Kenneth M. Heilman
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195144901
- eISBN:
- 9780199865642
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195144901.001.0001
- Subject:
- Neuroscience, Behavioral Neuroscience
There are many ways to study the brain. Although anatomical and physiological studies can help us understand the substrates of behavior, most of what we have learned about how the brain mediates ...
More
There are many ways to study the brain. Although anatomical and physiological studies can help us understand the substrates of behavior, most of what we have learned about how the brain mediates behavior comes from experiments of nature in which focal brain injuries induced by diseases, such as stroke, produce behavioral changes. This book focuses on what the lesion method has taught us about how the brain works. In this book a renowned neurologist recounts his experiences seeing patients with behavioral deficits caused by various brain disease and injuries, cognitive disorders, and memory disorders (such as aphasia, alexia, agraphia, agnosia, apraxia, and dementia), and explains what they have taught him about brain function and dysfunction. The book discusses brain behavior relationships, particularly issues related to neurological patients and their families.Less
There are many ways to study the brain. Although anatomical and physiological studies can help us understand the substrates of behavior, most of what we have learned about how the brain mediates behavior comes from experiments of nature in which focal brain injuries induced by diseases, such as stroke, produce behavioral changes. This book focuses on what the lesion method has taught us about how the brain works. In this book a renowned neurologist recounts his experiences seeing patients with behavioral deficits caused by various brain disease and injuries, cognitive disorders, and memory disorders (such as aphasia, alexia, agraphia, agnosia, apraxia, and dementia), and explains what they have taught him about brain function and dysfunction. The book discusses brain behavior relationships, particularly issues related to neurological patients and their families.
John Stein and Zoï Kapoula (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199589814
- eISBN:
- 9780191744785
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199589814.001.0001
- Subject:
- Neuroscience, Development, Behavioral Neuroscience
Dyslexia affects about 10% of all children and is a potent cause of loss of self-confidence, personal and family misery, and waste of potential. Although the dominant view is that it is caused by ...
More
Dyslexia affects about 10% of all children and is a potent cause of loss of self-confidence, personal and family misery, and waste of potential. Although the dominant view is that it is caused by specifically linguistic/phonological weakness, recent research within the field of neuroscience has shown that it is associated with visual processing problems as well. These discoveries have led to a resurgence in visual methods of treatment, which have shown promising results. This book brings together cutting edge research from a range of disciplines — including neurology, neuroscience, and the vision sciences, to present the first comprehensive review of this recent research. It includes chapters from leading specialists which, in addition to reporting on the latest research, show how this knowledge is being successfully applied in the development of effective visual treatments for this common problem. Sections within the book cover the role of eye movements in reading, visual attention and reading, the neural bases of reading, and the relationship between visual stress and dyslexia.Less
Dyslexia affects about 10% of all children and is a potent cause of loss of self-confidence, personal and family misery, and waste of potential. Although the dominant view is that it is caused by specifically linguistic/phonological weakness, recent research within the field of neuroscience has shown that it is associated with visual processing problems as well. These discoveries have led to a resurgence in visual methods of treatment, which have shown promising results. This book brings together cutting edge research from a range of disciplines — including neurology, neuroscience, and the vision sciences, to present the first comprehensive review of this recent research. It includes chapters from leading specialists which, in addition to reporting on the latest research, show how this knowledge is being successfully applied in the development of effective visual treatments for this common problem. Sections within the book cover the role of eye movements in reading, visual attention and reading, the neural bases of reading, and the relationship between visual stress and dyslexia.
Joaquín M. Fuster
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195300840
- eISBN:
- 9780199863655
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195300840.001.0001
- Subject:
- Neuroscience, Molecular and Cellular Systems
This book explores whether the mental order corresponds to the order of structures, events, and processes in one part of the neural order, namely, the cerebral cortex. For clarity and simplicity, ...
