Todd Tremlin
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- February 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780195305340
- eISBN:
- 9780199784721
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195305345.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion
This book provides an introduction to the cognitive science of religion, a new discipline of study that explains the origins and persistence of religious ideas and behavior on the basis of evolved ...
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This book provides an introduction to the cognitive science of religion, a new discipline of study that explains the origins and persistence of religious ideas and behavior on the basis of evolved mental structures and functions of the human brain. Belief in gods and the social formation of religion have their genesis in biology — in powerful, often hidden, processes of cognition that all humans share. Arguing that we cannot understand what we think until we first understand how we think, the book describes ways in which evolution by natural selection molded the modern human mind, resulting in mental modularity, innate intelligences, and species-typical modes of thought. The book details many of the adapted features of the brain — agent detection, theory of mind, social cognition, and others — focusing on how mental endowments inherited from our ancestral past lead people to naturally entertain religious ideas, such as the god concepts that are ubiquitous the world over. In addition to introducing the major themes, theories, and thinkers in the cognitive science of religion, the book also advances the current discussion by moving beyond explanations for individual religious beliefs and behaviors to the operation of culture and religious systems. Drawing on dual-process models of cognition developed in social psychology, the book argues that the same cognitive constraints that shape human thought also work as a selective force on the content and durability of religions.Less
This book provides an introduction to the cognitive science of religion, a new discipline of study that explains the origins and persistence of religious ideas and behavior on the basis of evolved mental structures and functions of the human brain. Belief in gods and the social formation of religion have their genesis in biology — in powerful, often hidden, processes of cognition that all humans share. Arguing that we cannot understand what we think until we first understand how we think, the book describes ways in which evolution by natural selection molded the modern human mind, resulting in mental modularity, innate intelligences, and species-typical modes of thought. The book details many of the adapted features of the brain — agent detection, theory of mind, social cognition, and others — focusing on how mental endowments inherited from our ancestral past lead people to naturally entertain religious ideas, such as the god concepts that are ubiquitous the world over. In addition to introducing the major themes, theories, and thinkers in the cognitive science of religion, the book also advances the current discussion by moving beyond explanations for individual religious beliefs and behaviors to the operation of culture and religious systems. Drawing on dual-process models of cognition developed in social psychology, the book argues that the same cognitive constraints that shape human thought also work as a selective force on the content and durability of religions.
Nikolas Rose and Joelle M. Abi-Rached
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691149608
- eISBN:
- 9781400846337
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691149608.003.0004
- Subject:
- Neuroscience, Development
This chapter discusses the use of animals to explore issues relating to human cognition, emotion, volition, and their pathologies. Researchers who use animal models in their work point to ...
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This chapter discusses the use of animals to explore issues relating to human cognition, emotion, volition, and their pathologies. Researchers who use animal models in their work point to similarities in the genomes of the two species, in the structure of mouse and human brain, in patterns of brain activation, in neural mechanisms at the cellular and molecular level, in responses to drugs and so forth, perhaps with reference to evolution and the principle of conservation across species when it comes to the most basic aspects of living organisms, including their brains. The chapter then examines four interconnected themes: the question of the artificiality of the laboratory situation within which animal experiments are conducted; the idea of a model in behavioral and psychiatric research; the specificity of the human and the elision of history and human sociality; and the problem of translation.Less
This chapter discusses the use of animals to explore issues relating to human cognition, emotion, volition, and their pathologies. Researchers who use animal models in their work point to similarities in the genomes of the two species, in the structure of mouse and human brain, in patterns of brain activation, in neural mechanisms at the cellular and molecular level, in responses to drugs and so forth, perhaps with reference to evolution and the principle of conservation across species when it comes to the most basic aspects of living organisms, including their brains. The chapter then examines four interconnected themes: the question of the artificiality of the laboratory situation within which animal experiments are conducted; the idea of a model in behavioral and psychiatric research; the specificity of the human and the elision of history and human sociality; and the problem of translation.
