What is mind? ""Can we build synthetic or artificial minds?"" Think these questions are only reserved for Science Fiction? Well, not anymore. This collection presents a diverse overview of where the development of artificial minds is as the twenty first century begins. Examined from nearly all viewpoints, Visions of Mind includes perspectives from philosophy, psychology, cognitive science, social studies and artificial intelligence. This collection comes largely as a result of many conferences and symposiums conducted by many of the leading minds on this topic. At the core is Professor Aaron Sloman's symposium from the spring 2000 UK Society for Artificial Intelligence conference. Authors from that symposium, as well as others from around the world have updated their perspectives and contributed to this powerful book. The result is a multi-disciplinary approach to the long term problem of designing a human-like mind, whether for scientific, social, or engineering purposes. The topics addressed within this text are valuable to both artificial intelligence and cognitive science, and also to the academic disciplines that they draw on and feed. Among those disciplines are philosophy, computer science, and psychology.

This book scrutinizes the practice of sailing and its relation to philosophy of mind. Sailing brings about a peculiar human-artifact interaction which can lead to unexplored research paths. The idea behind this collection is that this interaction is better scrutinized by sailor scientists/philosophers to open up new possible pathways in research. Fascinating theoretical breakthroughs have been provided by observing sailing practices with the most well-known being Hutchins' introduction in cognitive science of the concept of "distributed cognition." However, in times past, sailing has both fueled philosophical metaphors, from Theseus' ship to Plato's image of the intellect as the boatperson of the soul, and inspired philosophers' views (as happened to Herder during a stormy sea trip). The ecology of sailing is highly constrained: sailboats move at the surface between a compressible fluid and an uncompressible fluid. Wind originates in certain specific circumstances. Only certain sequences of actions are possible to take advantage of this ecology. The ontology of sailing is both of the boat and of the ocean/wind system. It highlights the fact that sailboats have been for centuries arguably the most complex technological artifacts in each culture that developed them, precisely because the environment they are engaging is so peculiar and demanding - almost the precise dual of Sapiens' adaptive environment. This volume will appeal to philosophers of mind, cognitive psychologists, and marine professionals.

This book explores the contributions of psychological, neuroscientific and philosophical perspectives to the design of contemporary cities. Pursuing an innovative and multidisciplinary approach, it addresses the need to re-launch knowledge and creativity as major cultural and institutional bases of human communities. Dwelling is a form of knowledge and re-invention of reality that involves both the tangible dimension of physical places and their mental representation. Findings in the neuroscientific field are increasingly opening stimulating perspectives on the design of spaces, and highlight how our ability to understand other people is strongly related to our corporeity. The first part of the book focuses on the contributions of various disciplines that deal with the spatial dimension, and explores the dovetailing roles that science and art can play from a multidisciplinary perspective. In turn, the second part formulates proposals on how to promote greater integration between the aesthetic and cultural dimension in spatial design. Given its scope, the book will benefit all scholars, academics and practitioners who are involved in the process of planning, designing and building places, and will foster an international exchange of research, case studies, and theoretical reflections to confront the challenges of designing conscious places and enable the development of communities.

Tools and technologies have long complemented and extended our physical abilities: from pre-historic spearheads to steam-propelled ploughs and high-tech prosthetics. While the development of lenses granted us insights into the micro and macrocosms, new sensors and technologies increasingly augment our cognitive abilities, including memory and perception. This book integrates current research efforts, results, and visions from the fields of computer science, neuroscience, and psychology. It provides a comprehensive overview of the state-of-the-art and future applications of how technologies assist and augment human perception and cognition. Experts in the field share their research and findings on: Working memory enhancements Digitization of memories through lifelog archives The consequences of technology-induced disruptions and forgetting The creation and utilization of new human senses Ethical and security concerns that arise with augmentation technologies. As technology weaves itself ever deeper into our lives, careful examination of its capabilities, risks and benefits is warranted. While this book focuses on the complementation and augmentation of human capabilities, it serves as a foundation for students, researchers and designers of technologies that push the boundaries of perception and cognition.

