Origins Of Neuroscience

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Origins of Neuroscience

Author : Stanley Finger
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9780195146943
Total Pages : 484 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (469 download)

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Book Synopsis Origins of Neuroscience by : Stanley Finger

Download or read book Origins of Neuroscience written by Stanley Finger and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page 484 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With over 350 illustrations, this impressive volume traces the rich history of ideas about the functioning of the brain from its roots in the ancient cultures of Egypt, Greece, and Rome through the centuries into relatively modern times. In contrast to biographically oriented accounts, this book is unique in its emphasis on the functions of the brain and how they came to be associated with specific brain regions and systems. Among the topics explored are vision, hearing, pain, motor control, sleep, memory, speech, and various other facets of intellect. The emphasis throughout is on presenting material in a very readable way, while describing with scholarly acumen the historical evolution of the field in all its amazing wealth and detail. From the opening introductory chapters to the concluding look at treatments and therapies, this monumental work will captivate readers from cover to cover. It will be valued as both an historical reference and as an exciting tale of scientificdiscovery. It is bound to attract a wide readership among students and professionals in the neural sciences as well as general readers interested in the history of science and medicine.

A Hole in the Head

Author : Charles G. Gross
Publisher : MIT Press
ISBN 13 : 0262291592
Total Pages : 367 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (622 download)

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Book Synopsis A Hole in the Head by : Charles G. Gross

Download or read book A Hole in the Head written by Charles G. Gross and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2012-01-13 with total page 367 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Essays on great figures and important issues, advances and blind alleys—from trepanation to the discovery of grandmother cells—in the history of brain sciences. Neuroscientist Charles Gross has been interested in the history of his field since his days as an undergraduate. A Hole in the Head is the second collection of essays in which he illuminates the study of the brain with fascinating episodes from the past. This volume's tales range from the history of trepanation (drilling a hole in the skull) to neurosurgery as painted by Hieronymus Bosch to the discovery that bats navigate using echolocation. The emphasis is on blind alleys and errors as well as triumphs and discoveries, with ancient practices connected to recent developments and controversies. Gross first reaches back into the beginnings of neuroscience, then takes up the interaction of art and neuroscience, exploring, among other things, Rembrandt's “Anatomy Lesson” paintings, and finally, examines discoveries by scientists whose work was scorned in their own time but proven correct in later eras.

Brain, Vision, Memory

Author : Charles G. Gross
Publisher : MIT Press
ISBN 13 : 9780262571357
Total Pages : 284 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (713 download)

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Book Synopsis Brain, Vision, Memory by : Charles G. Gross

Download or read book Brain, Vision, Memory written by Charles G. Gross and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 1999-07-26 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In these engaging tales describing the growth of knowledge about the brain—from the early Egyptians and Greeks to the Dark Ages and the Renaissance to the present time—Gross attempts to answer the question of how the discipline of neuroscience evolved into its modern incarnation through the twists and turns of history. Charles G. Gross is an experimental neuroscientist who specializes in brain mechanisms in vision. He is also fascinated by the history of his field. In these tales describing the growth of knowledge about the brain from the early Egyptians and Greeks to the present time, he attempts to answer the question of how the discipline of neuroscience evolved into its modern incarnation through the twists and turns of history. The first essay tells the story of the visual cortex, from the first written mention of the brain by the Egyptians, to the philosophical and physiological studies by the Greeks, to the Dark Ages and the Renaissance, and finally, to the modern work of Hubel and Wiesel. The second essay focuses on Leonardo da Vinci's beautiful anatomical work on the brain and the eye: was Leonardo drawing the body observed, the body remembered, the body read about, or his own dissections? The third essay derives from the question of whether there can be a solely theoretical biology or biologist; it highlights the work of Emanuel Swedenborg, the eighteenth-century Swedish mystic who was two hundred years ahead of his time. The fourth essay entails a mystery: how did the largely ignored brain structure called the "hippocampus minor" come to be, and why was it so important in the controversies that swirled about Darwin's theories? The final essay describes the discovery of the visual functions of the temporal and parietal lobes. The author traces both developments to nineteenth-century observations of the effect of temporal and parietal lesions in monkeys—observations that were forgotten and subsequently rediscovered.

