Models of the Mind

Models of the Mind

Author: Grace Lindsay

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2021-03-04

Total Pages: 401

ISBN-13: 1472966457

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The human brain is made up of 85 billion neurons, which are connected by over 100 trillion synapses. For more than a century, a diverse array of researchers searched for a language that could be used to capture the essence of what these neurons do and how they communicate – and how those communications create thoughts, perceptions and actions. The language they were looking for was mathematics, and we would not be able to understand the brain as we do today without it. In Models of the Mind, author and computational neuroscientist Grace Lindsay explains how mathematical models have allowed scientists to understand and describe many of the brain's processes, including decision-making, sensory processing, quantifying memory, and more. She introduces readers to the most important concepts in modern neuroscience, and highlights the tensions that arise when the abstract world of mathematical modelling collides with the messy details of biology. Each chapter of Models of the Mind focuses on mathematical tools that have been applied in a particular area of neuroscience, progressing from the simplest building block of the brain – the individual neuron – through to circuits of interacting neurons, whole brain areas and even the behaviours that brains command. In addition, Grace examines the history of the field, starting with experiments done on frog legs in the late eighteenth century and building to the large models of artificial neural networks that form the basis of modern artificial intelligence. Throughout, she reveals the value of using the elegant language of mathematics to describe the machinery of neuroscience.


The Psychology of Science and the Origins of the Scientific Mind

The Psychology of Science and the Origins of the Scientific Mind

Author: Gregory J. Feist

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published: 2008-10-01

Total Pages: 336

ISBN-13: 0300133480

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In this book, Gregory Feist reviews and consolidates the scattered literatures on the psychology of science, then calls for the establishment of the field as a unique discipline. He offers the most comprehensive perspective yet on how science came to be possible in our species and on the important role of psychological forces in an individual’s development of scientific interest, talent, and creativity. Without a psychological perspective, Feist argues, we cannot fully understand the development of scientific thinking or scientific genius. The author explores the major subdisciplines within psychology as well as allied areas, including biological neuroscience and developmental, cognitive, personality, and social psychology, to show how each sheds light on how scientific thinking, interest, and talent arise. He assesses which elements of scientific thinking have their origin in evolved mental mechanisms and considers how humans may have developed the highly sophisticated scientific fields we know today. In his fascinating and authoritative book, Feist deals thoughtfully with the mysteries of the human mind and convincingly argues that the creation of the psychology of science as a distinct discipline is essential to deeper understanding of human thought processes.


Touch

Touch

Author: David J. Linden

Publisher: Penguin Books

Published: 2016-01-26

Total Pages: 274

ISBN-13: 0143128442

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The "New York Times" bestselling author of "The Compass of Pleasure" examines how our sense of touch is interconnected with our emotions Dual-function receptors in our skin make mint feel cool and chili peppers hot.


The Digital Mind

The Digital Mind

Author: Arlindo Oliveira

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 2018-03-09

Total Pages: 341

ISBN-13: 0262535238

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How developments in science and technology may enable the emergence of purely digital minds—intelligent machines equal to or greater in power than the human brain. What do computers, cells, and brains have in common? Computers are electronic devices designed by humans; cells are biological entities crafted by evolution; brains are the containers and creators of our minds. But all are, in one way or another, information-processing devices. The power of the human brain is, so far, unequaled by any existing machine or known living being. Over eons of evolution, the brain has enabled us to develop tools and technology to make our lives easier. Our brains have even allowed us to develop computers that are almost as powerful as the human brain itself. In this book, Arlindo Oliveira describes how advances in science and technology could enable us to create digital minds. Exponential growth is a pattern built deep into the scheme of life, but technological change now promises to outstrip even evolutionary change. Oliveira describes technological and scientific advances that range from the discovery of laws that control the behavior of the electromagnetic fields to the development of computers. He calls natural selection the ultimate algorithm, discusses genetics and the evolution of the central nervous system, and describes the role that computer imaging has played in understanding and modeling the brain. Having considered the behavior of the unique system that creates a mind, he turns to an unavoidable question: Is the human brain the only system that can host a mind? If digital minds come into existence—and, Oliveira says, it is difficult to argue that they will not—what are the social, legal, and ethical implications? Will digital minds be our partners, or our rivals?


