In The Atlantic, the neuroscientist Nancy Andreason discusses her research on the neural underpinnings of creativity. At Aesthetics for Birds, Bence Nanay discusses the role of attention in aesthetic perception. (h/t Leiter Reports) An article in Nature discusses a new push to fund neuroscience research in California. (h/t David Rosenthal) And on a lighter note, here’s …
The prediction error minimization theory (PEM) says that the brain continually seeks to minimize its prediction error – minimize the difference between its predictions about the sensory input and the actual sensory input. It is an extremely simple idea but from it arises a surprisingly resourceful conception of brain processing. …
Neuroskeptic on how treatment with deep brain stimulation made a man a fan of Johnny Cash. Joshua Shepherd reviews vol. 4 of Walter Sinnot-Armstrong’s moral psychology series, on free will and moral responsibility. Also, remember that our symposium on Philipp Koralus’ paper “The Erotetic Theory of Attention”, with commentaries by Felipe De Brigaard, …
The U.S. Office of Naval Research is funding a $7.5 million grant to build robots with morals. Philosophy gets a mention in the opening line, but after that, it seems to be seen as an engineering problem. Also, we are talking here about the U.S. military, so color me pessimistic. [Update: Though please …
The 163rd Philosophers’ Carnival is here. NYU’s David Amodio in Mother Jones on our racist brains. (h/t Robert Barnard on Facebook) Eric Schwitzgebel asks: Is early publication bad for philosophy? (h/t Eric S. on Facebook) Is there mathematical “proof” that computers can’t be conscious?* (h/t Don Howard on Facebook) German neuroscientists have …
More links below. Keep them coming! — JS Slate‘s Sam Kean on the true story of frontal lobe patient Phineas Gage (h/t LeiterReports) In the same vein, Kean again, this time in Wired magazine, on what happens when a surgeon removes your hippocampus (h/t David Pereplyotchik on Facebook) Claire Wilson in …
Below are some links that I thought would be of interest to readers of the Brains blog. I intend to start publishing posts like this with some frequency, but am not a great surfer of the Internet, so feel free to share links in the comments, or pass them along …