Müller Ralph-Axel
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195305432
- eISBN:
- 9780199866953
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195305432.003.0011
- Subject:
- Psychology, Cognitive Psychology, Cognitive Models and Architectures
This chapter asks how the kind of language universals discussed in the previous chapters might be instantiated in human brains. It distinguishes between “shallow” and “deep” universals in cognition, ...
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This chapter asks how the kind of language universals discussed in the previous chapters might be instantiated in human brains. It distinguishes between “shallow” and “deep” universals in cognition, the former being due to abstract computational properties, and the latter to properties of the neural architecture that supports the function in question, such as language. It argues that shallow universals that are a matter of consensus in the linguistic community should be studied from a neurodevelopmental standpoint to seek their deep (i.e., biologically meaningful) counterparts. Based on an extensive survey of genetic, anatomical, and imaging data, the chapter suggests that the specific architecture of local brain areas (such as Broca's area) is not genetically predetermined but instead emerges as a result of its role and activity, given its particular location in functional networks. A neurodevelopmental account of putative language universals is most likely to be based on organization and interaction of nonlinguistic “ingredient processes”.Less
This chapter asks how the kind of language universals discussed in the previous chapters might be instantiated in human brains. It distinguishes between “shallow” and “deep” universals in cognition, the former being due to abstract computational properties, and the latter to properties of the neural architecture that supports the function in question, such as language. It argues that shallow universals that are a matter of consensus in the linguistic community should be studied from a neurodevelopmental standpoint to seek their deep (i.e., biologically meaningful) counterparts. Based on an extensive survey of genetic, anatomical, and imaging data, the chapter suggests that the specific architecture of local brain areas (such as Broca's area) is not genetically predetermined but instead emerges as a result of its role and activity, given its particular location in functional networks. A neurodevelopmental account of putative language universals is most likely to be based on organization and interaction of nonlinguistic “ingredient processes”.
Susan Resnick and Ira Driscoll
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195311587
- eISBN:
- 9780199865048
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195311587.003.0022
- Subject:
- Neuroscience, Molecular and Cellular Systems
This chapter discusses the morphological and physiological sex differences in the human brain. Recent progress in neuroimaging technology holds the promise of elucidating the neuroanatomic and ...
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This chapter discusses the morphological and physiological sex differences in the human brain. Recent progress in neuroimaging technology holds the promise of elucidating the neuroanatomic and neurophysiologic correlates of sex-influenced behavior by offering a direct approach to study the brain non-invasively. The aim is to provide a foundation for understanding the impact of sex on the human brain in the context of aging, be it normal or pathological.Less
This chapter discusses the morphological and physiological sex differences in the human brain. Recent progress in neuroimaging technology holds the promise of elucidating the neuroanatomic and neurophysiologic correlates of sex-influenced behavior by offering a direct approach to study the brain non-invasively. The aim is to provide a foundation for understanding the impact of sex on the human brain in the context of aging, be it normal or pathological.
Michael Petrides
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195177640
- eISBN:
- 9780199864799
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195177640.003.0003
- Subject:
- Neuroscience, Sensory and Motor Systems, Behavioral Neuroscience
This chapter begins by examining the gross morphology of the inferior frontal region of the human brain within which the Broca's area lies. It then examines the architectonic areas that are occupying ...
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This chapter begins by examining the gross morphology of the inferior frontal region of the human brain within which the Broca's area lies. It then examines the architectonic areas that are occupying this region and compares them with similar areas in the macaque monkey brain.Less
This chapter begins by examining the gross morphology of the inferior frontal region of the human brain within which the Broca's area lies. It then examines the architectonic areas that are occupying this region and compares them with similar areas in the macaque monkey brain.
Judy Illes, Eric Racine, and Matthew P. Kirschen
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780198567219
- eISBN:
- 9780191724084
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198567219.003.0011
- Subject:
- Neuroscience, Behavioral Neuroscience
This chapter provides a brief review of technological capabilities for imaging the brain with an emphasis on functional methods, and explores the range of applications for which they have been used. ...
