Böcker i Cognitive Science and Psychology-serien

This book brings together researchers from a variety of fields to jointly present and discuss some of the most relevant problems around the conscious mind. This academic plurality perfectly characterizes the complexity with which a current researcher is confronted to discuss and work on this topic. The volume is organized as follows: Part I introduces the general problems of Philosophy of Mind and some historical perspectives. Part II focuses on understanding the input that the empirical sciences can offer to the theoretical problems. Part III discusses some of the core concepts of the field, namely, perception, memory and experience. Part IV debates human and artificial intelligence and, finally, Part V deliberates about the computation and the ethics of big data and artificial intelligence.The book contains valuable material for researchers in several fields such as Cognitive Science and Neuroscience, Psychology and Artificial Intelligence, and Philosophy. It can also be used as a guide to some courses at various levels, from BAs to MAs and PhD courses of several fields. It is our belief, as it is claimed in the preface by Georg Northoff, that there is an urgent need for a truly transdisciplinary exchange between philosophy and the sciences in order to stimulate some real progress. We hope that this book will become a sound step for such an interdisciplinary enterprise.

With worldwide spending estimates of over $97 billion by 2023, it is no surprise that Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) is one of the hottest topics at present in both the private and public spheres. Comprising of vital contributions from the most influential researchers in the field, including Daniel Dennett, Roman V. Yampolskiy, Frederic Gilbert, Stevan Harnad, David Pearce, Natasha Vita-More, Vernon Vinge and Ben Goertzel, 'The Age of Artificial Intelligence: An Exploration' discusses a variety of topics ranging from the various ethical issues associated with A.I. based technologies in terms of morality and law to subjects related to artificial consciousness, artistic creativity and intelligence. The volume is organized as follows: Section I is dedicated to reflections on the Intelligence of A.I., with chapters by Soenke Ziesche and Roman V. Yampolskiy, Stevan Harnad, Daniel Dennett and David Pearce. Next, Section II discusses the relationship between consciousness, simulation and artificial intelligence, with chapters by Gabriel Axel Montes and Ben Goertzel, Cody Turner, Nicole Hall and Steven S. Gouveia. Section III, dedicated to aesthetical creativity and language in artificial intelligence, includes chapters by Caterina Moruzzi, René Mogensen, Mariana Chinellato Ferreira and Kulvinder Panesar. The subsequent Section IV is on the Ethics of the Bionic Brain with the participation of Peter A. DePergola II, Tomislav Miletic and Frederic Gilbert, Aníbal M. Astobiza, Txetxu Ausin, Ricardo M. Ferrer and Stephen Rainey and Natasha Vita-More. Finally, Section V follows on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence with chapters by Federico Pistono and Roman V. Yamploskiy, Hasse Hämäläinen, Vernon Vinge and Eray Özkural.The Age of Artificial Intelligence is imminent, if not here already. We should ensure that we invest in the right people and the right ideas to create the best possible solutions to the problems of the present and prepare for those of the future. This edited volume will be of particular interest to researchers in the field of A.I. as well of those in Cognitive Science (Philosophy of the Mind, Neuroscience, and Linguistics), Aesthetics and Arts, Applied Ethics and Political Philosophy / Law. Students studying the aforementioned topics can also benefit from its contents. *Due to IP licencing restrictions, Daniel C. Dennett's chapter "The Age of Post-Intelligent Design" is not included in this version.

“Addiction Reimagined: Challenging Views of an Enduring Social Problem” outlines the current issues in the field of substance use and addiction by thoroughly analyzing its history and other concerns such as diagnosis, treatment, and prevention measures, or the effect of addiction on the family and its connection to the criminal justice system. In this work, Professor Steverson calls for a reimagining of our past and current understandings of addiction and its role as a social, rather than a medical, problem. “Addiction Reimagined” provides a macro-level (i.e. sociological) approach to the examination of the processes and treatment modalities of addiction. This book will be valuable to those who are interested in addiction and the mental health system (people who have addiction problems or policy makers, for instance) as well as to practitioners in the field and people concerned about a failing system, and who would like to make it more functional. It will also be useful to university students undertaking courses such as The Sociology of Addiction or Sociology of Substance Abuse.