The History of Neuroscience in Autobiography

Author : Larry R. Squire
Publisher : Elsevier
ISBN 13 : 0080534058
Total Pages : 446 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (85 download)

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Book Synopsis The History of Neuroscience in Autobiography by : Larry R. Squire

Download or read book The History of Neuroscience in Autobiography written by Larry R. Squire and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 1998-10-16 with total page 446 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is the second volume of autobiographical essays by distinguished senior neuroscientists; it is part of the first collection of neuroscience writing that is primarily autobiographical. As neuroscience is a young discipline, the contributors to this volume are truly pioneers of scientific research on the brain and spinal cord. This collection of fascinating essays should inform and inspire students and working scientists alike. The general reader interested in science may also find the essays absorbing, as they are essentially human stories about commitment and the pursuit of knowledge. The contributors included in this volume are: Lloyd M. Beidler, Arvid Carlsson, Donald R. Griffin, Roger Guillemin, Ray Guillery, Masao Ito. Martin G. Larrabee, Jerome Lettvin, Paul D. MacLean, Brenda Milner, Karl H. Pribram, Eugene Roberts and Gunther Stent. Key Features * Second volume in a collection of neuroscience writing that is primarily autobiographical * Contributors are senior neuroscientists who are pioneers in the field

A History of the Brain

Author : Andrew P. Wickens
Publisher : Psychology Press
ISBN 13 : 1317744837
Total Pages : 405 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (177 download)

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Book Synopsis A History of the Brain by : Andrew P. Wickens

Download or read book A History of the Brain written by Andrew P. Wickens and published by Psychology Press. This book was released on 2014-12-08 with total page 405 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A History of the Brain tells the full story of neuroscience, from antiquity to the present day. It describes how we have come to understand the biological nature of the brain, beginning in prehistoric times, and progressing to the twentieth century with the development of Modern Neuroscience. This is the first time a history of the brain has been written in a narrative way, emphasizing how our understanding of the brain and nervous system has developed over time, with the development of the disciplines of anatomy, pharmacology, physiology, psychology and neurosurgery. The book covers: beliefs about the brain in ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome the Medieval period, Renaissance and Enlightenment the nineteenth century the most important advances in the twentieth century and future directions in neuroscience. The discoveries leading to the development of modern neuroscience gave rise to one of the most exciting and fascinating stories in the whole of science. Written for readers with no prior knowledge of the brain or history, the book will delight students, and will also be of great interest to researchers and lecturers with an interest in understanding how we have arrived at our present knowledge of the brain.

History of Cognitive Neuroscience

Author : M. R. Bennett
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
ISBN 13 : 1118394291
Total Pages : 333 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (183 download)

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Book Synopsis History of Cognitive Neuroscience by : M. R. Bennett

Download or read book History of Cognitive Neuroscience written by M. R. Bennett and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2012-08-15 with total page 333 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: History of Cognitive Neuroscience documents the major neuroscientific experiments and theories over the last century and a half in the domain of cognitive neuroscience, and evaluates the cogency of the conclusions that have been drawn from them. Provides a companion work to the highly acclaimed Philosophical Foundations of Neuroscience - combining scientific detail with philosophical insights Views the evolution of brain science through the lens of its principal figures and experiments Addresses philosophical criticism of Bennett and Hacker's previous book Accompanied by more than 100 illustrations

Brain, Mind and Consciousness in the History of Neuroscience

Author : C.U.M. Smith
Publisher : Springer Science & Business
ISBN 13 : 9401787743
Total Pages : 369 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (17 download)

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Book Synopsis Brain, Mind and Consciousness in the History of Neuroscience by : C.U.M. Smith