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This chapter provides a brief review of technological capabilities for imaging the brain with an emphasis on functional methods, and explores the range of applications for which they have been used. It then examines the epistemological issues associated with this research. It proposes a set of new dimensions for responsibility to accompany the still-emerging field as it realizes increasingly greater potential, continues to grapple with the technology, and faces unprecedented ethical and social challenges.Less
This chapter provides a brief review of technological capabilities for imaging the brain with an emphasis on functional methods, and explores the range of applications for which they have been used. It then examines the epistemological issues associated with this research. It proposes a set of new dimensions for responsibility to accompany the still-emerging field as it realizes increasingly greater potential, continues to grapple with the technology, and faces unprecedented ethical and social challenges.
Kenneth R. Foster
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780198567219
- eISBN:
- 9780191724084
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198567219.003.0013
- Subject:
- Neuroscience, Behavioral Neuroscience
This chapter examines the ethical issues raised by new technologies that allow investigators to monitor and control the brain, and how they are distinctive from those raised by other medical ...
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This chapter examines the ethical issues raised by new technologies that allow investigators to monitor and control the brain, and how they are distinctive from those raised by other medical technologies, such as genetic testing. It begins with a brief review of some new technologies that have emerged from neuroscience. These devices are intended to stimulate selected regions of the brain or peripheral nervous system for therapeutic purposes, or, more recently, as brain-computer interfaces to allow the brain to exchange information with the outsideworld through direct recording of potentials measured by means of electrodes implanted in the motor cortex, or placed on the surface of the head.Less
This chapter examines the ethical issues raised by new technologies that allow investigators to monitor and control the brain, and how they are distinctive from those raised by other medical technologies, such as genetic testing. It begins with a brief review of some new technologies that have emerged from neuroscience. These devices are intended to stimulate selected regions of the brain or peripheral nervous system for therapeutic purposes, or, more recently, as brain-computer interfaces to allow the brain to exchange information with the outsideworld through direct recording of potentials measured by means of electrodes implanted in the motor cortex, or placed on the surface of the head.
Xun Gu
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199213269
- eISBN:
- 9780191594762
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199213269.003.0007
- Subject:
- Biology, Biomathematics / Statistics and Data Analysis / Complexity Studies
Understanding the underlying regulatory mechanism is a fundamental step to exploring the emergence of genome complexity. An important issue is the role of tissue-specific factors in genomic ...
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Understanding the underlying regulatory mechanism is a fundamental step to exploring the emergence of genome complexity. An important issue is the role of tissue-specific factors in genomic evolution. Several studies have suggested that tissue-specific constraints may generate among tissue variation of expression divergence between humans and chimpanzees, between humans and mice, or between fruitflies. Duret and Mouchiroud showed that the rate of protein divergence was negatively associated with the tissue broadness of gene expression. This chapter first discusses the tissue-driven hypothesis, based on an explicit evolutionary model for providing testable predictions. This theory claims that stabilizing selections for both expression and sequence divergences may be affected simultaneously by common tissue factors. It then addresses an interesting problem about the expression evolution in the human brain since the separate development of humans and chimpanzees.Less
Understanding the underlying regulatory mechanism is a fundamental step to exploring the emergence of genome complexity. An important issue is the role of tissue-specific factors in genomic evolution. Several studies have suggested that tissue-specific constraints may generate among tissue variation of expression divergence between humans and chimpanzees, between humans and mice, or between fruitflies. Duret and Mouchiroud showed that the rate of protein divergence was negatively associated with the tissue broadness of gene expression. This chapter first discusses the tissue-driven hypothesis, based on an explicit evolutionary model for providing testable predictions. This theory claims that stabilizing selections for both expression and sequence divergences may be affected simultaneously by common tissue factors. It then addresses an interesting problem about the expression evolution in the human brain since the separate development of humans and chimpanzees.
