The Mind within the Brain: How We Make Decisions And How Those Decisions Go Wrong - Softcover

Redish, A. David

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0190263172 ISBN 13: 9780190263171

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2015

Synopsis

In The Mind within the Brain, David Redish brings together cutting edge research in psychology, robotics, economics, neuroscience, and the new fields of neuroeconomics and computational psychiatry, to offer a unified theory of human decision-making. Most importantly, Redish shows how vulnerabilities, or "failure-modes," in the decision-making system can lead to serious dysfunctions, such as irrational behavior, addictions, problem gambling, and PTSD. Told with verve and humor in an easily readable style, Redish makes these difficult concepts understandable. Ranging widely from the surprising roles of emotion, habit, and narrative in decision-making, to the larger philosophical questions of how mind and brain are related, what makes us human, the nature of morality, free will, and the conundrum of robotics and consciousness, The Mind within the Brain offers fresh insight into one of the most complex aspects of human behavior.

About this title

Product Description

In The Mind within the Brain, David Redish brings together cutting edge research in psychology, robotics, economics, neuroscience, and the new fields of neuroeconomics and computational psychiatry, to offer a unified theory of human decision-making. Most importantly, Redish shows how vulnerabilities, or "failure-modes," in the decision-making system can lead to serious dysfunctions, such as irrational behavior, addictions, problem gambling, and PTSD.

Review

The Mind Within the Brain is a very valuable introduction to the neuroscientific paradigm and to understanding how we make choices. It is an enjoyable read, easy to relate to and very educational... is ambitious in its scope and style; not only does he want to explain how action-selection systems work in the brain, but also how they malfunction whilst delving into the philosophical and ethical consequences of analysing the mind in such a manner. (Jodie Russell (University of Edinburgh), British Society for Literature and Science)

Well researched and delivered with a light touch." - Nature

The author, a neuroscientist at the University of Minnesota, has a flair for explaining complex ideas, and he uses humor and personal stories to keep the lay reader interested. (He also has kindly included appendices for us neuroscience neophytes.) Know that Redish has done some important work here, challenging some of our assumptions about how the brain works and paving new ways for working with some of the most challenging problems involving the brain."-Daily Kos

David Redish is a leading neuroscientist known for his pioneering, creative work. In this thoughtful book, he clearly describes the latest findings in brain science to help readers better understand what really drives the choices we make." -Tali Sharot, Affective Brain Lab, Cognitive, Perceptual, & Brain Science, University College London, author of The Optimism Bias

Over the last decade there has been an explosion in our understanding of how the brain makes decisions. This book, written by one of the leading scholars in the field, is a must read for anyone interested in this area." -Antonio Rangel, Professor of Neuroscience and Economics, California Institute of Technology

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 0190263172
• ISBN 13: 9780190263171
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 394