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Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide.

Print Price: $83.95

Format:
Hardback
314 pp.
2 color plates, 66 b/w illus., 236 mm x 157 mm

ISBN-13:
9780195147520

Publication date:
September 2002

Imprint: OUP US


Cortex and Mind

Unifying Cognition

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.

Reviews

  • "Cortex and Mind by Joaquin Fuster is the best book in the field I have read since Higher Cortical Functions by Alexander Luria. It is a book of similar scope and ambition, but reflecting the Zeitgeist of the beginning of the twenty-first century, rather than that of the middle of the twentieth century. I cannot think of anything of this importance and conceptual clarity written in between. With great clarity, Fuster defines a certain sophisticated understanding of the brain's function, and with great civility, gentility even, he debunks some of the most enduring misconceptions in the field." --JINS
  • ". . . a remarkable and unique integration of cognitive neuroscience . . . Fuster's ability for compacting the vast domain of cognitive neuroscience into a brief and lucid book is admirable . . . beautifully written and a pleasure to read . . . a singular book." --Contemporary Psychology
  • "Fuster's progress report dares us to believe that the patterns woven by Sherrington's 'enchanted loom,' the cerebral cortex, are now well on the way to being understood."--Nature

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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