The New Phrenology

The New Phrenology PDF Author: William R. Uttal
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262710102
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
William Uttal is concerned that in an effort to prove itself a hard science, psychology may have thrown away one of its most important methodological tools—a critical analysis of the fundamental assumptions that underlie day-to-day empirical research. In this book Uttal addresses the question of localization: whether psychological processes can be defined and isolated in a way that permits them to be associated with particular brain regions. New, noninvasive imaging technologies allow us to observe the brain while it is actively engaged in mental activities. Uttal cautions, however, that the excitement of these new research tools can lead to a neuroreductionist wild goose chase. With more and more cognitive neuroscientific data forthcoming, it becomes critical to question their limitations as well as their potential. Uttal reviews the history of localization theory, presents the difficulties of defining cognitive processes, and examines the conceptual and technical difficulties that should make us cautious about falling victim to what may be a "neo-phrenological" fad.

The New Phrenology

The New Phrenology PDF Author: William R. Uttal
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262710102
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description
William Uttal is concerned that in an effort to prove itself a hard science, psychology may have thrown away one of its most important methodological tools—a critical analysis of the fundamental assumptions that underlie day-to-day empirical research. In this book Uttal addresses the question of localization: whether psychological processes can be defined and isolated in a way that permits them to be associated with particular brain regions. New, noninvasive imaging technologies allow us to observe the brain while it is actively engaged in mental activities. Uttal cautions, however, that the excitement of these new research tools can lead to a neuroreductionist wild goose chase. With more and more cognitive neuroscientific data forthcoming, it becomes critical to question their limitations as well as their potential. Uttal reviews the history of localization theory, presents the difficulties of defining cognitive processes, and examines the conceptual and technical difficulties that should make us cautious about falling victim to what may be a "neo-phrenological" fad.

After Phrenology

After Phrenology PDF Author: Michael L. Anderson
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262028107
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 411

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Book Description
A proposal for a fully post-phrenological neuroscience that details the evolutionary roots of functional diversity in brain regions and networks. The computer analogy of the mind has been as widely adopted in contemporary cognitive neuroscience as was the analogy of the brain as a collection of organs in phrenology. Just as the phrenologist would insist that each organ must have its particular function, so contemporary cognitive neuroscience is committed to the notion that each brain region must have its fundamental computation. In After Phrenology, Michael Anderson argues that to achieve a fully post-phrenological science of the brain, we need to reassess this commitment and devise an alternate, neuroscientifically grounded taxonomy of mental function. Anderson contends that the cognitive roles played by each region of the brain are highly various, reflecting different neural partnerships established under different circumstances. He proposes quantifying the functional properties of neural assemblies in terms of their dispositional tendencies rather than their computational or information-processing operations. Exploring larger-scale issues, and drawing on evidence from embodied cognition, Anderson develops a picture of thinking rooted in the exploitation and extension of our early-evolving capacity for iterated interaction with the world. He argues that the multidimensional approach to the brain he describes offers a much better fit for these findings, and a more promising road toward a unified science of minded organisms.

Materials of the Mind

Materials of the Mind PDF Author: James Poskett
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226820645
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 382

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Book Description
Phrenology was the most popular mental science of the Victorian age. From American senators to Indian social reformers, this new mental science found supporters stretching around the globe. Materials of the Mind tells the story of how phrenology changed the world--and how the world changed phrenology. This is a story of skulls from the Arctic, plaster casts from Haiti, books from Bengal, and letters from the Pacific. Drawing on far-flung museum and archival collections, and addressing sources in six different languages, Materials of the Mind is the first substantial account of science in the nineteenth century as part of global history. It shows how the circulation of material culture underpinned the emergence of a new materialist philosophy of the mind, while also demonstrating how a global approach to history could help us reassess issues such as race, technology, and politics today.

How to Read Character

How to Read Character PDF Author: Samuel Roberts Wells
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Characters and characteristics
Languages : en
Pages : 200

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Book Description


Phrenology

Phrenology PDF Author: Stackpool Edward O'Dell
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Phrenology
Languages : en
Pages : 314

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Book Description


Gall, Spurzheim, and the Phrenological Movement

Gall, Spurzheim, and the Phrenological Movement PDF Author: Paul Eling
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000388387
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 316

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Book Description
During the 1790s in Vienna, German physician Franz Joseph Gall (1758-1828) came forth with a new doctrine dealing with mind, brain and behavior—one that could account for individual differences. He maintained that there are many independent faculties of mind, each associated with a separate part of the brain. He fine-tuned his ideas and published two sets of books presenting them after he and his assistant, Johann Gaspar Spurzheim, settled in Paris in 1807. Gall's ideas had many supporters but were controversial and unsettling to others. In particular, the opposition ridiculed his belief that skull features reflect the growth of specific, underlying cortical organs, and hence correlate with personality traits (i.e., his ‘bumpology’). Gall’s fundamental ideas about the mind and organization of the brain were debated across the globe, and they also began to be exploited by unscrupulous businessmen, ‘professors’ who ‘read skulls’ for a living. But, as some historians have shown, his ideas about mind, brain and behavior led to the modern neurosciences. The chapters collected in this volume provide new insights into Gall’s thinking and what Spurzheim did, and the faddish movement called ‘phrenology’, which originated as a science of humankind but became a popular source of entertainment. All chapters were originally published in various issues of the Journal of the History of the Neurosciences.

The Cultural Meaning of Popular Science

The Cultural Meaning of Popular Science PDF Author: Roger Cooter
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521227438
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 436

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Book Description
This study concentrates on the social and ideological functions of science during the consolidation of urban industrial society.

Phrenology

Phrenology PDF Author: Orson Squire Fowler
Publisher: Chelsea House Publications
ISBN: 9780877541431
Category : Phrenology
Languages : en
Pages : 201

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Book Description


Mind, Brain, and Adaptation in the Nineteenth Century

Mind, Brain, and Adaptation in the Nineteenth Century PDF Author: Robert Maxwell Young
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0195063899
Category : Adaptability (Psychology)
Languages : en
Pages : 310

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Book Description
The author examines ideas of the nature and localization of the functions of the brain in the light of the philosophical constraints at work in the sciences of mind and brain in the 19th century. Particular attention is paid to phrenology, sensory-motor physiology and associationist psychology.

Reliability in Cognitive Neuroscience

Reliability in Cognitive Neuroscience PDF Author: William R. Uttal
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262018527
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 255

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Book Description
Cognitive neuroscientists increasingly claim that brain images generated by new brain imaging technologies reflect, correlate, or represent cognitive processes. This book warns against these claims, arguing that, despite its utility in anatomic and physiological applications, brain imaging research has not provided consistent evidence for correlation with cognition. It bases this argument on a review of the empirical literature, pointing to variability in data not only among subjects within individual experiments but also in the meta-analytical approach that pools data from different experiments.