The Brain: Unraveling the Mystery of How It Works PDF Download

Author: Thomas L. Saaty
Publisher: RWS Publications
ISBN: 1888603348
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 466

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Book Description
This work confirms what many contemporary thinkers have claimed: that all human actions, sensations, thoughts and even emotions are derived from the synthesis of neural firings in the brain. This book offers the mathematics to describe how this happens and the nature of their interaction, feedback and synthesis. As an acknowledgement of his expertise, in 2017, the last year of his life, the highly acclaimed Neural Networks journal published two of his papers on the subject and the European Journal of Pure and Applied Mathematics published the article “Origin of neural firing and synthesis in making comparisons” co-authored with Dr Luis Vargas. The purpose of this book is to construct a scientific framework of the process by which the brain responds to stimuli and integrates sensory data and, further, how it synthesizes perceptions, memories, inputs from the muscles and nervous systems of the body and ideas. Because the brain puts pieces of information together in stages.

Author: Michael S. Gazzaniga
Publisher: Macmillan + ORM
ISBN: 0374128766
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 274

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Book Description
“The father of cognitive neuroscience” illuminates the past, present, and future of the mind-brain problem How do neurons turn into minds? How does physical “stuff”—atoms, molecules, chemicals, and cells—create the vivid and various worlds inside our heads? The problem of consciousness has gnawed at us for millennia. In the last century there have been massive breakthroughs that have rewritten the science of the brain, and yet the puzzles faced by the ancient Greeks are still present. In The Consciousness Instinct, the neuroscience pioneer Michael S. Gazzaniga puts the latest research in conversation with the history of human thinking about the mind, giving a big-picture view of what science has revealed about consciousness. The idea of the brain as a machine, first proposed centuries ago, has led to assumptions about the relationship between mind and brain that dog scientists and philosophers to this day. Gazzaniga asserts that this model has it backward—brains make machines, but they cannot be reduced to one. New research suggests the brain is actually a confederation of independent modules working together. Understanding how consciousness could emanate from such an organization will help define the future of brain science and artificial intelligence, and close the gap between brain and mind. Captivating and accessible, with insights drawn from a lifetime at the forefront of the field, The Consciousness Instinct sets the course for the neuroscience of tomorrow.

Author: Teri James Bellis
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 9780743428644
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 372

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Book Description
In the first book on the subject for lay readers, an esteemed Auditory Processing Disorder expert--and sufferer--gives people the tools they need to spot and fight it.

Author: Anne Brown Rodgers
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Alzheimer's disease
Languages : en
Pages : 80

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Author: Karyn Seroussi
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1439142629
Category : Health & Fitness
Languages : en
Pages : 320

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Book Description
Unraveling the Mystery of Autism and Pervasive Development Disorder is an essential guide for parents with autistic children who hope to better understand and intervene with the disorder. When their nineteen-month-old son, Miles, was diagnosed with autism, Karyn Seroussi, a writer, and her husband, a scientist, fought back with the only weapons at their disposal: love and research. Consulting medical papers, surfing the Web, and networking with other parents, they traced the onset of their child's problems to an immune system breakdown that coincided with his vaccinations. As a result, his digestive system was unable to break down certain proteins, which in turn led to abnormal brain development. So Karyn and her husband got to work -- Karyn implementing their program at home while her husband tested his theories at the scientific lab where he worked. Unraveling the Mystery of Autism and Pervasive Developmental Disorder is an inspiring and suspenseful chronicle of how one couple empowered themselves to challenge the medical establishment that promised no hope -- and found a cure for their child. Here are the explanations and treatments they so carefully researched and discovered, a wealth of crucial tools and hands-on information that can help other parents reverse the effects of autism and PDD, including step-by-step instructions for the removal of dairy and gluten from the diet, special recipes, and an explanation of the roles of the key players in autism research.

Author: New Scientist
Publisher: John Murray
ISBN: 1473629578
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 246

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Book Description
Ever wondered what's going on inside your head? You are your brain. Everything that makes you you, and all your experiences of the world, are somehow conjured up by 1.4 kilograms of grey matter inside your skull. That might seem impossible, but science has advanced so much that we now understand not just its structures and inner workings but also how it can give rise to perception, consciousness, emotions, memories, intelligence, sleep and more. HOW YOUR BRAIN WORKS explores the amazing world inside your head. Discover the evolution and anatomy of the brain. Learn how we can peer inside it and watch it at work, and how the latest technology can allow us to control our minds and those of others. ABOUT THE SERIES New Scientist Instant Expert books are definitive and accessible entry points to the most important subjects in science; subjects that challenge, attract debate, invite controversy and engage the most enquiring minds. Designed for curious readers who want to know how things work and why, the Instant Expert series explores the topics that really matter and their impact on individuals, society, and the planet, translating the scientific complexities around us into language that's open to everyone, and putting new ideas and discoveries into perspective and context.

