"Time" is the most common noun in the English language yet philosophers and scientists don't agree about what time actually is or how to define it. Perhaps this is because the brain tells, represents and perceives time in multiple ways. Dean Buonomano investigates the relationship between the brain and time, looking at what time is, why it seems to speed up or slow down and whether our sense that time flows is an illusion. Buonomano presents his theory of how the brain tells time, and illuminates such concepts as free will, consciousness, space-time and relativity from the perspective of a neuroscientist. Drawing on physics, evolutionary biology and philosophy, he reveals that the brain's ultimate purpose may be to predict the future-and thus that your brain is a time machine.

Literacy research has continued to develop at a rapid pace in these last five years of the millennium. New ideas about how children learn to read have led to a better understanding of the causes of progress and failure in the mastery of literacy, with repercussions for children's assessment and teacher education. These new discoveries also allow teachers to transcend the old debates in reading instruction (phonics versus whole language) and offer the path to a synthesis. At the same time, research with teachers about their own implementation of methods and the development of their own knowledge about the teaching of literacy has produced a fresh analysis of the practice of literacy teaching. Inspired by these developments, teachers, teacher educators and researchers worked together to produce this volume, which promotes the integration of literacy research and practice.

This book introduces the reader to the concept of functional synchronization and how it operates on very different levels in psychological and social systems - from the emergence of thought to the formation of social relations and the structure of societies. For years, psychologists have investigated phenomena such as self-concept, social judgment, social relations, group dynamics, and cooperation and conflict, but have discussed these phenomena seoarately.This book shows how synchronization provides a foundational approach to these otherwise distinct and diverse psychological processes.This work shows that there is a basic tendency with many processes to become coordinated and progressively integrated into increasingly larger units through well-defined processes. For these larger units, new and largely adaptive functions emerge. Although synchronization affords progressive integration of system elements to enable correspondingly higher-order functions, the trajectory of synchronization is often characterized by periods of assembly and disassembly of system elements. This occurs when a task is completed and synchronization is no longer essential so that the elements once again operate in an independent fashion. It is argued that the disassembly-resynchronization scenario occurs at all levels of psychological and social reality. The implications of this approach for important issues in interpersonal relations and societal processes are discussed.

Imagination in Inquiry: A Philosophical Model and Its Applications investigates the nature, kinds, component elements, functions, scope, and uses of the imagination involved in inquiry. It further discusses how these kinds and functions vary and interact depending on the context of inquiries carried out in philosophy and its branches-from the philosophy of science and the philosophy of technology to ethics, sociopolitical philosophy, and aesthetics-and institutions like science, technology, art, and education. Using a homeostatic model, A. Pablo Iannone advances a conception of the imagination as a disposition to search for answers to various types of problems, abstract or concrete, theoretical or practical faced in inquiry. The book treats this as a working characterization, though it develops progressively clearer, more precise, and less ambiguous meanings. All along, the primary concern of the author-as well as of contributors Alejandra Iannone and Rocci Luppicini-is with the moral, aesthetic, logical, communicative, scientific, technological, artistic, literary, and philosophical uses and roles of the imagination. The book's primary focus is not just on such things as the capacity to generate mental images, but especially on the ability to discover and create, anticipate and envision, entertain and manage.

The first book to provide an accessible introduction to neuropsychoanalysis. Covers the theoretical foundations and history of the field, along with an overview of current models relevant to psychoanalysis. It presents the state-of-the-art in neuropsychoanalytic research and theory as well as suggestions for future research and clinical-therapeutic implications.

This book is a comprehensive development and defense of one of the guiding assumptions of evolutionary psychology: that the human mind is composed of a large number of semi-independent modules. The Architecture of the Mind has three main goals. One is to argue for massive mental modularity. Another is to answer a 'How possibly?' challenge to any such approach. The first part of the book lays out the positive case supporting massive modularity. It also outlines how the thesis should best be developed, and articulates the notion of 'module' that is in question. Then the second part of the book takes up the challenge of explaining how the sorts of flexibility and creativity that are distinctive of the human mind could possibly be grounded in the operations of a massive number of modules. Peter Carruthers's third aim is to show how the various components of the mind are likely to be linked and interact with one another - indeed, this is crucial to demonstrating how the human mind, together with its familiar capacities, can be underpinned by a massively modular set of mechanisms. He outlines and defends the basic framework of a perception / belief / desire / planning / motor-control architecture, as well as detailing the likely components and their modes of connectivity. Many specific claims about the place within this architecture of natural language, of a mind-reading system, and others are explained and motivated. A number of novel proposals are made in the course of these discussions, one of which is that creative human thought depends upon a prior kind of creativity of action. Written with unusual clarity and directness, and surveying an extensive range of research in cognitive science, this book will be essential reading for anyone with an interest in the nature and organization of the mind.

Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) has perplexed clinicians and researchers for many years. Despite recent advances in our understanding of and ability to treat this debilitating problem, many people with OCD do not benefit or benefit only marginally from existing treatments. Newer approaches and a better understanding of the pathogenesis of OCD are needed. One such approach that has shown considerable promise in recent years is cognitive therapy. Recent studies have found cognitive therapy to be an effective treatment for OCD, and research on cognitive theory for OCD is rapidly expanding. This volume assembles nearly all of the major investigators responsible for the development of cognitive therapy (and theory) for OCD, as well as other major researchers in the field to write about cognitive phenomenology, assessment, treatment, and theory related to OCD. Each chapter of the book is written by an expert in the area. The first section of the book describes the domains of cognition in OCD and the subsequent section outlines measurement strategies where the efforts of an international working group of scholars to develop measures of OCD cognition are described. Reviews of OCD cognitions in OCD spectrum disorders and in specific populations (for example, the elderly and children) are reviewed in following sections. Finally, the role of these cognitions and cognitive processes in treatment is described.

This volume is intended to address contemporary aspects of child rearing in the home and the school, as well as major dimensions of inter face between the home and the school. The authors of these chapters have used varying styles and approaches, and the range of perspectives is very broad and inclusive. An essential notion integrating all chapters is that child rearing is a human ecological concern of dominant importance for the home, the school, and the community during the 1980's and that this will continue to be true in the future. This volume is intended to be useful as a reference book, as a text, for researchers and for policy-makers. It is hoped that the volume also will be of use to parents, teachers, school administrators, child-care workers and others who are interested in child nurturance. The editors wish to extend appreciation to many individuals who made this effort possible. Our colleagues, Hiram Fitzgerald and Marjorie Kostelnik, have been most helpful and encouraging. We thank them for their patience, support, and invaluable editorial assistance during the production of the camera-ready copy of the volume. We also thank Barbara Taylor for her assistance in typing the chapters, and Carrie DeMyers for typing the camera-ready copy. Carrie's good-nature and posi tive outlook helped to smooth over the many frustrations inherent in the assembly and production of anthologies such as this one."

Creativity is of rising interest to scholars and laypeople alike. Creativity in the arts, however, is very different from creativity in science, business, sports, cooking, or teaching. This book brings together top experts in the field from around the world to discuss creativity across many different domains. Each chapter includes clear definitions, intriguing research, potential measures, and suggestions for development or future directions. After a broad discussion of creativity across different domains, subsequent chapters look deeper into those individual domains (traditional arts, sciences, business, newer domains, and everyday life) to explore how creativity varies when expressed in different ways. Ultimately, the book offers a future-looking perspective integrating the different variations of creativity across domains.

This intriguing book was born out of the many discussions the authors had in the past 10 years about the role of scale-free structure and dynamics in producing intelligent behavior in brains. The microscopic dynamics of neural networks is well described by the prevailing paradigm based in a narrow interpretation of the neuron doctrine. This book broadens the doctrine by incorporating the dynamics of neural fields, as first revealed by modeling with differential equations (K-sets). The book broadens that approach by application of random graph theory (neuropercolation). The book concludes with diverse commentaries that exemplify the wide range of mathematical/conceptual approaches to neural fields. This book is intended for researchers, postdocs, and graduate students, who see the limitations of network theory and seek a beachhead from which to embark on mesoscopic and macroscopic neurodynamics.