Psychology: The Science of Person, Mind, and Brain

Psychology: The Science of Person, Mind, and Brain

Author: Daniel Cervone

Publisher: Macmillan Higher Education

Published: 2015-01-28

Total Pages: 969

ISBN-13: 1319018718

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In Psychology: The Science of Person, Mind, and Brain, experienced teacher, researcher, and author Daniel Cervone provides students with a new and exciting way of understanding psychology. Cervone organizes material around three levels of analysis -- person, mind, and brain -- and employs a person-first format that consistently introduces topics at the person level: theory and research on the lives of people in sociocultural contexts. Students are able to make sense of the latest research through what they understand best: people. With fellow teacher and researcher Tracy Caldwell, Cervone has conceived a text beyond the print experience from the ground up, integrating online immersive research experiences and assessment tools that capitalize on research findings on pedagogy and student learning (e.g., the testing effect). Pedagogical Author, Tracy L. Caldwell Working closely with Daniel Cervone, fellow teacher and researcher Tracy Caldwell of Dominican University developed the book’s pedagogical program from the Preview Questions at the beginning of each section to the Self-Tests at the end of each chapter. The pedagogy is designed to engage students at multiple levels of Bloom’s taxonomy and at multiple points in each chapter.


The Science of the Human Mind

The Science of the Human Mind

Author: Lyndon LaRouche

Publisher: Executive Intelligence Review

Published:

Total Pages: 133

ISBN-13:

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Excerpts from this book: “The science of the mind was broadly defined by Plato—and the opposing view given by Aristotle—during the fourth century B.C. Leading aspects of this were freshly treated by St. Augustine. The science of mental development was famously elaborated in depth by Dante Alighieri in his Commedia. Rigor was added to this by Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa. These sources are only exemplary of the authoritative classical literature on the matter. The errors of underlying assumptions perpetrated by the professional psychologists of the recent hundred years had all been conclusively exposed and refuted centuries earlier. “Apart from intensive criticism of psychoanalysis and sociology from the standpoint of such classics, what the author has added to the work of his ancient prede­cessors flows chiefly from his successes in economic science. . . . “The purpose is to aid the reader to locate within himself or herself those kinds of developable potentialities, so that the author’s inevitable death will not render the mastery of this method once again a ‘lost art.’ “Our immediate practical concern, in committing ourselves to developing the Good within us, is to contribute to making society Good. The individual who contributes to making society Good is worth a thousand times the individual who wanders through life scatter­ing only individual good deeds. For, a bad society will crush the good contributed by its individual members, and will foster the pleasures of Sodom and Gomorrah. Who makes society Good thus preserves the goods contributed by thousands and millions of individuals.”


The Science of the Mind

The Science of the Mind

Author: Ernest Holmes

Publisher: Cosimo, Inc.

Published: 2007-06-01

Total Pages: 405

ISBN-13: 1602066868

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First published in 1926, this book is the most important writing from preacher Ernest Shurtleff Holmes. In it, he strives to introduce man to himself, as he truly is. Man is part of the Infinite Spirit, as is all of the visible and invisible in existence. And sharing in the creative power of the Infinite, man becomes able to make thought manifest, as is the case with illness. Holmes explains how the mind controls illness in the body and how changing one's mental state can be healing. In this volume, Holmes gives readers a complete course in Mental Science, so that they may come to understand the power and potential that exists within. Anyone looking for a new way to understand the world and their place in it will find this an empowering read.


Man, Mind, and Science

Man, Mind, and Science

Author: Murray J. Leaf

Publisher:

Published: 1979

Total Pages: 376

ISBN-13: 9780231886024

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Studies the field of anthropology to increase appreciation of fundamental choices anthropologists have inherited and must eventually make.


Blue Mind

Blue Mind

Author: Wallace J. Nichols

Publisher: Little, Brown

Published: 2014-07-22

Total Pages: 292

ISBN-13: 0316252077

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A landmark book by marine biologist Wallace J. Nichols on the remarkable effects of water on our health and well-being. Why are we drawn to the ocean each summer? Why does being near water set our minds and bodies at ease? In Blue Mind, Wallace J. Nichols revolutionizes how we think about these questions, revealing the remarkable truth about the benefits of being in, on, under, or simply near water. Combining cutting-edge neuroscience with compelling personal stories from top athletes, leading scientists, military veterans, and gifted artists, he shows how proximity to water can improve performance, increase calm, diminish anxiety, and increase professional success. Blue Mind not only illustrates the crucial importance of our connection to water; it provides a paradigm shifting "blueprint" for a better life on this Blue Marble we call home.