman utilizes the latest advances in his field as well as perspectives from disciplines as diverse as mathematics, psychology, and philosophy to explicate how different human brains act in their chosen diverse ways. He clarifies the implications of brain imaging, by which neural activity can be observed during the course of normal movements, and shows how nonlinear dynamics reveals order within the fecund chaos of brain function.
Download or read book From Brain Dynamics to the Mind written by Georg Northoff and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2024-04-01 with total page 692 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From Brain Dynamics to the Mind: Spatiotemporal Neuroscience explores how the self and consciousness is related to neural events. Sections in the book cover existing models used to describe the mind/brain problem, recent research on brain mechanisms and processes and what they tell us about the self, consciousness and psychiatric disorders. The book presents a spatiotemporal approach to understanding the brain and the implications for artificial intelligence, novel therapies for psychiatric disorders, and for ethical, societal and philosophical issues. Pulling concepts from neuroscience, psychology and philosophy, the book presents a modern and complete look at what we know, what we can surmise, and what we may never know about the distinction between brain and mind. - Reviews models of understanding the mind/brain problem - Identifies neural processes involved in consciousness, sense of self and brain function - Includes concepts and research from neuroscience, psychology, cognitive science and philosophy - Discusses implications for AI, novel therapies for psychiatric disorders and issues of ethics - Suggests experimental designs and data analyses for future research on the mind/brain issue
Download or read book Dynamic Coordination in the Brain written by Christoph Von Der Malsburg and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2010-07-09 with total page 367 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An examination of how widely distributed and specialized activities of the brain are flexibly and effectively coordinated. A fundamental shift is occurring in neuroscience and related disciplines. In the past, researchers focused on functional specialization of the brain, discovering complex processing strategies based on convergence and divergence in slowly adapting anatomical architectures. Yet for the brain to cope with ever-changing and unpredictable circumstances, it needs strategies with richer interactive short-term dynamics. Recent research has revealed ways in which the brain effectively coordinates widely distributed and specialized activities to meet the needs of the moment. This book explores these findings, examining the functions, mechanisms, and manifestations of distributed dynamical coordination in the brain and mind across different species and levels of organization. The book identifies three basic functions of dynamic coordination: contextual disambiguation, dynamic grouping, and dynamic routing. It considers the role of dynamic coordination in temporally structured activity and explores these issues at different levels, from synaptic and local circuit mechanisms to macroscopic system dynamics, emphasizing their importance for cognition, behavior, and psychopathology. Contributors Evan Balaban, György Buzsáki, Nicola S. Clayton, Maurizio Corbetta, Robert Desimone, Kamran Diba, Shimon Edelman, Andreas K. Engel, Yves Fregnac, Pascal Fries, Karl Friston, Ann Graybiel, Sten Grillner, Uri Grodzinski, John-Dylan Haynes, Laurent Itti, Erich D. Jarvis, Jon H. Kaas, J.A. Scott Kelso, Peter König, Nancy J. Kopell, Ilona Kovács, Andreas Kreiter, Anders Lansner, Gilles Laurent, Jörg Lücke, Mikael Lundqvist, Angus MacDonald, Kevan Martin, Mayank Mehta, Lucia Melloni, Earl K. Miller, Bita Moghaddam, Hannah Monyer, Edvard I. Moser, May-Britt Moser, Danko Nikolic, William A. Phillips, Gordon Pipa, Constantin Rothkopf, Terrence J. Sejnowski, Steven M. Silverstein, Wolf Singer, Catherine Tallon-Baudry, Roger D. Traub, Jochen Triesch, Peter Uhlhaas, Christoph von der Malsburg, Thomas Weisswange, Miles Whittington, Matthew Wilson
Download or read book Brain Body Mind in the Nebulous Cartesian System A Holistic Approach by Oscillations written by Erol Başar and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2010-12-06 with total page 544 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Brain-Body-Mind in the Nebulous Cartesian System: A Holistic Approach by Oscillations is a research monograph, with didactical features, on the mechanisms of the mind, encompassing a wide spectrum of results and analyses. The book should appeal to scientists and graduate students in the fields of neuroscience, neurology, psychiatry, physiology, psychology, physics and philosophy. Its goals are the development of an empirical-analytical construct, denoted as “Reasonings to Approach the Mind”, and the comprehension of 20 principles for understanding the mind. This book amalgamates results from work on the brain, vegetative system, brains in the evolution of species, the maturing brain, dynamic memory, emotional processes, and cognitive impairment in neuro-psychiatric disorders (Alzheimer, Schizophrenia, Bipolar disorders). The findings are comparatively evaluated within the framework of brain oscillations and neurotransmitters. Further, a holistic approach links the brain to the cardiovascular system and overall myogenic coordination of the vegetative system. The results emphasize that EEG oscillations, ultraslow oscillations, and neurotransmitters are quasi-invariant building blocks in brain-body-mind function and also during the evolution of species: The temporal domain is where the importance of research on neural oscillators is indispensable. The core, holistic concept that emerges is that the brain, spinal cord, overall myogenic system, brain-body-oscillations, and neurotransmitters form a functional syncytium. Accordingly, the concept of “Syncytium Brain-Body-Mind” replaces the concept of “Mind”. P>
