The Symbolic Species: The Co-evolution of Language and the Brain

The Symbolic Species: The Co-evolution of Language and the Brain

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  • Author: Terrence W. Deacon
  • Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
  • ISBN: 0393343022
  • Category : Science
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 532

"A work of enormous breadth, likely to pleasantly surprise both general readers and experts."—New York Times Book Review This revolutionary book provides fresh answers to long-standing questions of human origins and consciousness. Drawing on his breakthrough research in comparative neuroscience, Terrence Deacon offers a wealth of insights into the significance of symbolic thinking: from the co-evolutionary exchange between language and brains over two million years of hominid evolution to the ethical repercussions that followed man's newfound access to other people's thoughts and emotions. Informing these insights is a new understanding of how Darwinian processes underlie the brain's development and function as well as its evolution. In contrast to much contemporary neuroscience that treats the brain as no more or less than a computer, Deacon provides a new clarity of vision into the mechanism of mind. It injects a renewed sense of adventure into the experience of being human.


The Symbolic Species Evolved

The Symbolic Species Evolved

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  • Author: Theresa Schilhab
  • Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
  • ISBN: 9400723369
  • Category : Science
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 291

This anthology is a compilation of the best contributions from Symbolic Species Conferences I, II (which took place in 2006, 2007). In 1997 the American anthropologist Terrence Deacon published The Symbolic Species: The Coevolution of Language and the Brain. The book is widely considered a seminal work in the subject of evolutionary cognition. However, Deacons book was the first step – further steps have had to be taken. The proposed anthology is such an important associate. The contributions are written by a wide variety of scholars each with a unique view on evolutionary cognition and the questions raised by Terrence Deacon - emergence in evolution, the origin of language, the semiotic 'missing link', Peirce's semiotics in evolution and biology, biosemiotics, evolutionary cognition, Baldwinian evolution, the neuroscience of linguistic capacities as well as phylogeny of the homo species, primatology, embodied cognition and knowledge types.


The Unfolding of Language

The Unfolding of Language

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  • Author: Guy Deutscher
  • Publisher: Metropolitan Books
  • ISBN: 1466837837
  • Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 372

Blending the spirit of Eats, Shoots & Leaves with the science of The Language Instinct, an original inquiry into the development of that most essential-and mysterious-of human creations: Language "Language is mankind's greatest invention-except, of course, that it was never invented." So begins linguist Guy Deutscher's enthralling investigation into the genesis and evolution of language. If we started off with rudimentary utterances on the level of "man throw spear," how did we end up with sophisticated grammars, enormous vocabularies, and intricately nuanced degrees of meaning? Drawing on recent groundbreaking discoveries in modern linguistics, Deutscher exposes the elusive forces of creation at work in human communication, giving us fresh insight into how language emerges, evolves, and decays. He traces the evolution of linguistic complexity from an early "Me Tarzan" stage to such elaborate single-word constructions as the Turkish sehirlilestiremediklerimizdensiniz ("you are one of those whom we couldn't turn into a town dweller"). Arguing that destruction and creation in language are intimately entwined, Deutscher shows how these processes are continuously in operation, generating new words, new structures, and new meanings. As entertaining as it is erudite, The Unfolding of Language moves nimbly from ancient Babylonian to American idiom, from the central role of metaphor to the staggering triumph of design that is the Semitic verb, to tell the dramatic story and explain the genius behind a uniquely human faculty.


Journey of the Universe

Journey of the Universe

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  • Author: Brian Thomas Swimme
  • Publisher: Yale University Press
  • ISBN: 0300171900
  • Category : Science
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 191

The authors tell the epic story of the universe from an inspired new perspective, weaving the findings of modern science together with enduring wisdom found in the humanistic traditions of the West, China, India, and indigenous peoples. This book is part of a larger project that includes a documentary film, educational DVD series, and Web site.


Incomplete Nature: How Mind Emerged from Matter

Incomplete Nature: How Mind Emerged from Matter

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  • Author: Terrence W. Deacon
  • Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
  • ISBN: 0393049914
  • Category : Medical
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 625

Examines the emergent processes that bridge the gap between organisms that think and have consciousness and those that do not and discusses the origins of life, information, and free will.


Neuroanatomy of Language Regions of the Human Brain

Neuroanatomy of Language Regions of the Human Brain

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  • Author: Michael Petrides
  • Publisher: Academic Press
  • ISBN: 0124059317
  • Category : Psychology
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 197