What really is emotional intelligence? This book, aimed primarily at the university academic and those working and/or studying in higher education, seeks to help readers understand the term and the role emotional intelligence plays in education and business. It clearly identifies and critiques the three main models: the ability model (Salovey and Mayer), the mixed Model (Goleman, Bar-On) and the trait model (Petrides and Furnham). It discusses eustress, distress and chronic stress, reflecting on the effects negative types of stress can have on the human body, demonstrating how the modern workplace can lead to burnout. It emphasizes the importance of a healthy work/life balance while acknowledging the demands and pressures placed on organisations to compete within the global marketplace.It also explores how one may understand and process emotions, considering terms such as "learned optimism" and "learned helplessness". Room for discussion is also given to the influence of bullying and harassment in the workplace and types of therapy that are presently available. It discusses strategies for coping with challenging experiences, providing anecdotes and case studies from university academics. It also considers how personality relates to emotional intelligence and how people cope with challenging experiences. The book delves into the term "intelligence", showing how theories surrounding the concept have developed over the twentieth century; and it elucidates the link between emotional intelligence and wellbeing. The author discusses the effect stress can have on human telomeres (thus shortening lifespan) and sheds light on the darker sides of human nature, such as the so-called "dark triad" personality traits (psychopathy, narcissism and Machiavellian behaviour).Overall, the book is dedicated to the vital question: "Emotional intelligence: does it really matter?"

Maximizing Mental Health Services: Evidence-Based Practices that Promote Emotional Well-Being examines best therapeutic practices for patients, therapists, graduate professors, family members and all who struggle to find the most effective treatment modalities for those dealing with mental health challenges. Mental health issues are rising at an alarming rate, while positive therapeutic outcomes have not kept pace and remain low for many conditions, making an investigation of evidence-based treatment options critically important to the helping profession. While certain types of therapy bring success to specific clients, these modalities cannot be easily applied to all client profiles. Understanding the strengths of each modality and how to match them to the respective needs of the client will be emphasized. Furthermore, the impact of counselors' own traits on the client-therapist relationship is an important and often overlooked topic that will be explored. Therapy practices have changed over the past decade to include non-traditional options; therefore, the authors investigate the ways in which these practices have either helped or hindered patient success. Lastly, the book offers readers information on resources for further information on the evidence-based practices presented within.

This book brings together researchers from a variety of fields to jointly present and discuss some of the most relevant problems around the conscious mind. This academic plurality perfectly characterizes the complexity with which a current researcher is confronted to discuss and work on this topic. The volume is organized as follows: Part I introduces the general problems of Philosophy of Mind and some historical perspectives. Part II focuses on understanding the input that the empirical sciences can offer to the theoretical problems. Part III discusses some of the core concepts of the field, namely, perception, memory and experience. Part IV debates human and artificial intelligence and, finally, Part V deliberates about the computation and the ethics of big data and artificial intelligence.The book contains valuable material for researchers in several fields such as Cognitive Science and Neuroscience, Psychology and Artificial Intelligence, and Philosophy. It can also be used as a guide to some courses at various levels, from BAs to MAs and PhD courses of several fields. It is our belief, as it is claimed in the preface by Georg Northoff, that there is an urgent need for a truly transdisciplinary exchange between philosophy and the sciences in order to stimulate some real progress. We hope that this book will become a sound step for such an interdisciplinary enterprise.

Maximizing Mental Health Services: Evidence-Based Practices that Promote Emotional Well-Being examines best therapeutic practices for patients, therapists, graduate professors, family members and all who struggle to find the most effective treatment modalities for those dealing with mental health challenges. Mental health issues are rising at an alarming rate, while positive therapeutic outcomes have not kept pace and remain low for many conditions, making an investigation of evidence-based treatment options critically important to the helping profession. While certain types of therapy bring success to specific clients, these modalities cannot be easily applied to all client profiles. Understanding the strengths of each modality and how to match them to the respective needs of the client will be emphasized. Furthermore, the impact of counselors' own traits on the client-therapist relationship is an important and often overlooked topic that will be explored. Therapy practices have changed over the past decade to include non-traditional options; therefore, the authors investigate the ways in which these practices have either helped or hindered patient success. Lastly, the book offers readers information on resources for further information on the evidence-based practices presented within.

