Models of Brain and Mind: Physical, Computational and Psychological Approaches (Volume 168) (Progress in Brain Research, Volume 168)

The phenomenon of consciousness has always been a central question for philosophers and scientists. Emerging in the past decade are new approaches to the understanding of consciousness in a scientific light. This book presents a series of essays by leading thinkers giving an account of the current ideas prevalent in the scientific study of consciousness. The value of the book lies in the discussion of this interesting though complex subject from different points of view ranging from physics and computer science to the cognitive sciences. Reviews of controversial ideas related to the philosophy of mind from western and eastern sources including classical Indian first person methodologies provide a breadth of coverage that has seldom been attempted in a book before. Additionally, chapters relating to the new approaches in computational modeling of higher order cognitive function and consciousness are included. The book is of great value for established as well as young researchers from a wide cross-section of interdisciplinary scientific backgrounds, aiming to pursue research in this field, as well as an informed public. * Presents the latest developments in the scientific study of consciousness * Critically reviews different theoretical and philosophical explanations related to the subject * An important book for both students and researchers in designing research projects on consciousness Content: List of contributors Pages v-vi Preface Page vii Rahul Banerjee, Bikas K. Chakrabarti How to separate conceptual issues from empirical ones in the study of consciousness Review Article Pages 1-9 Max Velmans The disunity of consciousness Review Article Pages 11-18,267-268 Semir Zeki Consciousness: the radical plasticity thesis Review Article Pages 19-33 Axel Cleeremans A higher order Bayesian decision theory of consciousness Review Article Pages 35-48 Hakwan C. Lau Subjective measures of unconscious knowledge Review Article Pages 49-64,269 Zoltán Dienes Interdependence of attention and consciousness Review Article Pages 65-75 Narayanan Srinivasan Computational studies of consciousness Review Article Pages 77-93 Igor Aleksander, Helen Morton Identification of neuroanatomical substrates of set-shifting ability: evidence from patients with focal brain lesions Review Article Pages 95-104 Pritha Mukhopadhyay, Aparna Dutt, Shyamal Kumar Das, Arindam Basu, Avijit Hazra, Tapan Dhibar, Trishit Roy Thinking is believing Review Article Pages 105-114 Rajesh Kasturirangan The emergence of mind and brain: an evolutionary, computational, and philosophical approach Review Article Pages 115-132 Klaus Mainzer Dynamic geometry, brain function modeling, and consciousness Review Article Pages 133-144 Sisir Roy, Rodolfo Llinás Understanding the mind of a worm: hierarchical network structure underlying nervous system function in C. elegans Review Article Pages 145-153 Nivedita Chatterjee, Sitabhra Sinha Neural network modeling Review Article Pages 155-168,270 Bikas K. Chakrabarti, Abhik Basu A simple Hopfield-like cellular network model of plant intelligence Review Article Pages 169-174 Jun-ichi Inoue Retinomorphic image processing Review Article Pages 175-191 Kuntal Ghosh, Kamales Bhaumik, Sandip Sarkar Modeling the sub-cellular signaling pathways involved in reinforcement learning at the striatum Review Article Pages 193-206 Shesharao M. Wanjerkhede, Raju S. Bapi Rhythmic structure of Hindi and English: new insights from a computational analysis Review Article Pages 207-214,271-272 Tanusree Das, Latika Singh, Nandini C. Singh Empirical perspectives from the self-model theory of subjectivity: a brief summary with examples Review Article Pages 215-245,273-278 Thomas Metzinger Vipassana: the Buddha's tool to probe mind and body Review Article Pages 247-253 Dhananjay V. Chavan Buddha and the bridging relations Review Article Pages 255-262 Rahul Banerjee Subject Index Pages 263-266 The phenomenon of consciousness has always been a central question for philosophers and scientists. Emerging in the past decade are new approaches to the understanding of consciousness in a scientific light. This book presents a series of essays by leading thinkers giving an account of the current ideas prevalent in the scientific study of consciousness. The value of the book lies in the discussion of this interesting though complex subject from different points of view ranging from physics, computer science to the cognitive sciences. Reviews of controversial ideas related to the philosophy of mind from western and eastern sources including classical Indian first person methodologies provide a breadth of coverage that has seldom been attempted in a book before. Additionally, chapters relating to the new approaches in computational modelling of higher order cognitive function and consciousness are included. The book is of great value for established as well as young researchers from a wide cross-section of interdisciplinary scientific backgrounds, aiming to pursue research in this field, as well as an informed public. * Presents the latest developments in the scientific study of consciousness * Critically reviews different theoretical and philosophical explanations related to the subject * An important book for both students and researchers in designing research projects on consciousness