More
This book explores whether the mental order corresponds to the order of structures, events, and processes in one part of the neural order, namely, the cerebral cortex. For clarity and simplicity, this means the search for a spatial and temporal order in the cerebral cortex that matches the cognitive order in every respect. A change or difference in the cortical order corresponds to a change or difference in the mental order. The principal aim of this book is to map cognitive networks onto cortical networks. It has implications for cognitive neuroscience, neurophysiology, neurobiology, neuroimaging, neurology, neurosurgery, psychiatry, cognitive psychology, and linguistics. The book will also interest students in all the disciplines of neuroscience and can be used as a text or collateral reading in courses on systems neuroscience, behavioral neuroscience, cognitive science, network modeling, physiological psychology, and linguistics.Less
This book explores whether the mental order corresponds to the order of structures, events, and processes in one part of the neural order, namely, the cerebral cortex. For clarity and simplicity, this means the search for a spatial and temporal order in the cerebral cortex that matches the cognitive order in every respect. A change or difference in the cortical order corresponds to a change or difference in the mental order. The principal aim of this book is to map cognitive networks onto cortical networks. It has implications for cognitive neuroscience, neurophysiology, neurobiology, neuroimaging, neurology, neurosurgery, psychiatry, cognitive psychology, and linguistics. The book will also interest students in all the disciplines of neuroscience and can be used as a text or collateral reading in courses on systems neuroscience, behavioral neuroscience, cognitive science, network modeling, physiological psychology, and linguistics.
Frederic Danion, PhD and Mark Latash, PhD
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195395273
- eISBN:
- 9780199863518
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195395273.001.0001
- Subject:
- Neuroscience, Sensory and Motor Systems
Motor control has established itself as an area of scientific research characterized by a multi-disciplinary approach. Scientists working in the area of control of voluntary movements come from ...
More
Motor control has established itself as an area of scientific research characterized by a multi-disciplinary approach. Scientists working in the area of control of voluntary movements come from different backgrounds including but not limited to physiology, physics, psychology, mathematics, neurology, physical therapy, computer science, robotics, and engineering. One of the factors slowing progress in the area has been the lack of communication among researchers representing all these disciplines. A major objective of this book is to overcome this deficiency and to promote cooperation and mutual understanding among researchers addressing different aspects of the complex phenomenon of motor coordination. The book offers a collection of chapters written by the most prominent researchers in the field. Despite the variety of approaches and methods, all the chapters are united by a common goal: to understand how the central nervous system controls and coordinates natural voluntary movements.Less
Motor control has established itself as an area of scientific research characterized by a multi-disciplinary approach. Scientists working in the area of control of voluntary movements come from different backgrounds including but not limited to physiology, physics, psychology, mathematics, neurology, physical therapy, computer science, robotics, and engineering. One of the factors slowing progress in the area has been the lack of communication among researchers representing all these disciplines. A major objective of this book is to overcome this deficiency and to promote cooperation and mutual understanding among researchers addressing different aspects of the complex phenomenon of motor coordination. The book offers a collection of chapters written by the most prominent researchers in the field. Despite the variety of approaches and methods, all the chapters are united by a common goal: to understand how the central nervous system controls and coordinates natural voluntary movements.
Adam G. Cooper
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199546626
- eISBN:
- 9780191720208
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199546626.003.0008
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
Philosophical debate continues over the relation of mind to body. ‘Cartesian dualism’ is the dirty word, but can even a moderate materialism make proper sense of the full range of human intellectual ...
More
Philosophical debate continues over the relation of mind to body. ‘Cartesian dualism’ is the dirty word, but can even a moderate materialism make proper sense of the full range of human intellectual and spiritual activity? Determining whether, what, and how we know calls for a philosophy of the flesh articulated in full consciousness of our bodily situatedness. At the same time, a philosophy of the flesh, or even a philosophy in the flesh, does not require a scepticism about the human capacity for transcendence, or agnosticism about the reality of transcendent truth.Less
Philosophical debate continues over the relation of mind to body. ‘Cartesian dualism’ is the dirty word, but can even a moderate materialism make proper sense of the full range of human intellectual and spiritual activity? Determining whether, what, and how we know calls for a philosophy of the flesh articulated in full consciousness of our bodily situatedness. At the same time, a philosophy of the flesh, or even a philosophy in the flesh, does not require a scepticism about the human capacity for transcendence, or agnosticism about the reality of transcendent truth.
