The Autonomous Brain: A Neural Theory of Attention and Learning

The Autonomous Brain: A Neural Theory of Attention and Learning

Publisher: Lawrence Erlbaum
Number Of Pages: 168
Publication Date: 1999-07-01
Sales Rank: 1997973
ISBN / ASIN: 0805832114
EAN: 9780805832112
Binding: Hardcover
Manufacturer: Lawrence Erlbaum
Studio: Lawrence Erlbaum
Average Rating: 4

The thesis of this bk is that the brain is innately constructed to initiate behaviors likely to promote the survival of the species & to sensitize sensory systems to stimuli required for those behaviors. Intended for behavioral & brain scientists.

Review:

Still Seeking the Engram: A Review of The Autonomous Brain

In his new volume, Milner supports a behavior-based approach to the understanding of brain function. In so doing, he criticizes (rightly in my view) the classical learning theorists whose interpretations dominated much of the last century and is openly antagonistic towards static, mechanistic explanations of behavioral autonomy. Right from the outset of this monograph, Milner appears to favour a more active, dynamic systems stance, although neither as succinctly as the `ontology of order' of McGonigle & Chalmers (1996) nor as explicitly as seen in the `situated emergence' of Hendriks-Jansen (1996). For example, Milner asks for the study of emulations rather than simulations of behavior by roboticists, but I am left unconvinced as to how he views the results of such studies would specifically help to explain the evolution of the mammalian nervous system (who's autonomy I take the title to refer, cf McGonigle, 1991). Milner's thesis does, however, distinguish itself by providing not merely a reinterpretation of the `educated salivations of a Russian dog', but in putting forward a model in which perception is strongly influenced by what an animal is planning to do. Indeed this is Milner's closest approach to his explicitly discussing any form of `situated cognition' as might otherwise be important in understanding ontogenetic, as opposed to phylogenetic, growth and development (Dickinson, 1997). One recurrent criticism of this volume, at least for me, was that although the natural history of any given species was regarded as critical for understanding its particular behavioral competences, there is no extension of this argument to include the importance of an individual's `history of task success' in explaining behavioral change throughout its own life-history. Such a take-home message is possibly implicit from the discourse as the chapters continue, but given that the word `autonomous' is in the title, one might expect to find this a more guiding thread with regards the proposed move away from the reflexive, stimulus-response interpretations of the behaviorists.pass: giga

http://rapidshare.com/files/58082804/The_Autonomous_Brain.rar