Tobias Rees
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780823266135
- eISBN:
- 9780823266975
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823266135.003.0010
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Science
This chapter first focuses on Alain Prochiantz, professor at the École Normale Supérieure, and his lab’s efforts to think about the adult human brain in embryogenetic terms. It then covers the ...
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This chapter first focuses on Alain Prochiantz, professor at the École Normale Supérieure, and his lab’s efforts to think about the adult human brain in embryogenetic terms. It then covers the emergence of (cellular) cerebral pathology from 1820s to 1870s; Ramón y Cajal’s large-scale study of the cellular emergence of the brain in its entirety beginning in the early 1890s; the emergence of new concepts of plasticity and pathology in the mid-1960s; studies on the relevance of adult neurogenesis for rethinking the diseases of the brain, specifically depression; and the rise of adult neurogenesis research, arguably the fastest growing branch of neuroscience between 2000 and 2010.Less
This chapter first focuses on Alain Prochiantz, professor at the École Normale Supérieure, and his lab’s efforts to think about the adult human brain in embryogenetic terms. It then covers the emergence of (cellular) cerebral pathology from 1820s to 1870s; Ramón y Cajal’s large-scale study of the cellular emergence of the brain in its entirety beginning in the early 1890s; the emergence of new concepts of plasticity and pathology in the mid-1960s; studies on the relevance of adult neurogenesis for rethinking the diseases of the brain, specifically depression; and the rise of adult neurogenesis research, arguably the fastest growing branch of neuroscience between 2000 and 2010.
Susanne Shultz and R.I.M. Dunbar
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199596492
- eISBN:
- 9780191745669
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199596492.003.0002
- Subject:
- Neuroscience, Techniques, Development
This chapter defends a version of the social brain hypothesis, focusing especially on the cognitive powers involved in the ‘Theory of Mind’ that humans are thought to deploy in order to attribute ...
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This chapter defends a version of the social brain hypothesis, focusing especially on the cognitive powers involved in the ‘Theory of Mind’ that humans are thought to deploy in order to attribute mental states to each other. The size of the human brain is not a new discovery (and does not need any sophisticated technology to establish it): the innovative contribution of neuroscience to this area of study, however, has been to enable experiments in which the brain activation of subjects doing various ‘social cognition’ tasks can be examined and mapped. The discovery that parts of the prefrontal cortex are consistently activated by Theory of Mind tasks provides the social brain hypothesis with support. The fact that it is this area of the brain that has become larger as human brain size has increased over time also fits nicely within a theory that regards the demands of social cognition as a central ‘driver’ of the evolution of the human brain.Less
This chapter defends a version of the social brain hypothesis, focusing especially on the cognitive powers involved in the ‘Theory of Mind’ that humans are thought to deploy in order to attribute mental states to each other. The size of the human brain is not a new discovery (and does not need any sophisticated technology to establish it): the innovative contribution of neuroscience to this area of study, however, has been to enable experiments in which the brain activation of subjects doing various ‘social cognition’ tasks can be examined and mapped. The discovery that parts of the prefrontal cortex are consistently activated by Theory of Mind tasks provides the social brain hypothesis with support. The fact that it is this area of the brain that has become larger as human brain size has increased over time also fits nicely within a theory that regards the demands of social cognition as a central ‘driver’ of the evolution of the human brain.
Gabriele Gratton and Monica Fabiani
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195177619
- eISBN:
- 9780199864683
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195177619.003.0005
- Subject:
- Neuroscience, Sensory and Motor Systems, Behavioral Neuroscience
This chapter reviews the use of noninvasive optical imaging methods in studying human brain function, with a view toward their possible applications to neuroergonomics. Topics discussed include the ...