As we live our lives, we repeatedly make decisions that shape our future circumstances and affect the sort of person we will be. When choosing whether to start a family, or deciding on a career, we often think we can assess the options by imagining what different experiences would be like for us. L. A. Paul argues that, for choices involving dramatically new experiences, we are confronted by the brute fact that we can know very little about our subjective futures. This has serious implications for our decisions. If we make life choices in the way we naturally and intuitively want to-by considering what we care about, and what our future selves will be like if we choose to have the experience-we only learn what we really need to know after we have already committed ourselves. If we try to escape the dilemma by avoiding an experience, we have still made a choice. Choosing rationally, then, may require us to regard big life decisions as choices to make discoveries, small and large, about the intrinsic nature of experience, and to recognize that part of the value of living authentically is to experience one's life and preferences in whatever way they may evolve in the wake of the choices you make. Using classic philosophical examples about the nature of consciousness, and drawing on recent work in normative decision theory, cognitive science, epistemology, and the philosophy of mind, Paul develops a rigorous account of transformative experience that sheds light on how we should understand real-world experience and our capacity to rationally map our subjective futures.

This volume examines the psychological basis of moral judgments and asks what theories of concepts apply to moral concepts. By combining philosophical reasoning and empirical insights from the fields of moral psychology, cognitive science, evolutionary psychology, and neuroscience, it considers what mental states not only influence, but also constitute our moral concepts and judgments. On this basis, Park proposes a novel pluralistic theory of moral concepts which includes three different cognitive structures and emotions. Thus, our moral judgments are shown to be a hybrid that express both cognitive and conative states. In part through analysis of new empirical data on moral semantic intuitions, gathered via cross-cultural experimental research, Park reveals that the referents of individuals' moral judgments and concepts vary across time, contexts, and groups. On this basis, he contends for moral relativism, where moral judgments cannot be universally true across time and location but only relative to groups. This powerfully argued text will be of interest to researchers, academics, and educators with an interest in cognitive science, moral theory, philosophy of psychology, and moral psychology more broadly. Those interested in ethics, applied social psychology, and moral development will also benefit from the volume.

Presenting original studies and rich conceptual analyses, this volume explores how cognitive and affective metrics can be used to effectively assess, modify, and enhance learning and assessment outcomes of simulations and games used in education and training. The volume responds to the increasing use of computer-based simulations and games across academic and professional sectors by bringing together contributions from different research communities, including K-12 and postsecondary education, medical, and military contexts. Drawing on empirical results, the chapter authors focus on the design and assessment of educational simulations and games. They describe how quantitative and qualitative metrics can be used effectively to evaluate and tailor instructional resources to the cognitive and affective needs of the individual learner. In doing so, the volume enhances understanding of how games and simulations can intersect with the science of learning to improve educational outcomes. Given its rigorous and multidisciplinary approach, this book will prove an indispensable resource for researchers and scholars in the fields of educational assessment and evaluation, educational technology, military psychology, and educational psychology.

This volume brings together trends and their prospects to understand the complexity of metacognitive phenomena, with emphasis on the interactions of metacognition with affect. It discusses the three perspectives in understanding these interactions: the possible mechanisms underlying them, the manifestation of interactions of metacognition with affect in self- and co-regulation in social and educational contexts, and changes during development in young children and older adults. This volume is a tribute to Professor Emerita Anastasia Efklides, who was among the pioneers to investigate and argue the importance of the interactions between metacognition and affect. It serves as a dedication to her contribution in the widening of the scope of research in metacognition and self-regulated learning.

This book provides an overview of the key theoretical and empirical issues relating to autobiographical memory: the extraordinarily complex psychological activity that enables us to retrieve, relive and reappraise our pasts. The first part of the book retraces the genesis and historical development of the psychology of autobiographical memory, from the pioneering contributions of Francis Galton, Victor Henri and Sigmund Freud, to the most recent research in the fields of cognitivism, cognitive science and neuroscience. The author then moves on to two key topics in the contemporary panorama: the content and organisation of autobiographical memory (what we remember from our lives and how we link together specific segments of our personal pasts) and the functions of autobiographical memory (why we remember our pasts). This book will provide a valuable scholarly overview for cognitive psychologists and an authoritative critical introduction to the field for students and scholars from across psychology, philosophy, literary criticism, sociology and law.

