Dear Dr. Qwerty,
Below is a link to the forthcoming BBS target article
Gestalt Isomorphism and the Primacy of Subjective
Conscious Experience: A Gestalt Bubble Model
by
Steven Lehar
http://www.bbsonline.org/Preprints/Lehar/Referees/
This article has been accepted for publication in Behavioral and Brain
Sciences (BBS), an international, interdisciplinary journal providing
Open Peer Commentary on important and controversial current research in
the biobehavioral and cognitive sciences.
Commentators must be BBS Associates or suggested by a BBS Associate. To be
considered as a commentator for this article, to suggest other appropriate
commentators, or for information about how to become a BBS Associate,
please reply by EMAIL within three (3) weeks to:
calls(a)bbsonline.org
The Calls are sent to 10,000 BBS Associates and BBSPrints Users, so there
is no expectation (indeed, it would be calamitous) that each recipient
should comment on every occasion! Hence there is no need to reply except
if you wish to comment, or to suggest someone to comment.
If you are not a BBS Associate, please approach a current BBS Associate
(there are currently over 10,000 worldwide) who is familiar with your work
to nominate you. All past BBS authors, referees and commentators are
eligible to become BBS Associates. An electronic list of current BBS
Associates is available at this location to help you select a name:
http://www.bbsonline.org/Instructions/assoclist.html
(please note that this list is being updated)
If no current BBS Associate knows your work, please send us your
Curriculum Vitae and BBS will circulate it to appropriate Associates to
ask whether they would be prepared to nominate you. (In the meantime, your
name, address and email address will be entered into our database as an
unaffiliated investigator.)
=======================================================================
IMPORTANT
To help us put together a balanced list of commentators, please give
some indication of the aspects of the topic on which you would bring
your areas of expertise to bear if you were selected as a commentator.
To help you decide whether you would be an appropriate commentator for
this article, an electronic draft is retrievable from the online
BBSPrints Archive, at the URL that follows the abstract below.
_______________________________________________________________________
Gestalt Isomorphism and the Primacy of Subjective
Conscious Experience: A Gestalt Bubble Model
Steven Lehar Ph.D.
Peli Lab
The Schepens Eye Research Institute
email: slehar(a)cns.bu.edu
KEYWORDS: Brain-anchored, Cartesian theatre, consciousness, emergence,
extrinsic constraints, filling-in, Gestalt, homunculus, indirect realism,
intrinsic constraints, invariance, isomorphism, multistability, objective
phenomenology, perceptual modeling, perspective, phenomenology,
psychophysical parallelism, psychophysical postulate, qualia, reification,
representationalism, structural coherence
ABSTRACT: A serious crisis is identified in theories of neurocomputation
marked by a persistent disparity between the phenomenological or
experiential account of visual perception and the neurophysiological level
of description of the visual system. In particular conventional concepts
of neural processing offer no explanation for the holistic global aspects
of perception identified by Gestalt theory. The problem is paradigmatic,
and can be traced to contemporary concepts of the functional role of the
neural cell, known as the Neuron Doctrine. In the absence of an
alternative neurophysiologically plausible model, I propose a perceptual
modeling approach, i.e. to model the percept as experienced subjectively,
rather than the objective neurophysiological state of the visual system
that supposedly subserves that experience. A Gestalt Bubble model is
presented to demonstrate how the elusive Gestalt principles of emergence,
reification, and invariance, can be expressed in a quantitative model of
the subjective experience of visual consciousness. That model in turn
reveals a unique computational strategy underlying visual processing,
which is unlike any algorithm devised by man, and certainly unlike the
atomistic feed-forward model of neurocomputation offered by the Neuron
Doctrine paradigm. The perceptual modeling approach reveals the primary
function of perception as that of generating a fully spatial
virtual-reality replica of the external world in an internal
representation. The common objections to this "picture-in-the-head"
concept of perceptual representation are shown to be ill founded.
http://www.bbsonline.org/Preprints/Lehar/Referees/
======================================================================
IMPORTANT
Please DO NOT prepare a commentary yet. Just let us know, after having
inspected it, what relevant expertise you feel you would bring to bear on
what aspect of the article. We will then let you know whether it was
possible to include your name on the final formal list of invitees.