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This chapter reviews the use of noninvasive optical imaging methods in studying human brain function, with a view toward their possible applications to neuroergonomics. Topics discussed include the principles of noninvasive optical imaging, optical signals, and methods used for recording noninvasive optical imaging data.Less
This chapter reviews the use of noninvasive optical imaging methods in studying human brain function, with a view toward their possible applications to neuroergonomics. Topics discussed include the principles of noninvasive optical imaging, optical signals, and methods used for recording noninvasive optical imaging data.
David Bates
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780823266135
- eISBN:
- 9780823266975
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823266135.003.0007
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Science
This chapter returns to the historical and conceptual foundations of the digital brain itself, arguing that the construction of a plastic computational machine at the dawn of the digital age entailed ...
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This chapter returns to the historical and conceptual foundations of the digital brain itself, arguing that the construction of a plastic computational machine at the dawn of the digital age entailed the invention of a machinic pathology. Recuperating this historical moment offers a new perspective on our contemporary “digital brain.” We need not be reduced to mere learning machines, largely unconscious of our own cognitive processes, where any experience of freedom and contingency of thinking can be exposed as some kind of Nietzschean illusion. The human brain was understood to be a special kind of genuinely open system that determined itself yet was also capable of defying its own automaticity in acts of genuine creativity. The originators of the digital computer were explicitly inspired by this neurophysiological concept of plasticity in their efforts to model the abilities of truly intelligent beings.Less
This chapter returns to the historical and conceptual foundations of the digital brain itself, arguing that the construction of a plastic computational machine at the dawn of the digital age entailed the invention of a machinic pathology. Recuperating this historical moment offers a new perspective on our contemporary “digital brain.” We need not be reduced to mere learning machines, largely unconscious of our own cognitive processes, where any experience of freedom and contingency of thinking can be exposed as some kind of Nietzschean illusion. The human brain was understood to be a special kind of genuinely open system that determined itself yet was also capable of defying its own automaticity in acts of genuine creativity. The originators of the digital computer were explicitly inspired by this neurophysiological concept of plasticity in their efforts to model the abilities of truly intelligent beings.
Ronald L. Schnaar
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780198525387
- eISBN:
- 9780191723872
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198525387.003.0004
- Subject:
- Neuroscience, Molecular and Cellular Systems
This chapter describes the biosynthesis and roles of the brain glycolipids. It first describes various glycolipids present in the brain. It then describes the phenotype of knockout mice for those ...
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This chapter describes the biosynthesis and roles of the brain glycolipids. It first describes various glycolipids present in the brain. It then describes the phenotype of knockout mice for those deficient in galactosylceramide, glucosylceramide synthase, GM2/CD2 synthase, GD3 synthase, and GM3 synthase.Less
This chapter describes the biosynthesis and roles of the brain glycolipids. It first describes various glycolipids present in the brain. It then describes the phenotype of knockout mice for those deficient in galactosylceramide, glucosylceramide synthase, GM2/CD2 synthase, GD3 synthase, and GM3 synthase.
Joseph Dumit
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780823266135
- eISBN:
- 9780823266975
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823266135.003.0008
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Science
Flowcharts have long been used by researchers to represent the circuits that purportedly make up our brain. This chapter presents a genealogy of these diagrams, inquiring into where these practices ...
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Flowcharts have long been used by researchers to represent the circuits that purportedly make up our brain. This chapter presents a genealogy of these diagrams, inquiring into where these practices of drawing circuits that melded brain, mind, and computer came from, and how they changed along the way. The evolution of diagrams is an extremely useful indicator of conceptual change, of agreement on the framing of problems, and of units of thought, theorizing, and experimentation. By following their theoretical and practical entailments within and across disciplines, we can better understand the importance of both visual and metaphorical studies in the history of science and technology. By concentrating on the actual changes in diagrammatic practices of flowcharts and their semiotic use in publications, we can track how they often cement and reify the mutual implication of computers and brains.Less
Flowcharts have long been used by researchers to represent the circuits that purportedly make up our brain. This chapter presents a genealogy of these diagrams, inquiring into where these practices of drawing circuits that melded brain, mind, and computer came from, and how they changed along the way. The evolution of diagrams is an extremely useful indicator of conceptual change, of agreement on the framing of problems, and of units of thought, theorizing, and experimentation. By following their theoretical and practical entailments within and across disciplines, we can better understand the importance of both visual and metaphorical studies in the history of science and technology. By concentrating on the actual changes in diagrammatic practices of flowcharts and their semiotic use in publications, we can track how they often cement and reify the mutual implication of computers and brains.
