Customer Reviews

Neocortical Dynamics and Human EEG Rhythms

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This book was positively reviewed by Physics Today over ten years ago, but no Amazon review has yet surfaced. Furthermore, the Amazon site does not provide access to this book's contents; hence the motivation for this review. Most was written while I was on sabbatical in 1991-92. My aim was to integrate important ideas about brain dynamics and electroencephalography (EEG) taken from several disparate fields. Such cross field communication is critically important in the highly interdisciplinary EEG field. My contract with Oxford University Press lists me as the author, but journal references sometimes list me as editor because 6 of the 14 chapters were written by the following guest authors: Kenneth Pilgreen (clinical neurologist), Fernando Lopes da Silva (physiologist), Richard Silberstein (cognitive scientist), Alan Gevins & Brian Cutillo (cognitive scientists), Lester Ingber (theoretical physicist). I have indicated their main areas of expertise in parentheses, but these guys are all multi-talented in several fields.

Should you buy this expensive book? The answer is probably not unless you are interested in brain dynamic theory and possess a strong mathematical background, not to mention deep pockets. I suggest a visit to your university library before you decide whether to make the purchase. I have given my book only 4 stars because my goal of integrating disparate information from so many areas was only partly achieved. Check out my 2006 book if you are interested in EEG applications or my 2010 book if you seek discussion of both the "easy" and the "hard" problems of consciousness.

Chapter headings are as follows:

1. Quantitative States of Neocortex (PN)
2. Towards a Physics of Neocortex (PN)
3. Mind, Brain, and Electroencephalography (PN)
4. Physiologic, Medical, and Cognitive Correlates of Electroencephalography (KP)
5. Dynamics of Electrical Activity in the Brain (FL)
6. Steady-State Visually Evoked Potentials, Brain Resonances, and Cognitive Processes (RS)
7. Neuroelectric Measures of Mind (AG&BC)
8. Discrete Linear Systems of Physics and Brain (PN)
9. Continuous Linear Systems of Physics and Brain (PN)
10. Nonlinear Phenomena and Chaos (PN)
11. Global Contributions to EEG Dynamics (PN)
12. Experimental Connections Between EEG Data and the Global Wave Theory (PN)
13. Neuromodulation of Neocortical Dynamics (RS)
14. Statistical Mechanics of Neocortical Interactions (LI)
Appendix. Solutions to the Equations for Global Neocortical Dynamics (PN)