=======================================================================
*** SUPPLEMENTARY ANNOUNCEMENT ***
(1) Call for Book Nominations for BBS Multiple Book Review
In the past, Behavioral and Brain Sciences (BBS) had only been able
to do 1-2 BBS multiple book treatments per year, because of our
limited annual page quota. BBS's new expanded page quota will make
it possible for us to increase the number of books we treat per
year, so this is an excellent time for BBS Associates and
biobehavioral/cognitive scientists in general to nominate books you
would like to see accorded BBS multiple book review.
(Authors may self-nominate, but books can only be selected on the
basis of multiple nominations.) It would be very helpful if you
indicated in what way a BBS Multiple Book Review of the book(s) you
nominate would be useful to the field (and of course a rich list of
potential reviewers would be the best evidence of its potential
impact!).
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Please note: Your email address has been added to our user database for
Calls for Commentators, the reason you received this email. If you do not
wish to receive further Calls, please feel free to change your mailshot
status through your User Login link on the BBSPrints homepage, using your
username and password. Or, email a response with the word "remove" in the
subject line.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Ralph
BBS
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Ralph DeMarco
Editorial Coordinator
Behavioral and Brain Sciences
Journals Department
Cambridge University Press
40 West 20th Street
New York, NY 10011-4211
UNITED STATES
bbs(a)bbsonline.org
http://www.bbsonline.org
Tel: +001 212 924 3900 ext.374
Fax: +001 212 645 5960
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear member of this list,
Science & Consciousness Review (http://psych.pomona.edu/scr/) has released
new articles and reviews:
_____________________
NEWS ARTICLE:
Recovering consciousness: A timeline
- By Bernard J. Baars
There has been a steady growth of the word "consciousness" in science. It
goes from almost zero citations in 1950 to more than 1400 in the year 2000.
Here, we present numbers and graphs collected from the biomedical
literature, using PubMed. They seem to confirm that consciousness is back in
science!
Full article at http://psych.pomona.edu/scr/LN_Sep02_RecoveringConsc.htm
_____________________
NEWS IN BRIEF
- New issue: Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences
- Suggested link: "All In the Mind", a radio program on the mind
- Suggested link: Intro to consciousness on Tuscon
- Doctors create out-of-body sensations
- Neuropsychology: Stimulating illusory own-body perceptions
Full access at http://psych.pomona.edu/scr/more_news.html
_____________________
UPCOMING CONFERENCES
in October
Oct 3-4
Rational animals?
Oct 10-12
The Society for Phenomenology and The Human Sciences
Oct 17-20
Carleton Philosophy & Neuroscience Conference
See the Conference page at http://psych.pomona.edu/scr/conf.html
_____________________
ARCHIVES
Previous issues of Science & Consciousness Review can be found at
http://psych.pomona.edu/scr/archive.html We have now issues from April to
September, including all articles, reviews and news in brief.
_____________________
CONTRIBUTE!
Please send your contributions to us. Articles are read by hundreds of
unique visitors each week. Since its launch in April 2002, SCR has had
around 200.000 visits!
Instructions for authors can be found at
http://psych.pomona.edu/scr/author_instructions.html
Sincerely,
Thomas Zoëga Ramsøy
Managing Editor
Dear Dr. Qwerty,
Below is a link to the forthcoming BBS target article
The Neural Basis of Predicate-Argument Structure
by
James R. Hurford
http://www.bbsonline.org/Preprints/Hurford/Referees/
This article has been accepted for publication in Behavioral and Brain
Sciences (BBS), an international, interdisciplinary journal providing
Open Peer Commentary on important and controversial current research in
the biobehavioral and cognitive sciences.
Commentators must be BBS Associates or suggested by a BBS Associate. To be
considered as a commentator for this article, to suggest other appropriate
commentators, or for information about how to become a BBS Associate,
please reply by EMAIL within three (3) weeks to:
calls(a)bbsonline.org
The Calls are sent to 10,000 BBS Associates, so there is no expectation
(indeed, it would be calamitous) that each recipient should comment on every
occasion! Hence there is no need to reply except if you wish to comment, or
to suggest someone to comment.
