Conscious Mind, Resonant Brain

Can humans create technology that will mimic, or even surpass, biological intelligence? Questions such as these underlie the career of author Stephen Grossberg, a founder of the field of neural networks and creator of this magnum opus covering 60 years of research in neuroscience, psychology, and mathematics. * C. L. Iwema, CHOICE *
The polymath Freeman Dyson once likened mathematicians to birds and frogs: 'Birds fly high in the air and survey broad vistas of mathematics out to the far horizon. They delight in concepts that unify our thinking and bring together diverse problems from different parts of the landscape. Frogs live in the mud below and see only the flowers that grow nearby. They delight in the details of particular objects, and they solve problems one at a time.' Grossberg's genius lies in embodying both, and in recognizing that "obvious hypotheses, with which no one would disagree, together imply conclusions about deep properties of brain organization." Can a deep understanding of boundaries and surfaces of simple, toy objects lead to the most profound insights into the nature of learning and attention? Can an understanding of how silence flows across time and alters the perception of words uttered before it, help explain consciousness itself? Grossberg shows how. * Sai Gaddam, Boston University *
Conscious MIND and Resonant BRAIN is a tour de force on How the Brain Works. It's a masterpiece on brain science and neuro-computing that could only be created by Grossberg. * Leon Chua, University of California at Berkeley *
After reading many papers by the author, I always wished that he would present them in a coherent whole. And here it is. A magnificent volume of great science from mind to brain and back, a condensed ars poetica of a great scientist. * György Buzsáki, New York University *
Stephen Grossberg is one of the most original and influential theorists in contemporary cognitive science and computational neuroscience. In Conscious MIND Resonant BRAIN, he takes the reader on an eye-opening tour in which he addresses fundamental problems of mind and brain from his unique theoretical perspective. This is an important book that should be of interest to anyone who wonders how a brain can give rise to a mind. * Daniel L. Schacter, Harvard University *
In this book Stephen Grossberg shares the wisdom and encyclopedic knowledge that he acquired over 50 years of research devoted to unravel the mysteries of the human brain. Stephen pioneered the field of theoretical neuroscience... It is the essence of overarching principles to be abstract and to sometimes defy intuition, but Stephen succeeds to convey the essential in a language that is readily accessible to the non- expert. He embeds the discussion of neuronal mechanisms in the rich framework of cognitive psychology and elegantly bridges the gap between scientific evidence and subjective experience. He takes the readers by the hand and lets them discover the often surprising philosophical, ethical and societal implications of neurobiological discoveries. For those who enjoy intellectual adventures and wish to explore the boundaries of the known this scholarly written book is a real treasure. * Wolf Singer, Max Plank Institute for Brain Research, Frankfurt *
How often do we have the chance to hold a true masterpiece? Grossberg's monumental accomplishments developed over multiple decades now written at an accessible level to a broader audience. What a true privilege! * Luis Pessoa, University of Maryland *
Steve Grossberg is one of the most insightful and prolific writers on biological intelligence. This book is a masterful presentation of fundamental methods of modeling minds, brains and their interactions with the world, many of which are due to the author and his collaborators. The models are presented as mathematical systems, including computing and neural networks. The variables, parameters and functions represent biological and environmental concepts; mathematical conclusions are interpreted as predictions of biological behavior. In many cases these have been verified experimentally. There are illuminating and surprising connections to other disciplines, including art, music and economics. Highly recommended to a general audience. * Morris W. Hirsch, University of California at Berkeley *
This comprehensive overview of Grossberg's contributions to our understanding of the mind and brain shows exactly how prescient he, and his colleagues, have been.Whatever one's specific interest, from visual illusions to mental illness, this book provides a principled treatment of it.The principles flow from Grossberg's early framing of many of the questions that have come to define computational neuroscience – including his early understanding of the centrality of expectations.Kudos to him for pulling it all together here. * Lynn Nadel, University of Arizona *
What an ambitious, lucid, eye-opening and engaging book! By using the computational theories he developed, Grossberg attempts nothing less than to integrate our knowledge of how our mind works with our knowledge of how the brain works. The topics he covers range from perception to action, from emotion to memory, and from decision making to love, with consciousness and the mind-body problem figuring prominently throughout. The story he weaves, with many incisive, delightful illustrations, is compelling and accessible. The reader is rewarded with a novel appreciation of the human psyche and artificial intelligence, and is left with admiration for Grossberg's achievement. * Morris Moscovitch, University of Toronto *
