Mind Within the Net : Models of Learning, Thinking and Acting

by Manfred Spitzer

• ISBN13: 9780262194068
• ISBN10: 0262194066
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1999-03-12
• Publisher: Mit Pr

Summary

How does the brain work? How do billions of neurons bring about ideas, sensations, emotions, and actions? Why do children learn faster than elderly people? What can go wrong in perception, thinking, learning, and acting? Scientists now use computer models to help us to understand the most private and human experiences. In The Mind Within the Net, Manfred Spitzer shows how these models can fundamentally change how we think about learning, creativity, thinking, and acting, as well as such matters as schools, retirement homes, politics, and mental disorders. Neurophysiology has told us a lot about how neurons work; neural network theory is about how neurons work together to process information. In this highly readable book, Spitzer provides a basic, nonmathematical introduction to neural networks and their clinical applications. Part I explains the fundamental theory of neural networks and how neural network models work. Part II covers the principles of network functioning and how computer simulations of neural networks have profound consequences for our understanding of how the brain works. Part III covers applications of network models (e.g., to knowledge representation, language, and mental disorders such as schizophrenia and Alzheimer's disease) that shed new light on normal and abnormal states of mind. Finally, Spitzer concludes with his thoughts on the ramifications of neural networks for the understanding of neuropsychology and human nature.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix	(4)
Acknowledgments	xiii
1 Introduction	1	(16)
I Basics	17	(70)
2 Neuronal Teamwork	19	(20)
3 Learning	39	(26)
4 Vectors in the Head	65	(22)
II Principles	87	(104)
5 Maps in the Cortex	89	(26)
6 Hidden Layers	115	(22)
7 Neuroplasticity	137	(32)
8 Feedback	169	(22)
III Applications	191	(124)
9 Representing Knowledge	193	(18)
10 Semantic Networks	211	(40)
11 The Disordered Mind	251	(44)
12 Thoughts and Impressions	295	(20)
Glossary	315	(8)
References	323	(30)
Index	353