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Books > Social sciences > Psychology > Philosophy & theory of psychology > Cognitive theory
Music offers a unique opportunity to better understand the organization of the human brain. Like language, music exists in all human societies. Like language, music is a complex, rule-governed activity that seems specific to humans, and associated with a specific brain architecture. Yet unlike most other high-level functions of the human brain - and unlike language - music is a skill at which only a minority of people become proficient. The study of music as a major brain function has for some time been relatively neglected. Just recently, however, we have witnessed an explosion in research activities on music perception and performance and their correlates in the human brain. This volume brings together an outstanding collection of international authorities - from the fields of music, neuroscience, psychology, and neurology - to describe the amazing advances being made in understanding the complex relationship between music and the brain. Aimed at psychologists and neuroscientists, this is a book that will lay the foundations for a cognitive neuroscience of music.
Senses and Sensation: Critical and Primary Sources offers a comprehensive collection of key writings essential to anyone wishing to gain a critical understanding of sensory studies. The four volumes include 101 essays from leading scholars in the humanities, social sciences, arts and design, biology, psychology and the neurosciences.Drawing upon historical and contemporary texts from a wide range of sources, this set is inspired by the sensory turn in the humanities, social sciences and fine arts which has challenged the monopoly that psychology formerly held over the study of senses and sensation. It also builds upon the revolution in psychology and the neurosciences which has led to an increased emphasis on the interaction and integration of the senses, in place of the one-sense-at-a-time approach.Ordered by discipline, the volumes cover geography and anthropology, history and sociology, biology, psychology and neuroscience, and art and design. Each volume is separately introduced and the essays structured into coherent sections on specific themes.
Metaphor theory has shifted from asking whether metaphor is 'conceptual' or 'linguistic' to debating whether it is 'embodied' or 'discursive'. Although recent work in the social and cognitive sciences has yielded clear opportunities to resolve that dispute, the divide between discourse- and cognition-oriented approaches has remained. To unite the field, this book brings together leading metaphor researchers from a number of disciplines. It collects major arguments and presents a wide variety of empirical evidence, placing special emphasis on the embodiment and socio-cultural embeddedness of cognition, as well as the multi-modal and social-interactive nature of communication. It shows that metaphor theory can only profit from an approach that takes multiple perspectives into consideration and tries to account for findings yielded by multiple methodologies. By doing so, it works towards a dynamic, multi-dimensional, socio-cognitive model of metaphor that goes beyond what research traditions have separately achieved.
In this classic work, John Steinbruner argues that the time is ripe for exploration of a new theoretical perspective on the decision-making process in government. He suggests that the cybernetic theory of decision as developed in such diverse fields as information theory, mathematical logic, and behavioral psychology generates a systematic but non-rational analysis that seems to explain quite naturally decisions that are puzzling when viewed from the rational perspective. When combined with the basic understanding of human mental operations developed in cognitive psychology, the cybernetic theory of decision presents a striking picture of how decision makers deal with the intense uncertainty and fundamental value conflicts that arise in bureaucratic politics. To illustrate the advantages of using cybernetic theory, Steinbruner analyzes the issue of sharing nuclear weapons among the NATO allies.
When little things have big impacts. This book is for anyone who feels that they're sleepwalking through life, looking for answers to challenging emotions and the practical tools to begin living the life they want. 'How are you really feeling? A bit blah, meh or simply 'I don't actually know'. If this is your honest, knot-in-the-throat response, take a moment - breathe - and let me reassure you that it's not you, it's what's happened to you over the years. You can't quite put your finger on it, but somehow you just don't feel like you're thriving or truly participating in your own life. This is the result of a build-up of life's scrapes, papercuts and bruises that have left you feeling simply 'not ok'. Emotional illiteracy, microaggressions, challenging familial relationships, toxic positivity and gaslighting are some examples of what I call 'Tiny T' trauma - the impact of which often leads to problems such as high-functioning anxiety, languishing, perfectionism, comfort eating and sleep disturbance, to name but a few. We have been fooled into believing that 'Tiny T' trauma doesn't matter. There always seem to be huge, intractable problems in the world, so we tend to overlook those small, everyday injuries that drill down to your core. This leaves us with an undercurrent of constant melancholy and niggling pinpricks of anxiety, all wrapped up in the film of other people's Insta-perfect lives. But life doesn't have to be experienced in this suffocating way; we owe it to ourselves to develop Awareness, Acceptance, and take Action on our Tiny T trauma, no matter how 'small', and to start living every day as we deserve.'
