Joaquín M. Fuster
This book presents a unique synthesis of the current neuroscience of cognition by one of the world's authorities in the field. The guiding principle to this synthesis is the tenet that the entirety of our knowledge is encoded by relations, and thus by connections, in neuronal networks of our
cerebral cortex. Cognitive networks develop by experience on a base of widely dispersed modular cell assemblies representing elementary sensations and movements. As they develop cognitive networks organize themselves hierarchically by order of complexity or abstraction of their content. Because
networks intersect profusely, sharing commong nodes, a neuronal assembly anywhere in the cortex can be part of many networks, and therefore many items of knowledge. All cognitive functions consist of neural transactions within and between cognitive networks. After reviewing the neurobiology and
architecture of cortical networks (also named cognits), the author undertakes a systematic study of cortical dynamics in each of the major cognitive functions--perception, memory, attention, language, and intelligence. In this study, he makes use of a large body of evidence from a variety of
methodologies, in the brain of the human as well as the nonhuman primate. The outcome of his interdisciplinary endeavor is the emergence of a structural and dynamic order in the cerebral cortex that, though still sketchy and fragmentary, mirrors with remarkable fidelity the order in the human
mind.
1. Introduction; The Problem; Cognitive Networks: Theory; Cognitive Networks: Neuroscience; The Cognit
2. Neurobiology of Cortical Networks; Phylogeny of the Cortex; Ontogeny of the Cortex; Cognitive Network Formation; Extracortical Factors; Basic Structure of Cognitive Networks
3. Functional Architecture of the Cognit; Structure of Knowledge in Connectionist Models; Categories of Knowledge;
Cortical Modularity; Cortical Hierarchy of Perceptual Networks; Cortical Hierarchy of Executive Networks; Heterarchical Representation in Association Cortex
4. Perception; Perceptual Categorization; Gestalt; Cortical Dynamics of Perception; Perceptual Binding; Perception-Action Cycle
5.
Memory; Formation of Memory; Short-term Memory; Perceptual Memory; Executive Memory; Retrieval of Memory
6. Attention; Biological Roots of Attention; Perceptual Attention; Working Memory; Executive Attention; Set and Expectancy; Execution and Monitoring
7. Lanuage; Neurobiology of Language;
Hemispheric Lateralization; Neuropsychology of Language; Functional Architecture of Semantics; Cortical Dynamics of Syntax
8. Intelligence; Development of Intelligence; Reasoning; Problem Solving; Decision Making; Creative Intelligence
Epilogue on Consciousness
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Joaquin M. Fuster is at UCLA School of Medicine.
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