Download or read book Fractals of Brain Fractals of Mind written by Earl R. Mac Cormac and published by John Benjamins Publishing. This book was released on 1996 with total page 378 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This collective volume is the first to discuss systematically what are the possibilities to model different aspects of brain and mind functioning with the formal means of fractal geometry and deterministic chaos. At stake here is not an approximation to the way of actual performance, but the possibility of brain and mind to implement nonlinear dynamic patterns in their functioning. The contributions discuss the following topics (among others): the edge-of-chaos dynamics in recursively organized neural systems and in intersensory interaction, the fractal timing of the neural functioning on different scales of brain networking, aspects of fractal neurodynamics and quantum chaos in novel biophysics, the fractal maximum-power evolution of brain and mind, the chaotic dynamics in the development of consciousness, etc. It is suggested that the margins of our capacity for phenomenal experience, are fractal-limit phenomena . Here the possibilities to prove the plausibility of fractal modeling with appropriate experimentation and rational reconstruction are also discussed. A conjecture is made that the brain vs. mind differentiation becomes possible, most probably, only with the imposition of appropriate symmetry groups implementing a flowing interface of features of local vs. global brain dynamics. (Series B)
Download or read book Culture Mind and Brain written by Laurence J. Kirmayer and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2020-09-24 with total page 694 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Recent neuroscience research makes it clear that human biology is cultural biology - we develop and live our lives in socially constructed worlds that vary widely in their structure values, and institutions. This integrative volume brings together interdisciplinary perspectives from the human, social, and biological sciences to explore culture, mind, and brain interactions and their impact on personal and societal issues. Contributors provide a fresh look at emerging concepts, models, and applications of the co-constitution of culture, mind, and brain. Chapters survey the latest theoretical and methodological insights alongside the challenges in this area, and describe how these new ideas are being applied in the sciences, humanities, arts, mental health, and everyday life. Readers will gain new appreciation of the ways in which our unique biology and cultural diversity shape behavior and experience, and our ongoing adaptation to a constantly changing world.
Download or read book Emergent Brain Dynamics written by April A. Benasich and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2022-06-07 with total page 339 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Experts explore the maturation of nonlinear brain dynamics from a developmental perspective and consider the relationship of neurodevelopmental disorders to early disruption in dynamic coordination. This volume in the Strüngmann Forum Reports series explores the complex mechanisms that accompany the dynamic processes by which the brain evolves and matures. Integrating perspectives from multiple disciplines, the book identifies knowledge gaps and proposes innovative ways forward for this emerging area of cross-disciplinary study. The contributors examine maturation of nonlinear brain dynamics across systems from a developmental perspective and relate these organizing networks to the establishment of normative cognition and pathology seen in many neurodevelopmental disorders. The book looks at key mechanistic questions, including: What role does dynamic coordination play in the establishment and maintenance of brain networks and structural and functional connectivity? How are local and global functional networks assembled and transformed over normative development? To what degree do oscillatory patterns vary across development? What is the impact of critical periods, and which factors initiate and terminate such periods? It also explores the potential of new technologies and techniques to enhance understanding of normative development and to enable early identification and remediation of neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric disorders that may result from early disruption in dynamic coordination. Contributors Sylvain Baillet, Yehezkel Ben-Ari, April A. Benasich, Olivier Bertrand, Gyorgy Buzsáki, Alain Chédotal, Sam M. Doesburg, Gordin Fishell, Adriana Galván, Jennifer N. Gelinas, Jay Giedd, Pierre Gressens, Ileana L. Hanganu-Opatz, Rowshanak Hashemiyoon, Takao K. Hensch, Suzana Herculano-Houzel, Mark Hübener, Mark, Matthias Kaschube, Michael S. Kobor, Bryan Kolb, Thorsten Kolling, Jean-Philippe Lachaux, Ulman Lindenberger, Heiko J. Luhmann, Hannah Monyer, Sarah R. Moore, Charles A. Nelson III, Tomáš Paus, Patrick L. Purdon, Pasko Rakic, Urs Ribary, Akira Sawa, Terrence J. Sejnowski, Wolf Singer, Cheryl L. Sisk, Nicholas C. Spitzer, Michael P. Stryker, Migranka Sur, Peter J. Uhlhaas
Download or read book The Physics of the Mind and Brain Disorders written by Ioan Opris and published by Springer. This book was released on 2017-12-01 with total page 782 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book covers recent advances in the understanding of brain structure, function and disorders based on the fundamental principles of physics. It covers a broad range of physical phenomena occurring in the brain circuits for perception, cognition, emotion and action, representing the building blocks of the mind. It provides novel insights into the devastating brain disorders of the mind such as schizophrenia, dementia, autism, aging or addictions, as well as into the new devices for brain repair. The book is aimed at basic researchers in the fields of neuroscience, physics, biophysics and clinicians in the fields of neurology, neurosurgery, psychology, psychiatry.
