Big Brain The Origins and Future of Human Intelligence

by Lynch, Gary; Granger, Richard

• ISBN13: 9781403979797
• ISBN10: 1403979790
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-01-06
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin

Summary

In this groundbreaking look at the evolution of our brains, eminent neuroscientists Gary Lynch and Richard Granger uncover the mysteries of the outsize intelligence of our ancestors, who had bigger brains than humans living today. Weaving together history, science, and the latest theories of artificial intelligence, Lynch and Granger demystify the complexities of our brains, and show us how our memory, cognition, and intelligence actually function, as well as what mechanisms in the brain can potentially be enhanced, improving on the current design. Author of The Emotional Brain , Joseph LeDoux praised it as "provocative and fascinating," and, writing in the New Scientist, Willian Calvin called it "a popular account of how brains enlarge, in both evolutionary and developmental terms" and "a much needed book."

Author Biography

Gary Lynch is one of the most cited neuroscientists in the world and author of more than 550 scientific articles. He is Professor of Psychiatry at the University of California at Irvine. Richard Granger is the WH Neukom Distinguished Professor of Computational Sciences at Dartmouth. He is internationally recognized for his work in experimental neuroscience.

Table of Contents

Big Brains, Bigger Brains	p. 1
Introduction	p. 1
Biggest Brain	p. 3
Are Bigger Brains Better?	p. 5
Brain and Language	p. 7
Were Boskops Smarter?	p. 8
Why Haven't We All Heard of Boskops?	p. 10
Outline of the Book	p. 11
The Mind in the Machine	p. 17
Learning Network Codes	p. 18
Brain Circuits vs. Computer Circuits	p. 23
The Brain of John Von Neumann	p. 25
Genes Build Brains	p. 33
How Much Variation Can Occur?	p. 36
Blueprint Systems	p. 38
Bundling Genes	p. 40
Variation Is Random, but It Is Constrained	p. 44
Brains Arrive	p. 51
First Brains	p. 52
Brain Expansion	p. 58
The Brains of Mammals	p. 63
Neurons and Networks	p. 65
Learning	p. 70
From Olfaction to Cognition	p. 73
From Cortex to Behavior	p. 80
Neocortex	p. 84
The Thinking Brain	p. 89
Extending Thinking over Time	p. 93
The Cortex Takes Charge	p. 96
The Tools of Thought	p. 99
Feedback and Hierarchies of Cortical Circuits	p. 99
Sequences	p. 106
What One Brain Area Tells Another Brain Area	p. 107
What's in an Image?	p. 108
Putting It Together: From Generalists to Specialists	p. 109
Memory Construction	p. 110
Building High-level Cognition	p. 113
Libraries and Labyrinths	p. 114
Grammars of the Brain	p. 116
From Brain Differences to Individual Differences	p. 119
Brain Paths	p. 122
Brain Tracts and Differential Abilities	p. 125
Nature and Nurture	p. 127
What's in a Species?	p. 129
Definitions	p. 131
Fallacies of the Notion of Race	p. 132
Races Versus Gene Pools	p. 135
The Origins of Big Brains	p. 139
Brain Size in the Primates	p. 141
Brain Size in the Family of Man	p. 145
Big Babies	p. 154
On Intelligence	p. 157
Giant Brains	p. 161
The Man of the Future	p. 162
How Giant Brains Were Forgotten	p. 165
Inside the Giant Brain	p. 171
Giant Brains and Intelligence	p. 175
All but Human	p. 179
On Science	p. 179
Differences	p. 182
From Quantity to Quality	p. 189
From Brain Advances to Cognitive Advances	p. 191
From Cognition to Language	p. 193
Learning Curve	p. 195
From Speaking to Writing	p. 197
More than Human	p. 201
Brain and Superbrain	p. 201
New Paths, New Humans	p. 204
The Final Path to Humans	p. 205
Inconstant Brain	p. 209
Next Steps	p. 211
Coda	p. 214
Appendix	p. 217
Acknowledgments	p. 233
Bibliography	p. 235
Index	p. 255
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