Explanation and Integration in Mind and Brain Science

Download Explanation and Integration in Mind and Brain Science PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0199685509
Total Pages : 269 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (996 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Explanation and Integration in Mind and Brain Science by : David Michael Kaplan

Download or read book Explanation and Integration in Mind and Brain Science written by David Michael Kaplan and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2017 with total page 269 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Is the relationship between psychology and neuroscience one of autonomy or mutual constraint and integration? This volume includes new papers from leading philosophers seeking to address this issue by deepening our understanding of the similarities and differences between the explanatory patterns employed across these domains.

Cognitive Integration

Download Cognitive Integration PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 0230592880
Total Pages : 219 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (35 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Cognitive Integration by : R. Menary

Download or read book Cognitive Integration written by R. Menary and published by Springer. This book was released on 2007-10-24 with total page 219 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book argues that thinking is bounded by neither the brain nor the skin of an organism. Cognitive systems function through integration of neural and bodily functions with the functions of representational vehicles. The integrationist position offers a fresh contribution to the emerging embodied and embedded approach to the study of mind.

Explanation and Integration in Mind and Brain Science

Download Explanation and Integration in Mind and Brain Science PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0191508713
Total Pages : 256 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (915 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Explanation and Integration in Mind and Brain Science by : David M. Kaplan

Download or read book Explanation and Integration in Mind and Brain Science written by David M. Kaplan and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2017-12-01 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This collection brings together a set of new papers that advance the debate concerning the nature of explanation in mind and brain science, and help to clarify the prospects for bonafide integration across these fields. Long a topic of debate among philosophers and scientists alike, there is growing appreciation that understanding the complex relationship between the psychological sciences and the neurosciences, especially how their respective explanatory frameworks interrelate, is of fundamental importance for achieving progress across these scientific domains. Traditional philosophical discussions tend to construe the relationship between them in stark terms - either they are related in terms of complete independence (i.e., autonomy) or complete dependence (i.e., reduction), leaving little room for more interesting relations such as that of mutually beneficial interaction or integration. A unifying thread across the diverse set of contributions to this volume is the rejection of the assumption that no stable middle ground exists between these two extremes, and common embrace of the idea that these sciences are partially dependent on or constrained by one another. By addressing whether the explanatory patterns employed across these domains are similar or different in kind, and to what extent they inform and constrain each another, this volume helps to deepen our understanding of the prospects for successfully integrating mind and brain science.

The New Science of the Mind

Download The New Science of the Mind PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : MIT Press
ISBN 13 : 026228894X
Total Pages : 260 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (622 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The New Science of the Mind by : Mark J. Rowlands

Download or read book The New Science of the Mind written by Mark J. Rowlands and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2010-08-13 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An investigation into the conceptual foundations of a new way of thinking about the mind that does not locate all cognition "in the head." There is a new way of thinking about the mind that does not locate mental processes exclusively "in the head." Some think that this expanded conception of the mind will be the basis of a new science of the mind. In this book, leading philosopher Mark Rowlands investigates the conceptual foundations of this new science of the mind. The new way of thinking about the mind emphasizes the ways in which mental processes are embodied (made up partly of extraneural bodily structures and processes), embedded (designed to function in tandem with the environment), enacted (constituted in part by action), and extended (located in the environment). The new way of thinking about the mind, Rowlands writes, is actually an old way of thinking that has taken on new form. Rowlands describes a conception of mind that had its clearest expression in phenomenology—in the work of Husserl, Heidegger, Sartre, and Merleau-Ponty. He builds on these views, clarifies and renders consistent the ideas of embodied, embedded, enacted, and extended mind, and develops a unified philosophical treatment of the novel conception of the mind that underlies the new science of the mind.

The Cognitive Neuroscience of Mind

Download The Cognitive Neuroscience of Mind PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : MIT Press
ISBN 13 : 0262014017
Total Pages : 259 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (62 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Cognitive Neuroscience of Mind by : Michael S. Gazzaniga

Download or read book The Cognitive Neuroscience of Mind written by Michael S. Gazzaniga and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2010 with total page 259 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: These essays on a range of topics in the cognitive neurosciences report on the progress in the field over the twenty years of its existence and reflect the many groundbreaking scientific contributions and enduring influence of Michael Gazzaniga, 'the godfather of cognitive neuroscience'.