This book is not for the faint of heart. Stephen Grossberg has been a giant in the field of computational neuroscience for 60 years. In this book he presents his carefully developed, integrative neurobiological theory on how the nervous system generates our conscious lives. It is bold yet self-reflective and therein challenging to all students trying to figure out how the brain does its tricks. A must read. * Michael Gazzaniga, University of California at Santa Barbara *
This book is first and foremost an account of a personal odyssey of one of the great and most prolific scientific minds of our time trying to understand itself. What we have here at last is a genuine attempt by the author to make his ideas accessible to most readers as "a simple story, without mathematics" (or at least with minimal math). The foundation of this story is the concept of "resonance" in neural systems. When resonance fails, this triggers adaptation. This book is largely a treatise on how the resonance concept can help us understand almost all aspects of sensation, perception, and higher cognition. Even without all the math, this book of 600 plus pages will take considerable dedication to assimilate, but I believe that any student of neuroscience interested in the brain as the basis of mind will find it well worth the effort. * Bruce McNaughton, University of California at Irvine *
How a brain makes its mind is one of the most perplexing questions in science. In this book, you will find the most comprehensive account to date by a towering pioneer of brain theory of our time. * Deliang Wang, Ohio State University *
Don't read Grossberg in the original—unless you are an adept. Start with this exceptional overview of the lifework of a brilliant cognitive neuroscientist; then, organized and inspired, turn to the journals. Grossberg identifies key phenomena that open windows into the functioning of the brain; identifies the key problems that the brain needs to solve relevant to them; constructs elegant modules that might both solve those problems and give rise to the phenomena noted, and finally assembles them into systems and makes new predictions. This is textbook scientific inquiry, executed by a virtuoso. The book would be a fine component of a seminar, with students selecting the problems and modules for a deeper dive, then explicating them to the class. * Peter Killeen, Arizona State University *
An excellent and wide-ranging view of how the brain perceives the world for us by a pioneering brain theoretician. * Wolfram Schultz, University of Cambridge *
Whenever you claim to be "the first to do" this or that in artificial intelligence, it is customary - and correct - to add "with the exception of Stephen Grossberg". Quite simply, Stephen is a living giant and foundational architect of the field. * Karl J. Friston, University College London *
This is a breath-taking book authored by a giant pioneer of the brain and mind. * Shun-Ichi Amari, RIKEN Brain Science Institute *
Professor Grossberg is a rara avis. In an age of increasing specialization, he has a remarkable, unparalleled, gift of seeing connections between seemingly unrelated ideas. And he writes about these with passion, but without compromising accuracy. * V. S. Ramachandran, University of California San Diego *
Stephen Grossberg is a true genius, who has discovered and developed many of the most important concepts and theories about how our brains make our minds. His fundamental contributions to science for over 50 years are richly worthy of a Nobel Prize. * Leonid Perlovsky, Harvard University *
Stephen Grossberg is a "big picture" thinker who has had a remarkably deep influence on many aspects of several fields. It's difficult to overstate the range of his vision and the depth of his thinking, and I expect this book to be required reading in many courses for years to come. * Stephen Kosslyn, Foundry College *
Although a behavioral modeler and not a neuroscientist, I have followed Stephen Grossberg's research closely for many years, because I regard him as one of the very most creative and insightful neuroscience theorists that the field has seen. His book should be a must read for those wanting to understand how the brain produces mind. * Richard Shiffrin, Indiana University *
The current volume charts the remarkable developments that have led Dr. Grossberg to a principled, unified theory of the link between brain and mind. Dr. Grossberg's insights are unparalleled in their breadth and detail, leading us to a scientific understanding of the most remarkable aspect of the mind, consciousness. * Michael Mozer, Google Brain, Mountain View, CA *
Conscious Mind, Resonant Brain is the magnum opus of one of the giants of neural networks. The soaring ambition of this book reflects the career achievements of Grossberg's insatiable appetite for understanding how brains work. It is a must-read for those interested in all aspects of how the mind and brain function in health and disease. * Donald C. Wunsch II, University of Science and Technology *
Grossberg has single-handedly elevated the psychophysics and psychology pioneered by Herman von Helmholtz and William James into a comprehensive mathematical theory of brain and behavior with profound implications and strong empirical support. * David Hestenes, Arizona State University *