In this intriguing, contrarian book, cognitive scientist Viki McCabe challenges entrenched beliefs about the roles of perception, cognition, and information in the decisions we make and the knowledge we acquire. Using cutting-edge research and compelling true stories, McCabe argues that the roots of our local and global problems lie in our reliance on the wrong information (theories), the wrong process (cognition), and the wrong worldview (atomism with its parts-perspective). We have put the world at risk because we wrongly believe it to be an assembly of parts that we can manipulate at will. It is actually a coalition of self-organizing, complex systems-from cells to cities-that cannot be partitioned and retain their purpose. Nor is the information that specifies these systems packaged in our familiar verbal descriptions. Instead, such systems reveal themselves in fractal-like geometric configurations that emerge from each system's operations and reflect their structural organization. It is organization that brings each system into existence, produces its structure, and determines its functions. Thus, we come to know systems as disparate as neural networks, river deltas, trees, and economies by perceiving their branching structure. Without our conscious awareness, we can recognize other people by perceiving the unique version of a figure eight that oscillates around their belly buttons as they walk toward us. Form not only follows function; it doubles as information. Nonetheless, our bossy brains continue to block our perceptions using illusions and ideologies decked out as theories that pave a path directly to our current conditions of ecological destruction, political paralysis, and economic failure. McCabe counsels us to put our theories aside and focus on our perceptions. If we give them priority status, the information they access can block the hostile mental takeovers that cause many of today's problems, reconnect us to reality, and bring us back to our senses.

Agenda Relevance is the first volume in the authors' omnibus investigation of
the logic of practical reasoning, under the collective title, A Practical Logic
of Cognitive Systems. In this highly original approach, practical reasoning is
identified as reasoning performed with comparatively few cognitive assets,
including resources such as information, time and computational capacity. Unlike
what is proposed in optimization models of human cognition, a practical reasoner
lacks perfect information, boundless time and unconstrained access to
computational complexity. The practical reasoner is therefore obliged to be a
cognitive economizer and to achieve his cognitive ends with considerable
efficiency. Accordingly, the practical reasoner avails himself of various
scarce-resource compensation strategies. He also possesses neurocognitive
traits that abet him in his reasoning tasks. Prominent among these is the
practical agent's striking (though not perfect) adeptness at evading irrelevant
information and staying on task. On the approach taken here, irrelevancies are
impediments to the attainment of cognitive ends. Thus, in its most basic sense,
relevant information is cognitively helpful information. Information can then be
said to be relevant for a practical reasoner to the extent that it advances or
closes some cognitive agenda of his. The book explores this idea with a
conceptual detail and nuance not seen the standard semantic, probabilistic and
pragmatic approaches to relevance; but wherever possible, the authors seek to
integrate alternative conceptions rather than reject them outright. A further
attraction of the agenda-relevance approach is the extent to which its principal
conceptual findings lend themselves to technically sophisticated re-expression
in formal models that marshal the resources of time and action logics and
label led deductive systems.

Agenda Relevance is necessary reading for researchers in logic, belief
dynamics, computer science, AI, psychology and neuroscience, linguistics,
argumentation theory, and legal reasoning and forensic science, and will repay
study by graduate students and senior undergraduates in these same fields.

Key features:

relevance
action and agendas
practical reasoning
belief dynamics
non-classical logics
labelled deductive systems

"

Understanding Intuition: A Journey In and Out of Science explores the biological and cognitive mechanisms that account for intuition, and examines the first-person experience. The book integrates both scientific and personal perspectives on this important yet elusive mental capacity. It uses specific encounters to illustrate that intuition is enhanced when we can attend to the subtle aspects of our inner experiences, such as bodily sensations, images, and differing kinds of intuitive evaluative feelings, all of which may emerge no further than on the fringe of awareness. This awareness of subtle inner experiences helps forge a more fluid exchange between the unconscious and conscious minds, and allows readers to calibrate their own intuitions. Over the course of the book, readers will gain a deeper appreciation and respect for the unconscious mind and its potential sophistication, and even its potential wisdom. Understanding Intuition is a timely and critical resource for students and researchers in psychology, cognitive science, theology, women's studies, and neuroscience.