In Decision Making and Problem Solving: A Practical Guide for Applied Research, the author utilizes traditional approaches, tools, and techniques adopted to solve current day-to-day, real-life problems. The book offers guidance in identifying and applying accurate methods for designing a strategy as well as implementing these strategies in the real world. The book includes realistic case studies and practical approaches that should help readers understand how the decision making occurs and can be applied to problem solving under deep uncertainty.

The Clinical Neuroscience of Lateralization gives the first comprehensive transdiagnostic overview of the evidence for changes in hemispheric asymmetries in different psychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders. Taking a multidisciplinary perspective informed by both basic science and clinical studies, the authors integrate recent breakthroughs on hemispheric asymmetries in psychology, neuroscience, genetics and comparative research. They give a general introduction to hemispheric asymmetries and the techniques used to assess them, and review the evidence for changes in hemispheric asymmetries in different psychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders. The book also discusses neurological disorders like Parkinson's disease and multiple sclerosis and highlights the importance of open science in clinical laterality research. Offering a fresh perspective on a longstanding issue in clinical neuroscience, this book will be of great interest for academics, researchers, and students in the fields of clinical and developmental neuroscience, biopsychology and neuropsychology.

This ambitious and important second edition of the Handbook of Medical Neuropsychology takes an in-depth approach to the medical conditions and methods of neurorehabilitation. Comprehensive in scope and highly detailed in its coverage, the second edition, like the first, characterizes the effects of disease and the impact of interventions in the current state of advanced medicine at a level appropriate both for researchers and for clinicians. Featuring the most up-to-date information and quantitative research on cognitive neuroscience of autism, HIV/AIDS, cancer, head injury, respiratory diseases, endocrine diseases, early birth injury, dementia, and other disorders, the book handles theory, historical background, practical considerations, and controversial areas with evidence based disease indicators, clinical expertise, and real-world insight. It seeks to critique diagnostic and assessment tools specific to disorders. The new chapters in this inclusive second edition reflect the changes in prominent problems found in the clinic and provide worthy insights for research investigation in their review of: Substance use disorders. Nutrition in neurocognition and mental health. Hypothyroidism and Hashimoto's thyroiditis. Traumatic brain injury in very early childhood. Cognitive functioning in asthma. The role of mindfulness in neurorehabilitation. The Handbook of Medical Neuropsychology, 2nd Edition continues to be an essential resource for the neuropsychology clinician, researcher, practitioner or graduate student. It will be stimulating and relevant reading for years to come.

Contents:
S. Chiat, Mapping Theories of Developmental Language Impairment: Premises, Predictions and Evidence. M.S.C. Thomas, J. Grant, Z. Barham, M. Gsodl, E. Laing, L. Lakusta, L.K. Tyler, S. Grice, S. Paterson, A. Karmiloff-Smith, Past Tense Formation in Williams Syndrome. H.K.J. van der Lely, M.T. Ullman, Past Tense Morphology in Specifically Language Impaired and Normally Developing Children. V. Volterra, O. Capirci, M.C. Caselli, What Atypical Populations Can Reveal about Language Development: The Contrast Between Deafness and Williams Syndrome. K. Nation, C.M. Marshall, M.J. Snowling, Phonological and Semantic Contributions to Children's Picture Naming Skill: Evidence from Children with Developmental Reading Disorders. J.E. Dockrell, D. Messer, R. George, Patterns of Naming Objects and Actions in Children with Word Finding Difficulties. M.M. Kjelgaard, H. Tager-Flusberg, An Investigation of Language Impairment in Autism: Implications for Genetic Subgroups. J.L. Evans, M.W. Alibali, N.M. McNeil, Divergence of Verbal Expression and Embodied Knowledge: Evidence from Speech and Gesture in Children with Specific Language Impairment.

This book discusses the development of Edward Tolman's purposive behaviourism from the 1920s to the 1950s, highlighting the tension between his references to cognitive processes and the dominant behaviourist trends. It shows how Tolman incorporated concepts from European scholars, including Egon Brunswik and the Gestalt psychologists, to justify a more purposive form of behaviourism and how the theory evolved in response to the criticisms of his contemporaries. The manuscript also discusses Tolman's political activities, culminating in his role in the California loyalty oath controversy in the 1950s. Tolman was involved in a number of progressive causes during his lifetime, activities that drew the attention of both state legislators in California and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It treats Tolman's theoretical and political activities as emanating from the same source, a desire to understand the learning process in a scientific manner and to apply these concepts to improve the human condition.

