Brain and Perception: Holonomy and Structure in Figural Processing

Description

Presented as a series of lectures, this important volume achieves four major goals: 1) It integrates the results of the author's research as applied to pattern perception -- reviewing current brain research and showing how several lines of inquiry have been converging to produce a paradigm shift in our understanding of the neural basis of figural perception. 2) It updates the holographic hypothesis of brain function in perception. 3) It emphasizes the fact that both distributed (holistic) and localized (structural) processes characterize brain function. 4) It portrays a neural systems analysis of brain organization in figural perception by computational models -- describing processing in terms of formalisms found useful in ordering data in 20th-century physical and engineering sciences. The lectures are divided into three parts: a Prolegomenon outlining a theoretical framework for the presentation; Part I dealing with the configural aspects of perception; and Part II presenting its cognitive aspects. The appendices were developed in a collaborative effort by the author, Kunio Yasue, and Mari Jibu (both of Notre Dame Seishin University of Okayama, Japan). Contents Preface Acknowledgments Viewpoint PROLEGOMENON Lecture 1. Aims and Origins Lecture 2. Outlines of a Holonomic Brain Theory PART I: CONFIGURAL ASPECTS Lecture 3. Transformational Realism: The Optic Array, the Optical Image and the Retinal Process Lecture 4. Imaging: Cooperativity in Primary Sensory Systems Lecture 5. Object-Forms and Object Spaces: Sensory-Motor Reciprocity Lecture 6. Images of Achievement and Action Spaces: Somatic Processes in the Control of Action PART II: COGNITIVE ASPECTS Lecture 7. Comprehension: Contributions of the Posterior Cerebral Convexity in Enhancing Processing Span Lecture 8. Familiarization and Valuation: The Contributions of the Amygdala System to the Demarcation of an Episode Lecture 9. Irrelevance and Innovation: The Contributions of the Hippocampus and Limbic Forebrain to the Processing of Context Lecture 10. Envisioning Proprieties and Priorities; PracticalI nference: The Far Frontal Cortex as Executive Processor Epilogue APPENDICES Appendix A: Neurodynamics: A Theory of Nonlocal Cortical Processing Appendix B: Symmetry, Invariance and Group Theory in Object Perception Appendix C: The Definition of Context Appendix D: Familiarization as Transfer Among Contexts Appendix E: The Formation of Prototypes Appendix F: Neurodynamics and Innovation Appendix G: The Neurodynamics of Covariation and Inference References Glossary Author Index Subject Index