O. D. Creutzfeldt
- Published in print:
- 1995
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780198523246
- eISBN:
- 9780191724510
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198523246.001.0001
- Subject:
- Neuroscience, Molecular and Cellular Systems
The cortex continues to be the subject of intense scientific curiosity, as it has been for the past thirty years. It is the most highly developed part of the brain, yet the youngest in evolutionary ...
More
The cortex continues to be the subject of intense scientific curiosity, as it has been for the past thirty years. It is the most highly developed part of the brain, yet the youngest in evolutionary terms. It is fundamental to human behaviour, thinking, and self-understanding, and a study of its structure and performance must encompass aspects of anatomy, physiology, psychology, and neurology. This book provides an account of the structural and functional organisation of the cerebral cortex from the point of view of one of the pioneers in the field. It is a revised and updated translation of the original German text, and brings together the biological, psychological, and philosophical strands of enquiry relating to this area of the brain.Less
The cortex continues to be the subject of intense scientific curiosity, as it has been for the past thirty years. It is the most highly developed part of the brain, yet the youngest in evolutionary terms. It is fundamental to human behaviour, thinking, and self-understanding, and a study of its structure and performance must encompass aspects of anatomy, physiology, psychology, and neurology. This book provides an account of the structural and functional organisation of the cerebral cortex from the point of view of one of the pioneers in the field. It is a revised and updated translation of the original German text, and brings together the biological, psychological, and philosophical strands of enquiry relating to this area of the brain.
Michael N. Marsh
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199571505
- eISBN:
- 9780191722059
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199571505.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society, Theology
This chapter discusses aspects of the neurology and pathology of body-image, how the brain represents body-in-space, and the many illusory phenomena that may obtain therefrom. These considerations ...
More
This chapter discusses aspects of the neurology and pathology of body-image, how the brain represents body-in-space, and the many illusory phenomena that may obtain therefrom. These considerations have important repercussions for improved understandings of extra-corporeal experience (ECE) phenomenology, especially in relation to being out-of-body and to the many ways in which the brain can conjure up such illusions. The chapter continues with an evaluation of the posterior parietal cortex and its role in subserving the construction of body-image.Less
This chapter discusses aspects of the neurology and pathology of body-image, how the brain represents body-in-space, and the many illusory phenomena that may obtain therefrom. These considerations have important repercussions for improved understandings of extra-corporeal experience (ECE) phenomenology, especially in relation to being out-of-body and to the many ways in which the brain can conjure up such illusions. The chapter continues with an evaluation of the posterior parietal cortex and its role in subserving the construction of body-image.
William L Randall and A. Elizabeth McKim
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195306873
- eISBN:
- 9780199894062
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195306873.003.0002
- Subject:
- Psychology, Social Psychology, Developmental Psychology
This chapter explores the origins and operations of what the book calls “the narrative variable.” First, consideration is given to current research in neurology and cognitive neuroscience which ...
More
This chapter explores the origins and operations of what the book calls “the narrative variable.” First, consideration is given to current research in neurology and cognitive neuroscience which suggests that at the most basic level of consciousness, and certainly at that of autobiographical memory, the human mind functions in a narrative fashion, chiefly through conceptual metaphor. The psychology of narrative — from consciousness to communication — is then discussed, moving from the swirl of perceptions and observations that continually characterizes our internal experience through an organizing process that entails reading, editing, and ultimately, narration. The chapter proposes that despite obvious differences, a lifestory (i.e., the narrative text which we compose (from within) around our lives) can be understood as similar to a literary story, and that the dynamics of personal identity can be conceived in terms of the dynamics and dimensions (including atmosphere and theme) that are at work in a novel.Less
This chapter explores the origins and operations of what the book calls “the narrative variable.” First, consideration is given to current research in neurology and cognitive neuroscience which suggests that at the most basic level of consciousness, and certainly at that of autobiographical memory, the human mind functions in a narrative fashion, chiefly through conceptual metaphor. The psychology of narrative — from consciousness to communication — is then discussed, moving from the swirl of perceptions and observations that continually characterizes our internal experience through an organizing process that entails reading, editing, and ultimately, narration. The chapter proposes that despite obvious differences, a lifestory (i.e., the narrative text which we compose (from within) around our lives) can be understood as similar to a literary story, and that the dynamics of personal identity can be conceived in terms of the dynamics and dimensions (including atmosphere and theme) that are at work in a novel.
