Jason W. Brown Library

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Metapsychology of the Creative Process

James W. Brown

Brown, Jason W. Metapsychology of the Creative Process: Continuous Novelty as the Ground of Creative Advance. Imprint Academic, 2017

Many are fascinated by the phenomenon of genius and search for an understanding of its nature. Modern research is not especially helpful in elucidating the inner process or its relation to ordinary thought. The present work comes from clinical studies of focal brain injuries that dissect unconscious cognition to reveal sub-surface lines of processing. The outcome is a process (microgenetic) theory of the mental state that differs markedly from mainstream (cognitive) psychology, but with the potential to clarify many features of thought and imagery, normal and exceptional. Creativity is not an isolated problem but touches on many central issues in philosophical psychology.- Google Books
Reflections on Mind and the Image of Reality

James W. Brown

Brown, J. Reflections on mind and the image of reality.Eugene, Oregon: Resource Publications, 2017

This collection of brief essays and still briefer commentaries is a personal reflection on some topics that have been thematic in the development of my theoretical work. These essays are not meant to extend the theory into a yet-uncharted territory, but rather to draw out some of its implications for clinical neuroscience, philosophy of mind, and everyday life. The point of view guiding these reflections can be found in prior works, but the discerning reader will not fail to see a departure from current models of mind and brain based on circuit board diagrams, modular and computational theories that conflict with a processual account in which the mind/brain is more like a living organism. This perspective, which is often at odds with common sense and folk psychology, has particular relevance to our concepts of the self, the inner life, subjective time, adaptive process, and the world represented in perception. -- back cover.
Microgenetic Theory and Process Thought

James W. Brown

Brown, J. Microgenetic theory and process thought. Exeter, UK: Imprint Academic, 2015

The chapters in this volume attempt to establish some foundational principles of a theory of the mind/brain grounded in evolutionary and process theory. From this standpoint, the book discusses some main problems in philosophical psychology, including the nature and origins of the mind/brain state, experience and consciousness, feeling, subjective time, and free will. The approach - that of microgenesis - holds that formative phases in the generation of the mental state are the primary focus of explanation, not the assumed properties of logical solids. For microgenesis, the process leading to a conscious end point is, together with the final content, part of an epochal state, the outcome of which, an act, object, or word, incorporates earlier segments of that series, such as value, meaning, and belief.- Publisher
Love and Other Emotions

James W. Brown

Brown, J. Love and other emotions: On the process of feeling. Routledge, 2012

1st edition

In this book, Jason Brown does for emotion what he has already done brilliantly for thought and language, imagery, and perception. Microgenetic theory, his unique unifying account of the mind/brain process, is particularly well-suited to elucidate the edges of ineffability. In Love and Other Emotions, Brown applies the theory to those realms where words and conscious thought so often fail us. Only poetry can bring us as close. With mature erudition, wisdom, and compelling logic, Brown shares his profound insights into what must surely be the most mysterious dimension of mind/brain function and human experience. Savor and reflect. (Stephen E. Levick, MD, Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry)
The Ethical Brain: the Science of Our Moral Dilemmas

Michael S.Gazzaniga Gazzaniga

Gazzaniga, M. The ethical brain: the science of our moral dilemmas, 2005

The rapid advance of scientific knowledge has raised ethical dilemmas that humankind has never before had to address. Questions about the moment when life technically begins and ends or about the morality of genetically designing babies are now relevant and timely. Our ever-increasing knowledge of the workings of the human brain can guide us in the formation of new moral principles in the twenty-first century. In The Ethical Brain, preeminent neuroscientist Michael S. Gazzaniga presents the emerging social and ethical issues arising out of modern-day brain science and challenges the way we look at them. Courageous and thought-provoking -- a work of enormous intelligence, insight, and importance -- this book explores the hitherto uncharted landscape where science and society intersect.
An Odyssey Through the Brain, Behavior and the Mind

C. H. Vanderwolf

Vanderwolf, C.H. An odyssey through the brain, behavior and the mind. Boston: Kluwer Academic Pub., 2003

Much of contemporary behavioral or cognitive neuroscience is concerned with discovering the neural basis of psychological processes such as attention, cognition, consciousness, perception, and memory. In sharp divergence from this field, An Odyssey through the Brain, Behavior and the Mind can be regarded as an elaborate demonstration that the large-scale features of brain electrical activity are related to sensory and motor processes in various ways but are not organized in accordance with conventional psychological concepts. It is argued that much of the traditional lore concerning the mind is based on prescientific philosophical assumptions and has little relevance to brain function.