Download or read book Brain, Mind and Consciousness in the History of Neuroscience written by C.U.M. Smith and published by Springer Science & Business. This book was released on 2014-04-23 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume of essays examines the problem of mind, looking at how the problem has appeared to neuroscientists (in the widest sense) from classical antiquity through to contemporary times. Beginning with a look at ventricular neuropsychology in antiquity, this book goes on to look at Spinozan ideas on the links between mind and body, Thomas Willis and the foundation of Neurology, Hooke’s mechanical model of the mind and Joseph Priestley’s approach to the mind-body problem. The volume offers a chapter on the 19th century Ottoman perspective on western thinking. Further chapters trace the work of nineteenth century scholars including George Henry Lewes, Herbert Spencer and Emil du Bois-Reymond. The book covers significant work from the twentieth century, including an examination of Alfred North Whitehead and the history of consciousness, and particular attention is given to the development of quantum consciousness. Chapters on slavery and the self and the development of an understanding of Dualism bring this examination up to date on the latest 21st century work in the field. At the heart of this book is the matter of how we define the problem of consciousness itself: has there been any progress in our understanding of the working of mind and brain? This work at the interface between science and the humanities will appeal to experts from across many fields who wish to develop their understanding of the problem of consciousness, including scholars of Neuroscience, Behavioural Science and the History of Science.

Minds behind the Brain : A History of the Pioneers and Their Discoveries

Author : Department of Psychology Washington University Stanley Finger Professor
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN 13 : 0198024681
Total Pages : 380 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (98 download)

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Book Synopsis Minds behind the Brain : A History of the Pioneers and Their Discoveries by : Department of Psychology Washington University Stanley Finger Professor

Download or read book Minds behind the Brain : A History of the Pioneers and Their Discoveries written by Department of Psychology Washington University Stanley Finger Professor and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2000-03-02 with total page 380 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Attractively illustrated with over a hundred halftones and drawings, this volume presents a series of vibrant profiles that trace the evolution of our knowledge about the brain. Beginning almost 5000 years ago, with the ancient Egyptian study of "the marrow of the skull," Stanley Finger takes us on a fascinating journey from the classical world of Hippocrates, to the time of Descartes and the era of Broca and Ramon y Cajal, to modern researchers such as Sperry. Here is a truly remarkable cast of characters. We meet Galen, a man of titanic ego and abrasive disposition, whose teachings dominated medicine for a thousand years; Vesalius, a contemporary of Copernicus, who pushed our understanding of human anatomy to new heights; Otto Loewi, pioneer in neurotransmitters, who gave the Nazis his Nobel prize money and fled Austria for England; and Rita Levi-Montalcini, discoverer of nerve growth factor, who in war-torn Italy was forced to do her research in her bedroom. For each individual, Finger examines the philosophy, the tools, the books, and the ideas that brought new insights. Finger also looks at broader topics--how dependent are researchers on the work of others? What makes the time ripe for discovery? And what role does chance or serendipity play? And he includes many fascinating background figures as well, from Leonardo da Vinci and Emanuel Swedenborg to Karl August Weinhold--who claimed to have reanimated a dead cat by filling its skull with silver and zinc--and Mary Shelley, whose Frankenstein was inspired by such experiments. Wide ranging in scope, imbued with an infectious spirit of adventure, here are vivid portraits of giants in the field of neuroscience--remarkable individuals who found new ways to think about the machinery of the mind.

