Brain, Vision, Memory
Title | Brain, Vision, Memory PDF eBook |
Author | Charles G. Gross |
Publisher | MIT Press |
Total Pages | 284 |
Release | 1999-07-26 |
Genre | Medical |
ISBN | 9780262571357 |
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.
Borges and Memory
Title | Borges and Memory PDF eBook |
Author | Rodrigo Quian Quiroga |
Publisher | MIT Press |
Total Pages | 225 |
Release | 2023-10-31 |
Genre | Science |
ISBN | 0262549565 |
A scientist's exploration of the working of memory begins with a story by Borges about a man who could not forget. Imagine the astonishment felt by neuroscientist Rodrigo Quian Quiroga when he found a fantastically precise interpretation of his research findings in a story written by the great Argentinian fabulist Jorge Luis Borges fifty years earlier. Quian Quiroga studies the workings of the brain—in particular how memory works—one of the most complex and elusive mysteries of science. He and his fellow neuroscientists have at their disposal sophisticated imaging equipment and access to information not available just twenty years ago. And yet Borges seemed to have imagined the gist of Quian Quiroga's discoveries decades before he made them. The title character of Borges's "Funes the Memorious" remembers everything in excruciatingly particular detail but is unable to grasp abstract ideas. Quian Quiroga found neurons in the human brain that respond to abstract concepts but ignore particular details, and, spurred by the way Borges imagined the consequences of remembering every detail but being incapable of abstraction, he began a search for the origins of Funes. Borges's widow, María Kodama, gave him access to her husband's personal library, and Borges's books led Quian Quiroga to reread earlier thinkers in philosophy and psychology. He found that just as Borges had perhaps dreamed the results of Quian Quiroga's discoveries, other thinkers—William James, Gustav Spiller, John Stuart Mill—had perhaps also dreamed a story like "Funes." With Borges and Memory, Quian Quiroga has given us a fascinating and accessible story about the workings of the brain that the great creator of Funes would appreciate.
Memory Makes The Brain: The Biological Machinery That Uses Experiences To Shape Individual Brains
Title | Memory Makes The Brain: The Biological Machinery That Uses Experiences To Shape Individual Brains PDF eBook |
Author | Christian Hansel |
Publisher | World Scientific |
Total Pages | 193 |
Release | 2021-01-04 |
Genre | Medical |
ISBN | 9811228825 |
The development of the young brain after birth and the emergence of cognitive capacities, mind, and individuality rest on the maturation of a dense net of synaptic connections between neurons. Memory Makes the Brain describes the dramatic, competitive elimination of surplus synapses that occur in the young, maturing brain — in a process called synaptic pruning that was discovered by pediatric neurologist Peter Huttenlocher in the 1970's at the University of Chicago. Explaining similarities between developmental pruning and learning processes in the adult brain, neurobiologist Christian Hansel offers a unique perspective on brain adaptation and plasticity throughout lifetime, at times weaving in personal accounts and memories. The cellular plasticity machinery that enables learning is known to be affected in brain developmental disorders such as autism. Memory Makes the Brain explains how both maturation and adult synaptic plasticity are deregulated in autism, and how we begin to trace back autism-typical behavioral abnormalities to such synaptopathies.
Memory and Brain Dynamics
Title | Memory and Brain Dynamics PDF eBook |
Author | Erol Basar |
Publisher | CRC Press |
Total Pages | 432 |
Release | 2004-06-23 |
Genre | Medical |
ISBN | 1134394837 |
Memory itself is inseparable from all other brain functions and involves distributed dynamic neural processes. A wealth of publications in neuroscience literature report that the concerted action of distributed multiple oscillatory processes (EEG oscillations) play a major role in brain functioning. The analysis of function-related brain oscillatio
Discovering the Brain
Title | Discovering the Brain PDF eBook |
Author | National Academy of Sciences |
Publisher | National Academies Press |
Total Pages | 195 |
Release | 1992-01-01 |
Genre | Medical |
ISBN | 0309045290 |
The brain ... There is no other part of the human anatomy that is so intriguing. How does it develop and function and why does it sometimes, tragically, degenerate? The answers are complex. In Discovering the Brain, science writer Sandra Ackerman cuts through the complexity to bring this vital topic to the public. The 1990s were declared the "Decade of the Brain" by former President Bush, and the neuroscience community responded with a host of new investigations and conferences. Discovering the Brain is based on the Institute of Medicine conference, Decade of the Brain: Frontiers in Neuroscience and Brain Research. Discovering the Brain is a "field guide" to the brainâ€"an easy-to-read discussion of the brain's physical structure and where functions such as language and music appreciation lie. Ackerman examines: How electrical and chemical signals are conveyed in the brain. The mechanisms by which we see, hear, think, and pay attentionâ€"and how a "gut feeling" actually originates in the brain. Learning and memory retention, including parallels to computer memory and what they might tell us about our own mental capacity. Development of the brain throughout the life span, with a look at the aging brain. Ackerman provides an enlightening chapter on the connection between the brain's physical condition and various mental disorders and notes what progress can realistically be made toward the prevention and treatment of stroke and other ailments. Finally, she explores the potential for major advances during the "Decade of the Brain," with a look at medical imaging techniquesâ€"what various technologies can and cannot tell usâ€"and how the public and private sectors can contribute to continued advances in neuroscience. This highly readable volume will provide the public and policymakersâ€"and many scientists as wellâ€"with a helpful guide to understanding the many discoveries that are sure to be announced throughout the "Decade of the Brain."
The Cognitive Neuroscience of Visual Working Memory
Title | The Cognitive Neuroscience of Visual Working Memory PDF eBook |
Author | Natasha Sigala |
Publisher | Frontiers Media SA |
Total Pages | 184 |
Release | 2017-06-02 |
Genre | Electronic book |
ISBN | 2889451682 |
Visual working memory allows us to temporarily maintain and manipulate visual information in order to solve a task. The study of the brain mechanisms underlying this function began more than a half century ago, with Scoville and Milner’s (1957) seminal discoveries with amnesic patients. This timely collection of papers brings together diverse perspectives on the cognitive neuroscience of visual working memory from multiple fields that have traditionally been fairly disjointed: human neuroimaging, electrophysiological, behavioural and animal lesion studies, investigating both the developing and the adult brain.
Visual Memory
Title | Visual Memory PDF eBook |
Author | Timothy F. Brady |
Publisher | Routledge |
Total Pages | 381 |
Release | 2022-03-29 |
Genre | Psychology |
ISBN | 1000555798 |
Featuring contributions from world-leading researchers, this book explores the relationship between visual perception and memory. It bridges the traditionally separate fields of vision science and recognition memory and deals with an interdisciplinary set of perspectives combining research in psychology, neuroscience, and artificial intelligence. The book makes new connections between the wealth of research from each respective field, developing the idea that visuospatial memory is our best memory system. This volume traverses topics grounded in both empirical study and real-world applications, including working (short-term) memory, long-term memory, the neuroscience of memory, development of memory over the lifespan, autobiographical memories, false memories, and eyewitness testimony. It argues that an increased knowledge of how visuospatial memory works can lead to an improved understanding of the basic features of memory, as well as providing strategies for memory improvement. The book features cutting edge visual memory research, where converging methods in psychophysics, cognitive neuroscience, and computational modeling have been propelling the field forward. Visual Memory is an essential read for all students and researchers of memory and visual perception. It will also be useful for researchers and students in related fields including human-computer interaction, data visualization, cognitive science, and cognitive enhancement.