The first ten chapters give a personal account of how the various discoveries that gave rise to these views came to be made. This is followed by discussions of brain organization in relation to behavior, learning and memory, sleep and consciousness, and the general problem of the mind.
The Self-Embodying Mind

James W. Brown

Brown, J. The self-embodying mind: process, brain dynamics, and the conscious present. 2002

This superbly written and finery argued philosophical essay has potentially revolutionary importance for understanding "human consciousness, " and its author has accordingly been celebrated by the likes of Oliver Sachs and Karl Pribram. Showing the relevance of neuropathology for understanding the unifying processes behind perception, memory, and language, Jason Brown offers an exciting new approach to the mind/brain problem, freely crossing the boundaries of neurophysiology, psychology, and philosophy of mind. Hard science and the study of the nature of the mind (including Buddhist perspectives) come together in new ways, and without advocating the reductionist "computational model" for the mind/brain relation which dominates cognitive science today.

Brown finds that every event in conscious life passes through highly determinate stages in a fraction of a second. These repeat both the stages of individual growth and of the evolution of the species: Not only does ontogeny recapitulate phylogeny, but the emergence of every moment of awareness recapitulates them both. This process begins deep in the brain stem with the mere awareness of duration, proceeds through concept-formation and image selection, and terminates with the apprehension of an object in the external world. The external object acts as a realistic constraint on consciousness. But in conditions such as brain damage, dream, meditation, as well as creativity, the preconscious stages enter into direct awareness, giving us explicit glimpses of the developmental and evolutionary process and presenting a startling reversal of common ideas about the development of the mind. Concept and image do not derive from perception and sensation, they come first. And the principle of consciousness, rather than being a latecomer on the evolutionary and developmental scene, is a potential throughout. - Goole Books
Anomia : Neuroanatomical and Cognitive Correlates

Harold Goodglass and Arthur Wingfield

Anomia: neuroanatomical and cognitive correlates/ edited by Harold Goodglass and Arthur Wingfield, 1997

Anomia is the inability to access spoken names for objects, most often associated with the elderly or those with brain damage to the left hemisphere. This book offers a state-of-the-art review of disorders of naming, written by acknowledged experts from around the world, approached from both clinical and theoretical viewpoints. Goodglass, known around the world for his research in aphasia and speech pathology, edits this first book devoted exclusively to naming and its disorders. Wingfield is known for his classic studies of lexical processing in aphasic and normal speakers. The book includes comprehensive literature reviews, a summary of relevant research data, as well as a study of recent advances in cognitive analysis and anatomic findings. Anomia is an immensely useful work for all those involved in the study of language, particularly those in cognitive neuroscience, neurology, speech pathology, and linguistics.
Neurological Boundaries of Reality

E.M.R. Critchley

Critchley, E.M.R. Neurological Boundaries of Reality. London: Farrand Press, 1994

By examining various aspects of human awareness, including the sense of touch, deafness, and the constraints of language, this volume aims to define the essence of the material world in neurological rather than psychological or psychiatric terms.
Reader in the History of Aphasia

Paul Eling

Eling, P. Reader in the history of aphasia : from Franz Gall to Norman Geschwind, 1994

Series: Amsterdam studies in the theory and history of linguistic science. Series II, Classics in psycholinguistics; v. 4.

The study of language and the brain is heavily dependent on the work of the early aphasiologists, and those wanting to get acquainted with the discipline will come across frequent references to these classic authors. This collection brings together seminal publications by 19th- and 20th-century neurologists concerned with the relationship between language and the brain. In selecting texts the emphasis was on those parts that deal explicitly with the opinion of an author on language processes as revealed by aphasic phenomena. All texts are presented in English (many of them translated for the first time) and preceded by in-depth introductions by present-day specialists in the field. - Publisher
The Man Who Tasted Shapes