The study of science, sometimes referred to as metascience, is a new and growing field that includes the philosophy of science, history of science, sociology of science, and anthropology of science. In the last ten years, the formal study of the psychology of science has also emerged. The psychology of science focuses on the individual scientist, influenced by intelligence, motivation, personality, and the development of scientific interest, thought, ability, and achievement over a lifespan.
Science can be defined as explicitly and systematically testing hypotheses. Defined more broadly, science includes wider processes, such as theory construction and the hypothesis testing seen in children and "non-scientific" adults. Most prior work in the study of science has emphasized the role of explicit reasoning; however, contemporary research in psychology emphasizes the importance of implicit processes in decision-making and choice and assumes that the performance of many tasks involves a complex relationship between implicit and explicit processes.
Psychology of Science brings together contributions from leaders in the emerging discipline of the psychology of science with other experts on the roles of implicit and explicit processes in thinking. Highlighting the role of implicit processes in the creation of scientific knowledge, this volume links the psychology of science to many strands of psychology, including cognitive, social, and developmental psychology, as well as neuroscience. Ultimately, this volume raises awareness of the psychology of science among psychologists, philosophers, and sociologists of science, and anyone interested in the metasciences.

Visual information processing in humans with intellectual disabilities and in animals is presented, for conceptual and methodological reasons. Much of the evolutionary path of higher primate species has involved the development of sophisticated visual systems that interact with complex, higher-order cognitive processes. Key questions in cognitive science address the manner in which the environment is represented by the organism, and thus relate to how knowledge about the world is gleaned, with implications for theories of action and decision making. Finally, it has become apparent that the distinction between perceptual and cognitive processes is not always a clear one, and that these processes interact in critical ways in underlying complex behavioral repertoires.

Consistent with the emphasis in this series on individual differences, both typical and atypical development are explored here. Philosophical approaches to visualism are also presented. Chapters have import both for basic science and for the development of applications.

This volume has 41 chapters written to honor the 100th birthday of Mario Bunge. It celebrates the work of this influential Argentine/Canadian physicist and philosopher. Contributions show the value of Bunge's science-informed philosophy and his systematic approach to philosophical problems. The chapters explore the exceptionally wide spectrum of Bunge's contributions to: metaphysics, methodology and philosophy of science, philosophy of mathematics, philosophy of physics, philosophy of psychology, philosophy of social science, philosophy of biology, philosophy of technology, moral philosophy, social and political philosophy, medical philosophy, and education. The contributors include scholars from 16 countries. Bunge combines ontological realism with epistemological fallibilism. He believes that science provides the best and most warranted knowledge of the natural and social world, and that such knowledge is the only sound basis for moral decision making and social and political reform. Bunge argues for the unity of knowledge. In his eyes, science and philosophy constitute a fruitful and necessary partnership. Readers will discover the wisdom of this approach and will gain insight into the utility of cross-disciplinary scholarship. This anthology will appeal to researchers, students, and teachers in philosophy of science, social science, and liberal education programmes. 1. Introduction Section I. An Academic Vocation (3 chapters) Section II. Philosophy (12 chapters) Section III. Physics and Philosophy of Physics (4 chapters) Section IV. Cognitive Science and Philosophy of Mind (2 chapters) Section V. Sociology and Social Theory (4 chapters) Section VI. Ethics and Political Philosophy (3 chapters) Section VII. Biology and Philosophy of Biology (3 chapters) Section VIII. Mathematics (3 chapters) Section IX. Education (2 chapters) Section X. Varia (3 chapters) Section XI. Bibliography