Many studies of the neural bases of language processes are now conducted with functional and structural neuroimaging. Research is often compromised because of difficulties in identifying the core structures in the face of the complex morphology of these regions of the brain. Although there are many books on the cognitive aspects of language and also on neurolinguistics and aphasiology, Neuroanatomy of Language Regions of the Human Brain is the first anatomical atlas that focuses on the core regions of the cerebral cortex involved in language processing. This atlas is a richly illustrated guide for scientists interested in the gross morphology of the sulci and gyri of the core language regions, in the cytoarchitecture of the relevant cortical areas, and in the connectivity of these areas. Data from diffusion MRI and resting-state connectivity are integrated iwth critical experimental anatomical data about homologous areas in the macaque monkey to provide the latest information on the connectivity of the language-relevant cortical areas of the brain. Although the anatomical connectivity data from studies on the macaque monkey provide the most detailed information, they are often neglected because of difficulties in interpreting the terminology used and in making the monkey-to-human comparison. This atlas helps investigators interpret this important source of information. Neuroanatomy of Language Regions of the Human Brain will assist investigators of the neural bases of language in increasing the anatomical sophistication of their research adn in evaluating studies of language and the brain. - Abundantly illustrated with photographs, 3-D MRI reconstructions, and sections to represent the morphology of the sulci and gyri in the frontal, temporal, and parietal regions involved in language processing - Photomicrographs showing the cytoarchitecture of cortical areas involved in language processing - Series of coronal, sagittal, and horizontal sections identifying the sulci and gyri to assist language investigators using structural and functional neuroimaging techniques - All images accompanied by brief commentaries to help users navigate the complexities of the anatomy - Integration of data from diffusion MRI and resting-state connectivity with critical experimental anatomical data on the connectivity of homologous areas in the macaque monkey


Culture, Mind, and Brain

Culture, Mind, and Brain

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  • Author: Laurence J. Kirmayer
  • Publisher: Cambridge University Press
  • ISBN: 1108580572
  • Category : Psychology
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 694

Recent neuroscience research makes it clear that human biology is cultural biology - we develop and live our lives in socially constructed worlds that vary widely in their structure values, and institutions. This integrative volume brings together interdisciplinary perspectives from the human, social, and biological sciences to explore culture, mind, and brain interactions and their impact on personal and societal issues. Contributors provide a fresh look at emerging concepts, models, and applications of the co-constitution of culture, mind, and brain. Chapters survey the latest theoretical and methodological insights alongside the challenges in this area, and describe how these new ideas are being applied in the sciences, humanities, arts, mental health, and everyday life. Readers will gain new appreciation of the ways in which our unique biology and cultural diversity shape behavior and experience, and our ongoing adaptation to a constantly changing world.


The Two Halves of the Brain

The Two Halves of the Brain

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  • Author: Kenneth Hugdahl
  • Publisher: MIT Press
  • ISBN: 0262265648
  • Category : Psychology
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 717

State-of-the-art research on brain asymmetry, explained from molecular to clinical levels. Hemispheric asymmetry is one of the basic aspects of perception and cognitive processing. The different functions of the left and right hemispheres of the brain have been studied with renewed interest in recent years, as scholars explore applications to new areas, new measuring techniques, and new theoretical approaches. This volume provides a comprehensive view of the latest research in brain asymmetry, offering not only recent empirical and clinical findings but also a coherent theoretical approach to the subject. In chapters that report on the field at levels from the molecular to the clinical, leading researchers address such topics as the evolution and genetics of brain asymmetry; animal models; findings from structural and functional neuroimaging techniques and research; sex differences and hormonal effects; sleep asymmetry; cognitive asymmetry in visual and auditory perception; and auditory laterality and speech perception, memory, and asymmetry in the context of developmental, neurological, and psychiatric disorders. Contributors Katrin Amunts, Ulrike Bayer, Alfredo Brancucci, Vince D. Calhoun, Maria Casagrande, Marco Catani, Michael C. Corballis, Patricia E. Cowell, Timothy J. Crow, Tom Eichele, Stephanie Forkel, Patrick J. Gannon, Isabelle George, Onur Güntürkün, Heikki Hämäläinen, Markus Hausmann, Joseph B. Hellige, Kenneth Hugdahl, Masud Husain, Grégoria Kalpouzos, Bruno Laeng, Martina Manns, Chikashi Michimata, Deborah W. Moncrieff, Lars Nyberg, Godfrey Pearlson, Stefan Pollmann, Victoria Singh-Curry, Iris E.C. Sommer, Tao Sun, Nathan Swanson, Fiia Takio, Michel Thiebaut de Schotten, René Westerhausen


The Evolution of Language

The Evolution of Language

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  • Author: W. Tecumseh Fitch
  • Publisher: Cambridge University Press
  • ISBN: 052185993X
  • Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 625

This book brings together the most important insights from the vast amount of literature on the origin of language.


Neither Ghost Nor Machine

Neither Ghost Nor Machine

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  • Author: Jeremy Sherman (Writer on biophilosophy)
  • Publisher:
  • ISBN: 9780231173322
  • Category : Consciousness
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 295

Jeremy Sherman distills Terrence Deacon's breakthrough natural science hypothesis for the emergence of agents and agency, selves and aims in an otherwise aimless universe. The theory cuts a new path through the dualistic spirit vs. mechanism debate, unifying the hard and soft sciences and suggesting new solutions to philosophical mysteries.