If you are not a BBS Associate, please approach a current BBS Associate
(there are currently over 10,000 worldwide) who is familiar with your work
to nominate you. All past BBS authors, referees and commentators are
eligible to become BBS Associates. An electronic list of current BBS
Associates is available at this location to help you select a name:
http://www.bbsonline.org/Instructions/assoclist.html
(please note that this list is being updated)
If no current BBS Associate knows your work, please send us your
Curriculum Vitae and BBS will circulate it to appropriate Associates to
ask whether they would be prepared to nominate you. (In the meantime, your
name, address and email address will be entered into our database as an
unaffiliated investigator.)
=======================================================================
IMPORTANT
To help us put together a balanced list of commentators, please give
some indication of the aspects of the topic on which you would bring
your areas of expertise to bear if you were selected as a commentator.
To help you decide whether you would be an appropriate commentator for
this article, an electronic draft is retrievable from the online
BBSPrints Archive, at the URL that follows the abstract below.
_______________________________________________________________________
The Neural Basis of Predicate-Argument Structure
James R Hurford
Language Evolution and Computation Research Unit
Linguistics Department
University of Edinburgh
jim(a)ling.ed.ac.uk
KEYWORDS: logic, predicate, argument, neural, object, dorsal, ventral,
attention, deictic, reference.
ABSTRACT: Neural correlates exist for a basic component of logical
formulae, PREDICATE(x).
Vision and audition research in primates and humans shows two independent
neural pathways; one locates objects in body-centered space, the other
attributes properties, such as colour, to objects. In vision these are the
dorsal and ventral pathways. In audition, similarly separable 'where' and
'what' pathways exist. PREDICATE(x) is a schematic representation of the
brain's integration of the two processes of delivery by the senses of the
location of an arbitrary referent object, mapped in parietal cortex, and
analysis of the properties of the referent by perceptual subsystems.
The brain computes actions using a few 'deictic' variables pointing to
objects. Parallels exist between such non-linguistic variables and
linguistic deictic devices. Indexicality and reference have linguistic and
non-linguistic (e.g. visual) versions, sharing the concept of attention.
The individual variables of logical formulae are interpreted as
corresponding to these mental variables. In computing action, the deictic
variables are linked with 'semantic' information about the objects,
corresponding to logical predicates.
Mental scene-descriptions are necessary for practical tasks of primates,
and pre-exist language phylogenetically. The type of scene-descriptions
used by non-human primates would be reused for more complex cognitive,
ultimately linguistic, purposes. The provision by the brain's
sensory/perceptual systems of about four variables for temporary
assignment to objects, and the separate processes of perceptual
categorization of the objects so identified, constitute a preadaptive
platform on which an early system for the linguistic description of scenes
developed.
http://www.bbsonline.org/Preprints/Hurford/Referees/
======================================================================
IMPORTANT
Please do not prepare a commentary yet. Just let us know, after having
inspected it, what relevant expertise you feel you would bring to bear on
what aspect of the article. We will then let you know whether it was
possible to include your name on the final formal list of invitees.
=======================================================================
*** SUPPLEMENTARY ANNOUNCEMENT ***
(1) Call for Book Nominations for BBS Multiple Book Review
In the past, Behavioral and Brain Sciences (BBS) had only been able
to do 1-2 BBS multiple book treatments per year, because of our
limited annual page quota. BBS's new expanded page quota will make
it possible for us to increase the number of books we treat per
year, so this is an excellent time for BBS Associates and
biobehavioral/cognitive scientists in general to nominate books you
would like to see accorded BBS multiple book review.
(Authors may self-nominate, but books can only be selected on the
basis of multiple nominations.) It would be very helpful if you
indicated in what way a BBS Multiple Book Review of the book(s) you
nominate would be useful to the field (and of course a rich list of
potential reviewers would be the best evidence of its potential
impact!).