Richard Cytowic

Cytowic, R. The Man Who Tasted Shapes. TarcherPerigee, 1993

n this medical detective adventure, Cytowic shows how synesthesia, or "joined sensation," illuminates a wide swath of mental life and leads to a new view of what it means to be human. Richard Cytowic's dinner host apologized, "There aren't enough points on the chicken " He felt flavor also as a physical shape in his hands, and the chicken had come out "too round." This offbeat comment in 1980 launched Cytowic's exploration into the oddity called synesthesia. He is one of the few world authorities on the subject. Sharing a root with anesthesia ("no sensation"), synesthesia means "joined sensation," whereby a voice, for example, is not only heard but also seen, felt, or tasted. The trait is involuntary, hereditary, and fairly common. It stayed a scientific mystery for two centuries until Cytowic's original experiments led to a neurological explanation--and to a new concept of brain organization that accentuates emotion over reason. That chicken dinner two decades ago led Cytowic to explore a deeper reality that, he argues, exists in everyone but is often just below the surface of awareness (which is why finding meaning in our lives can be elusive). In this medical detective adventure, Cytowic shows how synesthesia, far from being a mere curiosity, illuminates a wide swath of mental life and leads to a new view of what is means to be human--a view that turns upside down conventional ideas about reason, emotional knowledge, and self-understanding.
So Human a Brain

Anne Harrington

Harrington, Anne. So human a brain. Boston: Birkhauser. 1992

WALTER A. ROSENBLITH. Footnotes to the Recent History of Neuroscience: Personal Reflections and Microstories. The workshop upon which this volume is based offered me an opportunity to renew contact fairly painlessly with workers in the brain sciences, not just as a participant/observer but maybe as what might be called a teller of microstories. I had originally become curious about the brain by way of my wife's senior thesis, in which she attempted to relate electroencephalography to certain aspects of human behavior. As a then-budding physicist and communications engineer, I had barely heard about brain waves, nor had I studied physiology in a systematic way. My work on noise dealt with the effects of certain acoustical stimuli on biological structures and entire organisms. This was the period immediately after World War II when many scientists and engineers who had done applied work in the war effort were trying to find their way among the challenging new fields that were opening up. Francis Crick, among others, has described such a search taking place in the cafes of the "other" Cambridge, the one on the Cam. At that time the brain sciences, in his opinion, offered much less promise than molecular biology. However, he was sufficiently attracted by what they might eventually have to offer to keep an eye on them, and several decades later his work turned toward the brain.
Origins of the Modern Mind

Merlin Donald

Donald, Merlin. Origins of the modern mind: Three stages in the evolution of culture and cognition. ‎ Harvard University Press, 1991

This bold and brilliant book asks the ultimate question of the life sciences: How did the human mind acquire its incomparable power? In seeking the answer, Merlin Donald traces the evolution of human culture and cognition from primitive apes to artificial intelligence, presenting an enterprising and original theory of how the human mind evolved from its presymbolic form.
Brain and Perception

Karl H. Pribram

Pribram, Karl H. Brain and Perception: Holonomy and Structure in Figural Processing. Distinguished Lecture Series. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1991

Presented as a series of lectures, this important volume achieves four major goals: 1) It integrates the results of the author's research as applied to pattern perception -- reviewing current brain research and showing how several lines of inquiry have been converging to produce a paradigm shift in our understanding of the neural basis of figural perception. 2) It updates the holographic hypothesis of brain function in perception. 3) It emphasizes the fact that both distributed (holistic) and localized (structural) processes characterize brain function. 4) It portrays a neural systems analysis of brain organization in figural perception by computational models -- describing processing in terms of formalisms found useful in ordering data in 20th-century physical and engineering sciences. The lectures are divided into three parts: a Prolegomenon outlining a theoretical framework for the presentation; Part I dealing with the configurable aspects of perception; and Part II presenting its cognitive aspects.
Metaphors of Mind

Robert Sternberg

Sternberg, R. Metaphors of mind: Conceptions of the nature of intelligence. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press, 1990

Metaphors of Mind seeks to help readers understand human intelligence as viewed from a variety of standpoints, such as those of psychology, anthropology, computational science, sociology, and philosophy. Much of the present confusion surrounding the concept of intelligence stems from our having looked at it from these different standpoints without considering how they relate to each other or how they might be combined into a unified view that goes beyond the boundaries of a particular discipline. Readers of Metaphors of Mind will come away with a comprehensive understanding of the concept of intelligence and how ideas about it have evolved and are continuing to evolve. --- Review by publisher
After Stroke

Peter Wahrborg

Wahrborg, P. After stroke: behavioral changes and therapeutic intervention in aphasics and their relatives following stroke, 1988

Thesis (doctoral)