Overview

In The Mind within the Brain, David Redish brings together cutting edge research in psychology, robotics, economics, neuroscience, and the new fields of neuroeconomics and computational psychiatry, to offer a unified theory of human decision-making. Most importantly, Redish shows how vulnerabilities, or ""failure-modes,"" in the decision-making system can lead to serious dysfunctions, such as irrational behavior, addictions, problem gambling, and PTSD. Told with verve and humor in an easily readable style, Redish makes these difficult concepts understandable. Ranging widely from the surprising roles of emotion, habit, and narrative in decision-making, to the larger philosophical questions of how mind and brain are related, what makes us human, the nature of morality, free will, and the conundrum of robotics and consciousness, The Mind within the Brain offers fresh insight into one of the most complex aspects of human behavior.

Full Product Details

Author:   A. David Redish (Distinguished McKnight University Professor, Distinguished McKnight University Professor, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis)
Publisher:   Oxford University Press Inc
Imprint:   Oxford University Press Inc
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 2.30cm , Length: 23.10cm
Weight:   0.476kg
ISBN:  

9780190263171

ISBN 10:   0190263172
Pages:   394
Publication Date:   06 August 2015
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   To order  
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Table of Contents

Decisions and the brain 1 What is a decision? 2 The tale of the thermostat 3 The definition of value 4 Value, euphoria, and the do-it-again signal 5 Risk and reward The decision-making system 6 Multiple Decision-making systems 7 Reflexes 8 Emotion and the Pavlovian action-selection system 9 Deliberation 10 The habits of our lives 11 Integrating Information 12 The stories we tell 13 Motivation 14 The tradeoff between exploration and exploitation 15 Self-control The brain with a mind of its own 16 The physical mind 17 Imagination 18 Addiction 19 Gambling and behavioral addictions 20 PTSD 21 Computational psychiatry The human condition 22 What makes us human? 23 The science of morality 24 The conundrum of robotics Epilogue Appendix A Information processing in neurons B Gleaning information from the brain C Content-addressable memory Bibliography

Reviews

Well researched and delivered with a light touch. - Nature The author, a neuroscientist at the University of Minnesota, has a flair for explaining complex ideas, and he uses humor and personal stories to keep the lay reader interested. (He also has kindly included appendices for us neuroscience neophytes.) Know that Redish has done some important work here, challenging some of our assumptions about how the brain works and paving new ways for working with some of the most challenging problems involving the brain. -Daily Kos David Redish is a leading neuroscientist known for his pioneering, creative work. In this thoughtful book, he clearly describes the latest findings in brain science to help readers better understand what really drives the choices we make. -Tali Sharot, Affective Brain Lab, Cognitive, Perceptual, & Brain Science, University College London, author of The Optimism Bias Over the last decade there has been an explosion in our understanding of how the brain makes decisions. This book, written by one of the leading scholars in the field, is a must read for anyone interested in this area. -Antonio Rangel, Professor of Neuroscience and Economics, California Institute of Technology

Over the last decade there has been an explosion in our understanding of how the brain makes decisions. This book, written by one of the leading scholars in the field, is a must read for anyone interested in this area. -Antonio Rangel, Professor of Neuroscience and Economics, California Institute of Technology David Redish is a leading neuroscientist known for his pioneering, creative work. In this thoughtful book, he clearly describes the latest findings in brain science to help readers better understand what really drives the choices we make. -Tali Sharot, Affective Brain Lab, Cognitive, Perceptual, & Brain Science, University College London, author of The Optimism Bias The author, a neuroscientist at the University of Minnesota, has a flair for explaining complex ideas, and he uses humor and personal stories to keep the lay reader interested. (He also has kindly included appendices for us neuroscience neophytes.) Know that Redish has done some important work here, challenging some of our assumptions about how the brain works and paving new ways for working with some of the most challenging problems involving the brain. -Daily Kos Well researched and delivered with a light touch. - Nature The Mind Within the Brain is a very valuable introduction to the neuroscientific paradigm and to understanding how we make choices. It is an enjoyable read, easy to relate to and very educational... is ambitious in its scope and style; not only does he want to explain how action-selection systems work in the brain, but also how they malfunction whilst delving into the philosophical and ethical consequences of analysing the mind in such a manner. * Jodie Russell (University of Edinburgh), British Society for Literature and Science *

Author Information

A. David Redish is Distinguished McKnight University Professor in the Department of Neuroscience and the Graduate Program in Neuroscience at the University of Minnesota.

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