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Please note: Your email address has been added to our user database for
Calls for Commentators, the reason you received this email. If you do not
wish to receive further Calls, please feel free to change your mailshot
status through your User Login link on the BBSPrints homepage, using your
username and password. Or, email a response with the word "remove" in the
subject line.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Thanks,
Ralph
BBS
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Ralph DeMarco
Editorial Coordinator
Behavioral and Brain Sciences
Journals Department
Cambridge University Press
40 West 20th Street
New York, NY 10011-4211
UNITED STATES
bbs(a)bbsonline.org
http://www.bbsonline.org
Tel: +001 212 924 3900 ext.374
Fax: +001 212 645 5960
-------------------------------------------------------------------
MIT OCW Pilot Opens to the Public on September 30th
OCW = Open CourseWare
OCW plans to publish our first wave of courses on September 30, 2002.
Sample courses will be included from the following academic
departments:
Anthropology
Biology
Chemical Engineering
Chemistry
Civil and Environmental Engineering
Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences
Economics
Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
History
Linguistics and Philosophy
Management
Mathematics
Mechanical Engineering
Ocean Engineering
Political Science
Urban Studies and Planning
The opening of these courses represents a continuation of the early
pilot of OCWÂ’s long-term effort. We expect OCW content to become
deeper and richer over time. We invite you to return on September
30th, when we will welcome your feedback.
Megjegyzes: Ha erdekel valamelyik kurzus, akkor nezd meg es segits
bekapcsolni azt az egyetemi oktatasi haloba:
http://people.inf.elte.hu/lorincz/CourseWare_SW.html
A szoftver a TouchGraph-hoz
(Lasd: http://www.touchgraph.com/TGGoogleBrowser.html
freeware: http://touchgraph.sourceforge.net/index.html)
hasonlo, sajat fejlesztesu kliens-szerver szoftvereszkozzel
tortenik.
Lorincz Andras
Dear member of this list,
Science & Consciousness Review (http://psych.pomona.edu/scr/) has released
new articles and reviews:
_____________________
NEWS
Knowing more than you see
By Thomas Zoëga Ramsøy
News: Normally, you probably think that you see the entire visual field in
front of you. However, careful studies of vision show that this is false.
Actually, you are quite poor at seeing details falling outside your focal
attention. The discussion about how much you can be visually aware of, and
how much your visual system can process without consciousness has recently
been updated by a recent finding. The conclusion of this study is that we
are actually quite good at perceiving "complex" natural scenes even while
attending elsewhere.
Read the full article at:
http://psych.pomona.edu/scr/LN_Sep02_KnowMoreSee.htm
_____________________
NEWS IN BRIEF
- Consciousness is slower than you think
- Emotions: From neuropsychology to functional imaging
- Neural responses to emotional faces
- New issue: Dreaming
Full access at http://psych.pomona.edu/scr/more_news.html
_____________________
ARCHIVES
Previous issues of Science & Consciousness Review can be found at
http://psych.pomona.edu/scr/archive.html We have now issues from April to
August 2002, including all articles, reviews and news in brief.
_____________________
ABOUT SCIENCE & CONSCIOUSNESS REVIEW
SCR is a community-building effort. Many scientific communities study how
the human brain makes possible perception, memory, and even attention. But
for historical reasons, we have no scientific community for exploring
consciousness --- including our own experiences of the world, of each other
and of ourselves. It is probably the most important neglected topic in
science.
Students and scientists all over the world are vitally interested. Hardly a
week goes by without another major article in headline journals like Science
and Nature. The flow of evidence has increased enormously. But so far we
have few institutional resources for teaching, learning, and sharing this
information.
In the last decade we have seen new, high quality journals, professional
societies, and regular meetings. They are vitally important.
But many people feel that we need an international forum to build a sense of
shared community. SCR is an effort in that direction.
CONTRIBUTE!
Please send your contributions to us. Instructions for authors can be found
at http://psych.pomona.edu/scr/author_instructions.html
_____________________
Sincerely,
Thomas Zoëga Ramsøy
Managing Editor
Valaki egy virust kuldott a KOGLIST listara "Fogorvos" subject-tel latszolag
az en e-mail cimemrol (csibra(a)cogpsyphy.hu). Ne nyissa fel, akihez eljutott.
--
Gergely Csibra Centre of Brain and Cognitive Development
Research Scientist School of Psychology
Senior Lecturer Birkbeck College
g.csibra(a)bbk.ac.uk Malet Street
Tel: +44 20 7631 6323 London WC1E 7HX
Fax: +44 20 7631 6587 United Kingdom