Download or read book Mind as Motion written by Robert F. Port and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 1995 with total page 620 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first comprehensive presentation of the dynamical approach to cognition. It contains a representative sampling of original, current research on topics such as perception, motor control, speech and language, decision making, and development.
Download or read book Neurodynamics An Exploration in Mesoscopic Brain Dynamics written by Walter Freeman and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 395 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cortical evoked potentials are of interest primarily as tests of changing neuronal excitabilities accompanying normal brain function. The first three steps in the anal ysis of these complex waveforms are proper placement of electrodes for recording, the proper choice of electrical or sensory stimulus parameters, and the establish ment of behavioral control. The fourth is development of techniques for reliable measurement. Measurement consists of comparison of an unknown entity with a set of standard scales or dimensions having numerical attributes in preassigned degree. A physical object can be described by the dimensions of size, mass, density, etc. In addition there are dimensions such as location, velocity, weight, hardness, etc. Some of these dimensions can be complex (e. g. size depends on three or more subsidiary coordi nates), and some can be interdependent or nonorthogonal (e. g. specification of size and mass may determine density). In each dimension the unit is defined with refer ence to a standard physical entity, e. g. a unit of mass or length, and the result of measurement is expressed as an equivalence between the unknown and the sum of a specified number of units of that entity. The dimensions of a complex waveform are elementary waveforms from which that waveform can be built by simple addition. Any finite single-valued function of time is admissible. They are called basis functions (lO, 15), and they can be expressed in numeric as well as geometric form.
Download or read book Quantum Brain Dynamics and Consciousness written by Mari Jibu and published by John Benjamins Publishing. This book was released on 1995-01-01 with total page 259 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This change of perspective results in a radically new vision of how the brain functions
Download or read book Dynamic Patterns written by J. A. Scott Kelso and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 1995 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: foreword by Hermann Haken For the past twenty years Scott Kelso's research has focused on extending the physical concepts of self- organization and the mathematical tools of nonlinear dynamics to understand how human beings (and human brains) perceive, intend, learn, control, and coordinate complex behaviors. In this book Kelso proposes a new, general framework within which to connect brain, mind, and behavior.Kelso's prescription for mental life breaks dramatically with the classical computational approach that is still the operative framework for many newer psychological and neurophysiological studies. His core thesis is that the creation and evolution of patterned behavior at all levels--from neurons to mind--is governed by the generic processes of self-organization. Both human brain and behavior are shown to exhibit features of pattern-forming dynamical systems, including multistability, abrupt phase transitions, crises, and intermittency. Dynamic Patterns brings together different aspects of this approach to the study of human behavior, using simple experimental examples and illustrations to convey essential concepts, strategies, and methods, with a minimum of mathematics. Kelso begins with a general account of dynamic pattern formation. He then takes up behavior, focusing initially on identifying pattern-forming instabilities in human sensorimotor coordination. Moving back and forth between theory and experiment, he establishes the notion that the same pattern-forming mechanisms apply regardless of the component parts involved (parts of the body, parts of the nervous system, parts of society) and the medium through which the parts are coupled. Finally, employing the latest techniques to observe spatiotemporal patterns of brain activity, Kelso shows that the human brain is fundamentally a pattern forming dynamical system, poised on the brink of instability. Self-organization thus underlies the cooperative action of neurons that produces human behavior in all its forms.
Download or read book Brain Mind and the Structure of Reality written by Paul L. Nunez and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2012-05-24 with total page 317 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Does the brain create the mind, or is some external entity involved? This book synthesizes ideas borrowed from philosophy, religion, and science. Topics range widely from brain imagining of thought processes to quantum mechanics and the essential role of information in brains and physical systems.