Recent years have witnessed a revival of research in the interplay between cognition and emotion. The reasons for this renaissance are many and varied. In the first place, emotion theorists have come to recognise the pivotal role of cognitive factors in virtually all aspects of the emotion process, and to rely on basic cognitive factors insight in creating new models of affective space. Also, the successful application of cognitive therapies to affective disorders has promoted clinical psychologists to work towards a clearer understanding of the connections between cognitive processes and emotional problems. And whereas the cognitive revolutionaries of the 1960s regarded emotions with suspicion, viewing them as nagging sources of 'hot' noise in an otherwise cool, rational, and computer-like system of information processing, cognitive researchers of the 1990s regard emotions with respect, owing to their potent and predictable effects on tasks as diverse as object perception, episodic recall, and risk assessment. These intersecting lines of interest have made cognition and emotion one of the most active and rapidly developing areas within psychological science.
Sexual harassment in the workplace, date rape, and domestic violence dominate the headlines and have recently sparked scholarly debates about the nature of the sexes. Concurrently, the scientific community is conducting research in topics of sex and gender issues. Indeed, more research is being done on the topics of sexual conflict and coercion than at any other time in the history of the social sciences. Despite this attention, it is clear that these issues are being addressed from two essentially different perspectives: one is labeled "feminist," while the other, viewed as antithetical to the feminist movement, is called "evolutionary psychology," which emphasizes the history of reproductive strategies in understanding conflict between the sexes. This book brings together leading experts from both sides of the debate in order to discover how each could offer insights lacking in the other. The editors' overall goal is to show how the feminist and evolutionary approaches are complementary despite their evident differences, then provide an integration and synthesis. In fact, several of the contributors to this unique volume consider themselves advocates of both approaches. As a stimulating presentation of the dynamics of sex, power, and conflict--and a pioneering rapprochement of the diverse tendencies within the scientific community-- this book will attract a wide audience in both psychology and women's studies fields.
Michio Kaku, the international bestselling author of Physics of the Impossible, gives us a stunning and provocative vision of the future of the mind Recording memories, mind reading, videotaping our dreams, mind control, avatars, and telekinesis - no longer are these feats of the mind solely the province of overheated science fiction. As Michio Kaku reveals, with the latest advances in brain science and recent astonishing breakthroughs in technology, they already exist. In The Future of the Mind, the New York Times-bestselling author takes us on a stunning, provocative and exhilarating tour of the top laboratories around the world to meet the scientists who are already revolutionising the way we think about the brain - and ourselves. 'Summons up the sheer wonder of science' - Daily Telegraph 'Compelling ... Kaku thinks with great breadth, and the vistas he presents us are worth the trip' - New York Times Book Review Michio Kaku is a professor of physics at the City University of New York, cofounder of string field theory, and the author of several widely acclaimed science books, including Hyperspace, Beyond Einstein, Physics of the Impossible, and Physics of the Future.
Nurturing Our Humanity offers a new perspective on our personal and social options in today's world, showing how we can build societies that support our great human capacities for consciousness, caring, and creativity. It brings together findings-largely overlooked-from the natural and social sciences debunking the popular idea that we are hard-wired for selfishness, war, rape, and greed. Its groundbreaking new approach reveals connections between disturbing trends like climate change denial and regressions to strongman rule. Moving past right vs. left, religious vs. secular, Eastern vs. Western, and other familiar categories that do not include our formative parent-child and gender relations, it looks at where societies fall on the partnership-domination scale. On one end is the domination system that ranks man over man, man over woman, race over race, and man over nature. On the other end is the more peaceful, egalitarian, gender-balanced, and sustainable partnership system. Nurturing Our Humanity explores how behaviors, values, and socio-economic institutions develop differently in these two environments, documents how this impacts nothing less than how our brains develop, examines cultures from this new perspective (including societies that for millennia oriented toward partnership), and proposes actions supporting the contemporary movement in this more life-sustaining and enhancing direction. It shows how through today's ever more fearful, frenzied, and greed-driven technologies of destruction and exploitation, the domination system may lead us to an evolutionary dead end. A more equitable and sustainable way of life is biologically possible and culturally attainable: we can change our course.
Looking at Trauma: A Tool Kit for Clinicians is an easy-to-use, engaging resource designed to address the challenges health care professionals face in providing much-needed trauma psychoeducation to clients with histories of childhood trauma. Developed by trauma therapists Abby Hershler and Lesley Hughes in collaboration with artist Patricia Nguyen and biomedical communications specialist Shelley Wall, this book presents twelve trauma treatment models accompanied by innovative and engaging comics. The models help clinicians provide practical information about the impacts of trauma to their clients-and support those clients in understanding and managing their distressing symptoms. Topics covered include complex posttraumatic stress disorder, emotion regulation, memory, relationship patterns, and self-care. Each chapter features step-by-step instructions on how to use the treatment models with clients; practical educational tips from experienced clinicians in the field of childhood trauma; interactive trauma education comics; a foundational framework focused on care for the provider; and references for further study. Intended for use in therapeutic, clinical, and classroom settings, this book is a valuable resource for all healthcare workers. In particular, social workers, psychotherapists, spiritual care providers, nurses, occupational therapists, psychologists, primary care physicians, and psychiatrists will find this tool kit indispensable.
