The book traces the story of the brain throughout evolution and shows how the control of body temperature as a survival mechanism was achieved. From the first unicellular life on Earth, living things have had the capacity to sense heat and cold and to avoid extreme temperatures. With the development of a bigger brain and a constant body temperature, mammals were able to change their habitats…
"The idea that human history is approaching a 'singularity'--that ordinary humans will someday be overtaken by artificially intelligent machines or cognitively enhanced biological intelligence, or both--has moved from the realm of science fiction to serious debate. Some singularity theorists predict that if the field of artificial intelligence (AI) continues to develop at its current dizzying r…
A neurologist and Zen practitioner clarifies the benefits of meditative training, drawing on classical Buddhist literature and modern brain research."In Zen-Brain Horizons, James Austin draws on his decades of experience as a neurologist and Zen practitioner to clarify the benefits of meditative training. Austin integrates classical Buddhist literature with modern brain research, exploring the …
"A Bradford book."In I of the Vortex, Rodolfo Llinas, a founding father of modern brain science, presents an original view of the evolution and nature of mind. According to Llinas, the 'mindness state' evolved to allow predictive interactions between mobile creatures and their environment. He illustrates the early evolution of mind through a primitive animal called the 'sea squirt.' The mobile …
Scholars have long been captivated by the parallels between birdsong and human speech and language. In this book, leading scholars draw on the latest research to explore what birdsong can tell us about the biology of human speech and language and the consequences for evolutionary biology. After outlining the basic issues involved in the study of both language and evolution, the contributors com…
"A Bradford book."In Natural Minds Thomas Polger advocates, and defends, the philosophical theory that mind equals brain--that sensations are brain processes--and in doing so brings the mind-brain identity theory back into the philosophical debate about consciousness. The version of identity theory that Polger advocates holds that conscious processes, events, states, or properties are type- ide…
This title is an analysis of how fMRI researchers actively involve their bodies - with hand movements in particular - in laboratory practice.OCLC-licensed vendor bibliographic record.
Vision is a massively parallel computational process, in which the retinal image is transformed over a sequence of stages so as to emphasize behaviorally relevant information (such as object category and identity) and deemphasize other information (such as viewpoint and lighting). The processes behind vision operate by concurrent computation and message passing among neurons within a visual are…
An account of the emergence of the mind: how the brain acquired self-awareness, functional autonomy, the ability to think, and the power of speech."How did the human mind emerge from the collection of neurons that makes up the brain? How did the brain acquire self-awareness, functional autonomy, language, and the ability to think, to understand itself and the world? In this volume in the Essent…
A Bradford book.""This book has its origins in a meeting, entitled "Toward replacement parts for the brain: intracranial implantations of hardward models of neural circuitry" that took place in Washington, D.C. in August 1989"--Preface.The continuing development of implantable neural prostheses signals a new era in bioengineering and neuroscience research. This collection of essays outlines cur…