Phantoms in the Brain

Author: V. S. Ramachandran
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0688172172
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 353

Book Description
Neuroscientist V.S. Ramachandran is internationally renowned for uncovering answers to the deep and quirky questions of human nature that few scientists have dared to address. His bold insights about the brain are matched only by the stunning simplicity of his experiments -- using such low-tech tools as cotton swabs, glasses of water and dime-store mirrors. In Phantoms in the Brain, Dr. Ramachandran recounts how his work with patients who have bizarre neurological disorders has shed new light on the deep architecture of the brain, and what these findings tell us about who we are, how we construct our body image, why we laugh or become depressed, why we may believe in God, how we make decisions, deceive ourselves and dream, perhaps even why we're so clever at philosophy, music and art. Some of his most notable cases: A woman paralyzed on the left side of her body who believes she is lifting a tray of drinks with both hands offers a unique opportunity to test Freud's theory of denial. A man who insists he is talking with God challenges us to ask: Could we be "wired" for religious experience? A woman who hallucinates cartoon characters illustrates how, in a sense, we are all hallucinating, all the time. Dr. Ramachandran's inspired medical detective work pushes the boundaries of medicine's last great frontier -- the human mind -- yielding new and provocative insights into the "big questions" about consciousness and the self.

The Emerging Mind

Author: V. S. Ramachandran
Publisher: Gardners Books
ISBN: 9781861973030
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 208

Book Description
A scintillating introduction to the latest thinking on the brain and the mind by the world's leading expert. Neuroscience can now begin to unlock the key to the self. Our knowledge of the brain has progressed so rapidly that it will change the way we think of ourselves as human beings. It will change our notion of understanding. This is a revolution which will have impact on all our lives. Neuroscientists are gathering new empirical evidence about consciousness and human nature; they are picking up where the great earlier thinkers like Freud, Darwin, Charcot and others began. This evidence begins to give substance to some of the grand statements and intuitive leaps made in the nineteenth and early twentieth century about the nature of the self.

On Intelligence

Author: Jeff Hawkins
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 1429900458
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 276

Book Description
From the inventor of the PalmPilot comes a new and compelling theory of intelligence, brain function, and the future of intelligent machines Jeff Hawkins, the man who created the PalmPilot, Treo smart phone, and other handheld devices, has reshaped our relationship to computers. Now he stands ready to revolutionize both neuroscience and computing in one stroke, with a new understanding of intelligence itself. Hawkins develops a powerful theory of how the human brain works, explaining why computers are not intelligent and how, based on this new theory, we can finally build intelligent machines. The brain is not a computer, but a memory system that stores experiences in a way that reflects the true structure of the world, remembering sequences of events and their nested relationships and making predictions based on those memories. It is this memory-prediction system that forms the basis of intelligence, perception, creativity, and even consciousness. In an engaging style that will captivate audiences from the merely curious to the professional scientist, Hawkins shows how a clear understanding of how the brain works will make it possible for us to build intelligent machines, in silicon, that will exceed our human ability in surprising ways. Written with acclaimed science writer Sandra Blakeslee, On Intelligence promises to completely transfigure the possibilities of the technology age. It is a landmark book in its scope and clarity.

Phantom Stress

Author: Phillip Romero
Publisher: Xlibris Corporation
ISBN: 1450044034
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 199

Book Description
Phantom Stress : Brain Training to Master Relationship Stress introduces the reader to Logosoma Brain Training, a four-step practice that liberates one from the stresses that cause self-sabotaging patterns of thought, emotion and behavior and undo secure relationships. Phantom Stress is rooted in adverse childhood experiences or past stresses from adult life. These phantoms memoires eclipse appropriate responses to life in the present and derail healthy self awareness, disrupt secure boundaries, and destroy positive emotional connections. This book teaches readers how to track down and neutralize toxic memoires that produce phantom stress, and open new brain pathways to reconnecting with others for creative adaptive resilience to stress lasting love and compassion.

Strange Behavior

Author: Harold L. Klawans
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 9780393321845
Category : Brain
Languages : en
Pages : 260

Book Description
A master neurologist's clinical tales--both funny and profound--of the evolution of the brain. No matter what the ailment--painful foot syndrome or mad cow disease--Dr. Klawans ultimately treated, or diagnosed, peoples brains. Here are his deductions from years of study.

Phantoms

Author: Dean Koontz
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1440620172
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 448

Book Description
“Phantoms is gruesome and unrelenting…It’s well realized, intelligent, and humane.”—Stephen King They found the town silent, apparently abandoned. Then they found the first body, strangely swollen and still warm. One hundred fifty were dead, 350 missing. But the terror had only begun in the tiny mountain town of Snowfield, California. At first they thought it was the work of a maniac. Or terrorists. Or toxic contamination. Or a bizarre new disease. But then they found the truth. And they saw it in the flesh. And it was worse than anything any of them had ever imagined...

Brain and Human Body Modeling 2020

Author: Sergey N. Makarov
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030456234
Category : Biomedical engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 395

Book Description
The 41st Annual International Conference of the IEEE EMBS, took place between July 23 and 27, 2019, in Berlin, Germany. The focus was on "Biomedical engineering ranging from wellness to intensive care." This conference provided an opportunity for researchers from academia and industry to discuss a variety of topics relevant to EMBS and hosted the 4th Annual Invited Session on Computational Human Models. At this session, a bevy of research related to the development of human phantoms was presented, together with a substantial variety of practical applications explored through simulation.

Islands of Genius

Author: Darold A. Treffert
Publisher: Jessica Kingsley Publishers
ISBN: 1849058733
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 330

Book Description
In this fascinating book, Dr. Treffert looks at what we know about savant syndrome, and at new discoveries that raise interesting questions about the hidden brain potential within us all. He looks both at how savant skills can be nurtured, and how they can help the person who has them, particularly if that person is on the autism spectrum.

Phantoms in the Brain

Author: V. S. Ramachandran
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Brain
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description

Hallucinations

Author: Oliver Sacks
Publisher: Knopf Canada
ISBN: 0307402193
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 284

Book Description
Hallucinations, for most people, imply madness. But there are many different types of non-psychotic hallucination caused by various illnesses or injuries, by intoxication--even, for many people, by falling sleep. From the elementary geometrical shapes that we see when we rub our eyes to the complex swirls and blind spots and zigzags of a visual migraine, hallucination takes many forms. At a higher level, hallucinations associated with the altered states of consciousness that may come with sensory deprivation or certain brain disorders can lead to religious epiphanies or conversions. Drawing on a wealth of clinical examples from his own patients as well as historical and literary descriptions, Oliver Sacks investigates the fundamental differences and similarities of these many sorts of hallucinations, what they say about the organization and structure of our brains, how they have influenced every culture's folklore and art, and why the potential for hallucination is present in us all.