Author: Alan J. McComas
Publisher:
ISBN: 0190936541
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 305
Book Description
How does the brain create consciousness? How is it that we have a sense of self; a self that can identify thousands of people, places, objects, words, and musical melodies? While the ultimate challenge--that of transforming electrical impulses in nerve cells into sensations, thoughts, and actions--remains a mystery, there is a great deal that is now known about the way the brain functions. Further, that knowledge is increasing through the use of ever more powerful experimental methods. Sherrington's Loom brings the key information together by blending crucial historical discoveries with more recent findings in the laboratory and neurological clinic. This book is a "must-have" for anyone interested in the history of medicine and science, and who is eager for insights as to how the conscious brain may work.
Sherrington's Loom
Author: Alan J. McComas
Publisher:
ISBN: 0190936541
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 305
Book Description
How does the brain create consciousness? How is it that we have a sense of self; a self that can identify thousands of people, places, objects, words, and musical melodies? While the ultimate challenge--that of transforming electrical impulses in nerve cells into sensations, thoughts, and actions--remains a mystery, there is a great deal that is now known about the way the brain functions. Further, that knowledge is increasing through the use of ever more powerful experimental methods. Sherrington's Loom brings the key information together by blending crucial historical discoveries with more recent findings in the laboratory and neurological clinic. This book is a "must-have" for anyone interested in the history of medicine and science, and who is eager for insights as to how the conscious brain may work.
Publisher:
ISBN: 0190936541
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 305
Book Description
How does the brain create consciousness? How is it that we have a sense of self; a self that can identify thousands of people, places, objects, words, and musical melodies? While the ultimate challenge--that of transforming electrical impulses in nerve cells into sensations, thoughts, and actions--remains a mystery, there is a great deal that is now known about the way the brain functions. Further, that knowledge is increasing through the use of ever more powerful experimental methods. Sherrington's Loom brings the key information together by blending crucial historical discoveries with more recent findings in the laboratory and neurological clinic. This book is a "must-have" for anyone interested in the history of medicine and science, and who is eager for insights as to how the conscious brain may work.
Brainmedia
Author: Flora Lysen
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 1501378740
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 305
Book Description
Will we ever be able to see the brain at work? Could it be possible to observe thinking and feeling as if watching a live broadcast from within the human head? Brainmedia uncovers past and present examples of scientists and science educators who conceptualize and demonstrate the active human brain guided by new media technologies: from exhibitions of giant illuminated brain models and staged projections of brainwave recordings to live televised brain broadcasts, brains hooked up to computers and experiments with “brain-to-brain” synchronization. Drawing on archival material, Brainmedia outlines a new history of “live brains,” arguing that practices of-and ideas about-mediation impacted the imagination of seeing the brain at work. By combining accounts of scientists examining brains in laboratories with examples of public demonstrations and exhibitions of brain research, Brainmedia casts new light on popularization practices, placing them at the heart of scientific work.
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 1501378740
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 305
Book Description
Will we ever be able to see the brain at work? Could it be possible to observe thinking and feeling as if watching a live broadcast from within the human head? Brainmedia uncovers past and present examples of scientists and science educators who conceptualize and demonstrate the active human brain guided by new media technologies: from exhibitions of giant illuminated brain models and staged projections of brainwave recordings to live televised brain broadcasts, brains hooked up to computers and experiments with “brain-to-brain” synchronization. Drawing on archival material, Brainmedia outlines a new history of “live brains,” arguing that practices of-and ideas about-mediation impacted the imagination of seeing the brain at work. By combining accounts of scientists examining brains in laboratories with examples of public demonstrations and exhibitions of brain research, Brainmedia casts new light on popularization practices, placing them at the heart of scientific work.
