How Brains Make Up Their MindsI think, therefore I am. The legendary pronouncement of philosopher René Descartes lingers as accepted wisdom in the Western world nearly four centuries after its author's death. But does thought really come first? Who actually runs the show: we, our thoughts, or the neurons firing within our brains? Walter J. Freeman explores how we control our behavior and make sense of the world around us. Avoiding determinism both in sociobiology, which proposes that persons' genes control their brains' functioning, and in neuroscience, which posits that their brains' disposition is molded by chemistry and environmental forces, Freeman charts a new course--one that gives individuals due credit and responsibility for their actions. Drawing upon his five decades of research in neuroscience, Freeman utilizes the latest advances in his field as well as perspectives from disciplines as diverse as mathematics, psychology, and philosophy to explicate how different human brains act in their chosen diverse ways. He clarifies the implications of brain imaging, by which neural activity can be observed during the course of normal movements, and shows how nonlinear dynamics reveals order within the fecund chaos of brain function. |
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action potentials activity patterns amplitude amygdala animals Aquinas attractor landscape awareness axons background activity basal basin of attraction biological brain activity brain and body brain dynamics brain function brainstem building block bulbar cause cell body chaotic chemical cognitive cognitivists connections consciousness dendritic electrical emotions entorhinal cortex excitation excitatory neurons experience figure forebrain frontal lobes global AM patterns hemisphere hippocampus humans individual inhibition inhibitory intentional action intentionality interactions learning limbic system limit cycle attractor linear causality loop membrane mesoscopic microscopic modules motor systems negative feedback neocortex neural activity neural populations neurobiologists neurodynamics neuromodulators neuropil nonlinear odorant olfactory bulb olfactory system organism oscillation output oxytocin pathways perception point attractor pragmatist preafference pulse train rabbits representations response rons self-organizing sense sensory input sensory receptors single neurons social space-time spatial pattern stimulus structure synapses thalamus tion trajectory transition trigger zone wave