Description
Book SynopsisThe cognitive and neural sciences have been on the brink of a paradigm shift for over a decade now. The traditional information-processing framework in psychology, with its computer metaphor of the mind, is still considered to be the mainstream approach. However, the dynamical-systems perspective on mental activity is now receiving a more rigorous treatment, allowing it to move beyond the trendy buzzwords that have become associated with it. The Continuity of Mind will help to galvanize the forces of dynamical systems theory, cognitive and computational neuroscience, connectionism, and ecological psychology that are needed to complete this paradigm shift. In this book, Michael Spivey lays bare the fact that comprehending a spoken sentence, understanding a visual scene, or just thinking about the day''s events involves the coalescing of different neuronal activation patterns over time, i.e., a continuous state-space trajectory that flirts with a series of point attractors. As a result,
Trade Review"In this fascinating book, Spivey challenges the long-standing practice of focusing on behavior as a sequence of perception, cognition, and action based on discrete stimulus-response events...[using] wonderful, lucid prose. The book is scholarly...but well worth the effort. An invaluable resource for those interested in psychology, cognitive neuroscience, computer science, philosophy, and related fields, this volume will serve both the present andthe next generation of cognitive scientists."--Choice "In this fascinating book, Spivey challenges the long-standing practice of focusing on behavior as a sequence of perception, cognition, and action based on discrete stimulus-response events...[using] wonderful, lucid prose. The book is scholarly...but well worth the effort. An invaluable resource for those interested in psychology, cognitive neuroscience, computer science, philosophy, and related fields, this volume will serve both the present and the next generation of cognitive scientists."--Choice
Table of Contents1. Toward a Continuity Psychology ; 2. Some Conceptual Tools for Tracking Continuous Mental Trajectories ; 3. Some Experimental Tools for Tracking Continuous Mental Trajectories ; 4. Some Simulation Tools for Tracking Continuous Mental Trajectories ; 5. Constructive Feedback for Modularity ; 6. On the Temporal Dynamics of Categorization ; 7. Temporal Dynamics of Language Comprehension ; 8. Temporal Dynamics of Visual Perception ; 9. Temporal Dynamics in Action ; 10. Temporal Dynamics in Reasoning? ; 11. Uniting and Freeing the Mind ; 12. Dynamical (Self-)Consciousness?
