Computational Explorations in Cognitive Neuroscience: Understanding the Mind by Simulating the Brain (Paperback)

by Randall C. O'Reilly (Author), Yuko Munakata (Author), James L. McClelland (Foreword)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
foreword by James L. McClelland

The goal of computational cognitive neuroscience is to understand how the brain embodies the mind by using biologically based computational models comprising networks of neuronlike units. This text, based on a course taught by Randall O'Reilly and Yuko Munakata over the past several years, provides an in-depth introduction to the main ideas in the field. The neural units in the simulations use equations based directly on the ion channels that govern the behavior of real neurons, and the neural networks incorporate anatomical and physiological properties of the neocortex. Thus the text provides the student with knowledge of the basic biology of the brain as well as the computational skills needed to simulate large-scale cognitive phenomena.

The text consists of two parts. The first part covers basic neural computation mechanisms: individual neurons, neural networks, and learning mechanisms. The second part covers large-scale brain area organization and cognitive phenomena: perception and attention, memory, language, and higher-level cognition. The second part is relatively self-contained and can be used separately for mechanistically oriented cognitive neuroscience courses. Integrated throughout the text are more than forty different simulation models, many of them full-scale research-grade models, with friendly interfaces and accompanying exercises. The simulation software (PDP++, available for all major platforms) and simulations can be downloaded free of charge from the Web. Exercise solutions are available, and the text includes full information on the software.

More about the book. Download software and simulations

About the Author
Randall C. O'Reilly is Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology and at the Institute for Cognitive Science at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Yuko Munakata is Assistant Professor in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Denver.

Product Details

• Paperback: 512 pages
• Publisher: The MIT Press; 1 edition (September 4, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0262650541
• ISBN-13: 978-0262650540
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 7.8 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #709,113 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Jargon - Not for beginners., February 13, 2008

By	Aaron Levesque (Oxford, England) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

With a background in chemistry, biology, psychology, and neuroscience, I believed a course on simulating the the brain to understand the mind would be incredibly fascinating. However, this book, in spite of various claims to be an introduction to cognitive neuroscience, is full of technical jargon that is mostly likely only understood by those familiar with the subject.

The book itself comes off as extremely condescending to any beginner who is frustrated with the book because throughout the text, the authors repeat over and over and over again some variation of, "Here is a SIMPLE example..."

****ALSO IMPORTANT TO NOTE: As for the free software you can download online, PDP++, it is prone to errors (random quitting, functions not working properly) and DOES NOT work on many newer versions of Mac OS X. You have to download a different program called Emergent, which is not compatible with what you read in this text; this is also an annoying problem.

The aspects of the book that focus on the biology of the mind are like breaths of fresh air, but every chapter inevitably leads into mind-numbing instructions and equations that are difficult to comprehend.

This is by far the most frustrating book I've had to deal with. The other one-star review was shrewd in warning undergrad students and beginners about this text.

13 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A new paradigm, September 26, 2000

By A Customer

In this book, research themes, which include perception, memory, language as well as high-level cognition, are explained in terms of computation. Their theory is based on brain science, computer science, and psychology. Though the authors speculate about the functions of each part of the brain and the relation among them to some extent, the authors propose a new paradigm to existing sciences. Their integrative approach and method are very simulative, and I've got a lot of hints from this book. But I don't need the usageof particular software, PDP++ in such a theoretical book. The authors explain and demonstrate their models and theories using PDP++ at the end of each chapter. If you want to study how to use PDP++ as well as their theories, this book will be extremely good one.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Great for Grads/Professional--confusing and convoluted for undergrad, November 17, 2006

By	UA STUDENT (Tucson, AZ) - See all my reviews

I am currently taking a honors psych class which utilizes this textbook as a lab handout (we solve the exercises closing out each chapter). I find this book very hard to read due to the language and the explanations the authors use to explain certain topics. The book reads more like a guide for those already familiar with the subject matter, and the questions closing out each chapter are even harder to understand than the chapter text itself. If the authors wish the book to be of any help to undergrads who are not already familiar with the topic they should take a step back and revise the text so that it is understandable for all. NOTE TO UA STUDENTS THINKING OF TAKING THE CLASS WHICH UTILIZES THIS BOOK
---->dont.