Brain, Mind, and the Structure of Reality

Download Brain, Mind, and the Structure of Reality PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0199914648
Total Pages : 317 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (999 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Brain, Mind, and the Structure of Reality by : Paul L. Nunez

Download or read book Brain, Mind, and the Structure of Reality written by Paul L. Nunez and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2012-05-24 with total page 317 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Does the brain create the mind, or is some external entity involved? This book synthesizes ideas borrowed from philosophy, religion, and science. Topics range widely from brain imagining of thought processes to quantum mechanics and the essential role of information in brains and physical systems.

Mind-Brain-Gene: Toward Psychotherapy Integration

Download Mind-Brain-Gene: Toward Psychotherapy Integration PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN 13 : 0393711854
Total Pages : 317 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (937 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Mind-Brain-Gene: Toward Psychotherapy Integration by : John Arden

Download or read book Mind-Brain-Gene: Toward Psychotherapy Integration written by John Arden and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2019-01-15 with total page 317 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An exploration of the ways the immune system, epigenetics, affect regulation, and attachment intersect in mental health. The evolution of psychotherapy in the 21st Century demands integration. Instead of choosing from the blizzard of modalities and schools of the past, therapists must move toward finding common denominators among them. Similarly, today’s psychotherapy necessitates the integration of the mind and body, not the past practice of compartmentalization of mental health and physical health. This book contributes to the sea change in how we conceptualize mental health problems and their solutions. Mind-Brain-Gene describes the feedback loops between the multiple systems contributing to the emergence of the mind and the experience of the self. It explains how our mental operating networks “self”-organize, drawing from and modifying our memory systems to establish and maintain mental health. Synthesizing research in psychoneuroimmunology and epigenetics with interpersonal neurobiology and research on integrated psychotherapeutic approaches, John Arden explores how insecure attachment, deprivation, child abuse, and trauma contribute to anxiety disorders and depression to produce epigenetic affects. To help people suffering from anxiety and depression, it is necessary to make sense of the multidirectional feedback loops between the stress systems and the dysregulation of the immune system that lead to those conditions. Successful psychotherapy modifies the feedback loops among the self-maintenance systems. Through the orchestration of the mental operating networks, psychotherapy promotes the re-regulation of immune system functions, stress systems, nutrition, microbiome (gut bacteria), sleep, physical inactivity, affect regulation, and cognition. This book makes a strong case for healthcare and psychotherapy to be combined—together they can revolutionize the way we conceive of, and attain, optimal health in the 21st Century.

Neurocognitive Mechanisms

Download Neurocognitive Mechanisms PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN 13 : 0198866283
Total Pages : 413 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (988 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Neurocognitive Mechanisms by : Gualtiero Piccinini

Download or read book Neurocognitive Mechanisms written by Gualtiero Piccinini and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2020-10-08 with total page 413 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Gualtiero Piccinini presents a systematic and rigorous philosophical defence of the computational theory of cognition. His view posits that cognition involves neural computation within multilevel neurocognitive mechanisms, and includes novel ideas about ontology, functions, neural representation, neural computation, and consciousness.

The Embodied Mind, revised edition

Download The Embodied Mind, revised edition PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : MIT Press
ISBN 13 : 026252936X
Total Pages : 390 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (625 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Embodied Mind, revised edition by : Francisco J. Varela

Download or read book The Embodied Mind, revised edition written by Francisco J. Varela and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2017-01-13 with total page 390 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A new edition of a classic work that originated the “embodied cognition” movement and was one of the first to link science and Buddhist practices. This classic book, first published in 1991, was one of the first to propose the “embodied cognition” approach in cognitive science. It pioneered the connections between phenomenology and science and between Buddhist practices and science—claims that have since become highly influential. Through this cross-fertilization of disparate fields of study, The Embodied Mind introduced a new form of cognitive science called “enaction,” in which both the environment and first person experience are aspects of embodiment. However, enactive embodiment is not the grasping of an independent, outside world by a brain, a mind, or a self; rather it is the bringing forth of an interdependent world in and through embodied action. Although enacted cognition lacks an absolute foundation, the book shows how that does not lead to either experiential or philosophical nihilism. Above all, the book's arguments were powered by the conviction that the sciences of mind must encompass lived human experience and the possibilities for transformation inherent in human experience. This revised edition includes substantive introductions by Evan Thompson and Eleanor Rosch that clarify central arguments of the work and discuss and evaluate subsequent research that has expanded on the themes of the book, including the renewed theoretical and practical interest in Buddhism and mindfulness. A preface by Jon Kabat-Zinn, the originator of the mindfulness-based stress reduction program, contextualizes the book and describes its influence on his life and work.