Thinking and Problem-Solving presents a comprehensive and up-to-date review of literature on cognition, reasoning, intelligence, and other formative areas specific to this field. Written for advanced undergraduates, researchers, and academics, this volume is a necessary reference for beginning and established investigators in cognitive and educational psychology.
Thinking and Problem-Solving provides insight into questions such as: how do people solve complex problems in mathematics and everyday life? How do we generate new ideas? How do we piece together clues to solve a mystery, categorize novel events, and teach others to do the same?
Key Features
* Provides a comprehensive literature review
* Covers both historical and contemporary approaches
* Organized for ease of use and reference
* Chapters authored by leading scholars

The second book in a new seies, Self Perception brings together contemporary perspectives on individual differences in psychology. Drawing upon an international field of established and new researchers, the series presents both theoretical and applied work looking at individual difference in human performance. The re-appraisal of self perception is considered as part of the development of new thinking in the theory of self-reference. This includes models of self from the United States and the United Kingdom. The book goes on to explore recent research from around the globe. Not only are studies from Australia, Norway, and the United States examined but research from Greece and Kuwait is also explored. Varied topics are covered, including the effects of gender, self-esteem, and pupil self-perception in the academic context. Set within the framework of a conceptual synthesis of the research, the book offers a contemporary review of current thinking in the field. The contributors provide recent, relevant, and alternative perspectives for psychologists and applied scientists.

This book is about computational models of reading, or models that explain (and often simulate) the mental processes that allow us to convert the marks on a printed page into the representations that allow us to understand the contents of what we are reading. Computational Models of Reading assumes no prior knowledge of the topic and is intended for psychologists, linguists, and educators who are interested in gaining a better understanding of what happens in the mind during reading. Erik D. Reichle includes introductory chapters on reading research and computational modelling, and the "core" chapters of the book review both important empirical findings and the models designed to explain those findings within four domains of reading research: word identification, sentence processing, discourse representation, and eye-movement control (which involves coordinating word, sentence, and discourse processing with the perceptual, cognitive, and motoric systems responsible for vision, attention, and eye movements). The final chapter of the book describes a new integrative model of reading, UEber-Reader, and several simulations using the models that demonstrate how it explains several key reading phenomena.

This book explores a central question in the study of depth perception - 'does the visual system rely upon objective knowledge and subjective meaning to specify visual depth?' Linton advances an alternative interpretation to the generally accepted affirmative answer, according to which many of the apparent contributions of knowledge and meaning to depth perception are better understood as contributions to our post-perceptual cognition of depth. In order to defend this position a new account of visual cognition is required, as well as a better understanding of the optical and physiological cues to depth. This book will appeal to students and researchers in psychology, vision science, and philosophy, as well as technologists and content creators working in virtual and augmented reality.

This book illustrates the link that unites memory, thought, and narration, and explores how the act of telling helps people to understand themselves and others. The structure of the book is divided into two parts. The first part focuses on the aspect of narrative comprehension-the person as narrator. It identifies two different origins of narrative comprehension (memory and play) and argues that the narratives we produce starting from autobiographical memory are intended to give order and meaning to events that happened in the past, in order to be able to interpret the present. Conversely, the narratives we produce starting from play are aesthetically constructed, not forced to respect reality, and because of this create potential new worlds of understanding. The second part of this book is devoted to the study of narrative understanding as an understanding of the other. Chapters examine the different points of view a listener can adopt in order to interpret the text produced by a narrator and how these points of view can interact with each other. The book concludes with a consideration of narrative comprehension in the digital world, and examines the principal effects of stories and narrative on the notion of self in the realm of the "Internet galaxy." Telling to Understand will be of interest to researchers and students in cognitive science, psychology, literary studies, philosophy, education, and educational technology, as well as any reader interested in enlarging their concept of narrative and how narrating modifies the self.