This volume provides an overview of cognitive science and critically assesses areas within the topic that are evolving rapidly. Using multidisciplinary studies and rich empirical literature, discussions, and demonstrations, this book: * Discusses the evolution of cognition with reference to material records and the use of brain imaging * Highlights emerging domains and novel themes within cognitive science such as transgender cognition, space cognition, cross-cultural cognition, futuristic artificial intelligence, social cognition and moral cognition * Reflects on the status of cognition research in these emerging areas and critically evaluates their current progress * Explores data both from behavioural and neuroimaging research literature, and sheds light on the potential effects of technological growth and changing habits on attention and cognitive abilities of humans * Examines the effects of religious and meditative practices on its core cognitive science components * Speculates research domains that would gain importance in the next few decades in cognitive science research Finding commonalities in theoretical frameworks and models in upcoming areas in cognition research, this comprehensive study will be of interest to students, researchers and teachers of cognitive psychology, cognitive science, neuroscience, medical science and computer science. It will also be helpful for academicians, psychologists, neuroscientists, mental health professionals, medical professionals, counsellors and those looking for an alternate perspective on the topic.

The everyday capacity to understand the mind, or 'mindreading', plays an enormous role in our ordinary lives. Shaun Nichols and Stephen Stich provide a detailed and integrated account of the intricate web of mental components underlying this fascinating and multifarious skill. The imagination, they argue, is essential to understanding others, and there are special cognitive mechanisms for understanding oneself. The account that emerges has broad implications for longstanding philosophical debates over the status of folk psychology.
Mindreading is another trailblazing volume in the prestigious interdisciplinary Oxford Cognitive Science series.

* Explores everything from self-belief to climate change denial and the anti-Vaxx movement, navigating readers through the functions of doubt, from the everyday to the extreme. * Looks at how doubt is dispelled, how it can be 'weaponised', and how both the proliferation and absence of doubt can lead to harmful belief systems. * Features interviews with Nobel prize winners, former terrorists, world class athletes, famous artists and coaches to explore how doubt functions in the lives of transformational thinkers and figures of popular interest.

A revolutionary, science-based approach to meditation from a neuroscientist turned meditation master, The Mind Illuminated is an accessible, step-by-step toolkit for anyone looking to start—or improve—their daily meditation practice.

The book that bestselling meditation teacher Sharon Salzberg raves “brings the path of meditation to life,” The Mind Illuminated is the first how-to meditation guide from a neuroscientist who is also an acclaimed meditation master. This innovative book offers a 10-stage program that is both deeply grounded in ancient spiritual teachings about mindfulness and holistic health, and also draws from the latest brain science to provide a roadmap for anyone interested in achieving the benefits of mindfulness. Dr. John Yates offers a new and fascinating model of how the mind works, including steps to overcome mind wandering and dullness, extending your attention span while meditating, and subduing subtle distractions.

This groundbreaking manual provides illustrations and charts to help you work through each stage of the process, offering tools that work across all types of meditation practices. The Mind Illuminated is an essential read, whether you are a beginner wanting to establish your practice or a seasoned veteran ready to master the deepest state of peace and mindfulness.

This book introduces a new wellbeing dimension to the theory and practice of learning space design for early childhood and school contexts. It highlights vital, yet generally overlooked relationships between the learning environment and student learning and wellbeing, and reveals the potential of participatory, values-based design approaches to create learning spaces that respond to contemporary learners' needs. Focusing on three main themes it explores conceptual understandings of learning spaces and wellbeing; students' lived experience and needs of learning spaces; and the development of a new theory and its practical application to the design of learning spaces that enhance student wellbeing. It examines these complex and interwoven topics through various theoretical lenses and provides an extensive, current literature review that connects learning environment design and learner wellbeing in a wide range of educational settings from early years to secondary school. Offering transferable approaches and a new theoretical model of wellbeing as flourishing to support the design of innovative learning environments, this book is of interest to researchers, tertiary educators and students in the education and design fields, as well as school administrators and facility managers, teachers, architects and designers.