Language in Our Brain

Author : Angela D. Friederici
Publisher : MIT Press
ISBN 13 : 0262036924
Total Pages : 300 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (62 download)

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Book Synopsis Language in Our Brain by : Angela D. Friederici

Download or read book Language in Our Brain written by Angela D. Friederici and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2017-11-16 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A comprehensive account of the neurobiological basis of language, arguing that species-specific brain differences may be at the root of the human capacity for language. Language makes us human. It is an intrinsic part of us, although we seldom think about it. Language is also an extremely complex entity with subcomponents responsible for its phonological, syntactic, and semantic aspects. In this landmark work, Angela Friederici offers a comprehensive account of these subcomponents and how they are integrated. Tracing the neurobiological basis of language across brain regions in humans and other primate species, she argues that species-specific brain differences may be at the root of the human capacity for language. Friederici shows which brain regions support the different language processes and, more important, how these brain regions are connected structurally and functionally to make language processes that take place in milliseconds possible. She finds that one particular brain structure (a white matter dorsal tract), connecting syntax-relevant brain regions, is present only in the mature human brain and only weakly present in other primate brains. Is this the “missing link” that explains humans' capacity for language? Friederici describes the basic language functions and their brain basis; the language networks connecting different language-related brain regions; the brain basis of language acquisition during early childhood and when learning a second language, proposing a neurocognitive model of the ontogeny of language; and the evolution of language and underlying neural constraints. She finds that it is the information exchange between the relevant brain regions, supported by the white matter tract, that is the crucial factor in both language development and evolution.

Foundations of the Neuron Doctrine

Author : Gordon M. Shepherd
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN 13 : 0190259388
Total Pages : 385 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (92 download)

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Book Synopsis Foundations of the Neuron Doctrine by : Gordon M. Shepherd

Download or read book Foundations of the Neuron Doctrine written by Gordon M. Shepherd and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2015-11-03 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cover -- Foundations of the Neuron Doctrine -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- Preface to the 25th Anniversary Edition -- Preface to the Original Publication -- Commentaries on the "Neuron Doctrine"--Cajal, Golgi, and Ariadne's Thread-Marina Bentivoglio -- Reflections on the Neuron Doctrine-Javier DeFelipe -- The Neuron Doctrine Revisited: A Personal Account-Sten Grillner -- Camillo Golgi, Foundations of the Neuron Doctrine, and the History of Neuroscience-Paolo Mazzarello -- Some Reflections on the Neuron Doctrine-Larry Swanson -- Back to Golgi? Neural Networks as a New Paradigm for Brain Circuits-Rafael Yuste -- 1. Introduction -- 2. From the Beginnings to the Cell Theory -- 3. Do Nerve Cells Belong in the Cell Theory? -- 4. Nerve Cells or Nerve Nets? -- 5. KÖlliker Gives In -- 6. Support Builds for Networks -- 7. The Nerve Cell Studies of Freud -- 8. The Revolutionary Method of Golgi -- 9. A Neuron Theory Begins to Take Form: His, Forel, Nansen -- 10. Ramón y Cajal: The Shock of Recognition -- 11. The Early Discoveries of Cajal -- 12. The Laws of Cajal -- 13. Joining the Mainstream -- 14. The Neuron Doctrine -- 15. The Law of Dynamic Polarization -- 16. Controversy -- 17. The Synapse and the Growth Cone -- 18. Forging a Consensus -- 19. Confrontation in Stockholm -- 20. Modern Revisions of the Neuron Doctrine -- References -- Index.

On Deep History and the Brain

Author : Daniel Lord Smail
Publisher : Univ of California Press
ISBN 13 : 0520252896
Total Pages : 287 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (22 download)

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Book Synopsis On Deep History and the Brain by : Daniel Lord Smail

Download or read book On Deep History and the Brain written by Daniel Lord Smail and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2008 with total page 287 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When does history begin? What characterizes it? This book dissolves the logic of a beginning based on writing, civilization, or historical consciousness and offers a model for a history that escapes the continuing grip of the Judeo-Christian time frame. It lays out a new case for bringing neuroscience and neurobiology into the realm of history.