This book intends to open the debate between three main aspects of clinical practice: psychotherapy (including psychological and philosophical influences), neurobiology and pharmacology. These three main themes are clinically applied in what we call the "Intervention Triangle". The book will first focus on epistemologically distinct frameworks and gradually attempt to consider the integration of these three fundamental vertexes of practice. These vertexes are substantially unbalanced in the mental health field, and thus, this book tries to make sense of this phenomenon.Unique in its interdisciplinary and comprehensive view of mental health problems and approaches, this book offers a new perspective on unidisciplinary integration that previous publications have not considered. As an innovative contribution to its field, this volume will be particularly relevant to practitioners working towards integrative frameworks. It will also be of interest to students, clinicians and researchers, in particular, those working in psychology, medicine, psychiatry, philosophy, social work, and pharmacy.

There has been a long-standing and mutually-informing association between psychoanalysis, literature and the arts. Surprisingly, given the oral/aural basis of the 'talking cure', music has largely been overlooked by psychoanalysis. Notably, neuroscientific research investigating music reception and production has been steadily increasing in range and scope over the years. However, in order to avoid confounding factors, empirical studies have focused primarily on non-vocal music. Remarkably, operatic vocal music has not featured prominently in either field. Yet the multi-dimensional, multi-layered nature of opera, which fuses together a number of different arts, would appear to provide fertile soil for both disciplines. This book aims to fill that gap, providing a stepping stone for further research. It leverages the individual strengths of psychoanalysis and neuroscience both separately and jointly as the inter-discipline of neuropsychoanalysis. By combining various theories of mind with knowledge about music processing in the brain, this book comprehensively examines the operatic reception experience, providing an account in subjective as well as objective terms. It explores the bittersweet enjoyment of operatic vocal music, which can literally move an operaphile to tears. The explanation for this may be found in a number of subjective dynamics that are unique to the reception of opera, rather than in any distinct objective neural processes, which are common to the reception of all music. These subjective dynamics, which are recruited during neural processing, are triggered by the equally unique features of the operatic voice, in combination with a number of auxiliary elements that are specific to opera. This book will be of interest to academics in a broad range of science and arts disciplines related to music perception and performance, such as music psychology and operatic performance. It may also appeal to passionate operaphiles who wish to understand what drives their addiction!

Madness Reimagined: Envisioning a Better System of Mental Health in America provides a comprehensive analysis of the current mental health system in the United States. Presented from a sociological rather than a psychological perspective, this book seeks to provide readers with an extensive but accessible look at its history, the current mental health treatment modalities, the various mental health practitioners, the different conditions known as mental health disorders, as well as strategies for improving the system. Trained both in clinical and applied therapy and sociology, the author aims to provide a balance to the work that other books on mental health often lack. As a result, this book proposes a dual approach to the study of mental health. Dr. Steverson acknowledges that while disorders and treatment modalities require a micro-level (intrapsychic) approach, the overall analysis of the mental health system demands a macro-level (sociological) approach. Due to the recent changes in the American healthcare system and the concerns this has raised, this book is a necessary and important contribution to its field. It also reflects a growing desire from the public to better understand this subject as mental health issues continue to gain visibility in the public eye. Free of psychological jargon and in an accessible format, this book will not only appeal to academics and students, but also to mental health consumers, their families, and people who are interested in advocacy.

Madness Reimagined: Envisioning a Better System of Mental Health in America provides a comprehensive analysis of the current mental health system in the United States. Presented from a sociological rather than a psychological perspective, this book seeks to provide readers with an extensive but accessible look at its history, the current mental health treatment modalities, the various mental health practitioners, the different conditions known as mental health disorders, as well as strategies for improving the system. Trained both in clinical and applied therapy and sociology, the author aims to provide a balance to the work that other books on mental health often lack. As a result, this book proposes a dual approach to the study of mental health. Dr. Steverson acknowledges that while disorders and treatment modalities require a micro-level (intrapsychic) approach, the overall analysis of the mental health system demands a macro-level (sociological) approach. Due to the recent changes in the American healthcare system and the concerns this has raised, this book is a necessary and important contribution to its field. It also reflects a growing desire from the public to better understand this subject as mental health issues continue to gain visibility in the public eye. Free of psychological jargon and in an accessible format, this book will not only appeal to academics and students, but also to mental health consumers, their families, and people who are interested in advocacy.

