Machinery of the mind : data, theory, and speculations about higher brain functions : based on the First International Conference on Machinery of the Mind, February 25-March 3, 1989, Havana City, Cuba

In the spring of 1987, I was in Havana, Cuba, where I was participating in planning a large-scale longitudinal study of the neurophysiological, neurochemical, and behavioral characteristics of cohorts of patients with cerebrovascular disease, depression, senile dementia, schizophrenia, or learning disabilities; and also part of this study were their first-degree blood relatives. This study was the outgrowth of a long-term project on the practical application of computer methods for the evaluation of brain electrical activity related to anatomical integrity, maturational development, and sensory, perceptual;·-and cognitive processes, especially in chil­ dren. For many years, that project had been supported by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the National Scientific Research Center of Cuba (CNIC), and the Ministries of Public Health and of Education of Cuba. Since its inception, I had served as a technical advisor to the UNDP project. When the project began, I became acquainted with Dr. Jose M. Miyar Barrueco, who was at that time the Rector of the Medical School of the University of Havana. Because of his keen interest in the new computer technology and its potential utility in developing countries, we met from time to time during my visits. These occasional meetings continued after he became Secretary of the Cuban Council of State, so that he could remain apprised of progress and problems with which he might help. Front Matter....Pages i-xxxvi Front Matter....Pages 1-1 Forebrain Commissures and the Unity of Mind....Pages 3-13 On the Fallacy of Assigning an Origin to Consciousness....Pages 14-26 Representation of Information in the Brain....Pages 27-56 Front Matter....Pages 57-57 Spatiotemporal Properties of the α Rhythm....Pages 59-90 Strange Attractor EEG as Sign of Cognitive Function....Pages 91-114 Cellular and Network Mechanisms in the Kindling Model of Epilepsy: The Role of GABAergic Inhibition and the Emergence of Strange Attractors....Pages 115-139 Front Matter....Pages 141-141 A Synergetic Approach to Visual Perception....Pages 143-159 The Eye of Man, the Brain of the Physicist: A System’s Approach to Vision....Pages 160-185 Electrophysiology of Visual Attention....Pages 186-205 Front Matter....Pages 207-207 Brain Electric Microstates and Cognition: The Atoms of Thought....Pages 209-224 New Prospects in Neurolinguistics....Pages 225-242 Event-Related Desynchronization (ERD) Correlated with Cognitive Activity....Pages 243-251 Making Sense Out of Words and Faces: ERP Evidence for Multiple Memory Systems....Pages 252-288 Front Matter....Pages 289-289 Spatial Memory in Animals....Pages 291-310 Visual Representation and Short-Term Memory in Inferotemporal Cortex....Pages 311-322 Gangliosides, Learning, and Behavior....Pages 323-336 Neurophysiological Study of Animals’ Subjective Experience....Pages 337-350 Front Matter....Pages 351-351 Thoughts on the Role of the Mind in Recovery from Brain Damage....Pages 353-359 Analysis of Electroencephalographic Maturation....Pages 360-375 Brain Stimulation of Comatose Patients: A Chaos and Nonlinear Dynamics Approach....Pages 376-401 Front Matter....Pages 403-403 The Statistical Analysis of Brain Images....Pages 405-434 The Physical Basis of Electrophysiological Brain Imaging: Exploratory Techniques for Source Localization and Waveshape Analysis of Functional Components of Electrical Brain Activity....Pages 435-459 Neurometric Functional Imaging: I. Subtyping of Schizophrenia....Pages 460-470 Neurometric Functional Imaging: II. Cross-Spectral Coherence at Rest and During Mental Activity....Pages 471-478 Magnetic Fields of the Brain Resulting from Normal and Pathological Function....Pages 479-511 Dynamic Functional Mapping of the Brain Cortex by Its Infrared Radiation....Pages 512-531 Brain Imaging with Positron Emission Tomography (PET): Using a Method for Reformatting Three-Dimensional Physiological Data into a Standardized Anatomy....Pages 532-539 Back Matter....Pages 541-566