Creating Modern Neuroscience: The Revolutionary 1950s

Author : Gordon M. Shepherd MD, DPhil
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0190452951
Total Pages : 304 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (94 download)

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Book Synopsis Creating Modern Neuroscience: The Revolutionary 1950s by : Gordon M. Shepherd MD, DPhil

Download or read book Creating Modern Neuroscience: The Revolutionary 1950s written by Gordon M. Shepherd MD, DPhil and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2009-10-28 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For modern scientists, history often starts with last week's journals and is regarded as largely a quaint interest compared with the advances of today. However, this book makes the case that, measured by major advances, the greatest decade in the history of brain studies was mid-twentieth century, especially the 1950s. The first to focus on worldwide contributions in this period, the book ranges through dozens of astonishing discoveries at all levels of the brain, from DNA (Watson and Crick), through growth factors (Hamburger and Levi-Montalcini), excitability (Hodgkin and Huxley), synapses (Katz and Eccles), dopamine and Parkinson's (Carlsson), visual processing (Hartline and Kuffler), the cortical column (Mountcastle), reticular activating system (Morruzzi and Magoun) and REM sleep (Aserinsky), to stress (Selye), learning (Hebb) and memory (HM and Milner). The clinical fields are also covered, from Cushing and Penfield, psychosurgery and brain energy metabolism (Kety), to most of the major psychoactive drugs in use today (beginning with Delay and Deniker), and much more. The material has been the basis for a highly successful advanced undergraduate and graduate course at Yale, with the classic papers organized and accessible on the web. There is interest for a wide range of readers, academic, and lay because there is a focus on the creative process itself, on understanding how the combination of unique personalities, innovative hypotheses, and new methods led to the advances. Insight is given into this process through describing the struggles between male and female, student and mentor, academic and private sector, and the roles of chance and persistence. The book thus provides a new multidisciplinary understanding of the revolution that created the modern field of neuroscience and set the bar for judging current and future advances.

Nervous Fictions

Author : Jess Keiser
Publisher : University of Virginia Press
ISBN 13 : 0813944791
Total Pages : 425 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (139 download)

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Book Synopsis Nervous Fictions by : Jess Keiser

Download or read book Nervous Fictions written by Jess Keiser and published by University of Virginia Press. This book was released on 2020-09-21 with total page 425 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The brain contains ten thousand cells," wrote the poet Matthew Prior in 1718, "in each some active fancy dwells." In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, just as scientists began to better understand the workings of the nerves, the nervous system became the site for a series of elaborate fantasies. The pineal gland is transformed into a throne for the sovereign soul. Animal spirits march the nerves like parading soldiers. An internal archivist searches through cerebral impressions to locate certain memories. An anatomist discovers that the brain of a fashionable man is stuffed full of beautiful clothes and billet-doux. A hypochondriac worries that his own brain will be disassembled like a watch. A sentimentalist sees the entire world as a giant nervous system comprising sympathetic spectators. Nervous Fictions is the first account of the Enlightenment origins of neuroscience and the "active fancies" it generated. By surveying the work of scientists (Willis, Newton, Cheyne), philosophers (Descartes, Cavendish, Locke), satirists (Swift, Pope), and novelists (Haywood, Fielding, Sterne), Keiser shows how attempts to understand the brain’s relationship to the mind produced in turn new literary forms. Early brain anatomists turned to tropes to explicate psyche and cerebrum, just as poets and novelists found themselves exploring new kinds of mental and physical interiority. In this respect, literary language became a tool to aid scientific investigation, while science spurred literary invention.

History of Neurology

Author : Stanley Finger
Publisher : Elsevier
ISBN 13 : 0702035416
Total Pages : 944 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (2 download)

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Book Synopsis History of Neurology by : Stanley Finger