Aranzio's Seahorse and the Search for Memory and Consciousness
Author: Alan J. McComas
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0192694367
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 353
Book Description
In the final volume of his historical neuroscience trilogy, prize-winning author Alan J. McComas recounts the research that led to recognition of the hippocampus, a structure deep within the brain, as being primarily responsible for memory. This intriguing and exciting account includes observations on patients with memory loss as well as insights from ingenious laboratory experiments. Using several arguments in support, McComas suggests that it is the electrical impulse activity of neurons in the hippocampus that creates consciousness and that the latter is, in fact, the ever-changing sequence of short-term memories. He show us how a deeper knowledge of the hippocampus can help us develop a fuller understanding of Alzheimer's disease and other disorders of memory and behaviour, including 'long COVID. Lavishly illustrated, Aranzio's Seahorse will be of value not only to neuroscientists, psychologists, and philosophers but to all those interested in the workings of the brain and in the history of its exploration.
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0192694367
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 353
Book Description
In the final volume of his historical neuroscience trilogy, prize-winning author Alan J. McComas recounts the research that led to recognition of the hippocampus, a structure deep within the brain, as being primarily responsible for memory. This intriguing and exciting account includes observations on patients with memory loss as well as insights from ingenious laboratory experiments. Using several arguments in support, McComas suggests that it is the electrical impulse activity of neurons in the hippocampus that creates consciousness and that the latter is, in fact, the ever-changing sequence of short-term memories. He show us how a deeper knowledge of the hippocampus can help us develop a fuller understanding of Alzheimer's disease and other disorders of memory and behaviour, including 'long COVID. Lavishly illustrated, Aranzio's Seahorse will be of value not only to neuroscientists, psychologists, and philosophers but to all those interested in the workings of the brain and in the history of its exploration.
Chasing Men on Fire
Author: Stephen G. Waxman
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262037408
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 320
Book Description
A thirty-year quest, from genes to pain-signaling neurons to people with a rare genetic disorder that makes them feel they are on fire. Two soldiers, both with wounds injuring the same nerve, show very different responses: one is disabled by neuropathic pain, unable to touch the injured limb because even the lightest contact triggers excruciating discomfort; the other notices numbness but no pain at all. Could the difference lie in their genes? In this book, described in the foreword by Nobel Laureate James Rothman as “so well written that it reads like a detective novel,” Stephen Waxman recounts the search for a gene that controls pain—a search spanning more than thirty years and three continents. The story moves from genes to pain-signaling neurons that scream when they should be silent to people with a rare genetic disorder who feel they are on fire. Waxman explains that if pain-signaling neurons are injured by trauma or disease, they can become hyperactive and send pain signals to the brain even without external stimulus. Studying the hyperactive mutant pain gene in man on fire syndrome has pointed the way to molecules that produce pain more broadly within the general population, in the rest of us. Waxman's account of the many steps that led to discovery of the pain gene tells the story behind the science, of how science happens.
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262037408
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 320
Book Description
A thirty-year quest, from genes to pain-signaling neurons to people with a rare genetic disorder that makes them feel they are on fire. Two soldiers, both with wounds injuring the same nerve, show very different responses: one is disabled by neuropathic pain, unable to touch the injured limb because even the lightest contact triggers excruciating discomfort; the other notices numbness but no pain at all. Could the difference lie in their genes? In this book, described in the foreword by Nobel Laureate James Rothman as “so well written that it reads like a detective novel,” Stephen Waxman recounts the search for a gene that controls pain—a search spanning more than thirty years and three continents. The story moves from genes to pain-signaling neurons that scream when they should be silent to people with a rare genetic disorder who feel they are on fire. Waxman explains that if pain-signaling neurons are injured by trauma or disease, they can become hyperactive and send pain signals to the brain even without external stimulus. Studying the hyperactive mutant pain gene in man on fire syndrome has pointed the way to molecules that produce pain more broadly within the general population, in the rest of us. Waxman's account of the many steps that led to discovery of the pain gene tells the story behind the science, of how science happens.