Download or read book Brain mind Machinery written by Gee Wah Ng and published by World Scientific. This book was released on 2009 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Brain and mind continue to be a topic of enormous scientific interest. With the recent advances in measuring instruments such as two-photon laser scanning microscopy and fMRI, the neuronal connectivity and circuitry of how the brain's various regions are hierarchically interconnected and organized are better understood now than ever before. By reverse engineering the brain, computer scientists hope to build cognitively intelligent systems that will revolutionize the artificial intelligence paradigm. Brain-Mind Machinery provides a walkthrough to the world of brain-inspired computing and mind-related questions. Bringing together diverse viewpoints and expertise from multidisciplinary communities, the book explores the human quest to build a thinking machine with human-like capabilities. Readers will acquire a first-hand understanding of the brain and mind mechanisms and machineries, as well as how much we have progressed in and how far we are from building a truly general intelligent system like the human brain.
Download or read book The Mind written by E. Bruce Goldstein and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2020-09-01 with total page 247 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An accessible and engaging account of the mind and its connection to the brain. The mind encompasses everything we experience, and these experiences are created by the brain--often without our awareness. Experience is private; we can't know the minds of others. But we also don't know what is happening in our own minds. In this book, E. Bruce Goldstein offers an accessible and engaging account of the mind and its connection to the brain. He takes as his starting point two central questions--what is the mind? and what is consciousness?--and leads readers through topics that range from conceptions of the mind in popular culture to the wiring system of the brain. Throughout, he draws on the latest research, explaining its significance and relevance.
Download or read book Manipulative approaches to human brain dynamics written by Keiichi Kitajo and published by Frontiers Media SA. This book was released on 2015-05-29 with total page 247 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this EBook, we highlight how newly emerging techniques for non-invasive manipulation of the human brain, combined with simultaneous recordings of neural activity, contribute to the understanding of brain functions and neural dynamics in humans. A growing body of evidence indicates that the neural dynamics (e.g., oscillations, synchrony) are important in mediating information processing and networking for various functions in the human brain. Most of previous studies on human brain dynamics, however, show correlative relationships between brain functions and patterns of neural dynamics measured by imaging methods such as electroencephalography (EEG), magnetoencephalography (MEG), near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS), positron emission tomography (PET) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). In contrast, manipulative approaches by non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) have been developed and extensively used. These approaches include transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and transcranial electric stimulation (tES) such as transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), alternating current stimulation (tACS), and random noise stimulation (tRNS), which can directly manipulate neural dynamics in the intact human brain. Although the neural-correlate approach is a strong tool, we think that manipulative approaches have far greater potential to show causal roles of neural dynamics in human brain functions. There have been technical challenges with using manipulative methods together with imaging methods. However, thanks to recent technical developments, it has become possible to use combined methods such as TMS–EEG coregistration. We can now directly measure and manipulate neural dynamics and analyze functional consequences to show causal roles of neural dynamics in various brain functions. Moreover, these combined methods can probe brain excitability, plasticity and cortical networking associated with information processing in the intact human brain. The contributors to this EBook have succeeded in showcasing cutting-edge studies and demonstrate the huge impact of their approaches on many areas in human neuroscience and clinical applications.
Download or read book The Spontaneous Brain written by Georg Northoff and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2024-08-06 with total page 533 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An argument for a Copernican revolution in our consideration of mental features—a shift in which the world-brain problem supersedes the mind-body problem. Philosophers have long debated the mind-body problem—whether to attribute such mental features as consciousness to mind or to body. Meanwhile, neuroscientists search for empirical answers, seeking neural correlates for consciousness, self, and free will. In this book, Georg Northoff does not propose new solutions to the mind-body problem; instead, he questions the problem itself, arguing that it is an empirically, ontologically, and conceptually implausible way to address the existence and reality of mental features. We are better off, he contends, by addressing consciousness and other mental features in terms of the relationship between world and brain; philosophers should consider the world-brain problem rather than the mind-body problem. This calls for a Copernican shift in vantage point—from within the mind or brain to beyond the brain—in our consideration of mental features. Northoff, a neuroscientist, psychiatrist, and philosopher, explains that empirical evidence suggests that the brain's spontaneous activity and its spatiotemporal structure are central to aligning and integrating the brain within the world. This spatiotemporal structure allows the brain to extend beyond itself into body and world, creating the “world-brain relation” that is central to mental features. Northoff makes his argument in empirical, ontological, and epistemic-methodological terms. He discusses current models of the brain and applies these models to recent data on neuronal features underlying consciousness and proposes the world-brain relation as the ontological predisposition for consciousness.