Isabelle Peretz and Robert J. Zatorre (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780198525202
- eISBN:
- 9780191689314
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198525202.001.0001
- Subject:
- Psychology, Music Psychology
Music offers a unique opportunity to understand better the organization of the human brain. Like language, music exists in all human societies. Like language, music is a complex, rule-governed ...
More
Music offers a unique opportunity to understand better the organization of the human brain. Like language, music exists in all human societies. Like language, music is a complex, rule-governed activity that seems specific to humans, and associated with a specific brain architecture. Yet unlike most other high-level functions of the human brain — and unlike language — music is a skill at which only a minority of people become proficient. The study of music as a major brain function has for some time been relatively neglected. Just recently, however, we have witnessed an explosion in research activities on music perception and performance and their correlates in the human brain. This volume brings together a collection of authorities — from the fields of music, neuroscience, psychology, and neurology — to describe the advances being made in understanding the complex relationship between music and the brain. It is a book that will lay the foundations for a cognitive neuroscience of music.Less
Music offers a unique opportunity to understand better the organization of the human brain. Like language, music exists in all human societies. Like language, music is a complex, rule-governed activity that seems specific to humans, and associated with a specific brain architecture. Yet unlike most other high-level functions of the human brain — and unlike language — music is a skill at which only a minority of people become proficient. The study of music as a major brain function has for some time been relatively neglected. Just recently, however, we have witnessed an explosion in research activities on music perception and performance and their correlates in the human brain. This volume brings together a collection of authorities — from the fields of music, neuroscience, psychology, and neurology — to describe the advances being made in understanding the complex relationship between music and the brain. It is a book that will lay the foundations for a cognitive neuroscience of music.
Gordon M. Shepherd
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195391503
- eISBN:
- 9780199863464
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195391503.003.0013
- Subject:
- Neuroscience, History of Neuroscience
This chapter focuses on the development of clinical neurology. Clinical neurology was early combined with psychiatry in the 19th century and only began to emerge as a separate specialty around 1900. ...
More
This chapter focuses on the development of clinical neurology. Clinical neurology was early combined with psychiatry in the 19th century and only began to emerge as a separate specialty around 1900. In North America, the Neurological Unit of the Boston City Hospital was one of the early seeding places for the new discipline. At midcentury, a succession of neurologists in Boston, including Stanley Cobb, Tracy Putnam, Derek Denny-Brown, Raymond Adams, and C. Miller Fisher, laid the basis for modern clinical neurology as an independent discipline. The first effective drug for treatment of epilepsy was introduced. Spreading cortical depression was discovered and linked to migraine. The role of dopamine and the substantia nigra in Parkinson's disease was recognized.Less
This chapter focuses on the development of clinical neurology. Clinical neurology was early combined with psychiatry in the 19th century and only began to emerge as a separate specialty around 1900. In North America, the Neurological Unit of the Boston City Hospital was one of the early seeding places for the new discipline. At midcentury, a succession of neurologists in Boston, including Stanley Cobb, Tracy Putnam, Derek Denny-Brown, Raymond Adams, and C. Miller Fisher, laid the basis for modern clinical neurology as an independent discipline. The first effective drug for treatment of epilepsy was introduced. Spreading cortical depression was discovered and linked to migraine. The role of dopamine and the substantia nigra in Parkinson's disease was recognized.
Doreen Kimura
- Published in print:
- 1993
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195054927
- eISBN:
- 9780199872268
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195054927.003.0001
- Subject:
- Psychology, Neuropsychology
This introductory chapter begins with a brief description of the aim of this book, which is to present a study of the neural basis of communication that emphasizes behavioral analysis rather than ...