Richard Passingham
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199230136
- eISBN:
- 9780191696428
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199230136.003.0002
- Subject:
- Psychology, Cognitive Psychology
In general, an animal's brain size is in direct proportion to its body size, hence humans have bigger brains than other primates. The issue, however, is not the relativity of the brain sizes but how ...
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In general, an animal's brain size is in direct proportion to its body size, hence humans have bigger brains than other primates. The issue, however, is not the relativity of the brain sizes but how the anatomical areas of the brain, the cyto-architectonic areas connect with each other to carry out the specialized functions of the brain. This chapter discusses the physical differences between the human brain and the brain of chimpanzees and macaques. In addition to brain size, the neocortex size as well as the anatomy of the prefrontal and parietal cortices, and the Wernicke's and Broca's areas have also been examined to determine how the connectional fingerprints — or the connections between the functions of these anatomical areas — translate into functional fingerprints — or the response of the brain to different stimuli in different situations.Less
In general, an animal's brain size is in direct proportion to its body size, hence humans have bigger brains than other primates. The issue, however, is not the relativity of the brain sizes but how the anatomical areas of the brain, the cyto-architectonic areas connect with each other to carry out the specialized functions of the brain. This chapter discusses the physical differences between the human brain and the brain of chimpanzees and macaques. In addition to brain size, the neocortex size as well as the anatomy of the prefrontal and parietal cortices, and the Wernicke's and Broca's areas have also been examined to determine how the connectional fingerprints — or the connections between the functions of these anatomical areas — translate into functional fingerprints — or the response of the brain to different stimuli in different situations.
Richard Passingham
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199230136
- eISBN:
- 9780191696428
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199230136.001.0001
- Subject:
- Psychology, Cognitive Psychology
It is plausible that evolution could have created the human skeleton, but it is hard to believe that it created the human mind. Yet, in six or seven million years, evolution came up with Homo ...
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It is plausible that evolution could have created the human skeleton, but it is hard to believe that it created the human mind. Yet, in six or seven million years, evolution came up with Homo sapiens, a creature unlike anything the world had ever known. The mental gap between man and ape is immense, and yet evolution bridged that gap in so short a space of time. Since the brain is the organ of the mind, it is natural to assume that during the evolution of our hominid ancestors there were changes in the brain that can account for this gap. This book is a search for those changes. It is not enough to understand the universe, the world, or the animal kingdom: we need to understand ourselves. Humans are unlike any other animal in dominating the earth and adapting to any environment. This book searches for specializations in the human brain that make this possible. As well as considering the anatomical differences, it examines the contribution of different areas of the brain — reviewing studies in which functional brain imaging has been used to study the brain mechanisms that are involved in perception, manual skill, language, planning, reasoning, and social cognition. It considers a range of skills unique to us — for example our ability to learn a language and pass on cultural traditions in this way, and become aware of our own thoughts through inner speech. The book constitutes a quest to understand those things that make humans unique.Less
It is plausible that evolution could have created the human skeleton, but it is hard to believe that it created the human mind. Yet, in six or seven million years, evolution came up with Homo sapiens, a creature unlike anything the world had ever known. The mental gap between man and ape is immense, and yet evolution bridged that gap in so short a space of time. Since the brain is the organ of the mind, it is natural to assume that during the evolution of our hominid ancestors there were changes in the brain that can account for this gap. This book is a search for those changes. It is not enough to understand the universe, the world, or the animal kingdom: we need to understand ourselves. Humans are unlike any other animal in dominating the earth and adapting to any environment. This book searches for specializations in the human brain that make this possible. As well as considering the anatomical differences, it examines the contribution of different areas of the brain — reviewing studies in which functional brain imaging has been used to study the brain mechanisms that are involved in perception, manual skill, language, planning, reasoning, and social cognition. It considers a range of skills unique to us — for example our ability to learn a language and pass on cultural traditions in this way, and become aware of our own thoughts through inner speech. The book constitutes a quest to understand those things that make humans unique.