The Consciousness Instinct
Author: Michael S. Gazzaniga
Publisher:
ISBN: 0374715505
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 287
Book Description
"How do neurons turn into minds? How does physical 'stuff'―atoms, molecules, chemicals, and cells―create the vivid and various worlds inside our heads? The problem of consciousness has gnawed at us for millennia. In the last century there have been massive breakthroughs that have rewritten the science of the brain, and yet the puzzles faced by the ancient Greeks are still present. [This book] puts the latest research in conversation with the history of human thinking about the mind, giving a big-picture view of what science has revealed about consciousness. The idea of the brain as a machine, first proposed centuries ago, has led to assumptions about the relationship between mind and brain that dog scientists and philosophers to this day. [The author] asserts that this model has it backward―brains make machines, but they cannot be reduced to one. New research suggests the brain is actually a confederation of independent modules working together. Understanding how consciousness could emanate from such an organization will help define the future of brain science and artificial intelligence, and close the gap between brain and mind."--
Publisher:
ISBN: 0374715505
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 287
Book Description
"How do neurons turn into minds? How does physical 'stuff'―atoms, molecules, chemicals, and cells―create the vivid and various worlds inside our heads? The problem of consciousness has gnawed at us for millennia. In the last century there have been massive breakthroughs that have rewritten the science of the brain, and yet the puzzles faced by the ancient Greeks are still present. [This book] puts the latest research in conversation with the history of human thinking about the mind, giving a big-picture view of what science has revealed about consciousness. The idea of the brain as a machine, first proposed centuries ago, has led to assumptions about the relationship between mind and brain that dog scientists and philosophers to this day. [The author] asserts that this model has it backward―brains make machines, but they cannot be reduced to one. New research suggests the brain is actually a confederation of independent modules working together. Understanding how consciousness could emanate from such an organization will help define the future of brain science and artificial intelligence, and close the gap between brain and mind."--
Psychology According to Shakespeare
Author: Philip G. Zimbardo
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1633889610
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 345
Book Description
William Shakespeare has undergone psychological analyses ever since Freud diagnosed Hamlet with an Oedipus complex. But now, two psychologists propose to turn the tables by telling how Shakespeare himself understood human behavior and the innermost workings of the human mind. Psychology According to Shakespeare: What You Can Learn About Human Nature From Shakespeare's Great Plays, is an interdisciplinary project that bridges psychological science and literature, bringing together for the first time in one volume, the breadth and depth of The Bard’s knowledge of love, jealousy, dreams, betrayal, revenge, and the lust for power and position. Even today, there is no better depiction of a psychopath than Richard III, no more poignant portrayal of dementia than King Lear, nor a more unforgettable illustration of obsessive-compulsive disorder than Lady Macbeth’s attempts to wash away the damned blood spot. What has not been revealed before, however, are the many different forms of mental illness The Bard described in terms that are now identifiable in the modern manual of disorders known as the DSM-5. But, as the book shows, the playwright’s fascination with human nature extended far beyond mental disorders, ranging across the psychological spectrum, from brain anatomy to personality, cognition, emotion, perception, lifespan development, and states of consciousness. To illustrate, we have stories to tell involving astrology, potions, poisons, the four fluids called “humors,” anatomical dissections of freshly hanged criminals, and a mental hospital called Bedlam—all showing how his perspective was grounded in the medicine and culture of his time. Yet, Will Shakespeare’s intellect, curiosity, and temperament allowed him to see other ideas and issues that would become important in psychological science centuries later. Many of these connections between Shakespeare and psychology lie scattered in books, articles, and web pages across the public domain, but they have never been brought together into a single volume. So, here the authors retell of his fashioning the felicitous phrase, nature-nurture for Prospero to utter in frustration with Caliban and of how the nature-nurture dichotomy would become central in psychology’s quest to understand the tension between heredity and environment. But that was still far from all, for they discovered that his work anticipated multiple other psychological tensions. For example, in Measure for Measure, he made audiences puzzle over which exerts the greater influence on human behavior: internal traits or the external situation. And in Hamlet, he explored the equally enigmatic push-pull between reason and emotion in the mind of the dithering prince. Aside from bringing together The Bard’s known psychology, the book is unique in several other respects. It reveals how his interest in mind and behavior ranged across the full spectrum of psychology, including topics that we now call biopsychology and neuroscience, social psychology, thinking and intelligence, motivation and emotion, and reason vs intuition. Further, we show how the psychological concepts he used have evolved over the intervening centuries—for example, the Elizabethan notion of sensus communis eventually became “consciousness” and the old idea of the humors morphed into our current understanding of hormones and neurotransmitters. We also note that some of Mr. Shakespeare’s concerns seem especially timely today, as in the subplot of queer vs straight issues complicating the story of Troilus and Cressida and in Shylock’s telling of prejudices inflicted on ethnic minorities.