Mindsight

Download Mindsight PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Bantam
ISBN 13 : 0553907107
Total Pages : 338 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (539 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Mindsight by : Daniel J. Siegel, MD

Download or read book Mindsight written by Daniel J. Siegel, MD and published by Bantam. This book was released on 2010-01-12 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From a pioneer in the field of mental health comes a groundbreaking book on the healing power of "mindsight," the potent skill that allows you to make positive changes in your brain–and in your life. Foreword by Daniel Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence • Is there a memory that torments you, or an irrational fear you can't shake? • Do you sometimes become unreasonably angry or upset and find it hard to calm down? • Do you ever wonder why you can't stop behaving the way you do, no matter how hard you try? • Are you and your child (or parent, partner, or boss) locked in a seemingly inevitable pattern of conflict? What if you could escape traps like these and live a fuller, richer, happier life? This isn't mere speculation but the result of twenty-five years of careful hands-on clinical work by Daniel J. Siegel, M.D. A Harvard-trained physician, Dr. Siegel is one of the revolutionary global innovators in the integration of brain science into the practice of psychotherapy. Using case histories from his practice, he shows how, by following the proper steps, nearly everyone can learn how to focus their attention on the internal world of the mind in a way that will literally change the wiring and architecture of their brain. Through his synthesis of a broad range of scientific research with applications to everyday life, Dr. Siegel has developed novel approaches that have helped hundreds of patients. And now he has written the first book that will help all of us understand the potential we have to create our own lives. Showing us mindsight in action, Dr. Siegel describes • a sixteen-year-old boy with bipolar disorder who uses meditation and other techniques instead of drugs to calm the emotional storms that made him suicidal • a woman paralyzed by anxiety, who uses mindsight to discover, in an unconscious memory of a childhood accident, the source of her dread • a physician–the author himself–who pays attention to his intuition, which he experiences as a "vague, uneasy feeling in my belly, a gnawing restlessness in my heart and my gut," and tracks down a patient who could have gone deaf because of an inaccurately written prescription for an ear infection • a twelve-year-old girl with OCD who learns a meditation that is "like watching myself from outside myself" and, using a form of internal dialogue, is able to stop the compulsive behaviors that have been tormenting her These and many other extraordinary stories illustrate how mindsight can help us master our emotions, heal our relationships, and reach our fullest potential.

Brain-Body-Mind in the Nebulous Cartesian System: A Holistic Approach by Oscillations

Download Brain-Body-Mind in the Nebulous Cartesian System: A Holistic Approach by Oscillations PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN 13 : 1441961364
Total Pages : 544 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (419 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Brain-Body-Mind in the Nebulous Cartesian System: A Holistic Approach by Oscillations by : Erol Başar

Download or read book Brain-Body-Mind in the Nebulous Cartesian System: A Holistic Approach by Oscillations written by Erol Başar and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2010-12-06 with total page 544 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Brain-Body-Mind in the Nebulous Cartesian System: A Holistic Approach by Oscillations is a research monograph, with didactical features, on the mechanisms of the mind, encompassing a wide spectrum of results and analyses. The book should appeal to scientists and graduate students in the fields of neuroscience, neurology, psychiatry, physiology, psychology, physics and philosophy. Its goals are the development of an empirical-analytical construct, denoted as “Reasonings to Approach the Mind”, and the comprehension of 20 principles for understanding the mind. This book amalgamates results from work on the brain, vegetative system, brains in the evolution of species, the maturing brain, dynamic memory, emotional processes, and cognitive impairment in neuro-psychiatric disorders (Alzheimer, Schizophrenia, Bipolar disorders). The findings are comparatively evaluated within the framework of brain oscillations and neurotransmitters. Further, a holistic approach links the brain to the cardiovascular system and overall myogenic coordination of the vegetative system. The results emphasize that EEG oscillations, ultraslow oscillations, and neurotransmitters are quasi-invariant building blocks in brain-body-mind function and also during the evolution of species: The temporal domain is where the importance of research on neural oscillators is indispensable. The core, holistic concept that emerges is that the brain, spinal cord, overall myogenic system, brain-body-oscillations, and neurotransmitters form a functional syncytium. Accordingly, the concept of “Syncytium Brain-Body-Mind” replaces the concept of “Mind”. P>

The Brain's Representational Power

Download The Brain's Representational Power PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : MIT Press
ISBN 13 : 0262029316
Total Pages : 407 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (62 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Brain's Representational Power by : Cyriel M.A. Pennartz

