Fall Book Selection

This fall we'll be reading Micheal Tomasello's The Cultural Origins of Human Cognition [Amazon $20.95]. Tomasello presents an alternative to the idea from Evolutionary Psychology (along with Chomskian nativism) that we evolved to use a special language organ in the brain. Instead, Tomasello argues, by contrasting human theory-of-mind abilities with those of primates and autistic children that we can see that the broad-based cognitive mechanisms that provide for cultural learning generally can be used specifically to promote language learning in humans.

UPDATE [08.26.05] We will meet every other Wednesday at noon in SC 200, beginning September 14 (discuss first chapter).

We can use this blog to post discussion items, background information, and interesting links relevant to the book (or anything neuro-). Another online discussion of this book is led at the Mixing Memory blog.

Books for Fall

We need to find a book to discuss this fall. A couple of ideas have surfaced, and I'm sure there are others. If you have ideas, comment on this post or email me.

Daniel Dennett, Sweet Dreams [Amazon] An accessible reworking of Dennett's views on consciousness. He pays special attention to zombies and qualia.

Michael Gazzaniga, The Ethical Brain [Amazon] Gazzaniga talks about issues like stem cell research, the uses and abuses of neuroscience in making ethical decisions, and a neuroscientific take on how we form moral judgments.

At Mixing Memory they've chosen Michael Tomasello's book The Cultural Origins of Human Cognition for an online reading group. [Amazon] They provide a blog entry with background and context to the book, which presents an alternative to the idea from Evolutionary Psychology that we evolved to use a special language organ in the brain. Instead, Tomasello argues, by contrasting human theory-of-mind abilities with those of primates and autistic children that we can see that the broad-based cognitive mechanisms that provide for cultural learning generally can be used specifically to promote language learning in humans. (Here and here are background papers.)

There are also some interesting books on evolution and the brain (or human cognition). William Calvin, A Brief History of the MInd; Merlin Donald, Origins of the Modern Mind, Donald again, A Mind So Rare, and Nicholas Humphrey, A History of the Mind.

I think the Quartz/Sejnowski book Liars, Lovers, and Heroes should also be on the list. It's a very readible defense of the plasticity of the brain.