More
This introductory chapter begins with a brief description of the aim of this book, which is to present a study of the neural basis of communication that emphasizes behavioral analysis rather than linguistic or cognitive processes. The book proposes that during the course of evolution, human communication has become intrinsically bound to the various motor programming systems that control the relevant musculature. The characteristics of such motor programming systems are presumed to have been determined by a variety of constraints, only one of which is the system used for communication. Thus, the presumption is that communication systems have been shaped in part by the characteristics of certain motor systems. Communication in early hominids, methods of studying the neurology of language, and a study of patients with unilateral cerebral pathology are discussed.Less
This introductory chapter begins with a brief description of the aim of this book, which is to present a study of the neural basis of communication that emphasizes behavioral analysis rather than linguistic or cognitive processes. The book proposes that during the course of evolution, human communication has become intrinsically bound to the various motor programming systems that control the relevant musculature. The characteristics of such motor programming systems are presumed to have been determined by a variety of constraints, only one of which is the system used for communication. Thus, the presumption is that communication systems have been shaped in part by the characteristics of certain motor systems. Communication in early hominids, methods of studying the neurology of language, and a study of patients with unilateral cerebral pathology are discussed.
C. A. Molgaard, A. L. Golbeck, and J. F. Rothrock
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199239481
- eISBN:
- 9780191716973
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199239481.003.019
- Subject:
- Public Health and Epidemiology, Public Health, Epidemiology
Neuroepidemiology has traditionally been defined as the study of the distribution and determinants of neurologic diseases and injuries, whether of a chronic (Alzheimer's disease, stroke), infectious ...
More
Neuroepidemiology has traditionally been defined as the study of the distribution and determinants of neurologic diseases and injuries, whether of a chronic (Alzheimer's disease, stroke), infectious (‘mad cow disease’, poliomyelitis), or toxic (Minamata's disease, lead poisoning) nature. The teaching of this subfield of epidemiology, also a subfield of neurology, is important because of the large public health burden neurologic diseases and injuries represent at the population level. Its importance also lies in that neuroepidemiology spans a large range of medical, social, botanical, geographic, and behavioural sciences. This chapter presents an approach to teaching neuroepidemiology, covering teaching and learning objectives, teaching contents, teaching method and format, and assessing students' achievements.Less
Neuroepidemiology has traditionally been defined as the study of the distribution and determinants of neurologic diseases and injuries, whether of a chronic (Alzheimer's disease, stroke), infectious (‘mad cow disease’, poliomyelitis), or toxic (Minamata's disease, lead poisoning) nature. The teaching of this subfield of epidemiology, also a subfield of neurology, is important because of the large public health burden neurologic diseases and injuries represent at the population level. Its importance also lies in that neuroepidemiology spans a large range of medical, social, botanical, geographic, and behavioural sciences. This chapter presents an approach to teaching neuroepidemiology, covering teaching and learning objectives, teaching contents, teaching method and format, and assessing students' achievements.
Ann Oakley
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9781861349378
- eISBN:
- 9781447302360
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781861349378.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Social Theory
The starting point of this book is the fracture of the author's right arm in the grounds of a hotel in the USA. What begins as an accident becomes a journey into some critical themes of modern ...
More
The starting point of this book is the fracture of the author's right arm in the grounds of a hotel in the USA. What begins as an accident becomes a journey into some critical themes of modern Western culture: the crisis of embodiment and the perfect self; the confusion between body and identity; the commodification of bodies and body parts; the intrusive surveillance and profiteering of medicine and the law; the problem of ageing; and the identification of women, particularly, with bodies — from the intensely ambiguous two-in-one state of pregnancy to women's later transformation into unproductive, brittle skeletons. This book mixes personal experience (the author's and other people's) with ‘facts’ derived from other literatures, including the history of medicine, neurology, the sociology of health and illness, philosophy, and legal discourses on the right to life and people as victims of a greedy litigation system. The book spans the genres of fiction/non-fiction, autobiography and social theory.Less
The starting point of this book is the fracture of the author's right arm in the grounds of a hotel in the USA. What begins as an accident becomes a journey into some critical themes of modern Western culture: the crisis of embodiment and the perfect self; the confusion between body and identity; the commodification of bodies and body parts; the intrusive surveillance and profiteering of medicine and the law; the problem of ageing; and the identification of women, particularly, with bodies — from the intensely ambiguous two-in-one state of pregnancy to women's later transformation into unproductive, brittle skeletons. This book mixes personal experience (the author's and other people's) with ‘facts’ derived from other literatures, including the history of medicine, neurology, the sociology of health and illness, philosophy, and legal discourses on the right to life and people as victims of a greedy litigation system. The book spans the genres of fiction/non-fiction, autobiography and social theory.