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1633889610
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 345
Book Description
William Shakespeare has undergone psychological analyses ever since Freud diagnosed Hamlet with an Oedipus complex. But now, two psychologists propose to turn the tables by telling how Shakespeare himself understood human behavior and the innermost workings of the human mind. Psychology According to Shakespeare: What You Can Learn About Human Nature From Shakespeare's Great Plays, is an interdisciplinary project that bridges psychological science and literature, bringing together for the first time in one volume, the breadth and depth of The Bard’s knowledge of love, jealousy, dreams, betrayal, revenge, and the lust for power and position. Even today, there is no better depiction of a psychopath than Richard III, no more poignant portrayal of dementia than King Lear, nor a more unforgettable illustration of obsessive-compulsive disorder than Lady Macbeth’s attempts to wash away the damned blood spot. What has not been revealed before, however, are the many different forms of mental illness The Bard described in terms that are now identifiable in the modern manual of disorders known as the DSM-5. But, as the book shows, the playwright’s fascination with human nature extended far beyond mental disorders, ranging across the psychological spectrum, from brain anatomy to personality, cognition, emotion, perception, lifespan development, and states of consciousness. To illustrate, we have stories to tell involving astrology, potions, poisons, the four fluids called “humors,” anatomical dissections of freshly hanged criminals, and a mental hospital called Bedlam—all showing how his perspective was grounded in the medicine and culture of his time. Yet, Will Shakespeare’s intellect, curiosity, and temperament allowed him to see other ideas and issues that would become important in psychological science centuries later. Many of these connections between Shakespeare and psychology lie scattered in books, articles, and web pages across the public domain, but they have never been brought together into a single volume. So, here the authors retell of his fashioning the felicitous phrase, nature-nurture for Prospero to utter in frustration with Caliban and of how the nature-nurture dichotomy would become central in psychology’s quest to understand the tension between heredity and environment. But that was still far from all, for they discovered that his work anticipated multiple other psychological tensions. For example, in Measure for Measure, he made audiences puzzle over which exerts the greater influence on human behavior: internal traits or the external situation. And in Hamlet, he explored the equally enigmatic push-pull between reason and emotion in the mind of the dithering prince. Aside from bringing together The Bard’s known psychology, the book is unique in several other respects. It reveals how his interest in mind and behavior ranged across the full spectrum of psychology, including topics that we now call biopsychology and neuroscience, social psychology, thinking and intelligence, motivation and emotion, and reason vs intuition. Further, we show how the psychological concepts he used have evolved over the intervening centuries—for example, the Elizabethan notion of sensus communis eventually became “consciousness” and the old idea of the humors morphed into our current understanding of hormones and neurotransmitters. We also note that some of Mr. Shakespeare’s concerns seem especially timely today, as in the subplot of queer vs straight issues complicating the story of Troilus and Cressida and in Shylock’s telling of prejudices inflicted on ethnic minorities.
Goethe's Faust and Cultural Memory
Author: Lorna Fitzsimmons
Publisher: Lexington Books
ISBN: 1611461227
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 231
Book Description
This book is an interdisciplinary collection of essays examining Goethe's Faust and its derivatives in European, North American, and South American cultural contexts. Topics include the authority of the word in Faust and Dr.Faustus, cultural memory of Herder, the Eternal-Feminine, Coleridge's responses to Faust, Argentinean adaptations, performances by Peter Stein and the Goetheanum, Canadian reception of Faust, Werner Fritsch's multimedia project Faust Sonnengesang, and the relevance of Faust for models of artificial intelligence.
Publisher: Lexington Books
ISBN: 1611461227
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 231
Book Description
This book is an interdisciplinary collection of essays examining Goethe's Faust and its derivatives in European, North American, and South American cultural contexts. Topics include the authority of the word in Faust and Dr.Faustus, cultural memory of Herder, the Eternal-Feminine, Coleridge's responses to Faust, Argentinean adaptations, performances by Peter Stein and the Goetheanum, Canadian reception of Faust, Werner Fritsch's multimedia project Faust Sonnengesang, and the relevance of Faust for models of artificial intelligence.
