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Books > Social sciences > Psychology > Philosophy & theory of psychology > Cognitive theory
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.
Despite American education's recent mania for standardized tests,
testing misses what really matters about learning: the desire to
learn in the first place. Curiosity is vital, but it remains a
surprisingly understudied characteristic. The Hungry Mind is a
deeply researched, highly readable exploration of what curiosity
is, how it can be measured, how it develops in childhood, and how
it can be fostered in school. "Engel draws on the latest social
science research and incidents from her own life to understand why
curiosity is nearly universal in babies, pervasive in early
childhood, and less evident in school...Engel's most important
finding is that most classroom environments discourage
curiosity...In an era that prizes quantifiable results, a pedagogy
that privileges curiosity is not likely to be a priority." -Glenn
C. Altschuler, Psychology Today "Susan Engel's The Hungry Mind, a
book which engages in depth with how our interest and desire to
explore the world evolves, makes a valuable contribution not only
to the body of academic literature on the developmental and
educational psychology of children, but also to our knowledge on
why and how we learn." -Inez von Weitershausen, LSE Review of Books
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.
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.
Research on natural and artificial brains is proceeding at a rapid
pace. However, the understanding of the essence of consciousness
has changed slightly over the millennia, and only the last decade
has brought some progress to the area. Scientific ideas emerged
that the soul could be a product of the material body and that
calculating machines could imitate brain processes. However, the
authors of this book reject the previously common dualism-the view
that the material and spiritual-psychic processes are separate and
require a completely different substance as their foundation.
Reductive Model of the Conscious Mind is a forward-thinking book
wherein the authors identify processes that are the essence of
conscious thinking and place them in the imagined, simplified
structure of cells able to memorize and transmit information in the
form of impulses, which they call neurons. The purpose of the study
is to explain the essence of consciousness to the degree of
development of natural sciences, because only the latter can find a
way to embed the concept of the conscious mind in material brains.
The book is divided into three parts. Part 1 works to convince
readers that the emergence of consciousness does not require
detailed knowledge of the structure and morphology of the brain,
with the exception of some specific properties of the neural
network structure that the authors attempt to point out. Part 2
proves that the biological structure of many natural brains
fulfills the necessary conditions for consciousness and intelligent
thinking. Similarly, Part 3 shows the ways in which artificial
creatures imitating natural brains can meet these conditions, which
gives great hopes for building artificially intelligent beings
endowed with consciousness. Covering topics that include cognitive
architecture, the embodied mind, and machine learning, this book is
ideal for cognitive scientists, philosophers of mind,
neuroscientists, psychologists, researchers, academicians, and
advanced-level students. The book can also help to focus the
research of linguists, neurologists, and biophysicists on the
biophysical basis of postulated information processing into
knowledge structures.
'GeniusX: Business Intelligence' presents established guidelines to
help you understand your inner self as well as those around you
across a variety of situations. Positive thinking, critical
decision-making, personnel selection, ways of life and customised
methods for business operations are presented via the concept of
people categorisations of which Cognitive Neuroscience lists six
types; Game Changes, Entrepreneurs, Networkers, Informationists,
Uniques and Sharers. We are able to learn about people if we can
unlock the diverse decision-making processes that take place in
their brains. Once we understand the inner workings, we can rectify
problems and deal with all types of people and situations. Knowing
the unique working styles of individuals allows you to build
success at work, and enjoyment in your personal life at your own
pace.
While cognitive informatics and natural intelligence are receiving
greater attention by researchers, multidisciplinary approaches
still struggle with fundamental problems involving psychology and
neurobiological processes of the brain. Examining the difficulties
of certain approaches using the tools already available is vital
for propelling knowledge forward and making further strides.
Innovations, Algorithms, and Applications in Cognitive Informatics
and Natural Intelligence is a collection of innovative research
that examines the enhancement of human cognitive performance using
emerging technologies. Featuring research on topics such as
parallel computing, neuroscience, and signal processing, this book
is ideally designed for engineers, computer scientists,
programmers, academicians, researchers, and students.
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