Jeffrey Gray
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- April 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780198520917
- eISBN:
- 9780191584916
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198520917.001.0001
- Subject:
- Psychology, Cognitive Psychology
How does conscious experience arise out of the functioning of the human brain? How is it related to the behaviour that it accompanies? How does the perceived world relate to the real world? Between ...
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How does conscious experience arise out of the functioning of the human brain? How is it related to the behaviour that it accompanies? How does the perceived world relate to the real world? Between them, these three questions constitute what is commonly known as the Hard Problem of consciousness. Despite vast knowledge of the relationship between brain and behaviour, and rapid advances in our knowledge of how brain activity correlates with conscious experience, the answers to all three questions remain controversial, even mysterious. This book analyses these core issues and reviews the evidence from both introspection and experiment. To many its conclusions will be surprising and even unsettling: (1) The entire perceived world is constructed by the brain. The relationship between the world we perceive and the underlying physical reality is not as close as we might think. (2) Much of our behaviour is accomplished with little or no participation from conscious experience. (3) Our conscious experience of our behaviour lags the behaviour itself by around a fifth of a second: we become aware of what we do only after we have done it. (4) The lag in conscious experience applies also to the decision to act: we only become aware of our decisions after they have been formed. (5) The self is as much a creation of the brain as is the rest of the perceived world.Less
How does conscious experience arise out of the functioning of the human brain? How is it related to the behaviour that it accompanies? How does the perceived world relate to the real world? Between them, these three questions constitute what is commonly known as the Hard Problem of consciousness. Despite vast knowledge of the relationship between brain and behaviour, and rapid advances in our knowledge of how brain activity correlates with conscious experience, the answers to all three questions remain controversial, even mysterious. This book analyses these core issues and reviews the evidence from both introspection and experiment. To many its conclusions will be surprising and even unsettling: (1) The entire perceived world is constructed by the brain. The relationship between the world we perceive and the underlying physical reality is not as close as we might think. (2) Much of our behaviour is accomplished with little or no participation from conscious experience. (3) Our conscious experience of our behaviour lags the behaviour itself by around a fifth of a second: we become aware of what we do only after we have done it. (4) The lag in conscious experience applies also to the decision to act: we only become aware of our decisions after they have been formed. (5) The self is as much a creation of the brain as is the rest of the perceived world.
Hannah Proctor and Laura Salisbury
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780823266135
- eISBN:
- 9780823266975
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823266135.003.0006
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Science
This chapter first discusses the Sublieutenant L. Zasetsky who, in 1943, received a devastating bullet wound that penetrated his brain and created, in an instant, a revolution of the self. Zasetsky ...
