Neuroscience Without Representations: Building a Brain-in-a-World View - Softcover

Vilarroya

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0443190658 ISBN 13: 9780443190650

Publisher: Elsevier, 2024

Synopsis

In Neuroscience Without Representations, an Open Access book, Oscar Vilarroya addresses the notion of “representation” as used in expressions like “neural representation” or “mental representation”. This concept is fundamental in neuroscience, yet there remains no clear, universally accepted view on what it means for a nervous system to represent something, what constitutes a neural activity as a representation, and what is being re-presented.

The book lays the foundation for a non-representational view of brain function. Building upon György Buzsáki’s critique of the theoretical framework underlying current cognitive neuroscience, Vilarroya argues that disciplines such as embodied and embedded cognition―collectively known as ‘4E cognition’―are driving a paradigm shift in our understanding of animal cognition.

Rather than grounding cognition solely in representations, the author proposes an alternative: understanding cognition as enaction―the meaningful engagement of an organism to address situational requirements. The book supports this approach through detailed analyses of recent studies.

• ​​​​​​Presents Arguments for a Non-Representational View of the Brain.
• Addresses the Unsuitability of Neural Representation for Understanding the Brain as a Cognitive Organ.
• Explores How Non-Representational Brains Can Still Be Knowledgeable.
• Introduces the Basics of an Alternative Approach to Neural Representation.

About this title

About the Author

Dr. Vilarroya heads the Cognitive Neuroscience Unit and the Social Brain Chair at the Autonomous University of Barcelona and the Neuroimaging Research group at the Fundació IMIM, Barcelona. As a researcher, he has published studies in the field of neuroimaging of psychiatric diseases, as well as in the domain of cognitive science and theoretical neurobiology. Vilarroya has developed theoretical models applied to the neurobiological study of normal and abnormal cognition (The Dissolution of Mind Rodopi, NY 2002), and has used this theoretical background to apply neuroimaging techniques to the study of psychiatric illness, as well as cognitive functions in general. In this sense, Vilarroya contributed to the creation in 2003 the Unitat de Recerca en Neurociència Cognitiva (URNC) in the Department of Psychiatry at UAB. Since then, he has contributed with to the publication of nearly 20 articles in indexed journals of which 15 are in the top quartiles of their disciplines. In the last five years, Vilarroya has also been awarded three competitive projects (two national and one European) and 3 more by direct contract. The URNC has been consolidated in structural and functional MRI, including semi-automatic, manual and functional protocols. The URNC is already considered one of the most relevant neuroimaging units within ADHD, with publications that are now a pioneering reference (one 2005 paper with 60 citations in Web of Knowledge), and publications that offer one of the early diagnostic signs in psychiatry based on neuroimaging.

From the Back Cover

In Neuroscience Without Representations, Oscar Vilarroya addresses the notion of “representation” as used in expressions like “neural representation” or “mental representation”. This concept is fundamental in neuroscience, yet there remains no clear, universally accepted view on what it means for a nervous system to represent something, what constitutes a neural activity as a representation, and what is being re-presented.

The book lays the foundation for a non-representational view of brain function. Building upon György Buzsáki’s critique of the theoretical framework underlying current cognitive neuroscience, Vilarroya argues that disciplines such as embodied and embedded cognition―collectively known as ‘4E cognition’―are driving a paradigm shift in our understanding of animal cognition.

Rather than grounding cognition solely in representations, the author proposes an alternative: understanding cognition as enaction―the meaningful engagement of an organism to address situational requirements. The book supports this approach through detailed analyses of recent studies.

Edition details

• Publisher: Elsevier
• Publication date: 2024
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0443190658
• ISBN 13: 9780443190650
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 192