Download or read book History of Neurology written by Stanley Finger and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2009-12-08 with total page 944 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Handbook of Clinical Neurology: Volume 95 is the first of over 90 volumes of the handbook to be entirely devoted to the history of neurology. The book is a collection of historical materials from different neurology professionals. The book is divided into 6 sections and composed of 55 chapters organized around different aspects of the history of neurology. The first section presents the beginnings of neurology: ancient trepanation, its birth in Mesopotamia, ancient Egypt; the emergence of neurology in the biblical text and the Talmud; neurology in the Greco-Roman world and the period following Galen; neurological conditions in the European Middle Ages; and the development of neurology in the 17th and 18th centuries. The second section narrates the birth of localization theory; the beginning of neurology and histological applications, neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, surgical neurology and other anatomo-clinical methods. The third section covers further development of the discipline, including methods of neurological illustration and hospitals in neurology and neurosurgery. This section also narrates the history of child neurology, neurodisability and neuroendocrinology. It also features the application of molecular biology on clinical neurology. The fourth section describes the dysfunctions of the nervous system and their history. The fifth and last section covers the regional landmarks of neurology and the different treatments and recovery. The text is informative and useful for neuroscience or neurology professional, researchers, clinical practitioners, mental health experts, psychiatrists, and academic students and scholars in neurology. * A comprehensive accounting of historical developments and modern day advancements in the field of neurology * State-of-the-art information on topics including brain damage and dysfunctions of the nervous system * New treatments and recovery methods from redundancy to vicariation and neural transplantation, amongst others

Ponderables, the Brain

Author : Tom Jackson
Publisher : 100 Ponderables
ISBN 13 : 9780985323080
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (23 download)

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Book Synopsis Ponderables, the Brain by : Tom Jackson

Download or read book Ponderables, the Brain written by Tom Jackson and published by 100 Ponderables. This book was released on 2015 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The study of the brain has spawned many disciplines. Disorders of and damage to the brain have given neurologists clues as to how the brain functions. Neuroscientists have unpicked the chemical processes that power nerve signals and build memories, while psychologists explore the link between our thoughts and the physical activity of the brain. The brain tells the history of neuroscience in 100 stories."--

The Biology of Mind

Author : M. Deric Bownds
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 380 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (91 download)

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Book Synopsis The Biology of Mind by : M. Deric Bownds

Download or read book The Biology of Mind written by M. Deric Bownds and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 1999-06-29 with total page 380 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This new book makes state-of-the-art research on the human mind accessible and exciting for a wide variety of readers. It covers the evolution of mind, examines the transitions from primate through early hominid to modern human intelligence, and reviews modern experimental studies of the brain structures and mechanisms that underlie vision, emotions, language, memory, and learning.

The Ancient Origins of Consciousness

Author : Todd E. Feinberg
Publisher : MIT Press
ISBN 13 : 0262534606
Total Pages : 387 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (625 download)

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Book Synopsis The Ancient Origins of Consciousness by : Todd E. Feinberg

Download or read book The Ancient Origins of Consciousness written by Todd E. Feinberg and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2017-09-08 with total page 387 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How consciousness appeared much earlier in evolutionary history than is commonly assumed, and why all vertebrates and perhaps even some invertebrates are conscious. How is consciousness created? When did it first appear on Earth, and how did it evolve? What constitutes consciousness, and which animals can be said to be sentient? In this book, Todd Feinberg and Jon Mallatt draw on recent scientific findings to answer these questions—and to tackle the most fundamental question about the nature of consciousness: how does the material brain create subjective experience? After assembling a list of the biological and neurobiological features that seem responsible for consciousness, and considering the fossil record of evolution, Feinberg and Mallatt argue that consciousness appeared much earlier in evolutionary history than is commonly assumed. About 520 to 560 million years ago, they explain, the great “Cambrian explosion” of animal diversity produced the first complex brains, which were accompanied by the first appearance of consciousness; simple reflexive behaviors evolved into a unified inner world of subjective experiences. From this they deduce that all vertebrates are and have always been conscious—not just humans and other mammals, but also every fish, reptile, amphibian, and bird. Considering invertebrates, they find that arthropods (including insects and probably crustaceans) and cephalopods (including the octopus) meet many of the criteria for consciousness. The obvious and conventional wisdom–shattering implication is that consciousness evolved simultaneously but independently in the first vertebrates and possibly arthropods more than half a billion years ago. Combining evolutionary, neurobiological, and philosophical approaches allows Feinberg and Mallatt to offer an original solution to the “hard problem” of consciousness.