Jane Wood
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198187608
- eISBN:
- 9780191674723
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198187608.003.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, 19th-century and Victorian Literature
This book demonstrates medical arguments about the nature of the relationship between the physical, mental, and social aspects of men's and women's lives. Neurology is the branch of medicine that is ...
More
This book demonstrates medical arguments about the nature of the relationship between the physical, mental, and social aspects of men's and women's lives. Neurology is the branch of medicine that is central to this book. Here, the medical writers all move beyond the particulars of their specialisms to ponder ethical and philosophical questions raised by their scientific observations. William Carpenter, Thomas Laycock, and Henry Maudsley are three examples of doctors whose treatises on cerebral and neurological functioning slid almost imperceptibly into elegant disquisitions on the nature of consciousness and the elusive relationship of body and mind.Less
This book demonstrates medical arguments about the nature of the relationship between the physical, mental, and social aspects of men's and women's lives. Neurology is the branch of medicine that is central to this book. Here, the medical writers all move beyond the particulars of their specialisms to ponder ethical and philosophical questions raised by their scientific observations. William Carpenter, Thomas Laycock, and Henry Maudsley are three examples of doctors whose treatises on cerebral and neurological functioning slid almost imperceptibly into elegant disquisitions on the nature of consciousness and the elusive relationship of body and mind.
Jane Wood
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198187608
- eISBN:
- 9780191674723
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198187608.003.0004
- Subject:
- Literature, 19th-century and Victorian Literature
This chapter explores the relationship between physiology and consciousness. It begins with the shared fascination of doctors and fiction writers for states of altered consciousness such as those ...
More
This chapter explores the relationship between physiology and consciousness. It begins with the shared fascination of doctors and fiction writers for states of altered consciousness such as those experienced in delirium. Collins's Basil and Dickens's Great Expectations and Bleak House are only three of the many literary texts in the period shortly after the mid-century which make use of altered consciousness in delirium to examine concepts of identity away from the objects and events that fill normal waking life. This chapter then turns to the period when mental science became more directly linked to physiology and neurology through the fast developing life sciences.Less
This chapter explores the relationship between physiology and consciousness. It begins with the shared fascination of doctors and fiction writers for states of altered consciousness such as those experienced in delirium. Collins's Basil and Dickens's Great Expectations and Bleak House are only three of the many literary texts in the period shortly after the mid-century which make use of altered consciousness in delirium to examine concepts of identity away from the objects and events that fill normal waking life. This chapter then turns to the period when mental science became more directly linked to physiology and neurology through the fast developing life sciences.
Torben Grodal
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195371314
- eISBN:
- 9780199870585
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195371314.003.0003
- Subject:
- Literature, Film, Media, and Cultural Studies
This chapter analyzes the evolutionary causes for the fascination with romantic films and why more men than women watch pornographic films, using film examples throughout. It argues that romantic ...
More
This chapter analyzes the evolutionary causes for the fascination with romantic films and why more men than women watch pornographic films, using film examples throughout. It argues that romantic films and pair-bonding are not social-ideological constructions but constructions based on innate dispositions. It discusses the neurological support for romantic love and the evolutionary reasons for romantic bonds: to provide resources for the “too early” born and slowly maturing human infants. It further discusses how the male fascination with pornography is based on biological structures much older than the c.2 million years of romantic pair-bonding and how, therefore, mainstream pornography focuses on anonymous and strongly promiscuous relations. The chapter discusses how films often portray conflicts between romantic love and other concerns; for instance, how films noir often portray “fatal” conflicts between romantic love, promiscuous desire, and the desire for money. The chapter also discusses how many romantic films focus on the conflict between partner choice and exclusive partner commitment. The chapter finally discusses how romantic love plays and has played different roles in different cultural contexts, so that romantic love in film and literature has sometimes been linked to emancipation, and sometimes used for opposite purposes.Less
This chapter analyzes the evolutionary causes for the fascination with romantic films and why more men than women watch pornographic films, using film examples throughout. It argues that romantic films and pair-bonding are not social-ideological constructions but constructions based on innate dispositions. It discusses the neurological support for romantic love and the evolutionary reasons for romantic bonds: to provide resources for the “too early” born and slowly maturing human infants. It further discusses how the male fascination with pornography is based on biological structures much older than the c.2 million years of romantic pair-bonding and how, therefore, mainstream pornography focuses on anonymous and strongly promiscuous relations. The chapter discusses how films often portray conflicts between romantic love and other concerns; for instance, how films noir often portray “fatal” conflicts between romantic love, promiscuous desire, and the desire for money. The chapter also discusses how many romantic films focus on the conflict between partner choice and exclusive partner commitment. The chapter finally discusses how romantic love plays and has played different roles in different cultural contexts, so that romantic love in film and literature has sometimes been linked to emancipation, and sometimes used for opposite purposes.