Download or read book The Brain's Representational Power written by Cyriel M.A. Pennartz and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2015-09-18 with total page 407 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A neuroscientifically informed theory arguing that the core of qualitative conscious experience arises from the integration of sensory and cognitive modalities. Although science has made considerable progress in discovering the neural basis of cognitive processes, how consciousness arises remains elusive. In this book, Cyriel Pennartz analyzes which aspects of conscious experience can be peeled away to access its core: the “hardest” aspect, the relationship between brain processes and the subjective, qualitative nature of consciousness. Pennartz traces the problem back to its historical roots in the foundations of neuroscience and connects early ideas on sensory processing to contemporary computational neuroscience. What can we learn from neural network models, and where do they fall short in bridging the gap between neural processes and conscious experience? Do neural models of cognition resemble inanimate systems, and how can this help us define requirements for conscious processing in the brain? These questions underlie Pennartz's examination of the brain's anatomy and neurophysiology. The perspective of his account is not limited to visual perception but broadened to include other sensory modalities and their integration. Formulating a representational theory of the neural basis of consciousness, Pennartz outlines properties that complex structures must express to process information consciously. This theoretical framework is constructed using empirical findings from neuropsychology and neuroscience as well as such theoretical arguments as the Cuneiform Room and the Wall Street Banker. Positing that qualitative experience is a multimodal and multilevel phenomenon at its very roots, Pennartz places this body of theory in the wider context of mind-brain philosophy, examining implications for our thinking about animal and robot consciousness.

Mind, Body, World

Download Mind, Body, World PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Athabasca University Press
ISBN 13 : 1927356172
Total Pages : 506 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (273 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Mind, Body, World by : Michael R. W. Dawson

Download or read book Mind, Body, World written by Michael R. W. Dawson and published by Athabasca University Press. This book was released on 2013 with total page 506 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cognitive science arose in the 1950s when it became apparent that a number of disciplines, including psychology, computer science, linguistics, and philosophy, were fragmenting. Perhaps owing to the field's immediate origins in cybernetics, as well as to the foundational assumption that cognition is information processing, cognitive science initially seemed more unified than psychology. However, as a result of differing interpretations of the foundational assumption and dramatically divergent views of the meaning of the term information processing, three separate schools emerged: classical cognitive science, connectionist cognitive science, and embodied cognitive science. Examples, cases, and research findings taken from the wide range of phenomena studied by cognitive scientists effectively explain and explore the relationship among the three perspectives. Intended to introduce both graduate and senior undergraduate students to the foundations of cognitive science, Mind, Body, World addresses a number of questions currently being asked by those practicing in the field: What are the core assumptions of the three different schools? What are the relationships between these different sets of core assumptions? Is there only one cognitive science, or are there many different cognitive sciences? Giving the schools equal treatment and displaying a broad and deep understanding of the field, Dawson highlights the fundamental tensions and lines of fragmentation that exist among the schools and provides a refreshing and unifying framework for students of cognitive science.

Explaining the Computational Mind

Download Explaining the Computational Mind PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : MIT Press
ISBN 13 : 0262313928
Total Pages : 257 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (623 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Explaining the Computational Mind by : Marcin Milkowski

Download or read book Explaining the Computational Mind written by Marcin Milkowski and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2013-03-29 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A defense of the computational explanation of cognition that relies on mechanistic philosophy of science and advocates for explanatory pluralism. In this book, Marcin Milkowski argues that the mind can be explained computationally because it is itself computational—whether it engages in mental arithmetic, parses natural language, or processes the auditory signals that allow us to experience music. Defending the computational explanation against objections to it—from John Searle and Hilary Putnam in particular—Milkowski writes that computationalism is here to stay but is not what many have taken it to be. It does not, for example, rely on a Cartesian gulf between software and hardware, or mind and brain. Milkowski's mechanistic construal of computation allows him to show that no purely computational explanation of a physical process will ever be complete. Computationalism is only plausible, he argues, if you also accept explanatory pluralism. Milkowski sketches a mechanistic theory of implementation of computation against a background of extant conceptions, describing four dissimilar computational models of cognition. He reviews other philosophical accounts of implementation and computational explanation and defends a notion of representation that is compatible with his mechanistic account and adequate vis à vis the four models discussed earlier. Instead of arguing that there is no computation without representation, he inverts the slogan and shows that there is no representation without computation—but explains that representation goes beyond purely computational considerations. Milkowski's arguments succeed in vindicating computational explanation in a novel way by relying on mechanistic theory of science and interventionist theory of causation.

