How does your mind work? How does your brain give rise to your mind? These are questions that all of us have wondered about at some point in our lives, if only because everything that we know is experienced in our minds. They are also very hard questions to answer. After all, how can a mind understand itself? How can you understand something as complex as the tool that is being used to understand it? This book provides an introductory and self-contained description of some of the exciting answers to these questions that modern theories of mind and brain have recently proposed. Stephen Grossberg is broadly acknowledged to be the most important pioneer and current research leader who has, for the past 50 years, modelled how brains give rise to minds, notably how neural circuits in multiple brain regions interact together to generate psychological functions. This research has led to a unified understanding of how, where, and why our brains can consciously see, hear, feel, and know about the world, and effectively plan and act within it. The work embodies revolutionary Principia of Mind that clarify how autonomous adaptive intelligence is achieved. It provides mechanistic explanations of multiple mental disorders, including symptoms of Alzheimer's disease, autism, amnesia, and sleep disorders; biological bases of morality and religion, including why our brains are biased towards the good so that values are not purely relative; perplexing aspects of the human condition, including why many decisions are irrational and self-defeating despite evolution's selection of adaptive behaviors; and solutions to large-scale problems in machine learning, technology, and Artificial Intelligence that provide a blueprint for autonomously intelligent algorithms and robots. Because brains embody a universal developmental code, unifying insights also emerge about shared laws that are found in all living cellular tissues, from the most primitive to the most advanced, notably how the laws governing networks of interacting cells support developmental and learning processes in all species. The fundamental brain design principles of complementarity, uncertainty, and resonance that Grossberg has discovered also reflect laws of the physical world with which our brains ceaselessly interact, and which enable our brains to incrementally learn to understand those laws, thereby enabling humans to understand the world scientifically. Accessibly written, and lavishly illustrated, Conscious Mind/Resonant Brain is the magnum opus of one of the most influential scientists of the past 50 years, and will appeal to a broad readership across the sciences and humanities.

This volume provides an overview of cognitive science and critically assess areas within the topic that are evolving rapidly. It discusses the effects of religious and meditative practices on its core components. Using multidisciplinary studies and rich empirical literature, discussions and demonstrations, this volume • 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 • Speculates research domains that would gain importance in the next few decades in cognitive science research A comprehensive study finding commonalities in theoretical frameworks and models in emerging areas in cognition research, this book will be of interest to students, researchers and teachers of cognitive psychology, cognitive science, neurosciences, medical sciences, and computer sciences. 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.

This book is an exploration of the integration-differentiation dynamics that result in a drive, or impulse, toward human sociality, arguing that our need to connect with other people is as fundamental as our need for food and shelter. In The Social Impulse: The Evolution and Neuroscience of What Brings Us Together, Jaime Pineda presents the evidence that social cohesion is a complementary force to natural selection, the Darwinian drive for differentiation and diversity. The book addresses the distinctive aspects of social behavior that arise from integration principles and seeks to answer the following questions: (1) Why does social cohesion arise? (2) What is the history of social dynamics? (3) How does social cohesion work? (4) When do the developmental aspects of social dynamics arise? A final section of the book addresses the value of sociality and social cohesion. By exploring the differences, similarities, and, most important, the interactivity between natural selection and social cohesion, this unique book provides a wealth of interesting, challenging, and unexpected insights.

"Nervous systems do not live by the rate code alone. The ceaseless activities of groups of neurons are choregraphed into waves, oscillations, synchronized rhythms, and transient coalitions; it is these that underlie behavior, memory, and conscious perception. This exuberant manifesto masterfully summarizes and reflects upon the relevant evidence of these patterns from all manner of brains, small and large." --

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 38th Conference on Current Trends in Theory and Practice of Computer Science, SOFSEM 2012, held in Špindlerův Mlýn, Czech Republic, in January 2012. The 43 revised papers presented in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 121 submissions. The book also contains 11 invited talks, 10 of which are in full-paper length. The contributions are organized in topical sections named: foundations of computer science; software and Web engineering; cryptography, security, and verification; and artificial intelligence.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 38th Conference on Current Trends in Theory and Practice of Computer Science, SOFSEM 2012, held in Špindlerův Mlýn, Czech Republic, in January 2012. The 43 revised papers presented in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 121 submissions. The book also contains 11 invited talks, 10 of which are in full-paper length. The contributions are organized in topical sections named: foundations of computer science; software and Web engineering; cryptography, security, and verification; and artificial intelligence.

Recent theoretical and experimental research on action and language processing in humans and animals clearly demonstrates the strict interaction and co-dependence between language and action. This has been demonstrated in neuroscientific investigations (e.g. Cappa&Perani, 2003; Pulvermuller 2003; Rizzolatti&Arbib, 1998), psychology experiments (e.g. Glenberg&Kaschak, 2002; Pecher&Zwaan 2005), evolutionary psychology (e.g. Corballis 2002) and computational modelling (e.g. Cangelosi&Parisi 2004; Massera et al. 2008). All these studies have important implication both for the understanding of the action basis of cognition in natural and artificial cognitive systems, as well as for the design of cognitive and communicative capabilities in robots (Cangelosi et al. 2005). The journal “Frontiers in Neurorobotics” is seeking submissions of new articles in the topic of action and language integration both in natural cognitive systems (e.g. humans and animals) and in artificial cognitive agents (robots and simulated agents). Manuscripts can regard new theoretical and computational investigations, as well as new neuroscientific and psychological investigations. Review articles in this topic are also welcome.

This second edition presents the enormous progress made in recent years in the many subfields related to the two great questions : how does the brain work? and, How can we build intelligent machines? This second edition greatly increases the coverage of models of fundamental neurobiology, cognitive neuroscience, and neural network approaches to language. (Midwest).