Enchanted Looms
Author: Rodney Cotterill
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521794626
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 534
Book Description
This beautifully written 1998 book examining consciousness, and which received high praise in the reviews, is now available in paperback.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521794626
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 534
Book Description
This beautifully written 1998 book examining consciousness, and which received high praise in the reviews, is now available in paperback.
Brain, Mind, and the Narrative Imagination
Author: Christopher Comer
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1350127817
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 305
Book Description
Stories can inspire love, anger, fear and nostalgia – but what is going on in our brains when this happens? And how do our minds conjure up worlds and characters from the words we read on the page? Rapid advances in the scientific understanding of the brain have cast new light on how we engage with literature. This book – collaboratively written by an experienced neuroscientist and literary critic and writer – explores these new insights. Key concepts in neuroscience are first introduced for non-specialists and a range of literary texts by writers such as Ian McEwan, Jim Crace and E.L. Doctorow are read in light of the latest scientific thought on the workings of the mind and brain. Brain, Mind, and the Narrative Imagination demonstrates how literature taps into deep structures of memory and emotion that lie at the heart of our humanity. It will be of interest to readers of all sorts and students from both the humanities and the sciences.
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1350127817
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 305
Book Description
Stories can inspire love, anger, fear and nostalgia – but what is going on in our brains when this happens? And how do our minds conjure up worlds and characters from the words we read on the page? Rapid advances in the scientific understanding of the brain have cast new light on how we engage with literature. This book – collaboratively written by an experienced neuroscientist and literary critic and writer – explores these new insights. Key concepts in neuroscience are first introduced for non-specialists and a range of literary texts by writers such as Ian McEwan, Jim Crace and E.L. Doctorow are read in light of the latest scientific thought on the workings of the mind and brain. Brain, Mind, and the Narrative Imagination demonstrates how literature taps into deep structures of memory and emotion that lie at the heart of our humanity. It will be of interest to readers of all sorts and students from both the humanities and the sciences.
The Idea of the Brain
Author: Matthew Cobb
Publisher: Basic Books
ISBN: 154164686X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 521
Book Description
An "elegant", "engrossing" (Carol Tavris, Wall Street Journal) examination of what we think we know about the brain and why -- despite technological advances -- the workings of our most essential organ remain a mystery. "I cannot recommend this book strongly enough."--Henry Marsh, author of Do No Harm For thousands of years, thinkers and scientists have tried to understand what the brain does. Yet, despite the astonishing discoveries of science, we still have only the vaguest idea of how the brain works. In The Idea of the Brain, scientist and historian Matthew Cobb traces how our conception of the brain has evolved over the centuries. Although it might seem to be a story of ever-increasing knowledge of biology, Cobb shows how our ideas about the brain have been shaped by each era's most significant technologies. Today we might think the brain is like a supercomputer. In the past, it has been compared to a telegraph, a telephone exchange, or some kind of hydraulic system. What will we think the brain is like tomorrow, when new technology arises? The result is an essential read for anyone interested in the complex processes that drive science and the forces that have shaped our marvelous brains.
Publisher: Basic Books
ISBN: 154164686X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 521
Book Description
An "elegant", "engrossing" (Carol Tavris, Wall Street Journal) examination of what we think we know about the brain and why -- despite technological advances -- the workings of our most essential organ remain a mystery. "I cannot recommend this book strongly enough."--Henry Marsh, author of Do No Harm For thousands of years, thinkers and scientists have tried to understand what the brain does. Yet, despite the astonishing discoveries of science, we still have only the vaguest idea of how the brain works. In The Idea of the Brain, scientist and historian Matthew Cobb traces how our conception of the brain has evolved over the centuries. Although it might seem to be a story of ever-increasing knowledge of biology, Cobb shows how our ideas about the brain have been shaped by each era's most significant technologies. Today we might think the brain is like a supercomputer. In the past, it has been compared to a telegraph, a telephone exchange, or some kind of hydraulic system. What will we think the brain is like tomorrow, when new technology arises? The result is an essential read for anyone interested in the complex processes that drive science and the forces that have shaped our marvelous brains.