Wet Mind: The New Cognitive Neuroscience

A readable synthesis of a decade's work in neurobiology, artificial intelligence, cognitive science, and medicine provides a fascinating update on the latest developments in the study of the structure and function of the mind and brain. 15,000 first printing.

``Cognitive neuroscience'' is the name of the game, which Harvard psychologist Kosslyn and Univ. of Geneva colleague Koenig equate to ``wet mind.'' The ``wet'' alludes to understanding how the brain really works (equating brain function to mind), and not, as with ``dry mind,'' to designing computers or models of artificial intelligence to perform visual perception or reasoning tasks. The computer designs and experiments the authors describe, then, are based on neuronal networks and parallel-processing systems rather than the sequential mode of operation of your ordinary PC. Their constructs of how we see or hear or read or remember are based on breaking the process into component subsystems and relating these systems to anatomical sites and pathways in the brain. Finally, as a partial test of their hypotheses, they use the data from patients with brain lesions to relate loss of function to damage in a particular subsystem (or systems). This is heady stuff, embodying at the outset five principles: the brain works by a division of labor; it expresses ``weak'' modularity (its components are not independent and, while they may be anatomically close, may include distant elements as well); the systems operate under ``weak'' constraints (they may be tuned to some inputs but accept others as well); parallel processing is the mode; and the brain is opportunistic, so that, for example, parts controlling fine movements may be applied to doing serial arithmetic problems too. The authors provide detailed accounts of how computer networks have been used to model visual perception and thinking, reading, language, movement, and memory, and how they may apply to emotion, consciousness, and other mental phenomena. Exciting, important research that's on the right track: It's about time that neuroscience, cognitive psychology, and computers got together. Now if they could only clean up the language (``The property lookup and categorical-to-coordinate conversion subsystems are probably implemented in the frontal lobes....''). -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

"Dry mind" computer models mimic intelligence. "Wet mind" models mimic the brain's way of producing intelligence, thereby showing how the brain gives rise to the structure of the mind. Kosslyn and Koenig have done an outstanding job of summarizing "wet mind" research, comparing the findings of neural net research and brain research. Two initial chapters summarize the approach of the book and present a layperson's introduction to neural nets. A chapter each is then devoted to visual perception, visual cognition, reading, language, movement, and memory. In each, the authors summarize the research and develop a comprehensive flowchart of the subsystems for their model of brain activity. Specific brain dysfunctions are explained through deficits in one or more subsystems. The final chapter summarizes the role of consciousness in brain activity. The notes and bibliography are extremely thorough. An invaluable guide to the workings of the brain. Highly recommended for both general readers and specialists.
- Doug Kranch, Ambassador Coll. Lib., Big Sandy, Tex.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.