This book intends to open the debate between three main aspects of clinical practice: psychotherapy (including psychological and philosophical influences), neurobiology and pharmacology. These three main themes are clinically applied in what we call the "Intervention Triangle". The book will first focus on epistemologically distinct frameworks and gradually attempt to consider the integration of these three fundamental vertexes of practice. These vertexes are substantially unbalanced in the mental health field, and thus, this book tries to make sense of this phenomenon.Unique in its interdisciplinary and comprehensive view of mental health problems and approaches, this book offers a new perspective on unidisciplinary integration that previous publications have not considered. As an innovative contribution to its field, this volume will be particularly relevant to practitioners working towards integrative frameworks. It will also be of interest to students, clinicians and researchers, in particular, those working in psychology, medicine, psychiatry, philosophy, social work, and pharmacy.

There has been a long-standing and mutually-informing association between psychoanalysis, literature and the arts. Surprisingly, given the oral/aural basis of the 'talking cure', music has largely been overlooked by psychoanalysis. Notably, neuroscientific research investigating music reception and production has been steadily increasing in range and scope over the years. However, in order to avoid confounding factors, empirical studies have focused primarily on non-vocal music. Remarkably, operatic vocal music has not featured prominently in either field. Yet the multi-dimensional, multi-layered nature of opera, which fuses together a number of different arts, would appear to provide fertile soil for both disciplines. This book aims to fill that gap, providing a stepping stone for further research. It leverages the individual strengths of psychoanalysis and neuroscience both separately and jointly as the inter-discipline of neuropsychoanalysis. By combining various theories of mind with knowledge about music processing in the brain, this book comprehensively examines the operatic reception experience, providing an account in subjective as well as objective terms. It explores the bittersweet enjoyment of operatic vocal music, which can literally move an operaphile to tears. The explanation for this may be found in a number of subjective dynamics that are unique to the reception of opera, rather than in any distinct objective neural processes, which are common to the reception of all music. These subjective dynamics, which are recruited during neural processing, are triggered by the equally unique features of the operatic voice, in combination with a number of auxiliary elements that are specific to opera. This book will be of interest to academics in a broad range of science and arts disciplines related to music perception and performance, such as music psychology and operatic performance. It may also appeal to passionate operaphiles who wish to understand what drives their addiction!

This book consists of an edited collection of original essays of the highest academic quality by seasoned experts in their fields of cognitive science. The essays are interdisciplinary, drawing from many of the fields known collectively as "the cognitive sciences." Topics discussed represent a significant cross-section of the most current and interesting issues in cognitive science. Specific topics include matters regarding machine learning and cognitive architecture, the nature of cognitive content, the relationship of information to cognition, the role of language and communication in cognition, the nature of embodied cognition, selective topics in visual cognition, brain connectivity, computation and simulation, social and technological issues within the cognitive sciences, and significant issues in the history of neuroscience. This book will be of interest to both professional researchers and newer students and graduate students in the fields of cognitive science--including computer science, linguistics, philosophy, psychology and neuroscience. The essays are in English and are designed to be as free as possible of technical jargon and therefore accessible to young scholars and to scholars who are new to the cognitive neurosciences. In addition to several entries by single authors, the book contains several interesting roundtables where researchers contribute answers to a central question presented to those in the focus group on one of the core areas listed above. This exciting approach provides a variety of perspectives from across disciplines on topics of current concern in the cognitive sciences.

The first philosophical monograph on the ethics of memory manipulation (MM), Forget Me Not: The Neuroethical Case Against Memory Manipulation contends that any attempt to directly and intentionally erase episodic memories poses a grave threat to the human condition that cannot be justified within a normative moral calculus. Grounding its thesis in four evidential effects - namely, (i) MM disintegrates autobiographical memory, (ii) the disintegration of autobiographical memory degenerates emotional rationality, (iii) the degeneration of emotional rationality decays narrative identity, and (iv) the decay of narrative identity disables one to seek, identify, andact on the good - DePergola argues that MM cannot be justified as a morally licit practice insofar as it disables one to seek, identify, and act on the good. A landmark achievement in the field of neuroethics, this book is a welcome addition to both the scholarly and professional community in philosophical and clinical bioethics.