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This chapter first discusses the Sublieutenant L. Zasetsky who, in 1943, received a devastating bullet wound that penetrated his brain and created, in an instant, a revolution of the self. Zasetsky was the subject of Russian neuropsychologist Alexander Luria’s famous 1971 “neurological novel” The Man with a Shattered World: A History of a Brain Wound. The book was written by Luria following twenty-five years of clinical observation and treatment. By giving back to Luria and Zasetsky’s “neurological novel” its historicity—its place within the history of aphasiology, but also, more significantly, by restoring it to its Soviet context—by returning this History of a Brain Wound to itself, the chapter hopes to render explicit the entanglement of neurobiology with a revolutionary politics of the social that insists on the Soviet conception of plasticity. It demonstrates how Luria and Zasetsky’s accounts of the plastic brain, and indeed the aphasic person embedded in a social world, are always and already objects and subjects of and in history in ways that demand the deconstruction of the idea of any given “brain fact” on which selves are built.Less
This chapter first discusses the Sublieutenant L. Zasetsky who, in 1943, received a devastating bullet wound that penetrated his brain and created, in an instant, a revolution of the self. Zasetsky was the subject of Russian neuropsychologist Alexander Luria’s famous 1971 “neurological novel” The Man with a Shattered World: A History of a Brain Wound. The book was written by Luria following twenty-five years of clinical observation and treatment. By giving back to Luria and Zasetsky’s “neurological novel” its historicity—its place within the history of aphasiology, but also, more significantly, by restoring it to its Soviet context—by returning this History of a Brain Wound to itself, the chapter hopes to render explicit the entanglement of neurobiology with a revolutionary politics of the social that insists on the Soviet conception of plasticity. It demonstrates how Luria and Zasetsky’s accounts of the plastic brain, and indeed the aphasic person embedded in a social world, are always and already objects and subjects of and in history in ways that demand the deconstruction of the idea of any given “brain fact” on which selves are built.
Katja Guenther
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780823266135
- eISBN:
- 9780823266975
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823266135.003.0009
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Science
This chapter begins with a discussion of the discovery of mirror neurons and the controversy they generated. It then turns to mirror neuron research and shows that the organization of mirror neuron ...
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This chapter begins with a discussion of the discovery of mirror neurons and the controversy they generated. It then turns to mirror neuron research and shows that the organization of mirror neuron experiments made as conditions of research two forms of difference between the mirrored acts: nonsimultaneity and incongruence. References to these forms of differences have multiplied within the mirror neuron literature, and they have provided powerful resources for a number of important debates, for instance about the distinction between animals and humans in so-called higher order mirroring and the explanation of the origins of language. The final section deals with mirror neuron research on empathy and the emotional reading of mirror neuron function that it has legitimated.Less
This chapter begins with a discussion of the discovery of mirror neurons and the controversy they generated. It then turns to mirror neuron research and shows that the organization of mirror neuron experiments made as conditions of research two forms of difference between the mirrored acts: nonsimultaneity and incongruence. References to these forms of differences have multiplied within the mirror neuron literature, and they have provided powerful resources for a number of important debates, for instance about the distinction between animals and humans in so-called higher order mirroring and the explanation of the origins of language. The final section deals with mirror neuron research on empathy and the emotional reading of mirror neuron function that it has legitimated.
G. E. R. Lloyd
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199214617
- eISBN:
- 9780191706493
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199214617.003.0003
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind
This chapter discusses spatial cognition in humans. It examines the study by Levinson (2003) which identified diversities in human spatial cognition. It compares the findings on spatial cognition ...
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This chapter discusses spatial cognition in humans. It examines the study by Levinson (2003) which identified diversities in human spatial cognition. It compares the findings on spatial cognition with the earlier findings concerning colour, between different human subjects and whole communities. It argues that in terms of physiological and neurological input, there are both commonalities and differences between different human subjects. As to what there is to cognize, the universal elements in the colour cognition case include the physics of the wavelengths of light and in the spatial cognition one, the directionality of gravitational forces — on earth at least — and aspects of the physics and geometry of volumes and shapes.Less
This chapter discusses spatial cognition in humans. It examines the study by Levinson (2003) which identified diversities in human spatial cognition. It compares the findings on spatial cognition with the earlier findings concerning colour, between different human subjects and whole communities. It argues that in terms of physiological and neurological input, there are both commonalities and differences between different human subjects. As to what there is to cognize, the universal elements in the colour cognition case include the physics of the wavelengths of light and in the spatial cognition one, the directionality of gravitational forces — on earth at least — and aspects of the physics and geometry of volumes and shapes.