Torben Grodal
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195371314
- eISBN:
- 9780199870585
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195371314.003.0004
- Subject:
- Literature, Film, Media, and Cultural Studies
This chapter contrasts different approaches to the question of the relationship between morality and the viewer’s simulation of emotions in film and uses The Silence of the Lambs as a test case for ...
More
This chapter contrasts different approaches to the question of the relationship between morality and the viewer’s simulation of emotions in film and uses The Silence of the Lambs as a test case for discussion. It discusses how some layers of morality are based on innate dispositions reflecting hunter-gatherer life conditions, whereas others are based on cultural moral norms that reflect more recent types of life in large social groups, and it assesses how different films or even different sections of the same film appeal to different moral norms and switch between norms. The chapter further discusses sociological evidence that morality is context-dependent and that viewers—contrary to claims by some, such as Noel Carroll—therefore can be influenced by a given film context to enjoy films that are different from their normal professed morality. The chapter also discusses why a neurocognitive approach has many similarities to a Freudian approach—for instance, in pointing out the importance of unconscious and eventually repressed thoughts and emotions—as well as many strong differences.Less
This chapter contrasts different approaches to the question of the relationship between morality and the viewer’s simulation of emotions in film and uses The Silence of the Lambs as a test case for discussion. It discusses how some layers of morality are based on innate dispositions reflecting hunter-gatherer life conditions, whereas others are based on cultural moral norms that reflect more recent types of life in large social groups, and it assesses how different films or even different sections of the same film appeal to different moral norms and switch between norms. The chapter further discusses sociological evidence that morality is context-dependent and that viewers—contrary to claims by some, such as Noel Carroll—therefore can be influenced by a given film context to enjoy films that are different from their normal professed morality. The chapter also discusses why a neurocognitive approach has many similarities to a Freudian approach—for instance, in pointing out the importance of unconscious and eventually repressed thoughts and emotions—as well as many strong differences.
Stephen T. Casper
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- September 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780719091926
- eISBN:
- 9781781706992
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719091926.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
Since the 1990s, the English-speaking world has seen the rise of a neuroculture derived from neurology and neuroscience. The Neurologists is a book that asks how did we arrive at this moment? What is ...
More
Since the 1990s, the English-speaking world has seen the rise of a neuroculture derived from neurology and neuroscience. The Neurologists is a book that asks how did we arrive at this moment? What is it about neurology and neuroscience that makes neuroculture seem self-evident? To tell this story The Neurologists charts a chronological course from the time of the French Revolution to after the ‘Decade of the Brain’ that outlines the rise of medical and scientific neurology and the emergence of neuroculture. With its focus chiefly on Great Britain, arguably the place where it all began, The Neurologists describes how Victorian physicians located in a medical culture that privileged general knowledge over narrow specialism came to be transformed into the specialized physicians now called neurologists. The Neurologists therefore recasts the received history of neurology and the history of professions and specialties. It provides new insights into the social, cultural, and institutional practices of British medical and scientific culture in the nineteenth and twentieth century. Delving into how and why physicians and scientists were interested in nerves, the nervous system, the brain, and the psyche, The Neurologists explores how Renaissance-styled men and women of medicine and science made neurology the medical field seemingly most concerned by the ‘philosophical status of man.’Less
Since the 1990s, the English-speaking world has seen the rise of a neuroculture derived from neurology and neuroscience. The Neurologists is a book that asks how did we arrive at this moment? What is it about neurology and neuroscience that makes neuroculture seem self-evident? To tell this story The Neurologists charts a chronological course from the time of the French Revolution to after the ‘Decade of the Brain’ that outlines the rise of medical and scientific neurology and the emergence of neuroculture. With its focus chiefly on Great Britain, arguably the place where it all began, The Neurologists describes how Victorian physicians located in a medical culture that privileged general knowledge over narrow specialism came to be transformed into the specialized physicians now called neurologists. The Neurologists therefore recasts the received history of neurology and the history of professions and specialties. It provides new insights into the social, cultural, and institutional practices of British medical and scientific culture in the nineteenth and twentieth century. Delving into how and why physicians and scientists were interested in nerves, the nervous system, the brain, and the psyche, The Neurologists explores how Renaissance-styled men and women of medicine and science made neurology the medical field seemingly most concerned by the ‘philosophical status of man.’