Do you want to go beyond small talk with colleagues, friends, family, or strangers? This is your game to truly connect with people. Imagine a red car, I'll do the same. Now describe it to me. No red car would ever be the same. No thought, or story ever is. We listen. We might smile. We nod. But, do we really understand each other? The human mind predicts and assumes to make sense of the world, and to understand people. There's often more to discover than we assume to know. The Empathy Game connects the dots. It engages people to share, listen, and engage with stories beyond their own frame of reference. There's more to discover and learn. Let's play. EXAMPLE QUESTIONS Memory How different was your life one year ago? What is special about the place you grew up in? Who is I? What do you admire/value in others? What is the best day on the calendar? Imagine If you could invent anything, what would it be? If someone could give you the answer to any unresolved question, what would you ask?
Draw In Order to See is the first book to survey the history of architectural design using the latest research in neuroscience and embodied cognition. At present, among the dozens of books on architectural drawing, design theory, methodologies, model making, CAAD, and planning, there is no book that specifically looks at the history of representation as a reflection of cognitive habits among individuals and groups of architects. As a historian and a practicing architect, Mark Hewitt has a unique point of view, that has enabled him to study the design practices of many architects during various eras, beginning in the Renaissance and stretching into the late 20th century. His earlier published books have touched on subjects related to design practice, as many have dealt with the lives of architects and designers. In addition, he has written dozens of biographies of architects, published essays on architectural representation, and wrote a master's thesis on visual perception and architecture. Hewitt has dedicated more than 30 years to writing about the process of conception (or visualisation) of buildings in the brain. Researchers on that subject now consistently cite one of his earliest studies on drawings and modes of conception. This book pursues that line of inquiry with the new discoveries about visual perception, cognition and embodiment that have revolutionised brain science. Hewitt believes that looking historically at how architects have designed, a brain-based practice developed during and after the Renaissance, once drawings became sophisticated enough to provide feedback for perception and memory in the cortex. His contention is that disegno, as invented in Italy during the time of Leonardo and Michelangelo, initiated that system, and that it was translated into a curriculum during the rise of Beaux Arts institutions prior to the 1920s, after which the Bauhaus system replaced it completely with what we have today.
Before Chelsea Conaboy gave birth to her first child, she anticipated the joy of holding her newborn son, the endless dirty nappies and the sleepless nights. What she didn't expect was how different she would feel. It wasn't simply the extraordinary demands of this new role, but a shift in self - as deep as it was disorienting. In truth, something was changing: her brain. New parents undergo major brain changes, driven by hormones and the deluge of stimuli a baby provides. These neurobiological changes help all parents - birthing or otherwise - adapt in those intense first days and prepare for a long period of learning how to meet their child's needs. Yet this science is mostly absent from the public conversation about parenthood. Conaboy delves into the neuroscience to reveal unexpected upsides, generations of scientific neglect and a powerful new narrative of parenthood.
Bridging the gap between cognition and culture, this handbook explores both social scientific and humanities approaches to understanding the physical processes of religious life, tradition, practice, and belief. It reflects the cultural turn within the study of religion and puts theory to the fore, moving beyond traditional theological, philosophical, and ethnographic understandings of the aesthetics of religion. Editors Anne Koch and Katharina Wilkens bring together research in cultural studies, cognitive studies, material religion, religion and the arts, and epistemology. Questions of identity, gender, ethnicity, and postcolonialism are discussed throughout. Key topics include materiality, embodiment, performance, popular/vernacular art and space to move beyond a sensory understanding of aesthetics. Emerging areas of research are covered, including secular aesthetics and the aesthetic of spirits. This is an important contribution to theory and method in the study of religion, and is grounded in research that has been taking place in Europe over the past 20 years. Case studies are drawn from around the world with contributions from scholars based in Europe, the USA, and Australia. The book is illustrated with over 40 color images and features a foreword from Birgit Meyer.