Author: Daniel Graham
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231551614
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 428

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Book Description
Whether we realize it or not, we think of our brains as computers. In neuroscience, the metaphor of the brain as a computer has defined the field for much of the modern era. But as neuroscientists increasingly reevaluate their assumptions about how brains work, we need a new metaphor to help us ask better questions. The computational neuroscientist Daniel Graham offers an innovative paradigm for understanding the brain. He argues that the brain is not like a single computer—it is a communication system, like the internet. Both are networks whose power comes from their flexibility and reliability. The brain and the internet both must route signals throughout their systems, requiring protocols to direct messages from just about any point to any other. But we do not yet understand how the brain manages the dynamic flow of information across its entire network. The internet metaphor can help neuroscience unravel the brain’s routing mechanisms by focusing attention on shared design principles and communication strategies that emerge from parallel challenges. Highlighting similarities between brain connectivity and the architecture of the internet can open new avenues of research and help unlock the brain’s deepest secrets. An Internet in Your Head presents a clear-eyed and engaging tour of brain science as it stands today and where the new paradigm might take it next. It offers anyone with an interest in brains a transformative new way to conceptualize what goes on inside our heads.

Author: Michael S. Gazzaniga
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0062096834
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 210

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Book Description
“Big questions are Gazzaniga’s stock in trade.” —New York Times “Gazzaniga is one of the most brilliant experimental neuroscientists in the world.” —Tom Wolfe “Gazzaniga stands as a giant among neuroscientists, for both the quality of his research and his ability to communicate it to a general public with infectious enthusiasm.” —Robert Bazell, Chief Science Correspondent, NBC News The author of Human, Michael S. Gazzaniga has been called the “father of cognitive neuroscience.” In his remarkable book, Who’s in Charge?, he makes a powerful and provocative argument that counters the common wisdom that our lives are wholly determined by physical processes we cannot control. His well-reasoned case against the idea that we live in a “determined” world is fascinating and liberating, solidifying his place among the likes of Oliver Sacks, Antonio Damasio, V.S. Ramachandran, and other bestselling science authors exploring the mysteries of the human brain.

Author: David A. Kessler
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 1443444960
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 221

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Book Description
Dr. David A. Kessler, the dynamic and controversial former FDA commissioner known for battling the tobacco industry, has spent the past two decades studying how certain addictive substances influence our behaviour. In his first two books, Dr. Kessler explored the ways in which tobacco and food can exert control over our thoughts and actions; in Capture, he broadens this conversation exponentially, exploring the very underpinnings of why we suffer from any mental affliction—such as addiction, depression, anxiety, neurosis and panic—under which our logical minds and better intentions feel as though they have been hijacked by something we cannot control. Capture draws upon the latest thinking in psychology, medicine and neuroscience to examine the common mechanism by which this range of mental disorders takes hold in the mind; it also offers a sweeping narrative history of the role of “capture”—the term Dr. Kessler coins for the phenomenon by which the mind is taken hostage—throughout literature, philosophy, religion and art. From Aristotle’s belief in the triumph of human virtue to William James’ concept of selective attention to Freud’s model of repressed desire, Kessler traces the history of Western thought on capture. In doing so, he illuminates history’s most valuable contributions as well as its shortcomings in understanding and treating mental distress. Kessler argues that to truly understand the nature of capture, we must view it not only through the lens of intellect, but also our own human experiences—and so the book begins with stories, and continues to offer narratives of people who are, or were at some point, in capture’s throes; stories that offer an incredibly evocative, almost palpable viewpoint of anguish. This includes candid conversations and raw accounts of substance abuse, anorexia, obsessive love, gambling and sexual compulsions in everyday people; the words of writers such as David Foster Wallace, Franz Kafka and Anne Sexton, who elucidated their own despair with urgency and eloquence; and portraits of those cases of capture that have become infamous for their violent outcomes—including Sirhan Sirhan and Ted Kaczynski. Through this storytelling Kessler offers an extraordinary portal into the realm of capture, a chance to better understand its manifestations, and a way of considering how it can seize our attention and overtake our behavior in ways that can be benign, tragic or—for some—transcendent. The closer we can come to fully comprehending this mechanism, Dr. Kessler argues, the better chance we stand at being able to both alleviate its deleterious effects and, ultimately, overcome its grip by changing our thoughts and behaviour. More than twenty years in the making, this impeccably researched book is nothing less than a successful effort to inform everything from the smallest action to the largest life aim, a unified field theory of human activity that draws in how we form thoughts, manage trauma and even try to reconcile will and cause. “A fascinating account of the science of human appetite, as well as its exploitation by the food industry.” —MICHAEL POLLAN, AUTHOR OF IN DEFENCE OF FOOD, ON THE END OF OVEREATING

Author: Catherine M. Pittman
Publisher: New Harbinger Publications
ISBN: 1626251150
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 261

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Book Description
Do you ever wonder what is happening inside your brain when you feel anxious, panicked, and worried? In Rewire Your Anxious Brain, psychologist Catherine Pittman and author Elizabeth Karle offer a unique, evidence-based solution to overcoming anxiety based in cutting-edge neuroscience and research. In the book, you will learn how the amygdala and cortex (both important parts of the brain) are essential players in the neuropsychology of anxiety. The amygdala acts as a primal response, and oftentimes, when this part of the brain processes fear, you may not even understand why you are afraid. By comparison, the cortex is the center of “worry.” That is, obsessing, ruminating, and dwelling on things that may or may not happen. In the book, Pittman and Karle make it simple by offering specific examples of how to manage fear by tapping into both of these pathways in the brain. As you read, you’ll gain a greater understanding how anxiety is created in the brain, and as a result, you will feel empowered and motivated to overcome it. The brain is a powerful tool, and the more you work to change the way you respond to fear, the more resilient you will become. Using the practical self-assessments and proven-effective techniques in this book, you will learn to literally “rewire” the brain processes that lie at the root of your fears.