Creating a link between a number of natural science and life science disciplines, the emerging field of cognitive informatics presents a transdisciplinary approach to the internal information processing mechanisms and processes of the brain and natural intelligence.""Novel Approaches in Cognitive Informatics and Natural Intelligence"" penetrates the academic field to offer the latest advancements in cognitive informatics and natural intelligence. This book covers the five areas of cognitive informatics, natural intelligence, autonomic computing, knowledge science, and relevant development, to provide researchers, academicians, students, and practitioners with a ready reference to the latest findings.

Paying attention is something we are all familiar with and often take for granted, yet the nature of the operations involved in paying attention is one of the most profound mysteries of the brain. This book contains a rich, interdisciplinary collection of articles by some of the pioneers of contemporary research on attention. Central themes include how attention is moved within the visual field; attention's role during visual search, and the inhibition of these search processes; how attentional processing changes as continued practice leads to automatic performance; how visual and auditory attentional processing may be linked; and recent advances in functional neuro-imaging and how they have been used to study the brain's attentional network

Living Your Purpose walks readers through the five principles at the heart of NLP. Neurolinguistic programming (NLP) is the study of how people make change on purpose. In applying NLP to your own life, you simply assume that you have what you need and the problem is to find it. Whether you are in pain, confused, stuck or in pursuit of a goal that seems impossible, there is only one problem. You have not yet made a connection between that situation and the resources that will lead to a satisfying outcome. This is a book for everyone who has ever wished NLP could be clear and practical and rooted in evidence that what it teaches really works. Since 2003, Linda has been one of Canada's leading developers of NLP. Through creativity, interaction with related models, and study of the leading edge, Linda develops training that accelerates learning and transformation.

This groundbreaking interdisciplinary Handbook showcases the latest intuition research, integrated in a framework that reconciles various views on what intuition is and how it works. The internationally renowned group of contributors presents their findings in five areas. Part I explores different facets of the intuiting process and its outcome, the role of consciousness and affect, and alternate ways of capturing intuition. Part II deals with its function in expertise, strategy, entrepreneurship, and ethics. Part III outlines intuitive decision making in critical occupations, legal profession, medicine, film and wine industry, and teaching. Part IV pushes the boundaries of our current understanding by exploring the possibility of non-local intuition, based on the principles of quantum holography. Part V investigates new techniques for developing intuitive skills. This cutting-edge, comprehensive Handbook will prove essential for academics and research students of social sciences, particularly management, psychology, sociology, entrepreneurship, leadership, team dynamics, HR and training. It will be also an invaluable resource for industry professionals searching for soft-core methods to increase productivity and creativity/innovation, to improve leadership and organizational climate, or to adopt new staff training and development methods. Contributors: A. Antonietti, B.T. Bakken, C. Betsch, R.T. Bradley, L.A. Burke, J.-F. Coget, E. Dane, A. Dijksterhuis, W. Duggan, I.D. Ebert, S. Epstein, A. Glockner, B. Graf, L.K. Gundry, J.R. Guzak, T. Haerem, M.B. Hargrove, C. Harteis, G.P. Hodgkinson, P. Iannello, K.-P. Ittner, J.R. Kickul, G. Klein, C. Kugler, C. Kuhnle, J. Langan-Fox, M. Mason, B. Morgenthaler, J.E. Pretz, D. Radin, G. Roth, E. Sadler-Smith, M. Sinclair, M. Strick, D.E. Tomasino, V. Vranic

This book addresses the gap in the literature concerned with global case studies of successful Digital, Mobile and Open Education. The book shares experiences from international teaching and learning projects at all levels of Education, and provides advice for future policy and investment in digital teaching and learning and Open Education projects. It also provides an expectation on the future capacity and sustainability of Open Education.

This book provides a review of the latest research on emotion in engineering, with a particular focus on design and manufacturing. Topics include experience, happiness, cognitive science, neuroscience, additive manufacturing, universal design, branding, teamwork. Throughout the book, the emotions of the end users of engineering products are discussed, as well as the perspective of the expert. The book provides researchers, students, and practicing engineers with an opportunity to examine research and practice in engineering from a different perspective, and offers pointers to how to collaborate with people from other fields to help achieve a more connected society.