Mind: A Journey to the Heart of Being Human (Norton Series on Interpersonal Neurobiology)

Download Mind: A Journey to the Heart of Being Human (Norton Series on Interpersonal Neurobiology) PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN 13 : 0393710548
Total Pages : 382 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (937 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Mind: A Journey to the Heart of Being Human (Norton Series on Interpersonal Neurobiology) by : Daniel J. Siegel

Download or read book Mind: A Journey to the Heart of Being Human (Norton Series on Interpersonal Neurobiology) written by Daniel J. Siegel and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2016-10-18 with total page 382 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A New York Times Bestseller. A scientist’s exploration into the mysteries of the human mind. What is the mind? What is the experience of the self truly made of? How does the mind differ from the brain? Though the mind’s contents—its emotions, thoughts, and memories—are often described, the essence of mind is rarely, if ever, defined. In this book, noted neuropsychiatrist and New York Times best-selling author Daniel J. Siegel, MD, uses his characteristic sensitivity and interdisciplinary background to offer a definition of the mind that illuminates the how, what, when, where, and even why of who we are, of what the mind is, and what the mind’s self has the potential to become. MIND takes the reader on a deep personal and scientific journey into consciousness, subjective experience, and information processing, uncovering the mind’s self-organizational properties that emerge from both the body and the relationships we have with one another, and with the world around us. While making a wide range of sciences accessible and exciting—from neurobiology to quantum physics, anthropology to psychology—this book offers an experience that addresses some of our most pressing personal and global questions about identity, connection, and the cultivation of well-being in our lives.

The Routledge Handbook of Consciousness

Download The Routledge Handbook of Consciousness PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1317386809
Total Pages : 775 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (173 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Routledge Handbook of Consciousness by : Rocco J. Gennaro

Download or read book The Routledge Handbook of Consciousness written by Rocco J. Gennaro and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-03-15 with total page 775 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There has been an explosion of work on consciousness in the last 30–40 years from philosophers, psychologists, and neurologists. Thus, there is a need for an interdisciplinary, comprehensive volume in the field that brings together contributions from a wide range of experts on fundamental and cutting-edge topics. The Routledge Handbook of Consciousness fills this need and makes each chapter’s importance understandable to students and researchers from a variety of backgrounds. Designed to complement and better explain primary sources, this volume is a valuable "first-stop" publication for undergraduate or graduate students enrolled in any course on "Consciousness," "Philosophy of Mind," or "Philosophy of Psychology," as well as a valuable handbook for researchers in these fields who want a useful reference to have close at hand. The 34 chapters, all published here for the first time, are divided into three parts: Part I covers the "History and Background Metaphysics" of consciousness, such as dualism, materialism, free will, and personal identity, and includes a chapter on Indian philosophy. Part II is on specific "Contemporary Theories of Consciousness," with chapters on representational, information integration, global workspace, attention-based, and quantum theories. Part III is entitled "Major Topics in Consciousness Research," with chapters on psychopathologies, dreaming, meditation, time, action, emotion, multisensory experience, animal and robot consciousness, and the unity of consciousness. Each chapter begins with a brief introduction and concludes with a list of "Related Topics," as well as a list of "References," making the volume indispensable for the newcomer and experienced researcher alike.

Pictures of the Mind

Download Pictures of the Mind PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : FT Press
ISBN 13 : 0137054483
Total Pages : 212 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (37 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Pictures of the Mind by : Miriam Boleyn-Fitzgerald

Download or read book Pictures of the Mind written by Miriam Boleyn-Fitzgerald and published by FT Press. This book was released on 2010-01-08 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Neuroscientists once believed your brain was essentially "locked down" by adulthood. No new cells. No major changes. If you grew up depressed, angry, sad, aggressive, or nasty, you'd be that way for life. And, as you grew older, there'd be nowhere to go but down, as disease, age, or injury wiped out precious, irreplaceable brain cells. But over the past five, ten, twenty years, all that's changed. Using fMRI and PET scanning technology, neuroscientists can now look deep inside the human brain and they've discovered that it's amazingly flexible, resilient, and plastic. Pictures of the Mind: What the New Neuroscience Tells Us About Who We Are shows you what they've discovered and what it means to all of us. Through author Miriam Boleyn-Fitzgerald’s masterfully written narrative and use stunning imagery, you'll watch human brains healing, growing, and adapting to challenges. You'll gain powerful new insights into the interplay between environment and genetics, begin understanding how people can influence their own intellectual abilities and emotional makeup, and understand the latest stunning discoveries about coma and "locked-in" syndrome. You'll learn about the tantalizing discoveries that may lead to cures for traumatic brain injury, stroke, emotional disorders, PTSD, drug addiction, chronic pain, maybe even Alzheimer's. Boleyn-Fitzgerald shows how these discoveries are transforming our very understanding of the "self", from an essentially static entity to one that can learn and change throughout life and even master the art of happiness.