In this ground-breaking synthesis of art and science, Diana Deutsch, one of the world's leading experts on the psychology of music, shows how illusions of music and speech-many of which she herself discovered-have fundamentally altered thinking about the brain. These astonishing illusions show that people can differ strikingly in how they hear musical patterns-differences that reflect variations in brain organization as well as influences of language on music perception. Drawing on a wide variety of fields, including psychology, music theory, linguistics, and neuroscience, Deutsch examines questions such as: When an orchestra performs a symphony, what is the "real" music? Is it in the mind of the composer, or the conductor, or different members of the audience? Deutsch also explores extremes of musical ability, and other surprising responses to music and speech. Why is perfect pitch so rare? Why do some people hallucinate music or speech? Why do we hear phantom words and phrases? Why are we subject to stuck tunes, or "earworms"? Why do we hear a spoken phrase as sung just because it is presented repeatedly? In evaluating these questions, she also shows how music and speech are intertwined, and argues that they stem from an early form of communication that had elements of both. Many of the illusions described in the book are so striking and paradoxical that you need to hear them to believe them. The book enables you to listen to the sounds that are described while reading about them.
'An endlessly fascinating tour of the many different factors influencing our decision-making and reasoning' David Robson, author of The Intelligence Trap 'An eye-opening and engaging richness of information that gives us a detailed insight into the strengths and weaknesses of human behaviour' Melissa Hogenboom, author of The Motherhood Complex Do emotions really cloud your thinking? Are habits holding you back? Is AI manipulating your mind? Does IQ help you think better? Every one of our thoughts, actions, moods and decisions is shaped by a whole array of factors, most of which we don't pay any attention to. From culture, time and language to genetics, technology and the microorganisms living inside us - even our own unconscious routines and habits - it's clear that we aren't always in the driving seat. The good news is that by better understanding the external and internal forces at work, we can minimise their impact on our lives. Drawing on rigorous interdisciplinary research, leading science journalists Miriam Frankel and Matt Warren bring us extraordinary stories and studies that open our eyes to the inner workings of the mind, challenge our thought processes and improve our decision-making. Most of all, Are You Thinking Clearly? is a rallying cry to know yourself, think broadly, think boldly - and to listen. 'Essential reading for anyone who wants to understand why their beliefs, mistakes, emotions and intuitions are the way they are' Richard Gray, BBC Future
In Metaphors of Eucharistic Presence: Language, Cognition, and the Body and Blood of Christ, Stephen R. Shaver brings together the fields of cognitive linguistics and liturgical theology to propose a new approach to the ecumenically controversial issue of eucharistic presence. Drawing from the work of cognitive linguists such as George Lakoff, Gilles Fauconnier, and Mark Turner, and theologians such as Robert Masson and John Sanders, Shaver argues that there is no clear division between literal and figurative language: rather, human cognition is grounded in sensorimotor experience, and phenomena such as metaphor and conceptual blending are basic building blocks of thought. Complex realities are ordinarily understood by means of more than one metaphor. Inherited models of eucharistic presence, then, are not necessarily mutually exclusive but can serve as complementary members of a shared ecumenical repertoire. The central element of this repertoire is the motif of identity-the eucharistic bread and wine are the body and blood of Christ-grounded in the Synoptic and Pauline institution narratives. From a cognitive standpoint, this metaphor can be understood both as figurative and as true in the proper sense, resolving a dichotomy that has divided the churches since the Reformation. The identity motif is complemented by four major non-scriptural motifs: representation, change, containment, and conduit. Inaugurating a new interdisciplinary conversation, this book contributes to ongoing ecumenical reconciliation not only by addressing eucharistic presence but also by demonstrating an approach which may hold promise in other historically controverted areas. Meanwhile for cognitive linguists it offers an intriguing case study in the application of that discipline to theological questions.
'An original, provocative and fascinating new theory by one of the world's leading neuroscientists about why the mind wanders - and when and why it's good for you' Daniel Gilbert 'A gentle and humane book that should be read by everyone interested in the human mind and the human brain' Andy Clark Our brains are noisy. Certain regions are always grinding away at involuntary activities like daydreaming, worrying about the future and self-chatter, taking up to forty-seven percent of our waking time. This is mindwandering - and while it can tug your attention away from the present and contribute to anxiety, cognitive neuroscientist Moshe Bar reveals that there is a method behind this apparent madness. Mindwandering is the first popular book to explore the multi-faceted phenomenon of our wandering minds and the cutting-edge new research behind it. Bar combines his decades of research to explain the benefits and the possible cost of mindwandering within the broader context of psychology, neuroscience, psychiatry and philosophy, providing us with practical knowledge that can help you: - Develop your sense of self, better relate to others, and make associations that help you understand the world around you - Increase your ability to focus by understanding when to wander - and when not to - Magnify and enrich your experiences by learning about full immersion - Stimulate your creativity by combing through the past and making predictions about the future - Boost your mood by unleashing your mind.
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