Cyriel M. A. Pennartz
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780262029315
- eISBN:
- 9780262330121
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262029315.003.0003
- Subject:
- Neuroscience, Behavioral Neuroscience
This chapter presents a fictive experiment in which a person named Harry voluntarily undergoes neurosurgical operations by which various cognitive processes are reversibly abolished. This paves the ...
More
This chapter presents a fictive experiment in which a person named Harry voluntarily undergoes neurosurgical operations by which various cognitive processes are reversibly abolished. This paves the way for asking: which cognitive processes can be "peeled away" from our mental lives before consciousness is lost? Which processes belong to the core that is essential for consciousness? We review the relevance of processes such as sensory processing and perception in various modalities (vision, hearing, etc.), memory, emotions, motor behavior and language. Neurology and neuropsychology offer compelling cases for brain systems involved in perception and/or imagery as being essential for consciousness, whereas structures for memory, emotions, language and motor capacities appear less essential. This empirical evidence also argues against classic functionalism, which posits that a mental state acts as a causal intermediate between sensory input and motor output, because consciousness survives the long-lasting absence of motor behavior. As illustrated by clinical phenomena such as achromatopsia, the weight of evidence indicates that consciousness cannot be explained as simply having a discriminative state of groups of neurons, biasing or predisposing the organism toward specific actions.Less
This chapter presents a fictive experiment in which a person named Harry voluntarily undergoes neurosurgical operations by which various cognitive processes are reversibly abolished. This paves the way for asking: which cognitive processes can be "peeled away" from our mental lives before consciousness is lost? Which processes belong to the core that is essential for consciousness? We review the relevance of processes such as sensory processing and perception in various modalities (vision, hearing, etc.), memory, emotions, motor behavior and language. Neurology and neuropsychology offer compelling cases for brain systems involved in perception and/or imagery as being essential for consciousness, whereas structures for memory, emotions, language and motor capacities appear less essential. This empirical evidence also argues against classic functionalism, which posits that a mental state acts as a causal intermediate between sensory input and motor output, because consciousness survives the long-lasting absence of motor behavior. As illustrated by clinical phenomena such as achromatopsia, the weight of evidence indicates that consciousness cannot be explained as simply having a discriminative state of groups of neurons, biasing or predisposing the organism toward specific actions.
Todd E. Feinberg and Julian Paul Keenan (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195173413
- eISBN:
- 9780199865758
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195173413.001.0001
- Subject:
- Neuroscience, Molecular and Cellular Systems
This book offers an in-depth exploration into one of the most mysterious and controversial topics in neuroscience, neurology, psychiatry, and psychology — namely, the search for the biological basis ...
More
This book offers an in-depth exploration into one of the most mysterious and controversial topics in neuroscience, neurology, psychiatry, and psychology — namely, the search for the biological basis of the self. It is a guide to understanding how the brain creates who we are, and what happens when things go wrong.Less
This book offers an in-depth exploration into one of the most mysterious and controversial topics in neuroscience, neurology, psychiatry, and psychology — namely, the search for the biological basis of the self. It is a guide to understanding how the brain creates who we are, and what happens when things go wrong.
