Martin Luther College

Consciousness emerges as the key topic in this second edition of Owen Flanagan's popular introduction to cognitive science and the philosophy of psychology. in a new chapter Flanagan develops a neurophilosophical theory of subjective mental life. He brings recent developments in the theory of neuronal group selection and connectionism to bear on the problems of the evolution of consciousness, qualia, the unique first-personal aspects of consciousness,...

"Most neural network programs for personal computers simply control a set of fixed, canned network-layer algorithms with pulldown menus. This new tutorial offers hands-on neural network experiments with a different approach. A simple matrix language lets users create their own neural networks and combine networks, and this is the only currently available software permitting combined simulation of neural networks together with other dynamic systems...

Kosslyn (psychology, Harvard U.) presents a 20-year research program on the nature of high-level vision and mental imagery -- offering his research as a definitive resolution of the long-standing "imagery debate," which centers on the nature of the internal representation of visual mental imagery. He combines insights and empirical results from computer vision, neurobiology, and cognitive science to develop a general theory of visual mental imagery,...

Edwin Hutchins combines his background as an anthropologist and an open-ocean racing sailor and navigator in this account of how anthropological methods can be combined with cognitive theory to produce a new reading of cognitive science. His theoretical insights are grounded in an extended analysis of ship navigation - its computational basis, its historical roots, its social organization, and the details of its implementation in actual practice aboard...

The book includes considerations of the perceptual and motor abilities of animals as the evolutionary and conceptual foundation of more complex abilities; modeling focused as much on connections and constraints as on language and symbols; an interest in simple adaptive processes in animals and robots as the basis for more complex forms of learning and adaptation; and a consideration of animals and robots as integrated and situated systems in contrast...

"More than a century has passed since Sigmund Freud began his groundbreaking work in psychoanalysis, yet there is no consensus about his legacy; instead, there is persistent disagreement not only about Freud's reputation and place in history but about the proper standards to use in evaluating his theory and therapy." "This book develops epistemological standards for Freudian psychology and provides a comprehensive evaluation of, and possibly final...

At a time in the history of psychology when many psychologists are troubled by the splintered condition of the field, Gregory Kimble proposes that the diverse perspectives in psychology share ways of thinking that can bring coherence to the discipline. Drawing on years of extensive research and scholarship, Kimble presents evidence for this potential unity. He portrays psychology as a natural science with relevance to human life and offers a set of...

This posthumous volume, the culmination of a long and distinguished career, brings together an original essay by the author together with a careful selection of previously published articles (most by Rock) on the theory that perception is an indirect process in which visual experience is derived by inference, rather than being directly and independently determined by retinal stimulation.